I've only used one. My son bought me a Honeywell HPA 5100B a couple of years ago.
It's got a HEPA filter (change every 12th months), a prefilter (3 months), and optional odor and VOC filter (3 months). I use the first two.
It's amazing how much visible crud is on the prefilters when they're pulled off. Crud isn't visible on the HEPA filter, but I'm breathing so I guess it's working. I don't have pets or other odor situation, so I don't use that filter.
Im doing good with Honeywell insight (largest size up to 500 sf). The filters arent cheap to replace but are HEPA & widely available. The only thing I don t like is you cant open it up to clean the vents.
They're not the quietest* of all available options nor the cheapest but every one of my Honeywell devices has worked very well with daily use for 5+ years. I bought them on sale, watch for filter sales online (I buy the Honeywell brand as I haven't found good testing data for knock offs) and I have no regrets. Models I use: Honeywell Insight in Medium-Large (x2) and Large-Extra Large (x1).
* They do run quietly on lower settings but I generally use the higher two settings.
Mine is a Honeywell. Because I know I'll be able to continue to get filters (even if I do buy off brand ones, bc theirs are SO expensive). Standard filters is the way. The A+ prefilter is better than the standard softer A style, but both are good at catching cat hair (I vacuum it off regularly)
Honeywell makes standard styles/sizes (mine uses two R filters) and other companies use the same system so it's easy. You can also search by model number (ex hpa 200)
These are what I bought last time: https://ebay.io/m/JRqZjg
For reasonable VOC removal there are only 4 players I know in the market which offer products which have the minimum 10 pounds of sorbent media: Airpura, Allerair, Austin, IQAir.
Wildfires product a huge mix of chemicals - from the vegetation, contents of burned buildings, etc. There is no consumer solution that removes all VOCs. Each type of media is better at some chemicals, not so good or not effective at all with others. For the same reason there is no sensor that I know that will give you the level of all VOCs.
These machines and filters tend to be expensive. I just upgraded my Austin units with Immunity Machine filters which cost \~$700 each. We were spared wildfire smoke this season but with AQI numbers breaking 100 I was able to keep my indoor values close to 0.
I use Austin and IQAir VOC machines along with Honeywell and Whirlpool HEPA units, 3 filters per room.
Top Air Purifiers on Reddit
1
Coway
Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty
87% positive of 126 users
Durable, effective for allergens/odors, but loud on high.
mycatpartyhouse
