These air purifiers could help ease wildfire smoke effects - CNET
These air purifiers could help ease wildfire smoke effects - CNET |
- These air purifiers could help ease wildfire smoke effects - CNET
- This Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower Air Purifier is $150 off right now at Best Buy - CT Post
- Sharp FXJ80UW Air Purifier Review - PCMag
| These air purifiers could help ease wildfire smoke effects - CNET Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:58 AM PDT The boundary between clean air and compromised air is blurring more and more in 2020, especially as we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. Filtering out aerosol droplets (which can carry COVID-19 virions), pollen, wildfire smoke and particulates, air purifiers can dramatically improve the air quality in your home. But with the overwhelming number of devices on the market, all advertising various filtration methods, how do you find the best one? I've extensively researched the field of products, tested the extra features on a dozen of the most popular models, interviewed various experts in the field of indoor air quality and written up the definitive list of the best air cleaners around. Ready to buy an air purifier? Look no further.  A dozen of the most popular home air purifiers on the market. David Priest/CNETBefore the recommendations…Before getting into the details of which devices are best and why, it's important to understand the basic mechanisms that these products use to clean your air. To get a handle on these methods, I talked to Richard Shaughnessy, director of Indoor Air Research at the University of Tulsa. According to Shaughnessy, who has a doctorate in chemical engineering, most air cleaners run your air through a filter designed to catch particles you might otherwise inhale. These are usually High Efficiency Particulate Absorbing filters and they're designed to capture 99.97% of particles sized 0.3 micron or larger. HEPA filters reliably remove smoke (including from wildfires), pollen, dust and other particulate matter that pollutes home environments. Activated carbon offers another type of filter, which captures odors and gaseous pollutants that can slip through a HEPA filter. "[Carbon filters are] good ... to an extent," said Shaughnessy, "but they need to have a sufficient amount of carbon. You don't want breakthrough happening where the carbon becomes fully saturated and it releases what was captured back into the air." According to multiple researchers I talked to, most consumer air purifiers simply don't have enough activated carbon to be an effective odor filter for more than a short period of time. Read more: Will air purifiers protect you from COVID-19, wildfire smoke and pollen? Another common type of air cleaning works via ionic filtering. These filters can be effective, according to Shaughnessy, but they have a number of shortcomings: Some don't actually remove particulate from the home, but rather cause them to attach themselves to surfaces around the home. Others must be cleaned consistently, or they might begin to emit ozone -- itself a pollutant. While some ionic purifiers are effective and standards for them have risen significantly in recent years, the benefits an ionic purifier offers over a HEPA filter are in many cases negligible -- particularly given the risk they occasionally pose. An important standard to keep an eye out for is the AHAM Verified Clean Air Delivery Rate, which tells you how much air a purifier can process in a given time frame. Not every company uses this standard, but most do. Recommendations get a little more complicated when companies don't list a CADR, or when they employ proprietary filtration methods.  Dyson's $550 air purifier doesn't offer a CADR rating at all. David Priest/CNETSome major players, like Dyson and Molekule, offer their own standards. That doesn't necessarily mean that their devices are inferior, but rather that they require extra scrutiny. In these cases, I looked at the explanations presented by the companies themselves and talked to third-party specialists. By and large, such devices -- even if they do accomplish what they claim -- still end up overpriced compared with competing products with more readily accessible evidence backing up their claims. For the recommendations below, I primarily consider the power for the price (that is, the higher the CADR and the lower the price, the better). Secondarily, I look at additional cleaning modes, the helpfulness of controls, the general design and the noise level. The perfect air cleaner looks sleek enough to fit into most modern decor, can operate as desired with minimal fiddling and can thoroughly and quietly clean your air.  The Blueair Pure 411 is a simple, straightforward purifier with smart design and solid bang for your buck. You get particle and carbon filtration (which removes odors and gaseous pollutants) that will work well in a 160-square-foot room, all for $120. Some devices, like Sharp's Air Purifier, don't even offer that much cleaning power at nearly twice the price. The Blueair has different colored prefilter sleeves for the outside of the device, so it will fit into almost any color palette, and its single-button interface is as intuitive as it gets. The device is also light, with middle-of-the-road noise production. Besides the noise, the only real downside is the lack of extra goodies, like timer buttons.  Honeywell's $250 air purifier is a little more expensive than other HEPA models, but it can cover a larger space than almost any other purifier I tested: 465 square feet. Despite its clunky design (this thing weighs a hefty 21 pounds), the Honeywell Home is actually one of the quieter models around. The Home's aesthetic isn't my favorite, but you get good control for setting timers and checking whether the prefilter or filter needs replacing. If you're looking for great basic performance for a reasonable price, you can't beat the Honeywell Home.  Coway's air purifier falls between the Blueair and Honeywell models above in both price and the size of the room it can cover, but its unique design and ion filtration technology set it apart from those. The Coway can filter air for rooms up to 361 square feet and its striking, retro design was one of my favorites among the devices I tested. While the ionic filtration technology isn't a huge plus, it also won't produce significant ozone, as tested by the California EPA. If you want an air purifier for a midsize room, Coway's purifier is one of the best options around with one of the most adventurous looks. The rest of the fieldThe air purifiers above are only three of the 12 devices I tested. Other HEPA cleaners, like the $100 Levoit Core 300, the $160 Winix 5500-2, the $90 Bissell and the $85 GermGuardian all offer only so-so power for their prices. All four of those models offer carbon or charcoal filters for removing odors and gaseous pollutants, but the filters in all of them contain only a few ounces of the medium, meaning they won't last long with use. The IQ HealthPro Plus wasn't among the devices I tested, in part because I was looking at more affordable options. But IQ's $900 air cleaner is one of the few devices on the market to contain multiple kilograms of activated carbon, which will filter out odors and gaseous pollutants much more effectively than most consumer air cleaners under $1,000, according to specialists I talked to. Two devices I tested featured ionic filters: the $184 Coway AP-1512HH I mentioned above and the $230 Sharp FPK50UW. Sharp's CADR rating is only 259 square feet, which is significantly lower than Coway's and not great for the price.  The Holmes air purifier is a cheap option for your desktop. David Priest/CNETThe Partu ($50) and Holmes ($38) air purifiers were the most affordable devices I tested and they both offer HEPA filtering for small rooms. I could see someone using them on a desk in an office, for instance, to great effect. But both felt a little cheap and neither gave an official CADR, so I would recommend saving up for something a little more reliable if cleaner air is a high priority. I generally found more expensive models to have some of the hardest-to-verify claims. Dyson's $550 TP04, for instance, uses a HEPA filter, but provides no CADR. A Dyson spokesperson told me, "CADR as measured by some current methods is not an accurate representation of a real home," and thus the company has developed its own testing procedures "to replicate a more realistic setting." That includes a testing room that has over double the footprint of AHAM's testing rooms, along with nine sensors placed around the space (versus AHAM's single sensor). The Dyson TP04, perhaps unsurprisingly, performs well according to Dyson's own metrics. In addition, the TP04 features a handful of extra goodies, including an oscillating fan to help circulate clean air around larger rooms, an app with home air quality data and a small-but-nifty display. But is all that worth the $300 price bump from, say, Honeywell's Home purifier? For most people, the answer is likely no -- especially considering that Dyson's device hasn't stacked up especially well against the competition in third-party testing, such as Wirecutter's, where its performance was in line with the far more affordable Blueair 411. What's more, Dyson doesn't give a guideline for the size of room in which you should use it, which makes it harder for customers to understand whether it's the right device for their particular needs. At the end of the day, we can set aside any smaller frustrations with clarity or branding for a simple reason: Devices like the Honeywell Home use the same fundamental filtration technology -- with well-documented results -- to clean the air in large spaces for about half the price of the Pure Cool ($238 at Amazon). Unless you love the aesthetic, Dyson's air purifier isn't worth the money. What about Molekule?You may have heard of another air purifier called Molekule, made by a company of the same name, which grabbed headlines for its attractive design and proprietary filtration technology back in 2017 -- and is even, strangely enough, sold at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. What about that? The Molekule presents a complicated problem: Its maker claims its proprietary PECO filter destroys particles much smaller than 0.03 micrometers, but it filters air at such a slow rate that, even if the company's claims are accurate, it cleans the air very inefficiently compared with HEPA models (as Consumer Reports rightly pointed out in its highly critical review late last year).  Molekule was recently forced by the National Advertising Board of Review to retract misleading claims it made in its advertisements. David Priest/CNETOn the other hand, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, one of the premiere indoor air research centers in the country, recently released a government-funded study showing that the PECO effectively filters out volatile organic compounds -- that is, compounds that can easily become gaseous pollutants in the air, which HEPA filters do not capture. Reviewers at Consumer Reports and the New York Times' Wirecutter, which called the Molekule's larger model "the worst air purifier we've ever tested" and the Air Mini "the second-worst," didn't appear to test VOC reduction. We can't recommend the Molekule Air Mini Plus, which I tested, as a result of these problems coupled with a recent decision by the National Advertising Review Board to force a retraction of many of Molekule's misleading advertising claims. That said, the air purifier does appear to address a problem that most HEPA-reliant cleaners simply don't: the presence of gaseous pollutants in the home. Such pollutants have plenty of sources, whether from paint, furniture, cleaning solutions or even some composite boards. For that reason alone, Molekule's eye-catching brand is worth keeping tabs on -- especially as its latest air cleaner was just approved by the FDA as a Class II medical device. Do you even need an air purifier?Given the rise of COVID-19 over the past few months, you may be thinking about air purifiers in a fresh light. In home settings though, transmission usually occurs through close contact, which means an air purifier probably won't protect you if a roommate or family member in the same house gets sick. Purifiers may help businesses and restaurants trying to improve the air in their indoor spaces. Beyond COVID concerns, in home settings, air purifiers don't offer much value to the average consumer. According to microbiologist and Vice President of Scientific Communications at the American Council on Science and Health Alex Berezow, "Unless you have some sort of medical condition (asthma, allergies), I just don't think an air purifier is worth the money." Human lungs, Berezow pointed out in a recent blog post, filter the air we breathe sufficiently -- especially in places like most parts of the United States, where air is fairly consistently clean.  Watch this: Masks, wipes and air filters: Flying in the age of coronavirus 22:33 On the other hand, for households with an asthmatic or otherwise immunocompromised child, air purifiers have significant benefits, according to Berezow and Dr. Elizabeth Matsui, a professor of population health and pediatrics at the University of Texas, Austin's Dell Medical School. Matsui has extensively researched the effects of air purifiers on children with asthma and says the devices can make a big difference -- though they're no substitute for well-ventilated and smoke-free homes or proper medical care. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that air purifiers diminish the chance of children developing asthma. In short, air purifiers are popular for a reason: They mostly do what they say, cleaning the air inside your home. And depending on your health needs, or if you live in a home with many sources of pollution, cleaner air might really make a big difference for you or your children. If you think the benefits of an air purifier might help someone in your own home, it's always worth talking to an allergist. If you'd rather just grab an air cleaner and call it a day, you can't go wrong with the recommendations above. Still have more questions about air purifiers and whether you're ready to buy one? Check out our air purifier FAQ for more info. Correction, July 13: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the Blueair 411's features. The Blueair 411 has a "change filter" indicator, and is AHAM-certified for a 161-square-foot room.  |
| This Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower Air Purifier is $150 off right now at Best Buy - CT Post Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:38 PM PDT  Photo: Best Buy/Hearst Newspapers Air purifiers are generally not the sexiest home tech, but with massive wildfire outbreaks choking California residents out with smoke over the last few weeks, they've been at the top of lots of minds. In fact, they've been the best-selling product we've covered in the last 10 days. That's why it's worth pointing out this current deal at Best Buy: The Dyson TP02 Pure Cool Link Tower 400 Sq. Ft. Air Purifier is selling for $349.99, which is $150 less than you'll find it elsewhere.
Don't just take our word for this deal being a good one: It's got an average customer rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 stars at Best Buy, and it's selling for the full retail price of $499.99 on Amazon. Additionally, the sleekly designed tower's HEPA filter captures 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, including pollen, mold, dust, and pet dander. And if that's not enough, it works with your smart home, too: You can hook the Dyson TP02 Pure Cool Link Tower up to your Amazon Alexa device, and as a Dyson employee replied the questions section on Best Buy, "This model can be linked to your Smartphone for real-time air quality information and the ability to set a schedule and control the device right from your phone." If you've been looking at an air filter and haven't clicked "Buy Now" yet, this is a good time to do it—plus, you can pick up at your local Best Buy if you feel like getting out of the house, too. And if you wanna read up on how air filters work, and what they do, check out this article: Air purifiers: What do they do? How do they do it? Let's find out! Hearst Newspapers participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Ryan Craggs is the Director of Content Marketing for Hearst Newspapers. Email him at ryan.craggs@hearst.com.  |
| Sharp FXJ80UW Air Purifier Review - PCMag Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:00 AM PDT COVID-19 and increasing air pollution levels have many people thinking about investing in a smart air purifier. Recommended for rooms up to 502 square feet, the $599.99 Sharp FXJ80UW is a Wi-Fi-connected, Energy Star-certified air purifier that does double duty: Its HEPA filter captures airborne allergens like pollen, dust, pet dander, and smoke, while its Plasmacluster Ion technology reduces odors and destroys many microscopic pollutants like bacteria, fungus, germs, mold, and viruses. Offering ample features including a Spot mode for carpeting and furniture, scheduling options, and Amazon Alexa support, the FXJ80UW is definitely worth considering for large rooms. How the FXJ80UW WorksThe FXJ80UW has a large inlet on the back through which it draws in air. The air passes through a pre-filter that traps dust and other large airborne particles, an active carbon deodorizing filter, and a true high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter before it's discharged through air outlets on the front and top of the device.  The FXJ80UW has a large inlet on the back through which it draws in air To comply with current standards, HEPA filters are tested and certified to remove at least 99.97 percent of dust particles as small as 0.3 micrometers. As Wirecutter recently reported, a NASA study found that HEPA filters can capture almost 100 percent of particles as small as 0.01 micrometers (or 10 nanometers), well exceeding the standard. To put that in perspective, COVID-19 is about 60 to 140 nanometers in diameter. The FXJ80UW supplements its HEPA filtration with Sharp's Plasmacluster Ion technology designed to eliminate microscopic pollutants that evade traditional filters. A Plasmacluster Ion-Generating Unit on the left side of the machine creates positively and negatively charged ions using water and oxygen molecules in the air, and disperses them throughout the room. The ions then actively attach to and break down airborne pollutants like bacteria, mold, and viruses before returning to the air as invisible water vapor. Sharp says the technology reduced 94 percent of E.coli bacteria, up to 87.7 percent of mold fungus, and 90.3 percent of MS2 virus in a closed laboratory over four hours. For more about Sharp's Plasmacluster technology, head here.
Similar Products Dyson Pure Cool Link Air PurifierDyson Pure Humidify+Cool The primary concern about ionic air purifiers is their production of ozone gas molecules, a lung irritant that can exacerbate asthma symptoms and cause a host of other health issues. The FXJ80UW is EPA-compliant and California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified, so it's considered safe to use in your home for extended periods of time. Sharp says it produces a maximum eight-hour average ozone concentration of 0.003 parts per million, or four times less than the lowest industry and federal standards set by the FDA, OSHA, and NIOSH. It's also Energy Star certified, so it shouldn't have a substantial impact on your power bill. Design and FeaturesThe FXJ80UW measures 28.7 by 16.4 by 11.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a hefty 23.8 pounds, but it has handles on the sides that make it easy to carry around. Because it has an air outlet in the front, it also serves as a fan when you're sitting in front of it, but it can't oscillate like the $499.99 Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier.  On the front, it also has a neat-looking air quality monitor light that changes color depending on the air purity. Blue means the air is clean and red means it's impure. Below that is a display panel with icons that lets you quickly monitor the air quality, check if various features are enabled, and see if the filters need maintenance. It doesn't come with a remote, but it connects to Wi-Fi, so you can control it from your phone via the Sharp Air mobile app (available for Android and iOS), and it works with Amazon Alexa voice commands. The machine also has an operation panel on the top with buttons that let you control its various features. You'll probably need to keep the user manual handy as you're getting used to it, because there are a lot of buttons, modes, and features. From the operation panel, you can turn the machine on and off, connect it to Wi-Fi, adjust the fan speed, enable Auto mode, control the display, lock the operation panel so kids can't fiddle with it, and set a timer so it turns on or off after a certain number of hours.  In Auto mode, it automatically adjusts its fan speed depending on the amount of dust and odor in the air. The fan speed button lets you switch between Low, Medium, Max, Pollen, and Sleep modes. In Pollen mode, dust sensor sensitivity increases so the machine can more quickly detect and clean allergens like dust and pollen from the air. In Sleep mode, the front display and air quality monitor light automatically switches off or dims based on the room brightness, the machine operates more quietly, and the fan speed automatically adjusts according to the air quality level. The display button lets you switch between values for PM2.5 (microscopic particles smaller than 2.5 microns in size), power consumption (wattage), humidity percentage, and current room temperature.  The Plasmacluster Ion-Generating Unit Additional buttons on the operation panel let you enable and disable the Plasmacluster Ion feature, Express Clean Mode, and Spot Mode. In Express Clean Mode, the machine releases Plasmacluster ions with a strong airflow for 10 minutes, cleans the air on high for 50 minutes, then returns to the prior mode. In Spot Mode, it emits high-density Plasmacluster ions in a forward direction for eight hours ,then returns to the prior mode. Sharp recommends Spot mode for cleaning odors and germs from clothes, sofas, and curtains. SetupBefore operating the FXJ80UW for the first time, be sure to remove the back cover and take the active carbon and HEPA filters out of their plastic bags, then put them back into the purifier and replace the back cover. From there, you just place it on a level, stable surface, plug it in, and press the power button.  This is the HEPA filter To control it with your phone and monitor your indoor air quality when you're not home, you need to download the Sharp Air mobile app and create an account. Getting the app connected to the device is a breeze; a guide included in the box walks you through the process. When you first sign into the app, it instructs you to check that your smart device is connected to the same 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network your appliance will use, then tap the three-bar icon, and select Pairing > Connection With a Router. From there, it asks you to check and specify whether your router has a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button. You then select Air Purifier > FXJ80U, and follow the instructions in the app. If you have a WPS button on your router, you just hold the Wi-Fi button on the air purifier for three seconds and the Wi-Fi indicator light on the front display will start blinking. Then, within two minutes, press the WPS button on your router. When they are connected, the air purifier will make a sound, and the Wi-Fi indicator will steadily illuminate. If you don't have a WPS button on your router, it just takes a couple of extra steps to get them connected. Once successfully connected, you can optionally enable the Sharp Cloud feature, which adjusts the sensor sensitivity settings in Auto mode based on your usage history to optimize the purifier's performance.  In the Sharp Air app, you can view your current air quality, room temperature, and humidity percentage. You can remotely turn the unit on and off; select the airflow level; enable Auto, Express Clean, Pollen, and Sleep modes; and set a schedule. PerformanceIn testing, the FXJ80UW performed well and emitted absolutely no odor. I set it up in my dining room, across from the Dyson Pure Humidify+Cool in my living room (I have an open concept floor plan) and their PM2.5, temperature, and humidity level readings were always either the same or very close. The FXJ80UW's Auto mode worked without issue. At one point while testing it, I accidentally burned toast, and the FXJ80UW sensed the smoke from a different room. Its air quality monitor light went red and automatically increased its fan speed.  The FXJ80UW is among the quietest large-room air purifiers I've tested. In Max mode, it runs at just 49dBA, or quieter than a household refrigerator, according to Yale University Environmental Health & Safety. On low, I can't even hear it. I'm sensitive to loud noises, so its quietness is a big plus. I had no problems controlling the air purifier via the app. When I changed the mode or fan speed, it immediately applied my selected setting. Moreover, the FXJ80UW never had any trouble connecting to the app, even though I unplugged it to move it around from room to room several times. I also own a Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier, and find that it sometimes has issues connecting with its companion app when I unplug it and move it to a different location, so I'm happy the FXJ80UW doesn't have that issue.  One small annoyance, however, is that the Sharp Air app doesn't always automatically update with the FXJ80UW's latest air quality, humidity, and temperature readings. On the upper left side of the app it shows when it was last updated, and you sometimes have to press a manual refresh button to see the latest readings. Another gripe is that the app doesn't show your air quality history. In comparison, the Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier's companion app shows graphs of your average air quality over the last day and each week going back a month. One area where the Sharp Air app excels is scheduling. You can select a time, days of the week, and whether you want it to turn off or on. If you're having it turn on, you can select which mode or fan speed you want it to run at. In comparison, the Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier only lets you set a timer for up to nine hours. I had no problem setting it up to work with Amazon Alexa and controlling it with voice commands. To get them connected, just search for and enable the Sharp Air skill in the Alexa app, then sign in using your Sharp Air credentials, and you should be good to go. Once connected, you can control the FXJ80UW with commands like, "Alexa, ask Sharp Air to turn on the air purifier," or, "Alexa, ask Sharp Air to set the mode to Sleep." MaintenanceHEPA filters can be expensive, and they're not recyclable, but the good news is that you should get about two years out of the FXJ80UW's filter before you need to replace it. The active carbon deodorizing filter has about the same lifespan. A replacement HEPA filter costs $90 and the active carbon deodorizing filter is $80.  This is the active carbon deodorizing filter To maintain optimum performance, you need to periodically clean the FXJ80UW and its filters. The filter maintenance light turns on after about 720 hours of operation (once a month if you run it 24 hours a day). When you see that light, you should unplug the machine, wipe it off with a dry cloth, and vacuum the back panel (pre filter). If the back panel is dirty, you can soak it in water and soap for about 10 minutes—just make sure it's completely dry before you put it back on. With the back panel off, you can remove the HEPA and active carbon deodorizing filters and carefully dust them off. In the app, you can check the replacement status of filters at any time. As part of the maintenance process, you should also remove and carefully clean the electrode section of the Plasmacluster Ion-Generating Unit. Sharp has instructions on how to do this in the user manual, and provides a small brush you can use that's conveniently stored within the unit.  Removing the Plasmacluster Ion-Generating Unit If you're deterred by the cost and environmental impact of HEPA filters, I suggest checking out the Airdog X5 purifier, which features washable collecting plates to cut down on maintenance costs and waste. Comparisons and ConclusionsThe Sharp FXJ80UW is a unique smart air purifier that offers a dual line of defense against airborne pollutants, using HEPA filtration in combination with ion technology to clean the air of dust, pet dander, pollen, smoke, bacteria, fungus, germs, mold, and viruses. It connects to Wi-Fi, so you can control it and monitor your air quality from your phone via the Sharp Air app, and it works with Amazon Alexa voice commands.  Left to right: Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier, Sharp FXJ80UW In the high-end smart air purifier market, we also like the Dyson Pure Cool Link Air Purifier, which has a more attractive and compact design and doubles as an oscillating fan. The FXJ80UW costs $100 more, but justifies its premium with ion purification, a Spot mode for furniture, more reliable Wi-Fi connectivity, and better scheduling options. Both are solid options depending on your preferences and budget. And if you're looking to add a humidifer to the mix, the Dyson Pure Humidify+Cool is another strong choice, albeit a pricier one at $799.99. Sharp FXJ80UW Air PurifierProsView MoreThe Bottom LineSuitable for large rooms, the Wi-Fi-connected Sharp FXJ80UW smart air purifier offers a one-two punch against airborne pollutants, combining HEPA filtration to capture allergens like pollen and pet dander with ion technology to knock out airborne viruses and bacteria. Best Smart Home PicksFurther Reading |
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