More than 6,700 people bought the false N95 face mask from Razer - and now they're getting refunds

RGB stands for "Really Great Breaths"

Thousands of people who bought the "N95-grade" Razer Zephyr face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic are finally getting a refund for the dodgy mask, months after US agencies ordered a $1 million payout from the gaming hardware company. The Federal Trade Commission are sending out cheques as we speak. I don't know if I should be glad that a trading standards agency has done its job, or depressed that over 6,700 people thought this mask looked good enough to buy in the first place.

Razer launched their Zephyr face mask during the pandemic, advertising it as a medical-grade N95 mask capable of filtering out the harmful virus. But that was false: the mask was never proven able to do that. It wasn't even submitted to the federal agencies in the United States who could deem it worthy of the important N95 badge of reliability. In other words, this was a case of "deceptively" advertising a false product, say the Federal Trade Commission, who this week are sending out the refunds in the form of cheques and PayPal transfers to 6,764 people who bought the mask.

"Recipients will get a full refund," say the FTC in a post explaining that the money is rolling out (as spotted by Ars Technica). "Consumers should cash their check within 90 days, as indicated on the check, or redeem their PayPal payment within 30 days."

The RGB-lit face mask was tried out by tech reviewer Naomi Wu when it first appeared in November 2021. She pointed out the mask's weird design in a video titled "The Razer Zephyr is completely useless - but it has potential". She argued that it was not medically certified as an N95 mask, even if it used the same components as other masks that had passed through the official grading process. Razer's PR department saw the reviewer's remarks and went into something of a tailspin, with the PR chief sending internal emails to ask about the mask, recognising that the unsubstantiated claims were a big problem.

"Do we have any certifications to back the N95-grade claim? Are we currently in the process of being officially certified/listed as a N95-grade product?... From a consumer and media POV, the key question here is: Does Zephyr offer the same protection as an N95 face mask? If it does, how can we prove that? And if it doesn't, our marketing is misleading."

At the same time, Razer PR were also pressuring the reviewer to change her video's title, which is quite overbearing behaviour from a press perspective.

But lo, the gondola of goofs does not end. During the mask's development, a company called Intertek were hired by Razer to test the mask's filtering capabilities. And thoses tests showed it did not live up to N95 standards. "[We] suggest not to indicate N95," an Intertek employee told Razer, "as it is not relevant to this product, and the claim will cause confusion." Razer seems to have ignored that recommendation.

The FTC, unsurprisingly, took a dim view of all this. "Accordingly, Razer was aware from Intertek, its own employees, and Ms. Wu that their claims regarding the Zephyr’s N95 status were misleading," said the trade body in their lawsuit.

The mask is no longer being sold by Razer, who soon agreed on the settlement of $1 million in refunds with the FTC. Despite all this evidence that piled up during the FTC case, the hardware company have denied doing anything wrong.

"We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement," they said in a statement following the FTC's ruling back in May. "It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we chose to settle this matter to avoid the distraction and disruption of litigation and continue our focus on creating great products for gamers."

Great products? Well, let us be the judge of that. I first heard about the crap mask when James and Alice B (RPS in peace) discussed it on the Electronic Wireless Show, delivering some very funny takedowns of the hideous-looking accessory.

"I'm not going to mourn the Zephyr," said James, "besides the fact that it was overstating effectiveness against Covid at a time when people were literally dying of Covid, it's just a stupid product - I hate it. Never mind all the medical tests. It fails the test of: if you wore this while walking down the street would you look like a bellend?"

Razer have since turned their attention to Snap Tap, a keyboard feature that has been banned from several esports tournaments for giving high-level players an unfair advantage when it comes to pushin' buttons fast. Although hardware czar James thoroughly tried it out and says us regular schmucks will experience no such boost. Another point to him for cutting through the noise.