Razer just made its Zephyr RGB face mask official — here's what we know

(Image credit: Razer)

It's been a while since Razer, the company behind gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 15 Advanced, updated fans on its over-the-top Project Hazel face mask. Well, after six months, we have an update, and a new name.

Project Hazel is now the Razer Zephyr. The company announced the name change via Twitter, and have opened up the project to beta testing. Sign-ups are available on Razer's Road to Zephyr website.

According to Razer, Zephyr is designed to be safe, social and sustainable. It has 99% BFE (Bacterial Filtration Efficiency), a face seal and anti-fog coating. In terms of features, it will have replaceable filters, a charging case with a UV light to kill bacteria and virus particles, a clear window to see a person's mouth and a microphone and speaker to project the user's voice.

Sign-ups are relatively straightforward. All it requires is name, country, email, social media profile and an explanation of why one would want to beta test an RGB face mask.

At the moment, there's no price or release date for the Razer Zephyr. But if will.i.am's Bluetooth Xupermask is any indication, then it could retail for as high as $299.

As the Delta variant of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus has taken over the world, becoming the dominant strain, it has pushed infections of areas with low vaccination rates back to 2020 peaks. The CDC is now recommending that all individuals, vaccinated included, wear masks indoors.

Considering that Delta is spreading 50% faster and is 50% more contagious than Alpha, putting it on par with the chicken pox, more basic cloth masks or bandannas will not do the trick. An Alpha Covid particle is about 0.125 microns. The fibers of cloth are simply too big, making it easy for viral particulates to get through. Whereas an N95 or KN95 mask have a pore size of 0.3 microns. While the pore size is larger, Covid needs to travel in droplets, or in larger clusters.

We'll go hands-on with Razer's Project Zephyr as soon as a unit becomes available.

Head over to our Razer promo codes page for the latest discounts from Razer.

More: I tried Ellume’s at-home COVID test — here’s how it worked out

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Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.