Alen - BreatheSmart 75i

Alen is the best of that group by far. And especially since this is r/BIFL - they offer a lifetime warranty as long as you buy your filters from them (or authorized 3rd party) Remember, get a unit bigger than you think you’ll need so you don’t need to run it on full blast constantly and be overwhelmed by noise - another plus for Alen is that they are insanely quiet. I have a 45i and 75i and they are excellent. The VOC filter has a crazy amount of carbon in it too to help with smoke. I believe they are also one of the few manufacturers that publish their carbon numbers in their filters. A lot of others don’t.

Alen is another brand to look at. Very quiet. Their 75i would be a good fit to not have to run it on high all the time. Plus you get a lifetime warranty if you buy filters from them or authorized 3rd parties.

I don’t work there, but +1 for the Alen 75i. Excellent unit, super quiet and their odor and VOC filters have a bunch of carbon. The filters last 12-15 months, so don’t be sticker shocked at the price of the filters. They tend to last longer. So running costs are actually less than competitors. Also, buying filters from Alen gets you a lifetime warranty.

If you want BIFL the only answer is Alen. They offer a lifetime warranty as long as you buy filters from them or from an authorized 3rd party. The 75i and 45i are excellent depending on your space. I’d get the VOC filter as well.

I started out looking at IQAir, expanded my search, and somehow ended up on ALEN BreatheSmart 75i. It was a while ago so I don't recall every consideration between the two. And the way you describe odor filtering sounds similar to my situation: no particuarly strong source, but I wanted something a little more effective than a flimsy charcoal prefilter. The ALEN is working well. I usually have it on automatic fan control. It spins up if dust gets kicked up, the toaster runs, or it's a low air-quality day. I wouldn't completely rely on that, though: I also manually crank it up from time to time.

Just be aware of the medify filter costs long term, they soon add up compared to the other brands on the list. For smoke I would choose the 75i or EverestAir both have good amounts of carbon compared to the others.

I eventually went with the Alen BreatheSmart 75i for my home, and it's been solid.

I've had an Alen 75i ( https://a.co/d/fztp1rY) in our bedroom for 3 years now. Nice unit and is quiet.

If you're looking for the best value for a space that large you should look at the Lifubide Y1000. For what it is it's hard to beat. AirDoctor is fine but their units are a bit noisy and their filters are expensive. iQAir is great but it's noisy on its highest level. Wanted to like MedifyAir but had a horrible customer service experience with them and not only that but they would not confirm that their filters were actually HEPA nor would they tell me the amount of carbon in their filter they said that was a company secret.. so that to me means they lied.. just not a fun company to deal with at all. The Dyson are basically just big fans, they do help with formaldehyde but that's about it, they are way overpriced for what they are and boy their customer service is on a whole new level of hell.. I won't ever recommend a Dyson to anyone ever again. Blue air I'm not a fan of and their always on ionizer isn't wonderful. My favorite air purifiers are Alen Breathesmart 75i, super quiet, moves a ton of air and is also super expensive. I also really like Oransi Mod+ but their air purifier prices have doubled recently so it's hard for me to recommend them anymore, for what they charge there are better alternatives.

I have a 75i in my house with an open first floor about 1150sqft and I have even better extraction than it sounds like you do. I like that it gives me a visual indication of AQ with the light but it goes pink (the worst AQ light) whenever we sear things with the extraction on. The fan will run on the highest setting for 20 minutes after searing/sauteeing then step down through the rest of the speeds. I know people will say that they’re overpriced but they’ve worked well for us in our home. We have 4 and price hasnt been my primary decision driver. Noise, filter quality, an longevity have been. We also have focused on modifying our air handlers for HEPA filtration without altering static pressure. If you have the space near the returns to do so it is a big bang for your buck.

The one with the charcoal element keeps things smelling better which I prefer in the kitchen. It’s not the absolute highest filtration they offer but I think it’s still within spitting distance of the others.

The problem with most is they're too loud so you run them on a low speed which is pointless, which makes the best the one that moves meaningful cfm: Alen 75i

I have Alen air purifiers… a 75i and two 45i. I notice sleep better when I run one at night & I vacuum the filters weekly since I have dogs. My neighbor’s new born always has a runny nose- they have three dogs & a smaller place. The Mom loves cleaning- place always looks great, vacuums pretty much daily. I loaned the 75i to her for a month… the filter came back completely matted with dog hair- and her baby had been sleeping a lot better…

I moved last year and replaced all my Winix purifiers with Alen HEPA filters. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made. My spouse is allergic to pet dander (we have two cats and two dogs) and we're both very sensitive to wildfire smoke (we're in California), so we needed something heavy duty. The Winix ones did an okay job, but the Alen ones are incredible. We have a 75i in the open living room/dining room/kitchen area and a 45i in my spouse's office, our bedroom, and one of the guest bedrooms. The 75i and all but one 45i have the fresh filters and the office 45i has the VOC/smoke filter. They're surprisingly quiet, even on turbo mode. Not inexpensive, but the investment in our health was worth every penny. And the filters last 9 to 12 months, unlike the Winix ones that we were replacing all the time.

Alen. Just bought 2. Had Levoit previously. I absolutely love them! True HEPA. Super quiet even on high settings. Emit "pink noise" at the high level. Zero odor. Ionization is optional. Has a functional app and alerts you if there's poor air quality. Customer service is top notch.

I did a sage burning test. I burned sage throughout my house to see how long it would take to clear. It took one hour. I even left for a few hours and came back. Nothing. I had 2 levoit air purifiers (core 200s and LV-H133) and I had a residual smell for DAYS afterwards. My friend thought I was smoking bad pot. I bought both the 75i for the main floor and the 45i for my bedroom and upgraded to the odor removing filter. I have 3 cats. I have a deviated septum that often leads to a sinus infection. I can breathe out of that side of my nose now. They have bundles for a discounted price. This past Memorial Day they were 30% off so you might wait and watch to see if they have a Fourth of July sale if you can wait that long.

I bought the 75i for the main floor and the 45i for my bedroom. They had a Memorial Day sale with 30% off and they also sell them in bundles. The 30% off included the bundles. There's a lifetime warranty if you subscribe to the filter program. You'll need a new filter every 9-12 months. They have 4 different filter options. I did a sage burning test. The smell was cleared in an hour. I left and came back and there was no residual smell. With my levoit (I had the LV-H133 and core 300) there was residual smell for days afterwards. And, I'd have to replace the filters every 3 months for the core and 4-6 months for the H133. And I even vacuum daily with my Roombas. Hope it helps.

The "handles everything" purifiers (with *no* humidifying) would be the IQAir HealthPro Plus XE and the Alen BreatheSmart 75i with the "Fresh" filter. The purifiers I mentioned in **bold** (Winix D480, Levoit Vital 200S Smart Air Purifier, Winix 5500-2, and the Coway Airmega 240) are *particulates air purifiers only*; these have small amounts of activated carbon for gases/VOCs. Ensure Smoke CADR equals your room's area. Blueair is a particulates air purifier with an always-on ionizer to electrostatically charge the filter media. Models have little activated carbon for gases/VOCs. I have one more suggestion for VOCs/gases. You could buy a few [Oransi TrueCarbon filters](https://oransi.com/products/airmend-truecarbon-filter) only and attach them to the front of a few box fans. Each TrueCarbon filter has 3.2 lbs. of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) sprayed activated carbon and is $79. I would keep the fan(s) on a medium to medium-low setting.

Full disclosure, I work here, but the Alen 75i ticks all of your boxes. I keep one in my bedroom with a cat and litter box and run it on turbo 24 7, even at night when we're asleep. Carbon filters last about 10 months for us.

I’d yank the Levoit units off this list unless cost is your biggest driver. While the Everest air is a good unit, the core is just not. It will clean air at first but it is cheap and the filter cost will add up over time. The lack of real pre-filters really kills these things. From your list, Medify is excellent. As is Coway 400. IQ Air will filter better than any of these units… but moves a lot less air doing so. I own one and I love it but I fully admit it lacks airflow and is VERY expensive. Alen is also good, you can optionally equip them with extra carbon which is nice. You won’t regret any of these purchases tbh.

[Alen Purifier with pet filter](https://alen.com/products/alen-breathesmart-75i-air-purifier) We have two of these filters (one upstairs and one downstairs). I’ve had them for about 5 years and would absolutely buy another one if needed. I run them both 24/7/365 and have to change the filters about every 2 years. We have two dogs and two cats. Of note- I bought my sister the 45i because of the space it was servicing and it required much more frequent filter changes. It was really helpful for her son’s asthma so we upgraded them to the 75i and they don’t have to change filters nearly as often.

I have a couple Alen that I’ve had for 5 years. I got two large and two medium. The large ones run forever before needing a filter but the medium seemed to need filters more frequently. I would buy the 75i again hands down.

Alen 75i. It’s bigger than you need but will last forever. The filters are kind of expensive but they also last a long time. You can turn off the LCD which is a must for me as well. We’ve had ours for ~5 years, replaced the filer’s three times. We run 24/7 and have two dog and two cats.

Longtime allergy sufferer. Alen air purifiers are the gold standard. Choose the BreatheSmart model that is one level ABOVE whatever your room's square footage is, and chose any filter designed for allergens or wildfire smoke. Keep the fan on the thermostat running (with or without A/C) and buy the best filter for your HVAC.

Alen is the best. True hepa (yes, this matters), absolutely silent, legit CADR. Coway and Winix are right behind them. Anything with true hepa (h13) is worth your money. Everything else is not.

We have an Alen breatheSmart. I like it. It’s sensitive to changes. It reacts as soon as we light a candle or cook. We change the filter once a year.

We upgraded to a shark matrix robot vacuum with 45 day auto empty tank (10 day) after researching which one was best on pet fur. It runs every day. I still use my Dyson animal once a week to get where the robot can't. Lint rollers everywhere 😅. "Control" is the right phrase, as there's still a lot of fur. And we have Alen Breathesmart for air purifier. Which also needs to be vacuumed off a couple times a month. And brush corgs several times a week. (We have 2 fluffy pems and 1 not so fluffy cardigan)