I've just been loaned a Trend Airshield powered respirator by a friend to "try before I buy". It seems to work really well but the only things which are really putting me off are:
(i) the cost - £154 seems a huge amount of money to pay for some bits of plastic, a small fan, a battery, a battery charger and a couple of filters. (ii) the plastic seems rather thin - I'm sure that it wouldn't take too much to damage it - although I understand that if it were much thicker it would adversely increase the weight. (iii) the user manual says that the life of the product should be about 3 years - I assume this would be based on daily use. I'd probably be using it a couple of times a week so I would guess that this would extend it's actual life - otherwise it would be costing me about £50 per year, plus spare filters, plus recharging. (iv) cost of consumables is quite high - so not only is the purchase cost high but the running costs would be high as well. Depends on how often I'd need to change filters I suppose.
And yet when I look at the benefits it's actually rather tempting. I haven't really found a comparable product in it's class in the UK to compare it with so I don't know whether this is a good deal or not - or whether to continue with the canister type respirator which is sweaty round the chin, full of glop after a short time and the elastic straps of which would probably damage my new specs. I'd be interested to hear your views/experiences/recommendations.
Thanks in advance
Ron Headon Swindon, England