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I use Kimtech 53358, also US-made and N95. Its a "duck-mask" and seems to be available at $1 each.

The Kimtech 53358 has far superior breathability compared to the Moldex 2200. Most importantly, the Kimtech "Duckmask" is foldable, and easily stores inside of an envelope, purse, handback, backpack (etc. etc.)

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Moldex 2200 is cheap, solid, and durable. Its straps are a bit tight but provide a superior seal. The Kimtech feels looser and probably isn't quite as good of a seal as the Moldex.

Still, the greater comfort and cheaper price from the Kimtech 53358 has made it my N95 mask of choice. Being able to fold the mask and store it away is a huge advantage, it means I can carry 3, 4, 5 Kimtech 53448 with me at all times (in case I sneeze in the mask and want to throw it away).

Sneezing inside of a Moldex 2200 is more high-risk, because its unlikely you're carrying a spare. The mask design is just too bulky to seriously carry spares.

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I do own 3M stock, and 3M masks are also pretty good :-) Maybe I should plug them so that the stock price goes up? Unfortunately, 3M masks seem to be sold out and/or at much higher prices whenever I'm shopping for masks.

EDIT: Got the number wrong initially, woops.

I find the Moldex 2200 uncomfortable too, along with any of their masks that use the cheap elastic double-straps. The good Moldex masks are the ones that have an adjustable “Handi-Strap”, which is absolutely amazing. These straps are made of braided textile that doesn’t snag your hair, they can be tension-adjusted using a plastic toggle, and they allow the mask to comfortably hang around your neck when not in use without it applying tension to your chin (unlike, say, the Moldex 2200).

Also, the corrugation in the AirWave line is absolutely essential once you’ve tried it. Even the AirWave masks that don’t have valves have lower exhale resistance than 3M masks that do have valves, like the 3M 8511. It’s a night-and-day difference to me in terms of comfort — having a conversation in an AirWave is so easy it’s almost like wearing a surgical mask, and with the added bonus of it not touching your mouth when you speak.

I wear a Moldex 4600, which have both the Handi-Strap and AirWave features.

They aren’t foldable, but they’re worth it.

I don't know about their masks, but the kimtech wipes that are rated for ISO level 4 and 5 cleanrooms are a staple consumable supply for anyone that deals with raw singlemode fiber optic cable (fusion splicing it in outdoor and datacenter/commercial environments, mostly).

Other made in the USA N95 options include Prestige Ameritech[1] which was referenced in Rick Bright's testimony mid 2020 [2] when masks were extremely scarce in the USA. It seems to buy genuine Prestige Ameritech masks, one needs to go through a medical supplies distributor and instead, I opted to buy direct through their ProGear consumer sales channel [3][4]. There is also DemeTech, which also manufactures in the USA [5].

[1] https://www.prestigeameritech.com/ [2] https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2020/05/14/ousted-sc... [3] https://www.prestigeameritech.com/progearmasks [4] https://www.progearhealth.com/ [5] https://www.demetech.us/

THere was a story on here a couple days ago about someone that tested a lot of masks.

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

They also manufacture masks (although those are sold now, I’ve purchase them before). They seem to be reselling American made masks now:

https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-r...

Thanks for posting this! I've been exclusively using Powecom KN95s from Bonafidemasks.com; glad to see they get a pass.

> This is one (of many) reasons I always buy NIOSH N95’s.

I doubt that a NIOSH marking is harder to counterfeit than the rest of the mask.

Also, I'm very surprised at that claim that the straps are expensive. They are just elastic strips as far as I can tell. I've never had any issues with hair snags. Main issue I've had is that they break off of the mask at the weld point. I end up glueing them back on with hot glue.

> I doubt that a NIOSH marking is harder to counterfeit than the rest of the mask.

Unless you're some kind of hacker who can add their product to this list: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part...

It seems pretty hard to counterfeit.

Just print the relevant markings on the fake mask?

That’s my point — you can never trust a KN95 because it’s trivial to manufacture something that looks and feels like a KN95 but isn’t real. A NIOSH N95 isn’t like that — the straps require an unusual amount of stretch and tension, and they’re expensive to make. You’d notice immediately if you purchased a counterfeit mask, because the braided material on more expensive N95’s is unique in a way you can feel — it stretches farther than any rubber band you’ve ever used, and it doesn’t snap or lose tension from overstretching.

> and it doesn’t snap or lose tension from overstretching.

Not quite.

The big-name brands (Moldex, 3M, Kimtech) have good elastic. But I've been shopping at the $1 (and below) price point, and there's some pretty crap N95 masks out there. There's a lot of smaller brands trying to make a name for themselves right now, and are just barely qualifying for N95 ratings.

Still, the crappiest N95 is leagues better than the best KN95 I've ever used.

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I'm mostly willing to give the smaller manufacturers a try. Though with Omicron numbers falling in my area (about damn time), maybe this will all be behind us soon...

The advisory suggests that there are knock-offs fraudulently marked with approved brand names, so you'd need to order direct from the manufacturer to be sure.

We got some of these, and my question is if they are any worse than the double layer knit cotton masks (with no nose wire) that my workplace was issuing. If these were marketed without the false claims, and only had the actual filtration specs, would people just think they are an acceptable step down from the real thing? The tests from a post a few days ago seemed to say most were at least in the high 85% but what is a cloth mask?

Aaron Collins on YouTube tests a lot of the masks widely available in the market for filtration and pressure tests. He compiles a Google docs sheet of his findings.

https://www.youtube.com/user/coll0412/videos

Do you have a link to the google doc? I didn't immediately see one on the video page. I wasn't up to watching any videos right now but will try to watch at least one sometime.

I will also try to order some masks from the guy who tested the Amazon masks (I'll have to find the link again).

This video description has the link to the sheet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf90U79vR8Q

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M0mdNLpTWEGcluK6hh5L...

That is the advantage of Moldex. It isn't worth counterfeiting them when 3M and other name brands have simpler construction.

If your straps are welded, are you sure you’re using a NIOSH N95? N95 straps are, as far as I know, always stapled instead of welded. I don’t believe welds are strong enough to hold the force required by a NIOSH N95.

The straps on higher-quality respirators are not just elastic, they’re some kind of finely braided textile that doesn’t snag hair. The sole difference between the 3M 8210 and the 3M 8210+ is whether it has these more expensive straps.

I have 8210 N95s and yes, they’re welded (as confirmed on the 3M website):

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000585997/

Wow, I’m surprised that’s possible — 3M staples their textile straps at least, and Moldex staples both textile and rubber. I’ve never bothered with the cheaper 8210 model with rubber straps, just the 8210+ and the 1860, which both use textile straps and staples.

I thought straps were welded to avoid making potentially leaking punctures by stapling or sewing. I don't understand this issue of hair snags. I have hair, and either my elastic straps don't snag on it, or they snag and I don't notice it as a problem. I'll try to get some 3m masks and check out this special fabric but if it's like the fabric on headlamp straps, it doesn't seem that expensive and it doesn't seem like that big an improvement over fabric.

As for the serial numbers: hmm, maybe that could help, but if each number is unique and 1/10th of them actually get checked, then the counterfeiter can just copy a bunch of unique ones and go undetected 99% of the time. (1/10th of the good masks and 1/10th of the counterfeits would be checked, and a detected duplicate would have to be in the intersection of those two sets). In fact if good masks come from known and trusted suppliers, they're even less likely to be checked, so more of the counterfeits can get through.

What we really need is an affordable way to test masks at home. It doesn't have to be super precise. A green-yellow-red led for good-marginal-bad would be fine.

3M has a neat solution to that. On the bottom of each box is a randomly generated code. You can type that code into a 3M web site to see if it's valid. Once. If that number has been queried before, it tells you that. So you initial and date each box after checking.