Core 400

It’s a good choice for the money. I’ll probably get one for my living area eventually. I just got a core 400 a few days ago for my bedroom. Note that you can get the 600 on Amazon for $260

It probably won’t damage the purifier, but it can cause issues with the filter growing mold or developing a smell if you use it in very humid spaces like a bathroom longterm. For a few days, it’s not going to affect it that much. I would however set up a fan in the window to suck air out of the bathroom and then run it while he’s in there and after he’s done. That’s gonna be honestly more effective than a small air purifier and help with the air changes. If your home has an HVAC system though (meaning air is recycled throughout the house), you need an air purifier in your bedroom just to be safe. The Levoit 300 is probably fine for a bathroom type space, but it is generally undersized for most rooms. Better options would be something like the Levoit vital 200, Levoit core 400/600, Coway Airmega, or AirFanta 3.

A small purifier isn’t going to do anything for you, especially because you need to limit the noise. You are already going to be fighting an uphill battle in a cubical. Do not get a table top one. They will not clean enough air in an open space. You want to buy a big unit so you can run it on a lower speed, which will be quieter. I see staples sells the Levoit Core 600. That’s the best bet. If it’s too big, you could also go with the 400. Levoit is not HEPA, but still offers excellent cleaning. Carbon is not necessary for what you are trying to eliminate, but also please read the stickied thread about dust. Honeywell would be another option with a smaller footprint, but they are not as powerful as the larger Levoits.

Please see the stickied thread in this sub about dust. Purifiers are not designed to get rid of dust. Shark sucks. Don’t under any circumstances buy one. BlueAir is fine, but overpriced and the filters are expensive. Levoit is a good, cost effective brand. It is on par with Coway and Winix. You cannot go wrong with a unit from any of those manufacturers.

You are going to need to calculate the CADR needed for each room/area of the house (ie even if the living room and dining room are connected, each needs a purifier if possible). You can use [this calculator](https://housefresh.com/cadr-calculator/) to figure out the CADR. I will save you some time though and tell you the only purifiers close to that budget are going to be from Levoit. They are good machines and come in a variety of sizes. They are not fancy, but get the job done.

I have the Levoit 300s for our small bedroom and it’s great. I use the 400s for a large room and 600s for the main living space. Seem to do the trick quite well

If you buy one I check for something along the lines of True Hepa filters to catch the finer particles and activated carbon pellets to help out with odours. There are so many reviews comparing different brands, you'll usually see the same few at the top of the charts and the units will state what size of a room they're ideal for. It would come down to finer details like noise levels, filter replacement costs and if you care about added digital tech. Another deal breaker could be if it has an ozone feature which can be a health risk. It could even just come down to if something is on sale. After checking around and comparing reviews I settled on a Levoit Core 400s on sale and it does a good job with smoke where I've had this since the last bout of forest fires a few years ago, but it does lose that "whisper quiet" feature over time. Went for it since it also helps a good deal with pet hair and odours. The cost of the filter replacements keep going up though and the secondhand ones can be pretty cheaply made which makes me want to consider another brand or even the DIY method whenever a replacement seems necessary. You can check out a site like https://www.airpurifierfirst.com/ to see what's out there.

I like to use them for that too! Just not if it starts to get a little bit clunky with a wobbly fan breaking up the flow of sound, but I have super sensitive hearing. If I keep the 400s on a speed of 1 or above it works just fine, just not great anymore at the sleeping level for me. It's a good brand and their current square shaped fan the Vital 200s is supposed to be even better. Overall the ones mentioned so far Levoit, Blue Air and Coway are all pretty reliable options that help a lot with smoke filtration.

They’re okay. I bought the core 400S and the Blue Air ‘Blue Signature’ tried both for a week. I had them running simultaneously downstairs. I wanted to see which one was more responsive to monitoring the air quality. Blue Air was hands down was the best. It was responsive enough to alert me within seconds that my air was polluted every time I used cleaning spray, toasted bread, sprayed perfume or whenever I dusted a surface. Unfortunately Levoit didn’t warn me about any pollutants unless I was 4-5 feet away from it. I ended up returning the Levoit and keeping the Blue Air https://preview.redd.it/lf71ik3zs67h1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cde8a7458021ee91f070ba5ba1d451b1f6df8392