I have recently been given a Trend Airshield for my birthday by my wife. She
values my health as much as I do. I wouldn't be without it. It offers both
superb protection for my lungs, which are a bit tricky to replace, and also
for my eyes that I certainly can't do without. Wood dust can do enormous
harm, so the price is justified. My advice would be to buy it without
further ado.

Charlie
Oxon Woodturners

"Ron Headon" wrote in message
...
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 a

(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