5500-2

I’ve had a Winix 5500-2 for about a year. Seems to be decently built and works well. I know this isn’t exactly forever but so far so good.

adding more purifiers is no overkill. i have 11 winix 5500-2 units around here and i have a Iq air healthpro plus. They all do a decent job at what they do covering all rooms and spaces. i dont run them all the time in all spaces 2 units are only on when im working in the garage and back of the house. I find that the health pro plus is the most effective unit downstairs it is much more powerful then the winix 5500-2 units i own. but the winix units are great at trapping cat hair and particles linnencloth and dust on the prefilter. i can easily vacuum it off. it slowed down the dust build up around our house considerably. I wish that i could place a healthpro plus in my bedroom but there is too little space. the 5500-2 i have in my beds end is more practical for the moment.

try to improve your hob hood extractor first or replace it with a new one if needed. is it a unit that vents the air outside? is it a unit that absorbs the smells and has no venting outside? if its the latter you need to replace the carbon absorption cartridge first and more often, they only last 6 months or so if its a absorption based unit. and you can improve the grease and smell absorption with something like this picture i posted below of sheets for your hood extractor: If the fan inside the unit is already greased up i would recommend taking it apart and cleaning it or replace it for a new unit entirely because that too can spread smell inside your apartment. Ideally you want your hood extractor above your stove/hob to suck in most of the smell and oders and vent it outside through a exhaust vent. and you want the grease to trap inside a cloth as i showed you below that you replace every 2-3 months so the fan of the unit dousnt clogup with grease. A decent basic air purifier that is readily available and can deal with smells to some extent is the winix 5500-2 it has about 200grams of activated carbon which is not much but it dous something and its gas sensor kicks in increasing the speed when the level of t/voc increases. but again 200g of carbon isnt much it wont remove smells for a long time. on the german amazon and winix website for the netherlands there are often rebates these winix 5500-2 units sell for 110-140 euros. that makes it a very reasonably priced unit for what it can do. Purifiers that can deal with smell better are much more expansive like IQair healthpro plus which has 2.5kg of activated carbon or the Iqair multigas that has 4 cardridges totaling 5.4kg. but we are talking 1500-1850 euros they are very expansive in the netherlands with 21% tax upon them. https://preview.redd.it/98190o0t8aig1.jpeg?width=1495&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4dd59455ee64f802bb431c9dacee4e39da4b464

the mesh pre filter works very well with cat hair you can vacuum the hair off easily. i run 3 winix 5500-2s near my cats and their litterboxes. they trap alot of cat hair and fine dust and dander. i vacuum it off regularly. a cat brush like the furminator that can brushoff the undercoat also helps. your cats loose alot less hair and dander if you maintain their coat well enough with it.

There's no (affordable) home solution for VOC based odors. If the smells are large enough to be caught in a particulate filter, then any of the above will be sufficient. I only have personal experience with the Winix 5500-2 - and the stock honeycomb filter smells great for about 3 days before its pretty much clogged up. And it won't be effective in heavy environments (such as a kitchen with zero ventilation). These filters aren't really designed for clearing out active sources of pollution (cooking, chemistry experiments, active woodworking, even soldering) - they're more of improving areas with less than ideal air quality. For things like the above (cooking, woodworking, soldering, chemistry) - active vent hoods, whole-room filtration systems are typically best and still often aren't enough for some of these tasks. For cooking? Absolutely need ventilation. These filters won't be sufficient on their own.

I use 5500-2's and C535's (costco's 5300-2 made for them) in all rooms, including the bedrooms. I would look at it more as where do you generate the most dust (human dust - aka skin cells). And that'd be the bedroom during sleep hours. I wouldn't go any smaller than the Winix 5500. The CADR / AHAM room size ratings is tested against max fan speed only. Keep that in mind when sizing the filters and the intended speed you're planning to run them at. Match the filter sizes, its easier. Easier when buying on amazon in bulk packs as well.

Absolutely need a prefilter. these are typically removable mesh screens (think like a storm door) that you can rinse under a hose or sink. This keeps the replaceable filters (especially HEPA) clean from large debris. I should take a video some day, but at a relative's house (its like a barn - shedding dog and more) - cleaning the prefilters is like getting a whole animal's worth of fur sometimes. Its amazing and disgusting - but seeing HOW BIG the fur is - its one less thing to vacuum up. CR box is absolutely the wrong solution for this. It doesn't have the quick ability to clean the prefilter and move on. If the CR box has enough suction - the bottom of the filter will clog with fur almost instantly. I would personally use a Winix 5000 series filter; but anything with an easily access prefilter \*and\* washable cover will be fine. I have to wash both the aesthetic cover and the prefilter on my Winix's. Keep that in mind - because some air purifiers might have some electronics or at least metal that may be prone to corrosion or shorting. (Example: Original Winix 5500). Anyway, prefilter, and size up. Don't bother with smaller filters. Just get a medium sized filter (AHAM 300-360ish sq ft) and run it on medium settings.

I would match all three for ease of filter stocking and replacement. I don't know any of these filters personally except the C545. The C545 is ... wasn't on my recommend list. I own, probably at least 3 across various apts and homes? My issue with it, is it basically was advertised as a replacement for the (now refreshed) Winix 5500-2 - even sporting a similar price point with added smart-wifi features. Except its slightly cheaper feeling, higher pitched wind/fan noise thats harder to block out, and many arrived with misaligned fans that clanked around. All three of my first batch were refurbs for $59 or $69/each and did not suffer from those problems. (Edit: I suspect Winix has a ton of refurbs that were repaired returns). Its been over \~6 years and they're still running great. But I basically only want to get 5500-2's or the costco C535 instead. I can't recommend them purely because there were better options in Winix's own lineup at the time - but if its the one on sale, I can say that my 3 have held up to dog hair and cat hair just fine. (HIGHLY recommend placing one right next to the cat bed - i mean literally on top - it will suck everything instead of letting it linger on the floor and get kicked around). The C545 also has great 3rd party filter availability on amazon - with upgrades available to replace the useless carbon sheet with a slightly less useless carbon pellet pre filter. Again - if you can find the 5300/5500-2 or C535 - go for those instead. And just match the filters. Don't bother getting a different one per room.

Absolutely need a prefilter. these are typically removable mesh screens (think like a storm door) that you can rinse under a hose or sink. This keeps the replaceable filters (especially HEPA) clean from large debris. I should take a video some day, but at a relative's house (its like a barn - shedding dog and more) - cleaning the prefilters is like getting a whole animal's worth of fur sometimes. Its amazing and disgusting - but seeing HOW BIG the fur is - its one less thing to vacuum up. CR box is absolutely the wrong solution for this. It doesn't have the quick ability to clean the prefilter and move on. If the CR box has enough suction - the bottom of the filter will clog with fur almost instantly. I would personally use a Winix 5000 series filter; but anything with an easily access prefilter \*and\* washable cover will be fine. I have to wash both the aesthetic cover and the prefilter on my Winix's. Keep that in mind - because some air purifiers might have some electronics or at least metal that may be prone to corrosion or shorting. (Example: Original Winix 5500). Anyway, prefilter, and size up. Don't bother with smaller filters. Just get a medium sized filter (AHAM 300-360ish sq ft) and run it on medium settings.

I say about 1/3rd of my Winix's have a bit of a smell that dissipates quite quickly.

1) I have a Coway 1512HH Mighty and 2 of the Winix 5500s... and they are both really good units for particle filtration for the money.  I've also dealt with a lot of customers with both units, through the years, who were quite happy with each of them.  2) Are you Chemically Sensitive? 3) If not, I’d try to get another Coway 1512HH Mighty to see if it offgasses less.  It is currently on Amazon at a really good price. I’m new to Reddit, so IDK if I’m able to mention the pricing specifics of units. 4) I am currently not a big fan of Filter Monster replacement filters - I think they are possibly not as good as the filters coming from the actual manufacturers.  As, I got one that is supposed to be the exact same filter as the one I have in my Austin Air Healthmate.  However, it was about 23% lighter in weight and didn’t seem to be of the same quality… so, I’m not 100% sold on the quality of the Filter Monster brand. 5)  The Winix 5500 was recently replaced with the 5510 so, that would probably be the next unit I’d consider, in the same price range. I think the Coway Mighty is sealed a little better than the Winix… but if you can’t use it - you may be happy with the Winix solution… 

WINIX 5300-2 Air Purifier is also significantly better then the levoit since they have a higher cadr rating this or the 5500 model will be my next one I buy

To be honest I haven’t gotten them Yet. They are for my parents and were supposed to be delivered today but were delayed until Thursday. I have a Winix 5500-2 in my home and love it. I also have a Levoit in my bedroom that does a great job despite the reviews.

I just purchased two of them 2 weeks ago. They are available at the Winix storefront that’s on Amazon.

Yep I have a few Winix 5500-2s that have been running for 5+ years. The main issue with them is they can develop noisy bearings after a few years, the bearings can be replaced but it is kind of a pain to do, I did it for one off them.

The noises in mine have definitely been from the bearings wearing out, it is pretty common issue on this model.

I had a couple of Winix 5500? units and now have a BlueAir 211+. I tend to open the balcony door when I cook so most of the smell vents out, and I live in a place that's not too dusty, so it works well in reducing dust on furniture. Unfortunately my place has wall to wall carpets. Is it worth it? I don't know. Less dust and obviously the dust stuck in the machine is dust not on the furniture, but is it reduced enough to where I'd buy it again? Not sure. My place is 988 sqf, so pretty small too. A few things to keep in mind; A lot of them have no real testing done, just bloggers who claim it does something. Filters can be expensive. They usually need to run on high to reach their CADR, and on high they are usually noisy, so I can only run mine on low or medium in the other room. No chance using it in the bedroom if I'm in there.

My Winix 5500 has been running 24/7 for years. It has a HEPA and charcoal filter along with an ionizer. Just a basic unit that works.

It takes me two minutes to swap out filters in my Winix every few months.

Seven years. The oscillating feature manes noise now.

My Winix runs 24/7/365 and has for years.

Probably 5 years of constant running on mine. I'm amazed at the number of posts praising Winix.