When Razer started selling the Zephyr high-tech face mask for $99 last year, some folks were disappointed that it was missing a feature that the company had teased back when Zephyr was still in the concept phase: voice amplification.
The company said it decided to launch the mask without a microphone and speaker to keep the price low and make the face mask comfortable to wear. But this year Razer is planning to offer an option for folks who really want that speaker anyway: the Razer Zephyr Pro with voice amplification is coming this year for $150.
Like the original Zephyr, the new Zephyr Pro is a mask with a clear front panel that allows people to see your mouth as you talk, RGB lighting to illuminate your face in the dark, a silicone face seal, dual straps and dual air intake fans to keep you cool while wearing the mask.
It’s designed to work with replaceable filters and the $150 price tag comes with 10 filters, which should be good enough for 30 days of regular use. You can also pay $200 for a Zephyr Pro bundled with a 99-day supply (33 filters).
What’s new for the Pro model is the inclusion of a microphone inside the mask and stereo speakers that will project your voice at up to 60 dB at a range of 1 meter (3.3 feet). It’s designed to make up for the fact that the face mask itself muffles your voice – a problem confirmed by reviews of the original Zephyr.
Razer will show off the Zephyr Pro face mask at CES this week, but the company hasn’t yet announced when you’ll be able to actually buy one… if that’s something you want to do. After all, not only is it an expensive face mask solution, but it’s unclear if it offers the same level of protection as a disposable N95 or KN95 mask.
Seems like Grant Russell beat me to it … nonetheless …
Will it be possible to add a voice distorter between the microphone and the speakers? If so, every criminal will want one. And youngsters will want one so that they can sound like Darth Vader or a dalek.
Nah.
I think common, brute-force criminals are doing just fine hiding their identities with cheap surgical masks and hoods. They don’t really need to alter their voices much. I don’t think there’s a lot of in-person fraud, where a criminal has to talk to someone face to face, done these days either. And scammers don’t need to spend $150 to change their voices.
Disgusting.
What he said.
The voice muffling wasn’t the problem, the reason I sent mine back is the silicone doesn’t seal against the hard plastic body. Since it doesn’t seal it doesn’t filter. It’s a plastic moulding problem that tightening the straps doesn’t fix so I bet loads of units have the same issue. I replaced it with an ffp3 mask for a fifth the price that actually filters air.
If it has Sci-Fi themed voice modifiers, I’ll…….. still not buy one, but it would be cool.
I was surprised the last version sold out. I guess a lot of gamer RGB fans wanted it. I really hope hardly anybody wants this one when it’s available because that might be because the pandemic is over by then.
Anyway, I’ll stick to the non-flamboyant N95s that have official NIOSH ratings and I’ve been using for years.
I think maybe it was bought up by people who either
1. wanted separate intake and exhaust valves over each filter and presumed it had that (which it doesn’t seem to have, as the ARS review mentions there’s three air vents)
2. want the ability to take the cartridges out and breathe unfiltered air undetected.
3. What’s a bigger show of mask usage for likes on social media? A bigger mask.
4. With this design, there’s less material in contact with your skin, and that might have been more bothersome than the weight to some people.
And until recently I had doubts that pandemic would ever end, but now I think it may be declared “over” this year for a few reasons, at least in the US. But some things it left behind are never going away until enough people make them.