I think we should all agree on one thing during this time of the pandemic: Wear a mask. Yes, I know it’s an inconvenience and uncomfortable, especially when walking briskly or being physically active, but people’s lives depend on it and so you honestly have no excuse. And brush your teeth more regularly so that your own bad breath doesn’t kill you all the time.
Thankfully, technology is likely to once again coming to our rescue though, making it a lot easier to wear a mask while still getting to enjoy actual fresh air from outside. This comes as LG announces a new portable air purifying mask which represents the next phase in making all of us look and sound a lot more like Bane.
The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier makes use of a pair of replaceable filters and matches them with battery-powered fans to assist in your breathing. The 820mAh battery provides up to eight hours of use in its low-power mode, dropping to just two hours in high-power mode. The mask itself has sensors that will also detect whether you are breathing or not and adjust the fans accordingly. It will, however, not call a medic should you stop breathing entirely – but I guess if you are wearing this you should be in public and someone will be around to help you out. Or just kick you even harder and take your face mask from you. Fun times.
The company is however not trying to market the device as a solution to the COVID pandemic, which is probably a good thing given that the idea is to still keep people socially distanced. Also, unlike traditional air conditioning systems, this one doesn’t filter the air out – as that would otherwise defeat the point and is simply just responsible for circulating your own cleaner air around. So, it’s not pure oxygen, but it’s definitely better than your own mask.
The mask is expected for release in the final quarter of the year, though LG has not revealed all the markets it will be coming. It’s also not clear exactly how much this will cost. When it does though, please don’t all cosplay Bane at once.
Last Updated: September 7, 2020
Mark Treloar
September 7, 2020 at 20:17
Overpriced and pointless
konfab
September 7, 2020 at 23:36
That sounds like psudoscience garbage for guillatble idiots with too much money and too little virtue to signal.
Your lungs cycle about 11 000 liters of air a day. And LG comes along and says that two small computer fans powered by a watch battery is somehow going to do anything to assist that.
And I really do not think that the air this device produces will be cleaner than the air that has been basking under hours of UV radiation.
Insomnia is fun
September 8, 2020 at 05:21
I’d try this for air travel, I’m always a little ill after long flights. Not sure if it’s the recycled air or if it’s the dry air but it messes up my sinuses
HvR
September 8, 2020 at 10:11
From my ENT, combination of long exposure of low air pressure screwing up the normal sinus functions and irritants, bacteria and viruses building up due to the recycled air. Try nasal rinse before and after the flight, helped me a lot.
Insomnia is fun
September 8, 2020 at 12:20
Thanks
HvR
September 8, 2020 at 10:11
Needs RGB
Jarred
September 8, 2020 at 08:21
Was listening to a podcast with some doctors on the weekend and they said that this mask is a bit of a gimmick. They said it’s good for the person wearing it but will not protect other people in the room which as we know is half the problem. So I would stay away from this (not that I can imagine anyone buying it anyway…)
JWT-80
September 8, 2020 at 17:31
breathe*
(sorry)