Air Purifiers Reviews

I decided to get this air cleaner after trying the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze and a larger Honeywell HEPA filter. At the time of purchase, the Sharper Image was the only one with a permanent filter. This was a big plus for me seeing as the older HEPA cleaners have 2 filters to replace, the larger one being nearly the price of the machine. This Honeywell tower has a permanent filter.

There are many claims for and against the Ionic Breeze. I'm still undecided on how effective it is -- but I feel almost the same way about my large HEPA filter. I found myself running both of them to control my allergies. Although I cleaned them regularly and found dust on both, I can't say the air was particularly different. However, shortly after turning this on in the bedroom for the first time, I could smell a difference. I haven't had it long enough to say it's made a real dent in my allergies -- plus the fact that my allergies are intermittant -- but I'm pleased that I even notice it.

One thing to note -- the Amazon description says there is an independently controlled Ionizer. I assumed that meant I could control it independently of the HEPA Unit. If that's the case, I have yet to see how. It's not mentioned anywhere in the tiny booklet and there are no buttons for it. For that reason, I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5. I did want to control the ionizer separately because I wanted to be able shut that off entirely. There are camps on both sides arguing for an against ionizers, and some claim they make breathing worse -- so being able to compare with and without it was something I wanted to try. If anyone else knows how to do it, then post it here. :)

Compared to the larger Honeywell that I own, this one is much more quiet on each of its three settings. When I first read the description I didn't pay attention to the oscillating function. Now, it's my favorite part of this cleaner. The oscillator is the thing that is independent of the cleaner -- and when its on, the machine rotates in place, back and forth, blowing the air in an arc. I like this feature a lot and I think helps with cleaning a larger area. Maybe the ionizer is attached to this feature?

This unit is significantly heavier than the similar looking Ionic Breeze. Also, the manual states it should be placed 3 feet from any wall or furniture. The cord is not that long, and placing the cord behind some furniture to get to an outlet has made it nearly impossible for me to reach a spot a full 3 feet away.

Anyway, so far I am pleased and would recommend this unit to some one who is looking for a compromise between those two types of cleaners.

Confusion in HEPA home filters is starting to rise--I was at a local home improvement shop and they had a whole selection of machines--From True HEPA to "Hepa Type" and this one is supposedly better then "Hepa Type" but not as good as True Hepa. So for those who are allergic to everything, you may be better off with what Honeywell calls a "True Hepa."

For me at least, I'm doing well with this model, and I'm relieved that I no longer have to buy 70 dollar filters for my old Honeywell machine.

Best Air Cleaner I ever had....beautiful design......very quiet
CADR 130...Filter change indicator make that one perfect Air Cleaner...........

I should have listened to the person who wrote the review here that said that they ordered this and it didn't work. Where are all these reviews now anyways? I see that the item is now currently unavailable. That's good. Why am i writing a review anyways?? Because i'm really pissed off. I bought this as a christmas present for my mother who really, really needs it because of her painful arthritis condition, and so in comes your brand new product, and then, DOESN'T WORK. Folks, don't get this. It's not worth the hassle. Don't make the same mistake I did. LISTEN to the reviews.

(Ignore the strange squat-looking picture of the unit above and look at the other pictures. It isn't really square, but more shoebox-shaped.)

I installed this unit in my basement about 6 months ago, and it has been working flawlessly ever since.

Things I noticed:

- If the power goes out, the unit will NOT turn back on automatically (as some other units do.)

- If you want to use the continuous drainage (which I highly recommend) via a hose, you have to punch out a plastic disc on the side of the unit. I would have designed a screw-type plug that was replacable, but they didn't think of that. Anyway, once you punch the quarter-size disc out it's out forever.

- If you choose to use the continuous drainage feature, you will need to pick up a hose with an inner diameter of 15mm (.59" or just over half an inch.) I went to the local DIY center and found some clear tubing that has worked well.

- The unit can operate down to 2-degrees C (36-degrees F), which will be great for continuous operation in the garage to keep the tools from rusting.

- Has three fan settings: med, high and quiet. "Quiet" really is quiet, and could probably work just fine in a bedroom. Though, it does warm the room it's in. How much it warms it depends on the humidity setting.

- Four settings: The humidty level (humidstat) can be set to "continuous dehumidification" (which is the default setting), 50%, 60% and 70%. The fan will continue to run but the dehumidification processor will turn off when it reaches the selected humidity level. Cool. I mean, that's when the fan will just blow room-temp air.

- A full drainage tank will stop the unit and illuminate a "tank full" indicator light.

- The unit is not that heavy -- maybe for some, but not nearly as heavy as some people make it sound. It's 30.8 pounds.

- According to the instructions: You will need at least 21 cm (about 8 inches) of clearance in front, behind and side to side. Air blows out of the top of the unit, so you'll need to make sure it's clear as well.

- There are movable louvers on the top to direct the air straight up, 45-degrees or almost straight ahead.

Power consumption: CFM-25E is 220W // CFM-40E is 330W

I highly recommend this model dehumidifier.

Best to use the AC plug as opposed to batteries, unless you enjoy changing batteries often (batteries are beneath the tray and it gets pretty nasty under there). It does work better than any other smokeless ashtray I've tried, but it's still too noisy for my liking. Could be there isn't really any way to get it quieter as well as the vacuum does suck up the smoke quite well.

but you can buy it at walmart for $9.99 with no s&h fees either.. :\

This is not the first Holmes Smokeless Ashtray we have had, but this one works very well. It seems much more quiet, and the shipping was very fast. I would highly recommend this product, if you smoke ;-), and the company runs a tight ship.

i have a small room that i share with my room mate is a 2 bedroom apartment, but anyway.. it doesnt clear the "smoke" scent from the whole house but it keeps my room smelling great and thats all that matters to me ^_^

I've wanted an ionic air purifier for years since I saw the first commercial for the ionic breeze. The technology works. But being an engineer, I also know the technology is simple, and all of these units are actually very inexpensive to make. So I've always refused to pay the overblown prices of the ionic breeze and most of its competitors.

A few months ago I was again looking into ionic air cleaners, if for nothing else to see if the competition had brought the prices down. The answer unfortunately is no, with one exception: the Ionic Zone.

The price is almost too cheap to believe, and I admit I was at first suspicious, but I took the chance and bought one. Sure enough it is everything it says it is: a full blown electrostatic ionic filter, plus the added paper and carbon filtration, for a price of what it should REALLY cost.

The materials are slightly lower quality than the several-hundred-dollar competition but that is understandable. The grid method should be more effective than the single wire method and is in fact also used by expensive home furnace electrostatic filters by Trane.

The unit comes with a year's supply of washable filters (if you used it continuously), and additional filters are only a dollar.

I am currently of the opinion that people who do not have to use the enclosed, foam spacer will be happier using these stacking filters that those of us who have to use one (or two). The first reviewer states in his (excellent) review that his machine uses two of these and no spacer. My Honeywell Environcare 50250 uses three and one spacer. When these stacking filters need replacing, I am going to order the one piece replacement filter noted on the bottom of my 50250, filter 24000.

As a requirement of design, there is less HEPA material in three stacked filters then a solid HEPA one. The foam spacer(s) also means some machines will have even less HEPA material for air to go through than the HEPA filter that originally came with the machine: air sucked through the foam is _not_ cleaned, before expelled back into the room, the way air that goes through the HEPA material is.

Rounding to the closest dollar, my machine requires $60. worth of these stacking replacement filters if purchased through Amazon with free shipping. This is less than the one piece, 24000 costs from vendors who sell through Amazon. Via an A9 web search for the 24000 replacement filter, however, I discovered that it can be purchased from a few places for a few dollars less than the three HRF-14s my machine requires, including S/H ($58. rounded off).

If anyone else uses a Honeywell air cleaner that can use stacking replacement filters in a room with a wood stove, opt for the one piece replacement filter size noted under your machine if you will have to use a spacer or two. Mine is used in a room with a wood stove and that seemingly insignificant 1" thickness of spacer surprisingly did make a negative difference in the air expelled compared with the HEPA filter that came with the machine (a 24000 filter).

I got 2 of these to use with my Hooneywell enviracaire 11520 the other day and they work great! It is awesome since they're less than 1/2 the price of the 21500 (and the 22500 I was using this for the 17400), so though I was buying the 2 HRF-14s to replace one 21500 HEPA filter, I still saved about 10 bucks!

HRF-14 is Honeywell's new Universal replacement true HEPA filter. The box contains one true HEPA fileter and one foam gasket (I just throw this away since it isn't needed for the 11520). The chart on the insert indicates that it fits the following models of air purifiers (number of filters required follows model number): 11520 (2), 12520 (2), 13520 (3), 17200 (2), 18159 (2), 17400 (2), 50150 (2), 50200 (2), 50250 (3), 50300 (4), 50310 (4). Some of these setups also use the included foam gaskets to pad the filters to the right size, (but you never need more gaskets than filters so you don't need to worry about that when purchasing).

Useage is really easy. you stack them up, putting the gasket(s) on top as needed, wrap them with the prefilters just as you do with the old filters. Then you close up the air purifier and are breathing clean air once again!

Replacement policy is the same as it was for the non-universal filters... The HEPA filter should remain effective 3-5 years for light usage, 2-3 years for normal and 1 year for heavy usage.

To call this unit 'Quietcaire' is simply [...] in my opinion. It is as loud or louder than any air filter I've ever owned. Anyone who thinks it is quiet quite possibly has significant hearing loss and/or a high level of ambient noise in their house. I can hear it three rooms away on the low setting.

Had they not advertized it as quiet, I would have given it more stars (although I probably wouldn't have bought it then). I measured the noise level in the middle of the night with everything in my house turned off. My sound pressure meter jumped from about 20dB to over 54dB when I turned this thing on 'low' at a distance of 1 meter on the side AWAY from the exhaust vent. It exceeds 65dB on high. I chose this model over others based on their claims of quiet operation. Don't buy into it folks. If quiet operation is your main criteria, then look elsewhere. If a noise generator is what you want, then this might be the unit for you. My wife asked me if it was getting ready to take off.

This is a good basic HEPA air filter. We bought it for our son's room. The air smells cleaner. It is a bit louder than I thought it would be on the low setting.

I recently purchased this air purifier from my local Target store and I couldn't be happier with my purchase! I have been waking up with terrible headaches and stuffy noses due to allergies (the pollen count has been outrageous where I live due to very little rainfall in the past few months). My doctor recommended that I look into air purifiers and that could easily solve my allergy problems without having to pop pills everyday.
The very FIRST night I used the machine, I noticed waking up without any problems. No stuffy nose...no headache! I leave it on all day in my bedroom on the LOW setting, and I find that the noise is nothing like other reviewers are saying. It really is whisper quiet. Of course, there is a slight hum of the fan, but it is in no way bothersome.
If you are looking for an air purifier that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, look no further. This thing WORKS, it is AFFORDABLE, permanent HEPA filter, and QUIET. All pros in my book!

First off, while I do not believe this is being sold directly by Amazon any more, when I got this unit from Amazon, it came with a previous customer's receipt in the box which said "left unit on overnight. Loud, WHINY hum. Please refund. Do not replace." I did not notice this problem, however little shards of broken plastic (three or four pieces) did fall out of the unit when I turned it over.

Anyhow, I returned this machine because, quite frankly, folks, it is too noisy. Even on the low setting, it sounds like a big whooshing floor box fan on at least medium if not high. It is white-noise-ish but it still interfered with TV watching to an annoying degree. On the other hand, if you WANT white noise, by all means go for this unit.

As soon as I packed this thing up to send back, I ordered the Sharp Plasmacluster FP-N60CX unit and could not be happier. With the rebate available, I was able to get it for a final bill of two hundred thirty eight. Sweet!

The Sharp unit is not only more advanced (kills bacteria with the plasmacluster feature, has separate pollen and dust sensors which will kick the unit on and off depending on environmental pollution, has a remote control that I can program into my learning remote, etc.)

This unit, on the other hand, simply has a low, medium and high setting you have to set manually, no automatic adjustment, no smart sensors, etc.

Also, a big deal was this (pay attention): The replacement charcoal filters for this unit run about $11 online, and you must replace every three months for the odor removal to keep working. That is $44 per year.

On the other hand, the Sharp unit's charcoal filter is WASHABLE and lasts 5 years. This is a consumables savings of $220! If the price difference is LESS than this $220, and you want to retain the smell removal, the Sharp is CLEARLY the better choice!

The increase in price of one hundred dollars final after rebates was well worth it for the Sharp unit.

All that said, this thing did give that "fresh moutaintop air" feel to the air in my house. The Sharp just does it even better, though.

I have suffered from allergies all of my life, but especially the last few years, they have gotten progressively worse. Last year, I lived in an apartment over two chain smokers and was constantly congested. I started researching air purifiers because my medications weren't helping enough on their own. I ended up deciding on this unit for my living room/dining area, a Hamilton Beach 04163 for my bedroom, and another Hamilton Beach 04163 to go on the other side of my living room as well since the living room/dining area/kitchen was all together and not separated by doors and was too large an area for only one cleaner to handle efficiently. I have been very satisfied with this unit. I got it in December 2004 and it has not given me any problems. I have had to change the pre-filters a few times (you usually have to change them every three months or so) but have not yet had to change the HEPA filter. I like the way this system has what it calls Intellicheck which lets you know when it is time for the filters to be changed, as well as the way that it has the 360 degree technology. The unit looks kind of like a barrel so that the clean air flows out of the top all around it. I don't notice a cleaner air smell like I have heard people talk about, but I can definitely tell a difference in my allergy symptoms when I am running my air cleaners or not. And when I put my Hamilton Beach air cleaner in the living room which has an auto setting that detects the air quality, it had the air rated as being good from the beginning, which I believe is due to the Honeywell 50250 which had been running 24/7 a few days prior to that since the Hamilton Beach air cleaner in my room had the air quality as poor when I turned it on the auto setting. I still have to take my allergy medications that I was prescribed, but there is a definite difference between when I just take the medication and when I take the medication and use the air cleaners.
I hope this review helps. I also like the fact that it has a carrying handle at the top, and I don't find it very noisy. It has a white noise to it, but I have not experienced any problems not hearing the television or not being able to nap in the living room while it is on.
The replacement pre-filters are easy to find for this unit. The HEPA filter seems a little harder to find in retail stores, but it does not have to be replaced as often so it is not too bad.

After slaving for MONTHS of researching the best air cleaner at an afforable price. I had purchased the Honeywell 50250. It is an excellent machine and at such an afforable price. It is comparable to the $400-500 models. At first I was a little taken back by the size but was amazed at how well it cleaned the air. It is really easy to install and change filters - I can do it with one hand. Also filters are very inexpensive and only need to be changed every 3 months or so depending on your environment. The size is misconceiving beause it very light weight and has the easy handle on top (another plus). I travel from room to room, I can hold my baby in one hand and the air cleaner in another. It also has 3 different levels (for example at night I have it on the lowest level called sleep mode). And most important the sealed Hepa Lifetime filter so no need for expensive replacements. Also has 360 airflow which comes out from the top of the machine, it doesn't blow dirt or dust from the floor up into the air. And filter monitors called intelli-check, which lights up when a filter needs to be changed (no guess work or lookign at a calendar). Also 99.97% germ reduction and 5 year warranty. I also want to tell everyone that this machine is approved by the National Allergy.