The PAPR carry case that fits your Speedglas or Versaflo kit — and why we built it

A powered-air respirator is not a cheap bit of kit, and it is not a tidy one to move. A 3M™ Speedglas™ helmet with an Adflo™ unit — or a Versaflo™ setup — is a helmet, a breathing tube, a belt-mounted blower with a filter and a battery, plus spare consumables, all awkward shapes that don’t stack. Most of the time it travels loose, in the original box or a generic holdall, and gets knocked about doing it. This is the story of the PAPR carry case we built to fix that — one bag that carries and protects the kit properly, whether you weld in Speedglas and Adflo or run a Versaflo kit.

We built it for a simple reason: there was already a dedicated bag for Speedglas welders, but nothing purpose-made for Versaflo owners — and even the Speedglas bag was really just a well-made holdall. So we designed one carry case that does both, properly.

The problem: an expensive respirator that travels loose

The trouble starts the moment a loosely-packed bag moves. With the helmet, blower, battery and filters all sharing one open space, they rub and knock together every time the bag is lifted, dropped in a footwell or carried across a yard. None of it is dramatic in the moment — it’s just how a visor picks up scratches and a blower housing gets cracked over time.

The standard 3M Speedglas carry bag is a step up from a bin liner, but it is essentially a well-made holdall: one spacious interior, carry handles, a zip. Its own listing is honest that it offers “basic protection from moisture, but it is not fully waterproof,” and that it is designed around a single G5-01 helmet. And because it is a holdall, you carry it the holdall way — in your hand or over one shoulder. That’s fine across a car park; it’s a nuisance across a long site walk with your other kit in the other hand.

And if you run a Versaflo powered air kit rather than a Speedglas welding helmet, there was no equivalent purpose-made bag to reach for in the first place.

Why we built it

We kept running into the same two gaps: Versaflo users had no dedicated carry solution, and Speedglas users had one that was really just a bag with everything loose inside. So rather than point people at a compromise, we designed our own carry case to fix both at once.

The brief we set ourselves was simple — hold the helmet so it can’t move, keep the other parts apart so they can’t rub, keep the weather out, and let someone carry the lot on their back without thinking about it. The result fits the Speedglas and Adflo welding world and the Versaflo world from a single design, which is why it’s the same bag whether your kit says Speedglas or Versaflo on it.

How the PAPR carry case beats a basic holdall

The difference is in how the inside is organised and how the outside carries:

• A padded helmet compartment with a retaining harness holds the helmet in place so it isn’t free to slide into everything else.
• Three adjustable hook-and-loop dividers let you separate the blower, battery, tube and consumables so they travel apart, not against each other.
• A sealed, waterproof main zip keeps rain and site splashes off the kit, with ventilation holes so trapped moisture can escape rather than sit on the equipment.
• A magnetic self-closing front pocket and two side pockets keep filters, wipes and small tools to hand.
• A proper rucksack build — padded, adjustable shoulder straps and a breathable back panel — so it’s comfortable to carry for a long time, not just from the boot to the bench.

Put the two side by side and the difference is easy to see — and at the time of writing, ours is the better-value option as well. To be fair about it: if you only ever move a single G5-01 from bench to bench and rarely leave the workshop, the standard 3M bag is perfectly fine. Our carry case earns its place when the kit actually travels — between sites, in and out of vehicles, or onto a job where it’s going to get rained on.

Speedglas or Versaflo: one carry case, two kits

This is the part that makes it genuinely useful across a workshop. The same bag is built to fit:

• 3M Speedglas welding helmets — G5-01, G5-03 and 9100-series — with the Adflo powered air unit;
• 3M Versaflo powered air kits;
• ESAB Sentinel and Savage (EPR-X1/X1.1) helmets;
• Purelite powered air respirator kits.

So a shop that welds with Speedglas and Adflo and runs Versaflo for grinding, cutting or stone work doesn’t need a different bag for each — it’s one carry case across the whole respirator fleet. If you’re still weighing up the powered-air kit itself, our guides on the real cost of PAPR versus FFP3 and proving a powered-air respirator is compliant cover the welding side; if you’re specifying for stone and silica work, see powered respirators for stone and quartz fabrication, where Versaflo is one of the units we recommend.

Keeping your kit clean and protected between jobs

There’s a practical, looks-after-itself benefit too. HSE’s guidance on using respiratory protective equipment expects RPE to be stored clean and away from contamination, in line with the manufacturer’s instructions — because a respirator that lives on a dusty bench is feeding contamination straight back towards its own face seal.

A bag with a sealed waterproof zip, ventilation and a dedicated padded compartment makes “stored clean, dry and protected” the easy default rather than a chore. It’s not a compliance product and it won’t write your COSHH assessment for you — but it supports good practice instead of working against it.

Frequently asked questions

Will it fit my Versaflo, ESAB or Purelite kit?
It’s designed to fit 3M Speedglas (G5-01/G5-03/9100) with Adflo, 3M Versaflo powered air kits, ESAB Sentinel/Savage and Purelite powered air respirators. If you’re not sure your exact model fits, send us the model and we’ll confirm before you order.

Is it waterproof?
The main compartment has a sealed, waterproof zip to keep rain and site splashes out, plus ventilation holes so trapped moisture can escape.

Will it hold the helmet, the blower and my filters all together?
The padded helmet compartment takes the helmet, and the divided main space is built to carry the blower and accessories alongside it. How many spare filters and consumables you can add depends on your kit — if you want to pack a specific load-out, tell us what you run and we’ll check it fits.

Can I wear it while welding?
No — it’s a transport and storage case, not a respirator and not a wear-during-use harness. Use it to carry and store the kit; wear your powered air unit the way the manufacturer intends.

Not sure it fits your kit? Ask us first

3M, Speedglas, Adflo, Versaflo, ESAB and Purelite are trademarks of their respective owners. This carry case is a product designed and supplied by The Face Mask Store; it is not manufactured by, nor affiliated with or endorsed by, 3M, ESAB or Purelite.