Has the 3M Aura finally met its match? German made Hard FFP2 earloop mask tested every possible way.

Описание: There is lots of buzz around the German made Hard FFP2 masks being a worthy replacement for 3M Auras, but with convenient earloops and nice colors. I tested one against a 3M Aura, then to see if I could improve the Hard earloop FFP2 I installed different parts from the Aura one at a time and tested the Hard FFP2 again, and again. Here are the results:

00:53 Hard Earloop FFP2 – 10 Fit Factor | 10% Total Inward Leak

02:18 3M Aura Hacked with Earloops – 303 Fit Factor | .33% Total Inward Leak

(not in video) Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Headbands – 12 Fit Factor | 8.3% Total Inward Leak

04:04 Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Headbands – 7.7 Fit Factor | 13% Total Inward Leak

06:34 Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Nosewire – 31 Fit Factor | 3.2% Total Inward Leak

07:18 Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Headbands & Nosewire – 43 Fit Factor | 2.3% Total Inward Leak

08:08 Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Nosewire & Nosefoam – 56 Fit Factor | 1.8% Total Inward Leak

08:38 Hard Earloop FFP2 with Aura Headbands, Nosewire & Nosefoam – 50 Fit Factor | 2% Total Inward Leak

Fit is very individual. YMMV. I have a high nose bridge that needs a very good nose wire to get a good fit, so your fit could be very different than mine. One take didn't make the video because the microphone wasn't on. I think the small differences are too close to call, such as the head bands vs. earloops, whereas the Aura nosewire made a significant difference, which is consistent with similar tests I've done with other masks.

Overall I'd say the Hard FFP2 needs a better nose wire. It performs about as well on me as an LG Airwasher KF94, and the nose wire is almost identical to the Airwasher. Spoiler: It is not an Aura killer. But check out the video to see if it might be good enough for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteri...

Thanks to Redittor ElectronGuru for the mask to test.

---

There are two basic kinds of fit testing used for N95s and other filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs): the kind I do with a particle counter mask fit testing machine ("quantitative") in the video, and the kind where a flavored aerosol is used, that you can taste if the aerosol gets through your mask ("qualitative").I'm doing a very abbreviated version of mask fit testing with just a static 60 second test, but I'm using the same type of particle count test used on N100 masks, so some of the fit test scores may be lower than if I used the less demanding N95 mask fit test.

Testing for workplace use involves moving your head and body to make sure the mask works even when you aren't sitting still.

In the video I'm using a PortaCount mask fit testing machine that gives scores in "Fit Factor".Fit factor is the the concentration of ambient particles outside the mask divided by the concentration inside the mask. So if there were 1000 particles outside and 10 inside, 1000 divided by 10 is 100, so the air inside the mask is 100 times cleaner and the fit factor is 100. The Portacount counts particles from .02 to 1 micron in size.

If you have questions about masks, please leave a comment.

You can also get feed back on respirators on Reddit:  / masksforeveryone