3MRespirator Cartridge 6006, 1 Pair, Helps Protect Against Organic Vapors, Acid Gases, Ammonia, Methylamine or Formaldehyde

I purchased this set of respirator filters because I still do film photography work in a darkroom. With that being said, I work with some rather harmful chemicals: selenium, acids, alkali, and harmful components like strong bleaches and formaldehyde containing products. To keep it short, if these enter your airway or eyes, they can spell chaos and a visit to your friendly neighborhood E.R.Inside the box was a small, neat paper bag for protection and labeling of the filters. It contained the standard product information, warnings, safety risks and other pertinent information. Noted was situations in which use of this product would not be okay and what it would work well for. That is: organic vapors, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide, chlorine dioxide or hydrogen sulphide, ammonia/methylamine, formaldehyde or hydrogen fluoride. The safety leaflet inside repeats all of this while defining all appropriate exposure limits to hundreds of chemicals. They are also NIOSH approved for assured safety.The filters themselves appear pretty standard, a grey casing with a gold label for identification. A slight downfall was that they were a little heavier than previous filters I had tried, coming in about 5 ounces a piece - so 10 ounces for both plus the weight of the mask. It certainly did not bother me any and I was still able to be comfortable while using them.Performance was excellent. I did a standard respiration test using careful lab safety just in case of a defect. I began a fume test with absolutely no detection of odor or leakage. As I slowly increased concentration to the maximum acceptable exposure limits, I still could not detect any presence of my chemicals which as mentioned, burn the airway without sufficient protection. I cannot say the same for other filters.There is no hard specified replacement schedule included with the filters. The information leaflet simply states to "Replace with an established change schedule or earlier when smell, taste, or irritation is noticed." That certainly could create a safety hazard for an average Joe working with dangerous chemicals. A good rule a thumb is to replace filters every 60 hours of usage or 3 months (whichever is soonest) under average usage and concentration. If using less harmful chemicals, the odor/taste test would be sufficient.All in all, when used as directed in accordance with products these filters are designed to fit, they go above and beyond expectations. Highly recommended.

I've been buying these respirator cartridges from 3M for years.I'm a professional woodworker and fabricator. I'm around harsh and dangerous chemicals and finishes every week.Knowing I have a fresh pair of these cartridges ready to go when I start to spray something nasty gives me a lot of piece of mind.Don't mess with your lungs. Always use a respirator with good cartridge's.Also, remember these cartridge's need to be kept in a air tight container or they will lose their ability to filter out the harmful vapors. You can take the cartridges off your mask fairly easily and put them in a baggy or container to keep the air out. This keeps the activated carbon lasting longer.I put my whole mask, with the cartridges still attached, into a gallon sized zip lock baggy when I'm not using it.That being said, these still need to be replaced after you've used them for days or weeks. Once the activated carbon has filled up with all the bad vapors they won't work as well, or at all.You really shouldn't be able to smell any type of chemical smell if you have good cartridges and a good seal on your mask.It's a necessary evil, but your health is worth it. Especially if you're using harmful chemicals or finishes regularly.

I work with fiberglass and epoxies and some other nasty smelling chem concoctions on occasion. They span from irritating to down right nasty and breathing them can send my heard spinning with dizziness or even headaches.After I obtained a good 3M mask, I purchased these 3M Respirator Cartridge 6006 cartridges and viola, no more chem smells. That nasty epoxy that made my head spin? cant even smell it at all. No more dizziness or headaches.I give the 3M Respirator Cartridge 6006 my highest recommendation.Protect your health people, by a good 3M mask that can take these filter Cartridges and use it.DO NOT over think this, just buy the 3M mask and these cartridges and use them.For people who know other people or who have family members, and they work with nasty smelling chemicals, buy them a 3M mask and these cartridges as a gift because it could even be the gift of life and keep them healthy.I worked for years with nasty smelling stuff and did not use this 3M system. Who knows what harm I did myself by not wearing a proper chemical vapor filter system.

People are confused. There is indeed a problem if the date on the package and the date on the filters are both the expiration date. But, they are not. As you can see from my picture, I have noted that the package date is the expiration date, and the filter date is the date of manufacture.I called 3M technical support this morning and verified this.I had to call, because nowhere could I find any confirmation regarding what the date on the actual filters really stood for. Yes, to the left there is "Fab" which I could assume means date of Fabrication, but again, I couldn't find any information anywhere to verify this.While I have just used these cartridges to do some spray painting, and they work perfectly well, I am removing one star for two reasons. First, the confusion surrounding the different dates. I told the 3M rep about this, that what the dates specify should be clearer. Secondly, my filters came in a package with pinholes in it. I could literally feel air going in and out of the holes as I squeezed the package. When I spoke to the rep I was told that if the filters were to be stored for a while, then yes, those holes would be a problem. But, if the filters had been recently manufactured (mine were) and I was going to use them now, the exposure to outside air wasn't an issue.Hopefully my review is helpful and eliminates the confusion that other reviews are creating.