Blueair - Pure 411+

I have a 411 and it died (wouldn’t run, connect to anything, blinking red light). Their customer support was very bad, multiple times just stopped responding to me until it was out of warranty. Because I had old case numbers they eventually admitted it was broken and reported within warranty and replaced it, but I wished I’d’ve got it from Costco so I could just return it there instead. 

Another vote for Blueair. I’ve had a 411 and two smaller ones running continuously for a few years now and they help with dust, dander, and lessening mildew. The app is pretty cool. The soft white noise is perfect for sleeping. Plus I run HVAC filtration every hour.

Unfortunatly, i had at Blueair 411 formabout 5 years in the bedroom. It just stopped working. So I replaced it with the newer 511

Ah, that's too bad. We've got a bunch of 411s and they're all still going strong. They're fairly simple, which is I suspect also why they're relatively reliable. I wonder if it's repairable honestly. Like maybe something just came loose inside there. I actually couldn't remember exactly when I bought all of ours so I looked it up in my Amazon history. We have three 411s that are all 8 years old now and still going. We have two 211+ models and they're 7 years old. And then 3 411 Autos that are now 3 years old. So far no problems with any of them running all day every day.

Their CADR is in cubic meters per hour, where most purifiers specify CADR in CFM (cubic feet per minute). Multiple this by about .59 to change to CFM, so it's claiming \~250 cfm. (It's actually 264.) Most air purifiers at this price point (the blueair 411/511, the levoit core 200s) have a CADR of 100-150 CFM. 100 is actually sufficient for the room size (160 square feet) you're mentioning. If it's too good to be true and there's no information about them anywhere, then it usually is :)

I mean.... I mentioned the part about them having no reviews and being at a sketchily low price point of 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of everyone else. There are really only a handful of air purifier brands that have demonstrated reliability, affordability, and effectiveness over several years, and don't dabble in post-apocalyptic/steampunk decor -- coway, levoit, blue air, winix. If you want to pay more, there's iq air, alen air, and a few others. For $110, you could have bought a blue air 511 and almost a 411, a levoit 300, almost a Levoit Vital 100s, or a Winix a231. The winix 5500, the coway 1512, levoit vital 200, and the blueair 311 are all at this CADR, but for closer to $200.

I like BlueAir because they’re quiet and I can buy after market filters in bulk for cheap. Been running a 211 (kitchen/family room) and 411 (bedroom) continuously without turning them off since 2020 and both still operate as new. The air filter taped to the back of a box fan works really well too but is very loud even on the lowest setting. I’ve used this method before I got the BlueAirs when we were dealing with real bad wildfire smoke here in California.

I also have always coveted the coway airmega, which has remained high in rankings (though can’t fully ‘trust’ any of them) but also above $200. How much are replacement filters? I bought my blueair 411 (not auto) 2019 for $100 and it remained high in all the rankings until 2022 when other stuff creeped up. My model remains less than $150 and Manufacturer’s replacement filters are $25 a piece but external prefilter cleaning by vacuuming and/or washing makes them last way longer. And they have prettier pre filters than the standard bright spandex ones that come w it. Does airmega have a ‘prefilter’?

I use two different ones: Winx C545 (Costco) and Blueair 411 (Amazon). The latter one served as the forced-air exhaust on my old DIY litter box.

Plus one for this. I have two blue air 411s in bedrooms and they are very good and new filters aren’t too expensive either. 

We have the 211 Max and we also have the classic 405. I have a tiny 411 in my office.