The heavy lift we are doing here is around our particulate filtration efficiency test in which we do either the NIOSH N95 NaCL (0.3 micron) test or the ASTM 0.1 micron latex particle test.
I'd love HN feedback on how we improve the interface and make this a true resource for people.
Disclaimer: Yes, I'm a mask manufacturer and that's how I justify keeping all of this equipment up to spec, but I'm not big enough to make all of the masks for the world so I'd rather people find a good mask than just use my mask.
Any feedback is appreciated.
I see a number of surgical masks over 95%. I don't think that would be possible in practice, because of leaks at the sides and top. I'd expect more like 50%. But, you don't appear to have the equipment to do a fit test.
Refer to the 3M video on how to fit test an N95.
I realize that N95 and surgical masks have different standards, but you are making them look comparable, when they are not.
We are just solving for the filtration and letting people figure out the fit.
But, you make a good point, in the videos I try to point this out but we could do better. Where could I add this to make this more clear?
I am very curious about country stats and have 2 questions.
First, I found this one randomly: https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/kf94-try-mask-...
The country of origin on your page says China, but the photo's box says Korea. Is this a mask repackaged and exported from Korea that is actually from China?
Second, does "China" also include Taiwan? If so, I would be interested in separating them for statistics.
for those interested, here's a first level breakdown of pass/fail by country
| country | # pass | # fail | pass rate |
|-----------+--------+--------+-----------|
| USA | 39 | 27 | 59 |
| China | 48 | 186 | 21 |
| Korea | 31 | 13 | 70 |
| Thailand | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| India | 2 | 12 | 14 |
| Mexico | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Singapore | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 0 | 100 |
So a third question is, are you using adult mask testing methods for testing kid masks as well (which would explain the failure; on the other hand, the kid masks that passed must be quite some mask!), or do kid masks just suck in general?
That said, I have also noticed this... if a manufacturer in China makes a great adult masks, their kids mask is likely to fail standards for filtration AND be harder to breath.
Having made both adult and kids masks I can tell you that there is way less of a demand for kids masks and because of that less attention gets paid to them on the manufacturing floor. Theory: People are just lazy and make worse masks for the kids I think because kids are not paying attention.
Furthermore, kids don't care that it passes standards, they care if there's a dinosaur on the mask or not. Even my own kids tell me my kids masks are boring! So manufacturers put their time on making it fun and not on protection.
We test both kids and adults to the same standards, use the same fabric, etc. Boring but effective :)
China and Taiwan are separate (they make very different masks) but I haven't been able to find any from Taiwan to test.
I guess maybe you explain the failure in the video, and maybe there's a good reason that it failed, but you're asking me to waste a bunch of time watching videos to understand information that could have been provided in print. It doesn't make me trust you.
> A good example of this is in the text written on the front of N95 and KN95 masks. The standards for each of these masks demand that very specific information be printed on the device. If a KN95 mask does not have the manufacturer name and the standard number they are meeting (GB 2828-2019 or GB2828-2006), then they cannot be considered KN95 masks
Such masks are marked failed. My guess is thats what happened here.
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/surgical-medte...
The accompanying video is informative and I can add that the way the earloops are attached is wide-spread in Germany. Also confirmation from my side that the strings rip right off with this type of attachment regardless of the actual manufacturer.
On an iPhone, the value for color in the details is slightly too far to the left and in this case wrong because it reads Black. I’d like to be able to tap on the color and see a list of matching masks and also have a top level filter for color.
As a parent I’d love to have a top level filter to see masks for kids.
Finally, German quality engineering exists but it’s really not found that often in the wild as the myth would lead someone to believe. So thanks for helping to debunk that in the video.
I don't think you should base anything on N=1, either for or against.
Thank you!!
1. For masks that fail on marking issues but not filtering efficiency, could they get a third category that’s not pass or fail (something like ‘non-compliant’)?
2. I wish you could filter on pass/fail
3. I wish you included/could filter on price per box and price per mask.
I wish I could filter for "valve" because valved masks are not allowed where I live.
It'd be nice if you had pop-up dialogs upon hover over each of the fields. For example, if I hover over breathability, explain what it is and how you measure it.
Some color codes/gradient would be nice to help with the visual effect (Green for Pass, Red for Fail etc.) But please do include a toggle for color-blind mode if you do add color.
Good call on the color coding... I'm color blind so didn't think of this :)
I'm seeing this too; I think the single entry [0] that includes a percent sign in its breathability score is screwing up the sort.
0: https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/surgical-beixi...
> Some color codes/gradient would be nice to help with the visual effect (Green for Pass, Red for Fail etc.) But please do include a toggle for color-blind mode if you do add color.
If the green and red shades are chosen to have enough contrast to look different when convert into black and white (e.g. when printed), it should be usable even for most colorblind people, while also being easier to read for everyone.
It would be great if you also sold the stuff you use for testing masks. I spent a while looking into testing masks myself, but then the shortage eased up so it seemed less important.
All test results disappear when the browser window isn't wide enough (eg. on mobile, or narrow PC windows).
How could I possibly trust one company to do both?
Eg by type (surgical,duckbill,n95,kn95), by budget (budget, price/performance, premium), ships now on amazon, doesn't ship now but better in some way if you're willing to wait, etc.
Also I was looking at the 3m 9210 that you have 2 entries for in your table. The breathability is quite different between the two samples (98 vs 242). Is this expected? That seems a lot of variability for the same mask.
Good N95 style masks are difficult to get hold of in Australia. A few places are either charging absurd prices (like $10+ per disposable mask), but most pharmacies just don't stock them.
The one above has some fancy photos of certs in its listing, so it would be interesting to see if it's genuinely good. Happy to send some to you if it's helpful (you can dm me on twitter listed in my profile).
More importantly, it greatly reduces their effectiveness. Fogging up glasses is, by far, the lesser issue of the two.
From the comments here it seems others have got to the right content, so I'm not saying 'avoid this spam nothing here' or whatever, just not sure what's going on. Accessing from Europe (UK) if that's something to do with it.
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/n95-gerson-duc...
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/n95-gerson-duc...
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/kf94-dr-puri-b...
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/n95-honeywell-...
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/n95-indiana-fa...
Buy this mask button should be green :)
Thank you.
9205 is US made, the 9210 is made in Singapore.
GVS sells one with source control: https://www.gvs.com/en/catalog/elipse-p100-with-source-contr...
Most of 3M's stuff does not have source control but I just discovered tonight that there is an add-on exhaust filter to the 6000 series of masks: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v101254496/
I wore a 6000 series mask for most of 2020 and 2021 but upgraded to a 7000 series when the elastic wore out on the 6000. Both the 6000s and 7000s are super comfortable. You just might get some strange looks, particularly if you are sporting the bright pink P100 filters. I have not yet been able to find a source control equivalent for the 7000 series.
One great superpower of the 3M masks (6000/7000 etc.) is that wearing one of these while going to a port-a-potty means that you do not smell anything at all =)
Anecdotally I just ziptied a surgical mask over the exhaust on mine and it's fine.
Others will not trust you, however, so I always carry another mask with me to swap to.
This guy on youtube contacted the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to force Amazon to delist these products with excessive negative-ion radiation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BA5bw1EV5I
A bit like Applied Science.
If you prefer the KF94 types, I've heard good things about https://kollecteusa.com and https://behealthyusa.net.
IMO Amazon is convenient, but this is your health and it's worth an extra step.
I’m guessing they’ve fixed it since then, but i don’t see how people can release products without testing them.
US based non profit, not tied to amazon. I've bought their stuff. They are legit.
It would be much nicer if they showed 'SOLD OUT' on anything not in stock rather than nothing. (Firefox, Linux, even on my 'no plugins' profile and after creating an account.) It just shows reviews and nothing else on any masks page.
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They aren't depending on Facebook for antifruad are they? How will they ever sell to someone security minded like me that refuses to ever sign up there?
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You represent a small enough proportion of the population that it's not worth their time to cater to you.
They're not really comparable - a loose surgical mask may be made of good materials and filter well in Armbrust's test, but it's not even worth including in Collins' list because it doesn't seal against the face and won't ever get more than around 60% efficiency. Collins does often test again with a "mask brace" which is a rubber loop that seals that mask against your face, and can achieve similar numbers to Armbrust.
Of course, since everyone has different faces, Collins' testing becomes less valuable the more different your face is than his. But he also has advice for getting a decent face seal.
I see there are no cloth masks tested. I'd love to know how useful they are (or can be) as I much prefer being able to reuse my masks.
Edit: just realised that both Type and Style can be cloth and the cloth ones are presumably all under Style. All of them failed :(
Also tested my kids minion pillow case which beat the gaiter :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK_WryN-Y40
Generally the idea is to get a new one when it becomes noticeably harder to breath.
Generally for COVID use, as opposed to say, construction, I find the mask will physically fail (e.g strap breaks or stretches too much, nose foam detaches) before the filter media is close to being used up.
If you click on a mask it will take you to a page with the test details. More incredibly, most of the masks also have 5-7 minute video review!
If you click on the "Breathability" column, then on "Grade" twice, you will end up with a list of masks that Pass with the most breathable masks first.
Way to go, Lloyd. I've never heard of you or your company before, but I am genuinely impressed.
I learned so much though about how different manufacturers do things, where they cut corners, where they invest.
One crazy thing I learned was that almost all of the KN95s on amazing were not following the GB2626-2019 ("KN95") mask spec.... even though it's not that hard. So I decided to make a KN95 that followed the spec! Great way to really get into the product.
A KN95 that filtered only 75% is something I would be concerned of. Additionally the fit in someones face can turn a good N99 mask into a useless mask which is also an important factor.
> Subjective Scoring: Construction > Ear loop strength, build quality, and comfort. This test is somewhat subjective, which is why we don’t include in pass/fail analysis.
> Smell is not considered as part of pass/fail analysis.
I’m curious about the fail rating for masks where Standard = KN95 is fail? Specifically for masks that claim to be KN95 and filtration values are high. How do you determine a failure here?
Just curious. I think this work is amazing.
Yes we are adding those notes now... most of the KN95 fails are the incorrect markings on the mask. To pass the GB2626-2019 standard (where the KN95 lives) you have to put the manufacture name, standard name (eg, "GB2626-2019"), and mask type (eg, "KN95"). About 90% of "KN95s" on amazon are fake because they do not include this... I image because the manufacturers are just trying to make a quick buck and didn't ever read the 57 page standard.
If a KF94 fails it is usually because it's not made in South Korea where all official KF94s are made.
Why Amazon doesn’t do this is beyond me.
Cheap surgical mask is just as good as N95 respirator if you don't wear them properly. It much seal around your skin. For example, if you don't trim your beard so that mask touches skin all around, better mask does not help.
In fact, increased humidity under the mask may be one of the main reasons why wearing mask protects their user.
I don't think what's described in the methodology actually lines up with the result pages. In particular the methodology pop-up has sections about construction and smell, but I don't think I see them anywhere in the text of a particular mask review, i.e. it doesn't look like they're actually a part of what goes into a pass/fail score. Likewise there is a "Standard" field in the review that is pass/fail, but it's not explained in the methodology (I think this is basically a catch-all for "marketing fraud" where a manufacturer says something about their product that is just false?).
Nor is it described in the methodology what the pass/fail cutoff is.
But the sheer number of masks is definitely impressive.
We are now removing the subjective feedback and only talking objectively:
1) Does the mask pass the claimed PFE (particulate filtration efficiency) standard that it claims to pass?
2) Does the mask pass the claimed breathability (as stated in the standard they are claiming, ie N95, KN95, surgical)?
3) Does the mask meet other parts of the standard?
KN95, N95, KF94, Surgical, FFP2 and others all have hundreds of pages of standards that they have to meet. Most people don't know what these are but we make masks so I've read all of the standards.
Most masks or respirators fail in #3 and we are working on being specific as to why those are failing but we have about 400 masks posted and the notations are being transposed as I write.
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/kn95-powecom-f...
https://www.armbrustusa.com/blogs/mask-review/kn95-allmed-fl...
isn't the passing one worse actually?
Eliminating the ones that fail regardless of fit is extremely helpful.
You need both filtration AND fit to make a good mask.
The review for this mask is a great example of the games on Amazon. The review claims this product is from a well known vendor of counterfeit items. The big claim on this product is that the required printing is not on the mask, so they just write it off then and there. However, clicking the link to the item, the required text is prominitely visible in the image. Somewhere along the way, the vendor must have been made aware of the negative reviews (not on Amazon though), and tried to up their counterfeit game.
Daily, I see more and more reasons to never use Amazon for anything. Luckily, I made that decision years ago, and just constantly am amazed at how it gets even more blatant.
can't be biased if i have like physical evidence of it, but in this post fact world, i guess that might not be worth much???
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H3WDXMS/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087Z7N4XF/
Maybe because not sold by Amazon directly?
Further details if you care to compare:
* manufactured by: Suzhou Fangtian Industries Co., Ltd.
* distributed by: Endliss Technology Inc.; 30773 Wiegman Rd.; Haward, CA 94544; USAThere seems to be some minor issue (I think) with the table you present on the page.
I just watched the test done on the Gerson N95 Model 3230+ mask, and in that video you mention that you had just done a test on the Gerson N95 Model 3230.
However it does not seem to exist in the table. Perhaps there are more missing?
(used to be a lot cheaper)
https://www.amazon.com/Moldex-4200N95-Disposable-Respirator-...
I intentionally keep the metal stripe unbent to create two air gaps to both sides of my nose for more comfortable breathing.
Cheers!
Here's a (translated) test from half a year ago of the German "Stiftung Warentest" (similar to the US "Consumer Reports")
https://www-test-de.translate.goog/Masken-Welcher-Mund-Nasen...
Surprisingly there's only one mask in both tests as far as I can see: - Kingfa, deemed not suitable by Stiftung Warentest, passed in this test
Not totally sure it's the same mask though.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/respirators/testing/default....
GVS N31000 Segre Folded N99
So far they are great. Snug fit but not horribly uncomfortable like some N95s I have worn. They also have a plastic do-dad that so far has kept the straps from breaking off (all so common to N95s). Short use period of a few days but no issue with the metal nose piece either.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PH37ZLK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_...
I'm having some issues on the Search Brand part (Pixel, Chrome) it's not clickable and I'm unable to scroll down past that point.
But it works great on Firefox.
Also, I don't see the Envo masks - but they aren't on Amazon. Any chance to expand beyond only what uncle Jeff sells?
Does anyone know if any passing good ones on the list are just a bit smaller for small faces? Not super tiny like for small kids.
Amazon being Amazon, I was wondering was whether it’s possible to distinguish real N95 and KF94 masks from counterfeits.
https://www.amazon.com/ORIGINAL_MESH-Airflow-Breathable-Comf...
Essentially mask are useless long term for COVID protection. Short term they may slow some spread but that is it.