- Our top picks
- Comparison Table
- What is a Gas Mask Filter?
- How Long Does a Gas Mask Filter Last?
- How Do You Select the Proper Gas Mask Filter?
- What is MIRA Safety?
- Best For Chemicals: NBC-77 SOF CBRN
- Best For Smoke: VK-450
- Best For Common Threats: DotPro 320
- Best For LightWeight: ParticleMax P3
- Best For Long-Term: P-CAN
- Conclusion
Summary of Our Top Picks
Editor's pick
Best Overall: VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter
Top choice among gas mask filters. It provides versatile protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards, as well as smoke and carbon monoxide from fires.
RUNNER UP
Best For Chemicals: NBC-77 SOF CBRN Gas Mask Filter
This high-quality gas mask filter is trusted and used by military personnel, CBRN specialists, and special operations forces around the globe.
Gas Masks are essential for plenty of different professions, keeping your lungs clear from toxic chemicals on the job, free of smoke and debris in the unfortunate case of a house fire, and in general for living a longer, healthier life outside these dangerous situations.
With every gas mask, there is a filter that fits it. It is crucial to wear the correct size filter with a proper mask. This way, you are protected from inhaling toxic gasses. Without a filter, your mask is pointless.
There are multiple different kinds of filters for different substances and airborne hazards, but it’s best to first look into what exactly a gas mask filter is.
Best 40mm Gas Mask Filters Comparison Table
NBC-77 SOF CBRN Editors Choice | VK-450 | DotPro 320 | ParticleMax P3 | P-CAN Police | |
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Website Link | |||||
Filter against | Chemicals | Smoke | Common Threats | Virus | Agents/tear gases |
Filter thread | 40mm | 40mm | 40mm | 40mm | 40mm |
Protection from | Filter all known CBRN agents, including radioactive iodine, rated for A2B2E2K2HgSXP3 D R. | Protection from ammonia, acetonitrile, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, chlorine, chloropicrin, nitrogen oxides. | Protects the user from toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and other threats | Utilizes top-notch ULPA filter construction that effectively captures particles as small as 0.2 microns. It helps to prevent the transmission of viral and bacterial threats through aerosols and airborne particles. | Agents/tear gases including CS, CN, and OC pepper spray |
Use at temperature | n/a | -40°С to +40°С | n/a | n/a | |
Shelf life | 20 years | 13.5-years | 7.5-years | 20 years | 10 years |
What is a Gas Mask Filter?
Gas masks are filtered masks you wear to protect your lungs and throat from breathing in dangerous chemicals that could harm you. A gas mask filter is an insert that goes into the gas mask. It can essentially alter the function of the mask depending on the type of filter.
The air you breathe through the mask passes through the filter first, cleaning and filtering out the toxicity and allowing you to go about safely. Depending on the filter, you can be breathing in and around CBRN, or chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear substances, and still feel safe.
How Long Does a Gas Mask Filter Last?
It’s vital to know how long your filter lasts, especially with the dangers that can come up over an old or overused filter that no longer does its job. There are a few things to consider when deciphering how long a filter can last.
Shelf Life
As for shelf life, it's typical that filters last up to five years unopened, but more advanced brands can offer ones up to twenty years unused. It wouldn’t be wise to use a gas mask filter if it’s been sitting around for a long time, not knowing whether it will be sufficient enough to work.
Chemicals
When it comes to a mask in actual use, it depends on the chemicals you are filtering or not filtering. With toxic chemicals, a filter is most likely only going to last a one-time use, nothing longer than about eight hours. There are specific filters created for such chemicals, and they last longer, but not by too much.
Clean Air
Lastly, even in scenarios where you are unsure if the air is fresh, you should not be using a filter for over twenty-four hours. If you are already looking to buy a mask to be safe, you don’t want to risk your mask failing.
How Do You Select the Proper Gas Mask Filter?
There are plenty of reasons in which you could need a gas mask, whether it’s for your job or you just want to have the means to be safe in any scenario. Filters all do the same thing, keeping out substances and particles toxic to us, but what is it they keep out?
Some filters are designed specifically for different substances. There are filters for gasses, smoke, carbon monoxide, biological hazards, nuclear hazards, and many more dangerous things floating around in our Earth's air supply.
Knowing which filter to get is simple. Whatever it is you need it for, there is most likely a filter for it, so research and compare. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of the top five 40mm filters for gas masks. All filters are from MIRA Safety, a brand with reliable gas masks to help you decide which is best for you.
First, you need to understand what MIRA Safety is and what they can provide to you so you can be safe.
What is MIRA Safety?
MIRA Safety’s brand is described in its name. Its utmost focus is on safety, providing customers with gas masks, hazmat suits, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear equipment kits, and gas mask filters.
MIRA provides cutting-edge technology to all their equipment. Their self-defense products are used for a ton of military operations, which gives them an extra seal of trust. They create each protective equipment with practicality and safety in mind.
Focusing on the gas mask filters, MIRA Safety provides several different 40mm filters that provide specific protection to whatever it is you need. From CBRN, to a lesser version of NBC, and TIC filtration protection, to simple smoke filters, MIRA Safety offers masks to keep your lungs safe from all of it.
So, whether it is a common airborne gas or a hazardous and toxic chemical, there are options for you to choose from that will keep your lungs clear.
The Top Five 40mm Filters From MIRA Safety Gas Masks
Here are the best MIRA Safety 40 mm Gas Masks for you, all good for different reasons geared towards what you are looking for.
Best For Chemicals: NBC-77 SOF CBRN Gas Mask Filter
What we like
- Offers a 20-year shelf life, making it a cost-effective option for long-term storage needsple
- Interchangeable with 40mm NATO threaded respirators that are widely available for added convenience
- Provides protection against various toxic CBRN agents, including radioactive iodine
What we don't like
- Best For Only Severe Chemicals
The technology on the NBC-77 SOF CBRN Gas Mask Filter is what sets it apart from the others on the list as the best for chemicals. It can filter toxic substances, such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear. This gas mask filter has military-spec technology. This means that it holds a level of technology used by military troops. It's the real deal.
This filter is best if you work in an occupation that surrounds you with the deadliest of airborne chemicals. It is created for this specific reason, to clean air as such.
Best For Smoke: VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter
What we like
- Enhanced CBRN filter for protection against smoke and carbon monoxide
- Long-lasting 13.5 year shelf life for cost-effective long-term storage
- Filters Up to as Little as 19.5% Oxygen
- Functional in extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to +40°C
What we don't like
- Due to high demand, most times, it's not available to buy
The VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter is the best filter on this list for smoke hazards because of its enhanced filter. It can also protect from carbon monoxide, making it one of the more commonly purchased filters on our list.
Being exposed to smoke and carbon monoxide is much more likely than nuclear, biological, and chemical substances, but this filter can protect you from all.
With a thirteen and a half year shelf life, this filter is perfect to keep around the house in case of a fire, wildfire, or unexpected carbon monoxide leak.
MIRA Safety also expresses how this filter paired with a mask is a better alternative to smoke hoods, which can fail in the case of a wildfire.
Best For Common Threats: DotPro 320 40mm Gas Mask Filter
What we like
- 7.5 year lifespan for reliability
- Multigas rating for NBC threats
- Lowest price
What we don't like
- Low shelf life compared to other filters
The DotPro 320 40mm Gas Mask Filter is the best for common threats because it is the least likely on our list to withstand toxic substances like NBC. Its shelf-life is shorter at seven and a half years and its price is the lowest because of it.
To be clear, this is a decent gas mask filter. Unless you are in a profession that deals with NBC substances, the DotPro 320 is not a bad option for you.
It cleans all sorts of respiratory threats like Toxic Industrial Chemicals. These chemicals can be hazardous, such as carcinogens and corrosives.
These chemicals are manufactured, stored, and transported all around the world. But, they aren’t found just lingering around, but if you find yourself in a situation where you’ll need protection from these chemicals, this is the mask for you.
Best For LightWeight: ParticleMax P3 Virus Filter - 6 Pack
What we like
- Includes six vacuum-sealed filters with a 20-year shelf life
- Utilizes ULPA filtration technology that surpasses HEPA, blocking 99.9995%+ of bio and viral particulates.
What we don't like
- No CBRN Protection
- Higher Price
ParticleMax P3 Virus Filter in a pack of six is the smallest filter on our list, which is why it is offered in a pack. This doesn’t take away from their shelf life, which reaches up to twenty years. The ParticleMax P3 Virus Filter is made from Ultra-Low Particle Air filtration technology.
ULPA means these filters can trap even the smallest of viral and bioparticles that threaten to pass through your gas mask.
The size makes it lightweight and more comfortable to wear on your mask. The filter is powerful, but it does not fend off other chemicals, biological, radiological, or nuclear substances. It is meant to keep bacterial threats out of your lungs, not for highly toxic chemicals.
Best For Long-Term: P-CAN Police Gas Mask Filter
What we like
- Protects from tear gases for 12+ hours
- Trusted by law enforcement in riots
- 10-year shelf life for durability and cost-effectiveness
- Hydrophobic Coating
What we don't like
- For Specific Use
P-CAN Police Gas Mask Filter is another filter that is self-explanatory from its name. It is best used as a form of riot gear, protecting you from breathing in hazardous gas, police gas in particular.
This filter is hydrophobic, which is a feature that can give you close to twelve hours of safety. This keeps you protected from gasses, even in any form of precipitation, due to the activated carbon that is three times other filters.
The P-CAN Police Gas Mask Filter is designed for the workforce’s protection and used by CBRN specialists and military personnel, so they are certainly top of the line to protect you from inhaling gasses for a long time.
Conclusion
It ultimately comes down to what kind of gas mask filter you are looking for, but of all the filters above, there is one that stands out as the absolute best one for several reasons. Those reasons happen to revolve around the fact that this filter incorporates all of them and more.
Best Overall: VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter
The overall best option out of the gas mask filters above is the VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter.
It is the most versatile gas mask filter, protecting you from breathing in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, as well as smoke from fires and carbon monoxide.
Whether you need it for a dangerous job or you find yourself in a position where there are toxic chemicals in the air, it will come in handy.
However, the special part of this gas mask filter is its ability to filter smoke and carbon monoxide. This makes it the best because it can become a great purchase for everyone, not just people who work with toxic chemicals.
It’s a gas mask filter that can save your life, or a family member's life, from a fire, wildfire, or carbon monoxide leak. It is the one filter on this list that often sells out, coming in high demand for its complex abilities.
If you’re looking for a filter that can do it all, the VK-450 Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Filter is the one for you.
Abdo is a Zoopy writer who loves spending his free time outdoors, camping, and enjoying the peace that nature brings. He also enjoys fixing things - he's particularly good with electronics. His favorite movie is I Am Legend, and he's fascinated by survival gear and safety.
2 comments on “Best 40mm Filters For Gas Mask for 2024 - Buyer's Guide”
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It's assuring that as pointed out here in this expose, SOME "filters" are made here in the U.S.A. I recently purchased a Respirator and was shocked and then incredulous that the filters included were TESTED and INSPECTED in CHINA. China has recently been exposed for contaminating, poisoning PCR home test Kits. In the past CHINA has been caught, exposed poisoning our TOOTHPASTE, Dog Food, Children's Toys[The paint] and even drywall that was used in construction back east. So I surely wont rely on something like a 40 mm gas mask filter made in China. You've named ONE of your filter choices that are made here. Where are the others made? You've mentioned here? It's acceptable for me to buy 40mm filters made outside of the U.S. like Europe for example. Do you have information related to my Search for 40 mm filtering options that are not Made in China? Great article. Thank You.
Some filters from this article are made in Czech Republic and some are exclusively made for Mira by Sorbent JSC, a company from Russia.