Envo Mask N95 Respirator Kit

If you wear glasses, you know that most N95 masks cause your glasses to fog. Not this one - it has a good seal around the face area so that exhaled air only exits the mask through the exhale valve and through the filter, both of which keep the warm, humid exhaled air away from your glasses. This mask is VERY comfortable and can be worn all day long. If you need to be able to remove the mask briefly, then the model with the ear hooks allows you to easily remove the mask and put it back on easily and quickly. The filters last a long time when used in a normal atmosphere. A very good design.

The Amazon product page says “Made in the USA”.The box it came in has "USA, USA and imported” printed on the outside.An insert inside the box, with the mask, has "designed in USA, manufactured in CHiNA”. Based on that initial confusion, I wonder if any of the rest of the info about the mask and its effectiveness is valid.[See update below.]As to the mask itself, it’s surprisingly comfortable and it fits my small face. Most masks are too large to work well for me. The seal around the edge of the mask is a soft, gel-like “gasket” which snugs up nicely against my face and seems to provide a good seal all around.Despite what the product page says, THIS MASK HAS NO EXHALATION VALVE. A white plug is included with the mask, but it serves no purpose other than to fill in the empty space under the "envo mask” label on the mask.The headgear is the strangest I’ve seen on any mask. It’s basically an elastic band with hooks on the end. Place the middle of the band over your head and drape it across your neck. Then pull to lift the mask onto your face, and EITHER loop the hooks on the end over your ears, OR hook them together over your head. Seems like it would be really uncomfortable, but it isn’t. Not a great design, though. (Notice that none of the photos on the page are of models with the mask on where you can see the back of the head, probably because the joined hooks look really awkward and uncomfortable.)UPDATE:After posting the above review, I was contacted by the manufacturer. Their reply is below [edited]:"We take pride in providing high-quality products to our customers. Our commitment to quality extends to the sourcing of materials used in our manufacturing process."We want to clarify that while our mask kits are manufactured in the US, specifically in New Hampshire, we source our materials locally and globally to maintain the standards of excellence that you expect from us."The filter cover...is an accessory piece to the respirator and it is made in China. It is not the main piece of the mask.Thank you for...taking the time to express your concerns. We want you to have complete confidence in our masks and us.Thank you,Clear Air, LLC

Getting an airtight seal from your respirator is critical for it to work. Without that, unfiltered air gets into your mask by going around the filter media. This Envomask does not fit me, causing air leaks at the nose bridge. There is only the one size, so there is nothing I can do to make it fit me better. For me, the mask is completely useless as respiratory protection.The Envomask failed all exercises of a full OSHA PortaCount fit test, as worn normally with the provided earhook/neck strap (tested on me and not the mannequin shown in the photos). However, fit is very individual, so your fit could be different. Sleepnet has study data showing the mask can fit many people very well and provide them with excellent protection. I'm just not one of those people.As an overview, this is a legit N95 mask, approved by NIOSH. It's an elastomeric respirator classified as a "quarter mask" (as opposed to a "half mask") because the bottom part seals against the front of your chin rather than under it. It's got a hard plastic frame, and a face seal that has very thin, fragile plastic film over a squishy gel to make an airtight seal around the perimeter of the mask - a seal you can only get ***if your face is the same shape as the hard plastic frame***. The frame does not flex, and the gel seal isn't thick enough to make up for that lack of flexibility if your face doesn't match the shape of the frame. My face does not match the shape of the frame.The mask fits me a little better than it does my mannequin because when the gel runs out of squish the hard plastic frame can try to squish my face instead, to brute force the fit a bit. The mask leaves gaps at my nose bridge, even when the earhook straps are tightened to uncomfortable levels. And the mask is too shallow for me - the tip of my nose touches the grill on the inside of the mask. On me, the mask is uncomfortable, ill fitting, and leaky.Getting an elasomeric mask that fits you can be tricky and expensive - there are no standardized sizes, and each make and model of mask can fit very differently. They typically can't be returned, so you wind up with a pile of respirators and a dwindling bank account.If you have a high or thin nose bridge this may not be the mask for you. Same for people like me who need the mask to fit high up on their nose bridge - this mask is designed to seal lower, which just doesn't work for me in terms of a seal, and also pushes my nasal passages closed. Wide faces may also be a poor fit because of the curve of the hard plastic frame as shown in the photos.There are some other quirks to this mask, including that although this is the "valveless" version - a mask the filters air both ways to protect the wearer and people around them - Sleepnet made the modification a lazy way. They didn't make a new version of the mask. This is the *same version*, complete with holes in the filters and valve in the mask. They just include a white plug and a filter cover grill that has had the louvers for the valve made solid. This works fine for source control, but you still lose the surface area of the filter that was cut out to make room for the valve, so the mask has higher inhalation resistance than if they had fixed it properly and made a proper source control version with no valve. (They do have a new "Pro" mask that has a true valveless option.)Overall, this fancy mask has been a disappointment. Not every mask can fit everyone, but I had hoped this could work for me. But it's not even a close call. Your fit could be vary different.

I work in healthcare and many of our staff members have switched to these masks for personal protection. They are MUCH more comfortable that standard N95 masks. We have to purchase our own filters as opposed to the facility footing the bill for the normal masks. But it is worth it. These feel great. Just try one of those others for 10-12 hours! Very little to worry about with regard to fitment with these too. If you actually have a need for use for an N95, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these!