Razer fined for their supposedly N95 Zephyr RGB Mask.

[Mope El Two]

Summary

Not only was the Zephyr mask a totally stupid concept, it may not have been an N95.

 

Quotes

Quote

The sellers of a supposed N95-grade face mask called the Zephyr will pay more than $1.1 million to provide full refunds to consumers nationwide 

 

My thoughts

A weird idea to begin with, but according to the FTC, the company never submitted the mask for the required testing in order to certify it N95.  Now everyone who purchased one is to get a full refund.  I believe I remember Linus calling the mask "stupid."  If you look at the FTC site, Razer has actually stipulated to paying this fine. 

 

Sources

Razer | Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov)

Order: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Razer-PACER-No3-1-ProposedStipulatedOrder.pdf

Edited April 30 by SansVarnic

[filpo]

5 minutes ago, Mope El Two said:

Not only was the Zephyr mask a totally stupid concept

 

5 minutes ago, Mope El Two said:

believe I remember Linus calling the mask "stupid." 

it even looks stupid

 

 

Where was it said that it was an 'N99'?

Edited April 30 by filpo

[Orangeator]

23 minutes ago, filpo said:

 

it even looks stupid

 

 

Where was it said that it was an 'N99'?

Where are you seeing this? I only see N95 in the complaint and stipulated order.

[filpo]

5 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Where are you seeing this? I only see N95 in the complaint and stipulated order.

in the title for the topic

[HanZie82]

35 minutes ago, Mope El Two said:

This template is a guide for the Tech News Posting Guidelines. Please read the guidelines in the pinned topic before posting, otherwise your post may be removed without warning. If you prefer, you can clear the editor to use your own layout by clicking the trash can icon above, but make sure you incorporate all of these sections and follow the Posting Guidelines.

 

Remove all of the italicised text before posting.

or dont.

35 minutes ago, Mope El Two said:

Summary

Not only was the Zephyr mask a totally stupid concept, it may not have been an N95.

Just another one trying to get rich of a situation most people have no control over.
So yeah get them for anything they did wrong, in a time where it was important to help each other...

[Somerandomtechyboi]

47 minutes ago, Mope El Two said:

 

"he just has a good gaming mask"

[soldier_ph]

lol what ? Get rekt Razer. I thought this Mask was just an April fools joke.

[darknessblade]

To be honest I always thought this was a april-fools joke. never thought it was a actual product.

 

still interesting to see that it wasn't N95 rated.

[CarlBar]

Yeah i think this falls firmly into "Fuck Around, Find Out", or possibly "Do Stupid Thing, Win Stupid Prizes".

[dizmo]

IMO they should be heavily fined for making false claims about a product tied to safety. These slaps on the wrist are pathetic. 

[atxcyclist]

49 minutes ago, dizmo said:

IMO they should be heavily fined for making false claims about a product tied to safety. These slaps on the wrist are pathetic. 

Yep, making ineffective safety equipment during a pandemic is so scummy. Giving someone that could be sick the false sense of security that their mask was keeping them from spreading a virus, really sucks and I would personally feel terrible if I gave someone else covid. When I had it I interacted with as few people as possible, but when I absolutely had to I wore a rated mask. 

[Salted Spinach]

Wait people actually bought these for N95 capability?

[Poinkachu]

7 hours ago, atxcyclist said:

Yep, making ineffective safety equipment during a pandemic is so scummy. Giving someone that could be sick the false sense of security that their mask was keeping them from spreading a virus, really sucks and I would personally feel terrible if I gave someone else covid. When I had it I interacted with as few people as possible, but when I absolutely had to I wore a rated mask. 

The worst part is the claim,

Claiming it to be up to a certain safety rating while it's not however is a dipshit move, especially if the move is made by a big company, since people are more inclined to believe the claim made by such company.

[Mope El Two]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:37 AM, HanZie82 said:

or dont.

Just another one trying to get rich of a situation most people have no control over.
So yeah get them for anything they did wrong, in a time where it was important to help each other...

How were they helping if the mask didn't block the virus?

[Mope El Two]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:30 AM, Orangeator said:

Where are you seeing this? I only see N95 in the complaint and stipulated order.

Yeah, I missed my typo in the title.

[Mope El Two]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:30 AM, Orangeator said:

Where are you seeing this? I only see N95 in the complaint and stipulated order.

The stipulated order includes the monetary fine.

[wanderingfool2]

On 4/30/2024 at 12:29 PM, CarlBar said:

Yeah i think this falls firmly into "Fuck Around, Find Out", or possibly "Do Stupid Thing, Win Stupid Prizes".

What really annoys me though is that the only thing they get in trouble for is the fact that they used the term N95 in their marketing [even though it might be using N95 grade filters like it was apparently advertised].

 

I'm assuming there is more, but generally I think it would be better to have laws that enforce deceptive products in a marketplace in general [not just because the term N95 was used]...don't get me wrong, I think this mask was terrible at protecting as they didn't include things like a 1 way check valve, but it seems like they might have still used N95 grade filters...just the design of the mask didn't make it N95 cert.  So while I do think it's bad using N95 in marketing especially with a health kind of product there should be better laws surrounding things in general.

 

e.g. MasterLock and their absolutely garbage locks that they sometimes rate quite high [that can be opened with a simple comb pick].

Or when WD starting selling 7200rpm drives as "5400 rpm class" drives.

Or the whole "military grade" classification

Even "Chocolaty" as they don't use chocolate

 

There should be just general laws surrounding all intentional misleading claims.

[Godlygamer23]

Here's a review of this product when it first came out: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/review-i-wore-razers-zephyr-n95-mask-for-two-weeks-so-you-dont-have-to/

 

Turns out it really wasn't N95 certified.

[Salted Spinach]

No doubt Razer is in the wrong for false advertisement

 

What worries me is the vast majority of people looking to buy N95 masks without splurging on an overpriced RGB face accessory, and ended up with one of the 999 listings of normal-ish masks that also did not meet N95 standards

 

Commuter: Gosh I need to commute to work today. I need an N95 mask for protection. Better buy this overpriced mask from an electronics brand that has an obsession with RGB

 

Hospital worker: Gosh my workplace presents a high risk of airborne disease transmission. Better put my thought skills to work and buy this N95 unverified RGB mask

 

I guess there are issues more concerning than covid

[strajk-]

There is a difference between criticizing them for making ineffective equipment and criticizing them for calling it something it isn't due to not going through certification, so I would be careful with what you write about this situation...

 

Both aren't mutually exclusive, however as far I can read into this, they're being fined for calling it N95 despite the product not having the required certification to be allowed to be labeled as such, for all we know it could be as effective or even more effective than your traditional N95 mask.

[Brian McKee]

On 5/2/2024 at 2:47 AM, strajk- said:

Both aren't mutually exclusive, however as far I can read into this, they're being fined for calling it N95 despite the product not having the required certification to be allowed to be labeled as such, for all we know it could be as effective or even more effective than your traditional N95 mask.

Or it can be horribly ineffective. That's the thing about official designations like N95, it creates an expectation in the buyer. If they never claimed anything no one would care how it performs, but they did so someone buying it could conceivably expect a baseline level of protection from certain hazards when it could not do anything.

[wanderingfool2]

On 5/1/2024 at 11:47 PM, strajk- said:

There is a difference between criticizing them for making ineffective equipment and criticizing them for calling it something it isn't due to not going through certification, so I would be careful with what you write about this situation...

 

Both aren't mutually exclusive, however as far I can read into this, they're being fined for calling it N95 despite the product not having the required certification to be allowed to be labeled as such, for all we know it could be as effective or even more effective than your traditional N95 mask.

I was originally thinking the same thing, but they would have to have some miracle for it to actually act at the level of N95...simply because as mentioned they didn't have a one way checkvalve...so if you were breathing heavily at all the exhaust port would also be letting in air [which was away from the N95 filters].  Had such a check-valve existed I would likely agree that it might have been able to pass as N95...but in this case the evidence [not from this fine] indicates it didn't meet the requirements.

 

8 hours ago, Brian McKee said:

Or it can be horribly ineffective. That's the thing about official designations like N95, it creates an expectation in the buyer. If they never claimed anything no one would care how it performs, but they did so someone buying it could conceivably expect a baseline level of protection from certain hazards when it could not do anything.

Honestly, this is where I would like to see all the ads and specs they listed about this.  If they were careful about saying that it contains N95 grade filters, while bad, I do think it's better than if lets say they called the mask itself N95.

 

Honestly though, if they had some form of check-valve on it I wouldn't be surprised if it did a decent job compared to many of the N95 paper masks. [But alas it didn't]