But you don’t have to suffer from respiratory maladies or allergies to enjoy the benefits of an air purifier. Besides creating a cleaner environment, they can work to get rid of unpleasant odors, like lingering cooking smells, or particles like dust, to fill your home with crisp, fresh air. Like most devices, however, all air purifiers are not created equally. If you or someone you know is suffering from respiratory issues, like hay fever or asthma, or would just benefit from cleaner air, we’ll walk you through how to choose the best smart air purifiers available right now, breaking down everything from efficiency and design to HEPA filters. Also: How to clean a humidifier (and why you should do it today)
When testing this smart air purifier, I quickly noticed that just minutes after turning it on, I could feel the air becoming fresher and lighter. Aside from helping reduce my day-to-day allergies, the Levoit Vital 200S is my go-to for whenever the air feels stuffy, or when we want to get rid of an odor, like after cooking a fragrant meal. This air purifier has a u-shaped inlet on the front, which allows it to pull not only dust and particles but also pet hair and dander more efficiently than other models. I keep it in my office, where I spend most of my time working alongside my dog. I appreciate first-hand how effective it is at getting rid of airborne particles and pet odors. The Levoit Vital 200S is controlled by the VeSync app, which is intuitive and user-friendly, easy to navigate, and seamlessly compatible with Alexa and Google Home for voice control. Review: The smart air purifier that helped save our holiday plans The Coway Airmega IconS has a fashionable design reminiscent of a modern piece of furniture. Its light, aspen-like color makes it blend in with any home decor, ditching the stoic and bulky design common with other air purifiers. It’s perfect for those who value great air quality but don’t want to sacrifice style. It also features a bonus wireless charger at the top, which I use to charge my iPhone and AirPods, making it a multipurpose device that can work in any room. Also: The 5 best wireless charging pads: Never fumble with cables again While the Levoit Vital 200S is my go-to during the day, the Coway Airmega IconS is my go-to for sleep. Aside from its sleek design, this smart air purifier is more successful at helping my allergies at night, even more so than the Levoit. I’ve taken allergy medication daily for years due to dust and seasonal allergies causing congestion and coughing during the night, no matter where I sleep. Being able to finally ditch my nasal spray and antihistamine has made my life easier – as easy as just telling Alexa “good night” and knowing the Coway Airmega IconS will switch on to remove airborne particles. Review: This smart air purifier doubles as a wireless charger and looks like midcentury furniture This compact Levoit Core 200S air purifier is perfect for small areas and lightweight enough to move from one room to another, weighing just over six pounds. Though small, it offers powerful filtration, cycling the air five times per hour in a 183-square-foot room at 360 degrees to tackle air pollution. This Core 200S air purifier is the perfect appliance for the nightstand in your bedroom or in a small living room, to help you get rid of stale, stuffy air in favor of an odorless environment with improved air quality. The A3 air purifier from Rabbit Air has the power to perform two air changes per hour in large rooms of up to 1,070 square feet. Its Advanced HEPA filter technology can trap 99% of particles as small as 0.1 microns in size, making it highly effective at reducing allergens and pet dander in the air. It’s also suitable to be placed on the floor and elevated surfaces, or mounted to a wall. Aside from being perfect for large spaces, the Rabbit Air A3 also comes with different designs to choose from in its Artist Series, ranging from monochromatic cherry blossoms to Van Gogh’s Starry Night to Snoopy or Hello Kitty for a kids’ room. This smart Toshiba air purifier can clean the air in a 483-square-foot room in only 12 minutes. It excels at removing odors from the room with high purifying efficiency. It also features a VOC alert, which ZDNET’s Charlie Osborne tested. “The ‘VOC’ alert is, perhaps, one of the most important readings to understand. Split into “clean,” “fair,” and “poor,” volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be removed through this air purifier, as it uses activated carbon filters – although as some customer reviews have noted, this feature is very sensitive and not every VOC noted should be a worry,” Osborne said. As far as the effectiveness of the air purification, Osborne tested it against cigarette smoke and pet odor and said visitors commented on the noticeable difference in the air inside the home. Review: I tested out the Toshiba Air Purifier on smoke odor. Here’s my verdict The LG PuriCare Mini is a tiny smart air purifier that measures just under eight inches long but packs a punch: It can last up to eight hours on a single charge. The small size allows you to bring it anywhere from a train or plane, to a coffee shop, or your office. It only has two buttons on the top for easy control, but it also has Bluetooth connectivity to control from a nearby mobile device using the LG Puricare Mini app. If your battery does run out, this smart air purifier comes with a USB charging cable to plug it in. However, different preferences for price, coverage area, and noise level can affect which best air purifier is ideal for your situation. Here’s how the best air purifiers stack up: In addition, sound can be an important factor. If you plan on running an air purifier in a bedroom, one with variable fan speeds and a low-decibel sleep mode can make it more convenient to operate at all hours. I also considered how powerful the best air purifiers are, especially to determine what room size they’re better suited for. Many air purifiers, like the Levoit models, can clean almost any room, and they’ll just take longer to finish the work for larger rooms. Other more compact options, like the Toshiba air purifier or the LG PuriCare Mini, don’t have the most powerful motors, so they’re more efficient in smaller spaces. Besides size and ACH, the incorporation of HEPA filters was an important deciding factor. Short for high-efficiency particulate air, it’s a pleated mechanical air filter that can remove airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns. This covers 99.97% of the particles found in the air, including pollen, mold, dust, and bacteria. Other factors I took into account include design, price, personal experience, and customer reviews. In addition to air purifiers, using your vacuum cleaner at least once per week can help you remove dust from your home, especially if you have pets. According to peer-reviewed medical studies, HEPA-filtered air cleaners can remove over 99.97% of airborne virus particles, especially when combined with other measures, even in school environments. Though it can help, the use of air purifiers alone isn’t enough to stop the spread of illnesses like COVID-19, as they focus on removing potentially infectious aerosol particles from the air. Other measures, like masking and social distancing, must be followed in conjunction with air cleaners to make them effective at preventing the spread of illnesses. Once you know the size of the room you’re working with, you can select an air purifier capable of efficiently circulating and cleaning the air in a room that size. A tabletop model is best for small spaces like a nursery or bathroom. A floor model can handle larger areas and may be portable enough to be moved from one room to another. HEPA filters are commonly used in the medical field due to the powerful filtration they offer. Activated carbon filters are also common in air purifiers and are effective at removing odors from the air. Before you purchase a model, look into what type of replacement filters you’ll need, how much they cost, and if you can afford to replace them as required. Otherwise, choosing not to replace filters as recommended could reduce the air purifier’s efficiency. After all, they are capturing and trapping harmful particles, such as mold spores and bacteria. Some air purifiers feature washable filters, which make maintenance easier. However, the most effective air purifiers include HEPA filtration and carbon filters, which need to be replaced. You can find the manufacturer’s requirements in the manual. Some modern purifiers have an indicator light that warns you when it’s time to replace the filters. As a rule of thumb, plan on replacing carbon air filters every three months, and other filters every six months. And if you have an oddly shaped room, you might consider placing two smaller air purifiers to maximize air circulation.
