We found that once the velcro got dirty it didn't stick very well. We need to keep blackflies and ticks from crawling up the sleeves and the adjustable elastic does the trick. When you bend a lot, maybe while planting or around a campfire, elastic expands each time you squat or bend and eventually rides up to expose your waistline. We use a non-stretching cord so that once you've tightened it, it will stay tight and not ride up. We also cut our Shirts long enough to tuck into your pants.
Most people have no difficulty adjusting to looking through the mesh.
Keep in mind that everyone will react differently to a meshed in hood. A small number of folks just can't tolerate having their face enclosed. If the bugs aren't bad or if you're frequently going from inside to outside it is really not necessary to be zipped in all the time. When they do get bad the hood is very quickly and easily pulled into place and zipped closed. Then you can look freely through binoculars or cameras, see clearly to tie flies, eat, drink or anything else that you might want to expose your face for.