Looking for a good quality respirator/facemask with replaceable carbon filters in n99 or n100 filtration standards. Since this pandemic is going to be around a while might as well get something comfortable that won’t steam up my glasses.
The ones on E-bay are mostly from china and look iffy to me.
30 bucks is my target price.
From what I remember you can get P100 respirators from homedepot for about $50~ BUT it comes with 2 replaceable filters and replacement filters from then on are around $30~ for packs of 2, at least that was the price I paid when I got mine though at the time it was used for resin casting.
Problem is home depot aren’t selling any of the masks. Says unavailable and not shipping.
I bought a 3M 6100 respirator in the months before the pandemic and it was $14 with a pair of P100 filters. It now sells for up to 6X the price and some listings even sell the filter separately for $40 which used to cost $7 tops. If you’re willing to spend the cash these are available on eBay, maybe some physical stores still carries them at decent prices but you’ll have to be very lucky to find them in stock.
The mask situation is ugly worldwide but specially in the US thanks to those who hoard for resell or keep them because of prepping. In my country a box of 50 surgical masks were normally $8 now sells for $25, it even used to be $40 couple weeks ago but since some companies imported stupid amounts of masks from China the prices have dropped a bit.
Despite what the WHO have told us since the beginning by following their political agenda, cheap surgical masks or even a bandana around the nose/mouth WORKS to prevent contagion. I don’t think N100/P3/HEPA standards are necessary, much less active carbon filters which play no role for particulate or aerosol filtering. Of course better filtering further lower your chances to get infected, but so does wearing a hazmat suit. Just my 2c.
right now, your only chance is ebay and pay quite a lot
I purchased these KN95
Do some research , these are KN 95 +not N95+ there is a difference.
Also the note Chinese origin . Undeniable fact.
I am not a medical practitioner, these for me and my situation are acceptable.
I got this from a post from Lightbringer over in the super long bug thread.
And the CDC tests of various masks.
Note that some masks just fail at all levels. Others have a huge variance.
This is (I think) due to fit problems.
With any mask getting a good fit is the key to having it be as effective as possible.
All the Best,
Jeff
If you can find a respirator that uses replaceable filters. You can use a non-HEPA filter and make a HEPA cover for it out of a HEPA cloth vacuum bag or one of the other 99.9% filter materials.
I’ve done this for a couple of old North respirators I’ve had for decades.
Just be sure to make the covers with enough area to get enough airflow.
I needed to mess with the one-way valves. They were not working well after sitting unused for so many years.
All the Best,
Jeff
The CDC tests look definitive. Thank you Jeff for the link.
The filtration efficiency numbers column is amazing. Some good, some bad, some terrible.
CDC has a link next to each filter for a PDF of the test report.
All Chinese company sources, I think.
Anyone know which ones Fireflies is selling?
Yea thanks Jeff. Will check it out.
He is selling more than one type mask. One is not identified. One is GD Cooper and most of the text is in Chinese characters, but you can find it online: GD Cooper XKO2. KN95. China LED Lighting Manufacturer, Gifts and Toys, LED promotion Supplier - Glorious Promo Co., Limited
People with very small faces find these to be too large, but it is a perfect fit for me.
These are the surgical type masks.
In stock as of 5/17/2020 - 50 for $30.
I have no knowledge of the mask quality.
The seller Botach, I have purchased stuff from them in the past.
All went OK.
All the Best,
Jeff
The CDC page cautions
I hope the Chinese government is trying to clean clean up the mask production, with extreme prejudice against fakers.
Bought mine from ebay (from china). But I think 3m also sells filters for mask but it is just pricier since the quality is really good and it is thick.
I was able to buy from my local Lowe’s several N95 and P95 disposables and 2 x P100 3M half face respirators. Later I was able to buy at mcmaster.com more P100 and N95 disposables, and most recently at grainger.com I was able to buy more P100. The prices has been increasing every single time, but never at the level of ebay resellers.
I would recommend with caution this indiegogo/kickstarter mask:
I have had one on order for a while and will post when it arrives
Did you order on the kickstarter or the indiegogo on demand?
/\ At the same link you posted.
Latest update
The mask finally came in - with claimed N99 filter it has the best fit, (very little leakage) at least on my face, of any mask I have used and the easiest to breath in.
And of course fugly
Some test results here:
What is the truth about lower quality masks China is exporting?