lloydarmbrust

That's because the rails didn't really exist for hiring the kind of talent modern startups needed until recently. We've had about 10 developers in LATAM for 3-4 years and it's been a game changer for my companies.

This data set took me 2 years to compile but just recently seemed complete enough to post.

Yes! Use these: https://www.armbrustusa.com/products/armbrust-ear-savers

Screenshot this post and let support@ that I said to include a pack for free with your earloop replacement.

It wasn't optimized for mobile but is now... please LMK what you think!

great mask would recommend

Paul Graham

Thanks! Honestly didn't do this to directly sell masks... according to shopify we have made a whopping $248 from this post

Adding this to the feature list

Nice! Fixed

If it helps 100% of my grandparents are from Germany :) might be obvious by my last name.

hahaha got me on that one.

woot

Done

Okay I put a disclaimer and typing up a post to link to LMK what you think: https://www.armbrustusa.com/pages/mask-testing

Okay I put a disclaimer right on the front and we are typing up an explanation right now. Thank you for this feedback!

https://www.armbrustusa.com/pages/mask-testing

These are good points. Working on rewording this now.

Okay working on this now.. thanks for the suggestion. I should note that even N95 is extremely effected by fit. I've gotten as low as 80% filtration on a flat-fold N95.

Yes but it differs from model to model.

I get as low as 80% and as high as 99% on my face.

Fit is a big deal because it's personal and hard to communicate. I think it was Amazon that found when scanning their workforce that they discovered 29 different face shapes!

Yes the reasons for failing are in our testing notes being transcribed now. Over 250 hours of actual testing just to get to this part and with Omicron we wanted to get the raw data up ASAP.

Notes should be live in about 275 of them hopefully today.

Okay we updated the site to work on mobile. Thanks for this... seems obvious now but total miss on our part.

Thank you!!

We have updated the mobile view please LMK what you think.

Using the industry standard TSI PORTACOUNT® RESPIRATOR FIT TESTER 8048

It measures the air outside the mask verses inside the mask.

https://tsi.com/products/respirator-fit-testers/portacount-r...

IYKYK

A few things. The PFE test I'm doing is a 2min test and doesn't tell you what the mask will do under load (all day use). It's really a simple way to tell if the mask sucks but not if the mask is good (if that makes sense).

If someone doesn't label the mask correctly...are they even reading the standard?

The gb2626-2019 standard is 57 pages and in it you have to do a lot of very technical testing. One test requires several days of testing in a lab and is very expensive, but it's designed to make sure the mask performs under actual use (called the loading test).

If the manufacture isn't willing to put some simple words on a mask, do you think they did this complicated several-day test? Probably not.

IMO it's the brown M&M or canary in the coal mine test.

Haha thanks.. this one got out of hand. People kept asking me if x or y mask was "good" and I was just really curious... one day I looked up and had tested more masks than the CDC.

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.

Not exactly.. it really depends on the situation.

For example an ASTM 2 or 3 surgical mask fabric has a filtration of 98%+

On my face I have a leakage of about 21% or PFE of 79% when worn normally.

With an ear saver, it jumps to 91%.

With a mask brace, it jumps to 98%.

So it really is about the fit.

If I put leakage % it would vary from person to person and many people would be mislead by this.

In the US the standards for adults are the same as kids... in China they just came out with a new standard but for reasons I wont go into we don't cover it (very China specific).

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 :)

Just realized you dont see the full data set unless you are on desktop...

Looks cool too!

Yes, it took us a long time to get it right... manufacturing is hard but that's why we have an earloop guarantee. Write support@armbrust.com and they will refund you or get you a new order.