Austin Air - HealthMate

Austin Air HealthMate. Yes, it's pricey ($400-ish) but the filters last 5 YEARS instead of 6-12 months like most others. Did the math and it's actually cheaper in the long run. Built like a tank too - this thing will outlive me. Great for serious allergy sufferers.

I would also like to know. I personally bought an Austin Air Health Mate. But that was $700. Everything I read with that said it was pretty good. But I’m always looking for better products. Edit: Austin claims you only have to change your filter every 5 years.

If you want BIFL, I suggest you look into Austin [https://austinairsystems.com](https://austinairsystems.com) I am a retired medical provider, and over 30 years ago purchased one of the Austin units due to my son's asthma, based on solid recommendations from colleagues in the know about such things. The unit, a Healthmate model, while very expensive, still performs flawlessly to this day. My unit needs a new filter every five years, and while it is pricey, it has definitely been BIFL, and cost averaging over the years proves it to have been a bargain. Good luck!

Worth looking into particulates vs gases and seeing what you're trying to treat.  Pollen is a particulate and the kind of purifier you're talking about will help, but cooking odors might not be, in which case what you really want is something like the Austin Air Healthmate or Austin Air Healthmate Plus (not necessarily either of those but something with a ton of activated carbon and not just like the thin sheet of it).  If you do get something like that, hold onto the existing air purifiers so your fancy machine can like focus on the stuff that isn't particulates, but mostly what I'm thinking is you don't want to pay a bunch of money and find out it won't address your actual concerns.

Have you looked into used medical grade units (the ones listed in the pinned post as containing sorbent media)? I was able to get an Austin Air Healthmate off Marketplace for under $200 USD. There are some on ebay too. The replacement filter is $315 USD but it lasts 5 yrs so it might actually be less expensive in the long run compared to others.

Austin Air Healthmate. Been running mine 24/7 for 10 years with no issues whatsoever. Change the filter every 3-5 years (depending on your environment) and you’re good.

I have an Austin Air Healthmate and love it. I bought it 10 years ago and it runs 24/7 in my bedroom on low (there are 3 settings: low, medium, and high). I change the filter every 4-5 years. If you have to change it before then, the company will pro-rate a new one at reduced cost. The company is in Buffalo, NY and I highly recommend you look into it.

Yeah that's fair. And totally not defending shark, they make shit appliances ever. It's still impressive how long the Austin Air filters last, cost aside

I have two different Dyson models. I'm sorry but they are not that great. My Austinair hm450 has been amazing. The filter alone weighs like 25lbs.

I have the healthmate and love it. If you read their manuals, the filter is all that changes between machines, so you can upgrade or downgrade every 5 years when you do the filter change!  Edit: the full-size machines, that is

The best for VOCs, according to several tests, is the Austin Air HealthMate. Although it's not very good at removing particulates and is quite noisy, that's normal considering the amount of carbon it contains. Honestly, I think you'll go broke installing that in a kitchen; if VOC levels are high, it will clog up quickly. A Levoit Core 400 or 300 seems like a good option in that price range, but as I said, it's only for particulates. You won't notice much difference in odors and VOCs once the small carbon filter they have gets clogged.