Trend Airshield vs Axminster Evolution APF10 Respirator?

I’m looking to buy a respirator for mostly woodturning work on a lathe. DOes anyone have the Evolution respirator from Axminster or the Airshield from Trend? I’m trying to determine which is better for my needs. I wear glasses so want to avoid them fogging and will only be using for a few hours at a time. Both are a similar price point although the Air Shield is £20 less on Amazon:

Thanks

Hi Tim;
There are two Trend Air Shield models. The original Air shield; which I have; and the Air Shield Pro. I am not sure if the original model is still available. I use my original model when I am working at my woodturning lathe. I have not used the Pro model but am very satisfied with the one I have.

Pros: It is light to wear; the Pro is heavier. It provides a good fresh air flow over my face. It is quiet.
Cons: I find that the replacement filters are very expensive. The threads to release the visor to open the unit to change the rechargeable battery is light duty, in my opinion, and the they tend to strip out easily. I would have liked the battery in my model to have an eight hour run time like the one in the Pro model.

If the Axminster APF 10 improves on these points, that would make it a better unit.

I’ve used both, having used the earlier version of the Airshield which I sold after a very short while. It was very heavy and the motor made a constant high pitched whine that I found impossible to tolerate for long. The APF10 is light years ahead…no contest really.

I got the Axminster respirator on Saturday and it is working well so far. From doing research I have seen that the trend one is significantly heavier at about 2KG with the Axminster one coming in at about 600g.

Thanks everyone. Especially for bringing the weight difference to my attention. That’s a quite considerable difference even though I only intend to wear for a few hours at a time. :grinning:

I think I will take the plunge and give the APF10 a try. I’ll get a review up once I’ve been using for a while.

I’ve been running the Airshield Pro for a number of years. Overall, I’d say it was very good - albeit with a number of annoyances.

The protection (in terms of impact and dust) is excellent. It’s comfortable with glasses or facial hair, doesn’t steam up, and stops all manner of dust and debris. The last time I looked at the differences between the Trend and the APF10 I’m pretty certain the filtering class of the Trend was higher, but that may have changed.

The downsides are that it’s a bit cumbersome when moving around, and they’ve gone through several revisions of the headband. For me, the first (grey) version was the most comfortable, but had a tendency to snap. Trend’s customer support is excellent, but I’m probably on to my fourth headband (and I think the third design revision). The new one seems secure, but I’ve found it has a tendency to pinch hair.

Battery life is excellent; I’m still running the original battery and it’s going strong.

The optional ear defenders are OK rather than great. I find it difficult to get a good seal on the ears, but it’s definitely better than not having any.

If my unit were to give up the ghost I’d take a look at the (admittedly much more expensive) separate motor and helmet options from 3M, but would probably end up buying another Trend - despite the niggles.

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Hi, I use the Trend Airshield Pro in work, admittedly it might seem heavy but I wear for a couple of hours at a time and after it’s been on for 5-10 mins I don’t seem to notice the weight, I wear spectacles and only shave occasionally and it still works, If I’m using our ripsaw or I’m working MDF I always wear it, if routing MDF an extractor will only get rid of so much dust, this mask takes care of the rest

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Thanks Larabara.

I notice there are a few “unboxing” videos on Youtube:

And a review of the Trend here:

Does anyone know which gives the best respiratory protection for common woodworking tasks?

Trend Airshield quotes protection to “BS EN 12941” whereas the Evolution states:

“Respiratory protection to EN12941:1998 + A2:2008 TH1P. Assigned Protection Factor 10 (UK classification) equivalent to an EN149 FFP2”.

Does that mean the Evolution has better protection?

To the best of my knowledge, the Trend is “better”; in that it offers TH2P (2% inward leakage) vs, TH1P (10% inward leakage). I can’t immediately find the FFP rating of the Trend, but from previous searches I have a feeling it was at least as good (or better) than the JSP. I think it also offers a higher rating of impact protection (but it is a lot heavier and more cumbersome to wear).

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George - I’m not sure where you got those numbers from, but thought it was worth clearing up as 2kg is way off! According to the manuals for both products (Evolution and Airshield Pro) they are 680g and 920g respectively.

So the Trend is heavier, granted. But they are FAR from like-for-like in terms of respiratory protection offered; the Evolution is classed as having 10% inward leakage (TH1P/APF10), and the Airshield Pro only 2% inward leakage (TH2P/APF20). As a result, one meets HSE’s requirements for machining/sanding of hardwoods as stated in HSE’s WIS14 publication, the other doesn’t. One is suitable for machining of MDF, the other isn’t. The Airshield Pro being 35% heavier needs viewed in that context; the play-off is weight vs respiratory protection level.

Tim - Gordon has answered your question well below; the Airshield Pro at TH2P offers significantly greater protection than the Evolution at TH1P. The Airshield Pro is APF20, so exposing the user to 1/20th of airborne particles; the Evolution is the lowest level of powered respirator class, TH1P, which at APF10 is exposing the user to 1/10th of airborne particles. So in simple terms, one is twice as effective as the other.

Just to clarify NEITHER product will have an ‘FFP’ rating as they are the wrong category of product; FFP ratings are for disposable respirators (standing for ‘Filtering FacePiece’), whereas ‘TH’ ratings are for powered respirators (‘Turbo Hoods’).

In this context it’s important to note HSE document WIS14 clearly states APF20 is required for machining and sanding of hardwoods. Although HSE might only apply to business users, hardwood dust is toxic and a known human carcinogen, and as I see it the hazard makes no distinction between hobbyists and business users.

I have a trend airshield pro, purchased earlier this year, and which i have used a couple of time to date only. I found it comfortable to wear, quiet in use, and does not steam up, and enables me to use my glasses when working too.
Charging is easy as it does not require opening the battery housing to recharge, the lead simply plugs into the rear of the helmet.
I also bought the ear defenders with this, but do not seem to be able to get them to stay fitted on the connections at all, no matter how hard I try, they do not connect completely and have once fell off… I like the helmet and will continue to use it, but would comment that all items in this bracket seem very expensive to buy…surely the costs of such equipment could be reduced, as i am pretty sure they only cost a fraction of their sale price to manufacture.

Yea, the ear defenders are a pain, and really don’t work that well. I find you need to push them right down into the brackets on the sides of the helmet to get them to click into place, but even then they sometimes detach from the helmet when I swing them down onto my ears.

Having checked the standards referred to, the Trend facesheild does offer better protection, when tested…however you need to remember that everyone has slightly different shaped faces, and it is important to get a proper ‘face-fit-seal’ to keep the dusts you are trying to prevent breathing-in, from reaching inside the mask…

Clearly in one of the videos above on the Axminster Evolution Facemask, you can clearly see a wide gap between the wearers face (in the region of the side of his face in front of his ears), where dusts will be able to enster the mask, so ensuring the mask fits your face fully and is properly sealed is important, or it effectively makesthe protection the mask offers useless… In the other video the user has a beard… You should be aware that if you have facial hair, such as beard or stubble, this will also likely prevent a good face seal being formed, allowing inward leakage from outside the mask.

Stu93 -

You are correct to say the Trend has the better protection. But you are incorrect to qualify this on account of ‘face fit seal’. That is a factor at play for half masks, but not powered respirators. One of the reason powered respirators have the ability to be more effective is in fact because they are ‘positive pressure’ devices; in contrast to half masks, where the user drawing in a breath would pull air in through any gap, powered respirators are designed to have air blown in at a higher rate than the users breath. This means that the pressure inside the helmet is higher than the outside air, so air flowing through any gap around the face - including from facial hair, it’s worth noting - is exiting the respirator.

If you refer to the harmonised European testing for powered respirators, you’ll see the test determines inward leakage. This, in effect, establishing what inward leakage remains - the better the design, the better the motor, the better the materials etc, the better it will perform. The Axminster Evolution only achieves the lowest level; I find this unsurprising as my experience was any amount of dust on the filters left the mask starting to mist up.

It’s worth saying there are other factors at play; the lowest level (TH1P, like Axminster Evolution APF10) doesn’t need features like audible airflow warnings. Premium products like 3M Versaflo aren’t just expensive for the sake of it; they have other very effective features like a motor which ‘ramps up’ to compensate for filter resistance.

Jonnie… I understand the standards, but having done quite a lot of work with face fit seals, including at the Fire Service College with training courses using positive pressure breathing apparatus, I can assure you that any gaps in a face mask, regardless of type and the fact that there is positive pressure inside the mask will allow both gases and fine particles to enter the mask… this occurs because tiny vetori currents are created around the leak, that drag the atmosphere outside the mask back into it… one of the reasons that you’ll never see a firefighter today with a beard or stubble…and their face masks on Breathing Apparatus sets have a more positive fit than anything used for woodworking… Having said that, I would much rather use a positive pressure face mask than a regular face-fit ‘dust mask’ that offers even less protection against inhalation of dust particles deep into the air exchange region (alveoli) of the lungs… Any particles less than 10 microns in size can enter the airways, and anything less than 5 microns will find its way into the deepest parts of the lungs…

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