If you decided to walk down to the neighborhood supermarket wearing your new Razer Zephyr “wearable air purifier” and a lab coat, you might cause a major panic. Unless you did it on Halloween, maybe. That’s how “airborne toxic event” these badass things look.
They’d be a little scary even without the lab coat. “Breathe in the future with the Razer Zephyr,” says the company’s website, with seemingly unintentional menace.
Razer Zephyr: Many months in the making, sold out in minutes
A lot of folks took notice when Razer, known for its gaming gear, rolled out its futuristic new Zephyr face mask at CES 2021 back in January, amid the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. After months of tweaking — but not FDA approval as a protective measure against disease — the new contraption finally came out Thursday night.
The Best of CES 2021 product, the Razer Zephyr wearable air purifier is finally here in limited quantities. Outfitted with thoughtful smart innovations, stay protected with N95 Grade filters & enjoy social interactions at ease with the transparent design. https://t.co/GYZgUXnsdK pic.twitter.com/L3ii86D5sL
— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) October 22, 2021
And the masks, not cheap at $99 each, sold out in minutes, the company said.
As you can see in the images, the “FDA-registered” Zephyr isn’t some surgical mask or multilayered cloth covering like the many you’ve seen in the past 18 months. It’s not a typical N95 mask either, though it includes N95 filters you can replace.
It’s also partially transparent, so others can sort of see your face. It even has interior and exterior lights that you can customize with the Razer Chroma RGB app. And it has internal fans to make breathing easier. And yet it’s supposedly light enough to wear while jogging.
Perfect gift for the doomsday prepper?
Maybe it’s just us, but it looks like something out of a documentary about doomsday preppers, or maybe a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie where the atmosphere has been rendered toxic.
Probably the doomsday preppers on your holiday list already have really good gas masks, but this is something to keep in mind.
And yet — or maybe because of the post-apocalyptic cool factor — Razer fans and probably others flocked to grab the masks. As you can see in the tweet below, Razer invites folks to sign up for notification of future Zephyr availability.
The demand for the Razer Zephyr has been overwhelming and our first wave is sold out within minutes. Stay tuned and appreciate your patience as we work hard to restock them as fast as we can. Sign up to be notified when the next batch arrives: https://t.co/GYZgUXnsdK pic.twitter.com/YSNBuYuRaW
— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) October 22, 2021
Basic version and version with many filters
The basic $99.99 products includes the mask, a carrying tote, a USB-C charging cable, anti-fog spray and three sets of replaceable N95 filters (nine days of use). A $149.99 version includes everything mentioned above, plus 33 sets of filters for 99 days of filtered use. Separately, filters in sets of 10 are $29.99, for 30 days of use.
Price: $99 or $149
Where to check availability: Razer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP_rbaHPkes
