13 Jun

Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier Review

Product Review: Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier

Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier

Company: Amazon

Price Range: $200 – $250

Feedback: Read Consumer Reviews on the Coway Mighty Air Purifier

Who Would Buy This: Those shopping for a compact, energy efficient True HEPA air purifier that is suitable for purifying air in rooms sized up to 361 square feet.

Features

Four-stage filtration

True HEPA filter

Air quality indicator

Ionizer

Auto mode

Eco mode

Timer

Bold Design

The Coway AP-1512HH has a pretty awe-inspiring design which differs it from most other air purifiers out there. The near square-shaped unit has a sleek black finish with a distinctive circular white decorative pattern at the front, giving its looks plenty of polish.

This air purifier is made for smaller spaces as it measures just 16.8 inches wide, 18.3 inches tall with a depth of 9.6 inches and weighs 15.41 lbs.

4 Stage Filtration System

To cater to most people’s air purification needs, the Coway Mighty Air Purifier has four stages of filtration.

The pre-filter uses a micro mesh which traps large particles such hair, lint and fur. The 2nd filter, the odor filter, captures even smaller particles as well as gases and bad odors to leave your room air much more fresh and breathable. The True HEPA filter removes 99.97% of airborne particles such as bacteria, pollen and smoke.

In addition to the three filters, there is an optional Vital ION which creates negative ions that charge the air thus causing harmful particles and viruses to be eliminated.

Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier Filtration

Controls

The control panel on the Coway is rather good quality. It features five easy-touch buttons which are nicely spaced out for ease of use, as well as indicator lights to give you a clear overview of the current settings.

Power – Turn the unit On/Off.

Speed – This button is used to set the fan speed to one of five settings (1, 2 , 3, Auto, Eco).

Ionizer – Activates the optional Ion feature.

Timer – The timer button can pre-set the unit to turn off after either 1, 4 or 8 hours.

Filter Reset – After you’ve replaced a filter, you press this button so the filter timer is reset.

Air Quality – This light indicates the current air quality of the room. Clean (Blue), Polluted (Dark Purple), High Polluted (Red).

Energy Efficient

This model has been given an Energy Star approved seal and has gained much praise amongst users for its energy efficiency.

Pleasingly, there is a dedicated Eco mode which stops the fan if no air pollution is detected by the sensor for at least 30 minutes.

Filter Maintenance

Happily, the Coway is one of the easiest air purifiers to maintain.

The only filter which needs cleaning is the pre-filter. This filter should be cleaned every 2-4 weeks, based on using the unit in an environment with standard air quality.

Onto filter replacement. The True HEPA filter should be replaced once per year, while the Carbon filter should be replaced every 6 months. The unit is fitted with filter replacement indicator lights so you know exactly when each filter should be replaced.

Manual: Coway AP-1512HH manual

Guarantee: 3-year limited warranty.

Summary

The award winning Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier outdoes many larger, more costly air purifiers due to its above-average air purification and high energy efficiency. Thanks to its small size and remarkable quietness this is a very flexible unit that you can use anywhere in the home.

It’s only notable shortcoming is that it lacks the capability to effectively eliminate odors due to the limitations of its pre-filter. So if odor problems are a primary concern we’d recommend you look elsewhere.

Overall, a great air purifier that manages to live up to its hype.

12 Jun

Whynter AFR-425-SW Eco-Pure HEPA System Air Purifier Review

Product Review: Whynter AFR-425-SW Eco-Pure HEPA System Air Purifier

Whynter AFR-425-SW Eco-Pure HEPA System Air Purifier

Company: Amazon

Price Range: $250 – $300

Feedback: Read Consumer Reviews on the Whynter AFR-425-SW Air Purifier

Who Would Buy This: Those shopping for a high-quality, energy efficient HEPA air purifier that delivers advanced 5-layer air purification for areas up to 550 square feet.

Features

5-in-1 HEPA Filtration System

6 fan speeds

8 hour timer

Sleep mode

Air quality sensor

Remote control

Design

Whynter’s designers have done a stellar job with the design of this air purifier. The use of nice curves opposed to typical straight edges gives it an elegant, modern look.

The unit itself is compact in size and built to a high standard with quality lightweight plastic, ensuring a solid construction and a total unit weighing just 15 lbs. Its slim-line design means this unit has a depth of just 10 inches so it can fit snugly into most areas of your room without problem. There is an integrated handle at the back of the unit to allow for easy lifting from one room to another.

Controls

The AFR-425-SW comes outfitted with a topside control panel that features touch button controls, which allow for easy and intuitive control over the range of settings.

Key features include;

8-hour timer – The timer mode lets you set the unit to turn off automatically after a period of either 2, 4, 6 or 8 hours.

Quick Smoke Removal – This mode runs the air purifier at it’s highest fan speed setting to help quickly eliminate odors such as tobacco smoke from your room.

Air Quality Sensor – Monitor the air quality of the room. This icon lights up Green, Blue or Red to indicate how clean your air currently is.

The included remote control features buttons to control the six main functions, so you can conveniently operate the unit from wherever you are in the room.

Whynter AFR-425-SW Eco-Pure HEPA System Air Purifier Top View

Advanced 5-in-1 HEPA Filtration

An air purifier is of course only as good as the filtration system at the heart of it. The AFR-425-SW features an advanced 5-in-1 HEPA Filtration System that uses three separate filters, but features five layers of filtration so most types of impurities are filtered from polluted air.

The first stage uses a pre-filter which traps large particles that may linger in your air like pet hair, fungus and lint.

The second and third stage use a 2-in-1 activated carbon and HEPA filter. The carbon filter has the role of absorbing harmful chemicals often found in common household products, cooking fumes, smoke and other odors which can potentially lead to respiratory problems. The HEPA filter efficiently removes 99.97% of airborne pollutants as tiny as .3 microns. This includes household dust, allergens and pollens.

At the fourth stage, air passes through a Photocatalyst filter. This uses a process known as photocatalytic oxidation which destroys approximately 99 percent of organic contaminants like bacteria, viruses and mold.

In the final stage, there is a UV Wave Bulb. This uses ultraviolet light which is highly effective for breaking down organic molecular bonds. This greatly reduces things such as bacteria, fungi and viruses which often linger in the air.

Maintenance

Despite it’s wide array of filters, Whynter have made this air purifier easy enough to maintain.

The manufacture recommends replacing the 2-in-1 HEPA and carbon filter every 4-6 months to maintain optimal filtering performance. These filters are currently sold on Amazon.

The UV bulb provides 6,000 hours of usage before it needs to be replaced.

There are only two filters which need cleaning periodically.

The Photo catalyst filter should be vacuum cleaned every 6 months using a nozzle or brush attachment on a low power setting to prevent damage to the filter.

The non-reusable pre-filter needs to be washed depending on the air quality in your room. Simply wash it under a tap running lukewarm water for 2-3 minutes then leave it to dry for 12-24 hours before reuse.

Manual: Whynter AFR-425-SW manual

Guarantee: 1-year limited warranty.

Summary

The Whynter AFR-425-SW is an excellent quality air purifier that is well equipped with many smart features and a diverse set of filters, all in an impressively sleek & compact, rugged unit.

It has a superior level of air filtration than your average air purifier, so almost all air purification needs are catered for. It’s low energy usage of 65 watts is another great plus point that consumers like.

Overall, this is a winner from Whynter.

09 Jun

GermGuardian AC5000E 3-in-1 Air Cleaning System Review

Product Review: GermGuardian AC5000E 3-in-1 Air Cleaning System

GermGuardian AC5000E 3-in-1 Air Cleaning System

Company: Amazon

Price Range: $100 – $150

Feedback: Read Consumer Reviews on the GermGuardian AC5000E

Who Would Buy This: Those shopping for an entry level, tower air purifier that delivers versatile air purifying capabilities for a medium or large sized room.

Features

Compact tower design

3-in-1 air cleaning system

True HEPA

Carbon filter

UV-C

CADR rated 125+

Design / Construction

The GermGuardian AC5000E has a mostly plastic construction apart from the stainless steel at the top of the unit. Despite this, the unit is remarkably robust and is known to still keep in one piece when accidentally tipped over. It comes with a 6 ft power cord.

Small and Lightweight

This air purifier has a notably small footprint thanks to it’s compact tower style design, allowing you to place it in areas of your room where bulky air purifiers cannot fit.

The unit weighs 10.5 lbs and measures 28 inches tall with a base of 7 inches wide and 10.2 inches in depth. At the rear of the unit there is a small integrated carrying handle which comes in handy when you want to carry it.

3-in-1 Air Purification

The diverse air cleaning capabilities of the AC5000E are its stand out feature.

Using just one combination filter, its versatile cleaning system has the following filtration technologies to thoroughly clean your air.

Pre-filter – This filter traps large particles from the air like pet hair and lint.

Charcoal filter – This combines with the pre-filter to tackle common odors such as smoke and cooking smells that may linger in the air.

UV-C Light – This technology uses ultra-violet light to kill unwanted germs like airborne mold spores, bacteria and viruses.

True HEPA filter – This meets HEPA’s high standards to capture 99.97% of airborne allergens as little as .3 microns in size, for optimum filtration. This filter captures dust, smoke, pet dander and pollen.

Modes

Operating the AC5000E is a very simple process as there are minimal controls.

At the top of the tower on the control panel there is a rotary dial switch where you can select from one of three fans speeds (Low, Medium, High).

There is also a dedicated UV button which you can use to active the UV-C light. The drawback here is that the UV setting turns on a bright blue light, which can be particularly distracting if you want to use this air purifier in a bedroom at night. However, the light can be easily covered with some tape if this bothers you.

GermGuardian AC5000E 3-in-1 Air Cleaning System Top View

Coverage Area

This unit has a CADR rating of 125+ and an estimated coverage area of 185 square feet, which makes it a good fit for medium to large sized rooms.

On its lowest fan speed setting, the unit is barely audible, but on the highest setting its quite loud, so for bedroom use you’ll want to stick to using either the low or medium fan speed.

If you have only a small room you want to cover then you might want to consider the smaller version (the GermGuardian AC4825) which is designed for areas up to 155 square feet.

Maintenance

These units are low maintenance, which we like.

The True HEPA combination filter needs to be washed once per month. The Velcro attached pre-filter should be vacuum cleaned. The HEPA filter just needs to be washed in a sink.

The manufacture recommends replacing the filter approximately once every 6-8 months. Due to the 3-in-1 design of the filter, you only need to replace one filter. The UV bulb has to be replaced once per year (depending on length of usage).

Germguardian recently added indicator lights to this model, which makes the power light flash red when the filter needs to be replaced or the blue light flash when the UV bulb needs replacing. This feature comes in real handy, particularly if you’ve got several of these units in your home.

Manual: GermGuardian AC5000E manual

Guarantee: 5-year limited warranty.

Summary

The GermGuardian AC5000E 3-in-1 Air Cleaning System has a pretty sleek design and a solid construction, but most importantly lives up to its promise of delivering cleaner, fresher smelling air. Its air filtration capabilities to clean, filter, and sanitize the air are mighty impressive for the price range which it’s in.

Some consumers have said they experienced a plastic smell emitting from their unit. However, in most peoples experience this smell subsides after several days into ownership if you run the unit 24/7 on the highest fan setting with the UV-C light on.