****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have to say this product actually works. I bought this because I have very bad allergies and I was hoping for some relief. As soon as I plug it in with in less than five minutes, the pressure in my sinuses begin to release I was so shocked. I later on purchased the Shark Air Purifier 6 which is quite expensive and I have to say that this purifier actually worked a million times better than that very expensive Shark Air Purifier I purchased. I actually can’t really confirmed that the shark when is even doing anything to be honest. When there was no availability for a filter I end up throwing it away thinking that they would not come in stock anytime soon because it was about almost a year after purchase and still no filters and I really regret it now but because it works so good, I don’t mind re-purchasing again and I will be. If you suffer from allergies of any sort, please buy this item. I can’t guarantee that it will work, instantly, as it did, for me but I don’t believe you’ll be sorry.My daughter and I both suffer from asthma. Because of that, we’ve been using a large, HEPA air purifier (Winix WAC9500) on the first floor of our house (during the winter months) since 2011. However, at my most recent allergist visit, I learned that my lung function numbers have dropped slightly and my nasal cavity showed some irritation. In addition to changes to my controller medication, my doctor suggested that I get a second, smaller air puffier for my work space on the second floor (I’m a freelance photographer/illustrator) where I spend most of my day. In his words, “It can’t hurt!”After considering all of my options, I decided to go with this particular one because (a) I wanted something that could sit on a shelf rather than on the floor, (b) it’s housing is aesthetically pleasing (I'm a sucker for good design and looked at some really ugly ones with odd shapes and crazy, unnecessary lights) and (c) it has an 18 month warranty.My first impression upon arrival was how hefty and solid it is. I’ve tried larger floor units in the past that were much lighter and, in the end, turned out to be quite inferior. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it was definitely less than some of the others I looked at. The $10 discount coupon certainly helped drive my decision, but I realized that since I’m using it in my home office, I can deduct the cost at tax time next year!Details:* Be sure to read the user manual first before plugging it in. I’m the type of person who tends to pull an item out of the box and ignore the instructions altogether! Thankfully, I didn’t do that this time and discovered that you must place the unit on its side, remove the bottom cover plate, slide the filter out of slot, remove the plastic bag it comes sealed in and slide it back in before using it. Detailed illustrations show you how.* Unit has multiple fan speeds, a timer (which I have no need for since I’m letting it run continuously), a child lock (press Timer and Sleep buttons together to lock out curious toddlers), a sleep mode button (forces the fan to work at slow speed and dims the indicator buttons (I suppose this good for bedroom use) and a filter reset (press and hold the Sleep and Lamp buttons together).* All buttons make a pleasant chiming sound when pressed.* When I first turned it on, I noticed a soft green glow through the vent slots on the right side. At first I thought this was some sort of night light feature, but I was wrong. It’s actually a filter health indicator. Green = Excellent, Yellow = Good and Red = Poor. I love this feature because it makes it easy to know when the filter needs to be changed from a distance. Our Winix has a tiny light that you have to see close up.* At Low/Auto fan speed, the system is very quiet. At Medium it’s noticeably louder, but certainly not annoying. The noise level on High is loud and sounds similar to running an air conditioner on fan. However, if it’s running on High in Auto Mode, there’s a good reason for it!* Instructions recommend that the filter be removed and cleaned (with a vacuum) twice a week and replaced every 6 months. That may be a deal breaker for people who don’t have the patience or discipline to maintain appliances on a regular basis (fortunately, I’m.compulsive about things like this while my wife is not!!!).After living it for 4 days, here’s what I’ve noticed (or haven’t noticed):* After letting the purifier run overnight (it’s important to note that the door to my workspace stays closed because we have a cat who will sneak in and mark inappropriately), the room smelled different / better/ cleaner. To put it simply, the overall air quality feels neutral.* I’m less ‘wheezy’ and ‘stuffy’ and haven’t had to use my rescue inhaler.* There’s a visual reduction of dust on the surface of objects in the room (I’m constantly wiping things off).* I have the purifier set to Auto and barely notice it running in the background. Even at medium, I can tolerate the mild noise increase. On high, I may have to play music louder or leave the room.* Once the weather warms up and I can open the windows, I’ll unplug and store the unit until fall.* While I didn’t notice any replacement filters offered on Amazon (perhaps they’ll come later), there’s a contact email ([email protected]) in the user manual so I’m not worried.I brought this product because I got tired of the cigarette smoke smell permeating throughout my apartment from my neighbors apartments that smokes.The product works very well. The blue filter that comes with the air purifier is okay but it didn’t eliminate the smoke smell completely.However I brought the purple air filter and that absolutely did the job! So, if get this air purifier make sure that you use the purple filter for smoke if it’s a really strong smell etc.My wife has been suffering from allergic reactions (red, itchy, gunky eyes) to 4 cats that we recently adopted (we had never had cats before as adults), and putting a couple of these in ours house have helped with her cat allergies quite a bit. We put one of these in the fairly large "cat room" portion of the house, which is where the cats always stay, and one in our bedroom. Those two rooms also seem to be a lot less dusty now. The manufacturer recommends cleaning the filters twice a week, but we've found that cleaning them just once a week works well for us. The filters are very easy to pull out to clean. To clean them, I take the filters outside and brush them off (the top side only) with a fairly large, soft brush, which is quick and easy. The manufacturer says that you can also clean the filers by holding a vacuum cleaner hose near the filters to suck out all of the dust and particles, but they also give a brush cleaning option, and that works great for us.The instruction manual is simple, well-written, and easy to understand. It tells you everything you need to know about the unit. Things that I especially like about this air purifier: (1) It automatically senses how dirty the air is and automatically adjusts the fan speed accordingly; (2) It is extremely quite, even when the fan is running at high speed (we have one of these in our bedroom, and we sleep just fine with it on, and almost don't even notice that it's on); (3) It has a button lock feature that allows you to lock the buttons so that children or pets can't accidentally turn it off when you want it to keep running (very important in our "cat room"); (4) You can easily turn off the light inside the unit and dim the control button lights with one quick press of a button (especially good if you're using one in a bedroom like we are); (5) This unit is surprisingly small for an air purifier that works in a such a large area (which is another great feature of it), since it is effective in a room or area up to 547 square feet in size.This unit seems to be of high quality, and we expect these air purifiers to serve us well for a very long time. The manufacturer recommends replacing the filter about every 3 to 6 months. We've only had our units for a month, so we haven't had to replace the filters yet, BUT we did go ahead and order a couple of replacement filters so that we have them ready when we do need them. I would recommend that you do this also, since they seem to go out of stock from time to time. (SEE: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0972N3G4L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )NOTE: If you have a power outage, even a brief power interruption that only lasts for about one second or so, these units will automatically turn off, and will still be off when the power comes back on, which means that you will have to turn them back on again after any power interruption. (We discovered this recently when we had a short power-off blip in our home.) So, it's always a good idea to check them from time to time (especially if you've been gone from home for a while) to make sure that they are still on, like you want them to be. This is easy to forget about doing, since they run so quietly.We are very pleased with these, and we highly recommend them.This unit has done a good job clearing any odors and freshening air. It is very light, portable and easy to use. The multiple modes are helpful. The silent or sleep mode works great. I don’t even notice it’s on. I also like the auto feature that measures the air quality.
