Razer’s in style $100 Zephyr masks isn’t a alternative for PPE (as a result of it isn’t PPE), however its announcement of the Zephyr Professional final week spurred a surge of claims that the corporate had overstated the masks’ safety. Razer responded by scrubbing each occasion of “N95-grade” from the masks’s product web page late final week (by way of PCMag).
Beforehand, Razer used N95 in a number of locations to explain the filtration and efficacy of its replaceable filters, which have been known as “N95-grade” due to their 99 % bacterial filtration effectivity (BFE). Razer now refers to them as “air purification filters.” Whereas Razer claims that testing confirmed its filters meet a 95 % particulate filtration effectivity (PFE), your complete masks (not simply the filters) must block 95 % of small particles and be cleared by regulators to name itself an N95.
Razer declined to supply an on-the-record assertion in response to questions from The Verge. However in a tweet thread on Saturday, the corporate tweeted that “The Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Professional usually are not medical units, respirators, surgical masks, or private protecting tools (PPE) and usually are not meant for use in medical or scientific settings.”
*The Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Professional usually are not medical units, respirators, surgical masks, or private protecting tools (PPE) and usually are not meant for use in medical or scientific settings.
— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) January 8, 2022
This isn’t the primary little bit of controversial data that Razer has modified on the Zephyr’s web page. On December tenth, 2021 (by way of Web Archive’s Wayback Machine), it printed a brand new model of the web page that eliminated its declare within the FAQ part that likened the Zephyr to a medical system, respirator, surgical masks, and PPE, which initially mentioned the Zephyr “presents the identical performance and sufficient safety attributable to its 99% BFE ranking.” It now says “Razer Zephyr is just not a medical system, respirator, surgical masks or private protecting tools (PPE) and isn’t meant for use on medical or scientific settings.”
On Saturday, January eighth, Razer printed a weblog to its website referred to as “The Science Behind Razer Zephyr” that gives the outcomes of each take a look at that the corporate put the Zephyr by way of (related or to not the subject of filtration) earlier than coming to market. It issued an replace (with none point out of what modified) to this submit immediately, January tenth, that included bits from the assertion above, together with explicitly stating that the Zephyr and Zephyr Professional are “not licensed N95 masks,” together with eradicating each point out of “N95” that was discovered within the authentic weblog submit printed Saturday.
The takeaway from the take a look at outcomes that the weblog discloses is that, whereas Razer did put the Zephyr by way of a number of inner assessments, it nonetheless wants exterior assessment from knowledgeable companies earlier than folks can really feel assured that it’s gone by way of a rigorous analysis. That extends to the Zephyr Professional, a model of the masks that provides voice amplification that’s set to return out someday in 2022, as nicely.
When the Zephyr was initially introduced at CES 2021 as Venture Hazel, we famous that it lacked “any of the mandatory approvals and certifications from the Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, or Occupational Security and Well being Administration.”
When Razer launched Zephyr in late October 2021, it nonetheless hadn’t gotten adequate testing to be thought-about PPE, and we observed that the corporate referred to it as an “air air purifier” in its advertising and marketing (whereas nonetheless touting N95-grade filters). Shortly afterward, my colleague Nicole Wetsman and I interviewed Razer’s Jeff Sandoval at our On The Verge occasion, and Nicole pressed him on the Zephyr’s lack of clearances from companies just like the FDA and NIOSH (on the 9:04 mark).
