Winix - 5500-2

https://www.winixamerica.com/product/5500-2/?utm_source=Google%20Shopping&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping%20Product%20Feed&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=48&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADEtHWmnqOtPCBnuZ3C0Ri3K2ZZ9o&gclid=Cj0KCQiAst67BhCEARIsAKKdWOmD_2u7OoTiZsHlwxeeJVkzpNO38ZTVPesm1feu5UlXIqJvRprkzLEaAgmaEALw_wcB I have 2 of these are have washable carbon filters. Very good!

It doesn't pull air like the 5502 and 5300 and this is the next generation of the 5500-2. On speed 2 the purifier does not hold toilet paper (one squate) the 5502 does. And it doesn't blow air out hard as the 5502. I guess it is my test but I'm not keeping it. I just ordered another 5502.

I ended up using the AHAM to help me decide thank you! Turns out coways not verified by them. And I started to see some discrepancies about their micron particle size being marketed something different than the true size… so I went with the winix 5500-2. Seems good so far! Thank you for the recommendation on AHAM

I ended up purchasing the winix 5500-2 after looking up the AHAM (someone mentioned on my post to check there and it helped me get a good idea of realistic square footage and CADR because they verified them) and it seemed to be the best choice for what I needed in my master. Figured I’d start there since it’s such good value and if I didn’t love it I can get another brand for downstairs, but so far I like it! Not too much noise and I think I feel a difference already! I also deep cleaned right before I installed it so that might have helped too 😅 We have a dog too so fur accumulates quick and it’s hard to keep up with my 18month old baby. Noticed a big difference that my eyes are not as itchy! Do you keep yours running through the night? Mine seems to turn off, but I think I can disable “night mode”. We’re sleeping in there all night and I’m thinking I’ll see even better results if I keep it going.

I have seen that too. That they released a statement that there’s no purpose to its green filter other than marketing? I ended up with the winix 5500-2 for my bedroom… still kind of like the idea of the coway for my downstairs, but I did see what people were mentioning about the green filter.

The Levoit Vital 200s, Winix 5500-2, Winix A231, or Blueair 311i Max The Levoit Vital series are reportedly improved versions of the Core series. Also, the Levoit Vital 100 and Blueair 511 are too small for your bedroom (when not complemented by the box fan). They have confirmed clean air delivery rates (CADR) of \~100 cubic feet per minute. You want at least 5 air changes per hour (ACH), preferably more. ACH = 60 x CADR / room volume. Your room volume is 230 x 8 = 1,840 (assuming you have an 8-foot ceiling) E.g., the Levoit 100: 60 x 130 / 1,840 = 4.2 ACH. Not bad, especially if you're also running your box fan filter. But not ideal. Levoit 200s: 60 x 245 / 1,840 = 8 ACH. Very good, especially when you're not running your box fan.

The Coway AP-1512 (and the Coway Airmega 200, which is almost the same thing) are still good picks, as is the Winix 5500-2. All three have similar performances, including cleaning airborne viruses. I would also look at the Levoit Vital series, and the new PC fan filters like AirFanta and CleanAirKits. [https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/)

The Coway 150 or the Winix C545, with some caveats. But I recommend upgrading from the Coway 150 to the Coway Airmega 200 (which I have) or Coway Mighty (a little harder to clean the front panel of the Mighty than the Coway 200) to provide flexibility of moving it to a larger room. Depending on the merchant, the 200 isn't much more expensive than the 150. [Wirecutter](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/#our-pick-coway-airmega-ap-1512hh-mighty) rates the Winix C535 as performing as well as the Winix 5500-2, so presumably the Winix C545 would be good. I don't recommend the Winix 5500-2 (which I also have) for ***bedrooms*** because you can't turn off the annoying display light--not good for sleeping. But I consider the 5200-2 to be better than the aforementioned Coways only because of its charcoal filter with charcoal pellets--not the charcoal filter pad that the Coways use. Also, it's easy to forget to turn off 5500-2's pointless "PlasmaWave" feature when you turn on the machine--probably not good to have that activated in your baby's room. Other than that, Winix 5500-2 and the Coway Airmega 200 have the same specs (airflow and coverage). I don't know if the Winix C535 and the C545 lack a light shut off feature similar to the Winix 5500-2's lack of that feature. Levoit Core 300 seems ok but it has some quirks mentioned in this video of the Levoit Core 400: [https://youtu.be/h-keLXkIKI0](https://youtu.be/h-keLXkIKI0) (I like that guy's reviews of air purifies--he really knows what he's talking about. And he rates the 5500-2 as the best one on the market). An air filtration expert did all types of tests on the Levoit Core 400 and the results were impressive. I don't know anything about the Smart Air Sqair. But I notice that unlike the Levoit Core 300 and seemingly all Winix models, the Smart Air Sqair doesn't have an AHAM Verifide certificate (to be fair, neither does any Coway model). [https://www.ahamdir.com/room-air-cleaners/](https://www.ahamdir.com/room-air-cleaners/) Smart Air Sqair also doesn't specify what its clean air delivery rate (CADR) applies to--smoke, dust, or pollen (smoke is always the lowest of the 3)--which to me is red flag on honesty/openness. What's the height of your ceiling?

If using light blocking tape, then the Winix 5500-2 would be the clear choice out of all the aforementioned purifiers.

Ideally you want an air purifier with activated charcoal pellets instead of a activated carbon filter pad, and powerful enough to give you at least 5 air changes per hour for your size living room or whatever room(s) you place it. Will be hard to find that for $150. The Winix 5500-2, which uses charcoal pellets (and not a lot of it) and is one of the best values in air purifiers, was on sale last week for $145, but that's a rare sale. Usually it's $200. Whatever unit you get, one unit won't suffice for 700sqft. For one, you'll need one for different rooms (I assume you have at least 1 bedroom). Even if you have a studio apartment (i.e., 1 room), you'll need 2 of the Winix 5500-2 or its equivalent for that size room. Another option is the AirFanta 3Pro (PC fan based air purifier with impressive air flow) for $160 but you'll need to spend $75 on AirFanta charcoal filters.

I have the older Winix and run it 24 7 365 without problems. I just need to replace the filter once a year. I have not tried this round model. Edited to add. Mine is a 5500. I forget the Costco model number for the equivalent but it was the same unit that Costco was selling for 2018-2021. Been running non stop since 2018 and no weird noises from the blower fan which is amazing.

I vacuum the mesh pre-filter and charcoal pre-filter every week, and i use the orange filter from Winix. I can get more than a year out of them. The orange filter does start to look a bit black at that point.

Mine doesn’t have any network access. It was probably from 2019-2020 era. I’m sad to hear if they are all networked now.

Slightly cheaper option: I use the winix 5500. It has a mega mode (which is loud) that cleans a very large room quickly, or that you can run constantly if the air is really polluted. I have very bad asthma and it was able to clean my house air during forest fire season. It worked so so well. We have had the same one for 4 years, running constantly, with no trouble. We do not have the smart version, which I would be wary of (more parts to break).  Bonus: it is on sale right now Edit: I think this is the one we have up at our cabin. It doesn't get used as heavily so I can't speak to longevity, but we bought it used and it works perfectly. Sorry the link is chaotic.  https://www.winixamerica.com/product/c535/?_gl=1*14sla5r*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyc67BhDSARIsAM95Qzsi-b5swDVaTVYvius-k4yc29_yya6emNoU-ixOlYQgQhYoDvVP6I4aAovaEALw_wcB This is the one we have at our house:  https://a.co/d/e2W3sJ8

HEPA and carbon. The Winix 5500-2 is a really good one for the price ($133 currently): https://a.co/d/2JXjKYa You can turn the plasmawave thing off if you're worried about ozone.

Check Facebook marketplace, I got 2 lightly used winix 5502 air purifiers for $155 they retail for about $180 each

Check out Facebook marketplace, I just picked up 2 barely used Winix 5502 for $155

I have two goldens. I have a pet grooming vacuum that I use on them about every day (you know the kind that allows you to brush them and then click a button and it sucks hair into the vacuum -amazon). I then have a shark vacuum that has excellent suction power, I vacuum just about every day, and then we have a few air purifiers in the house that do a good job at controlling odor and does look to pick up some pet hair. I think the air purifiers are on Amazon and are called winix? They dont require changing the filters often at all.. once a year, maybe! Uproot clean products are amazing too. They even sell special drier sheets to help pick up dog hair from your clothes better.

Amazon.com: Winix 5500-2 Air Purifier with True HEPA, PlasmaWave and Odor Reducing Washable AOC Carbon Filter Medium : Home & Kitchen https://share.google/Qoi1QAM9UlG7BfuMF Just take note of the square footage it covers. We have three and will put two in a room to cover cooking odor, or if it just smell a little bit too much like dog 😅

I second this. I have the 5500-2 (AM80 actually - but it’s only an aesthetic difference) and the smell in my room drastically changed. Mine wasn’t specifically animal but a culmination of prior animals, general dust, and the related musk from high humidity. I set it facing the registers in the room and it was a game changer. I know it really helped since I had to run the hvac fan constantly to get the humidity under control, which before getting the purifier I dreaded since it made the smells worse. And it makes quick work of my son’s dinner choice consequences (turns red and everything 😂).

With that size room I’d probably want to put one in each quadrant but I’m dramatic-your budget may limit you to 2 though, which I think would be the minimum for the room. I had a good time with Winix 5500-2 (mine was AM80 for aesthetics, but pretty much same thing). I have high humidity and also had a bathroom leak and it was a game changer while I was fixing those issues, and since. The 5500-2 and AM80 can still be found, at $205 and $190 respectively. There are newer models that are pretty much the same thing available as well. The 5510 on Amazon for $179, and the 5520 for $199. Somewhere in there is the AM90-same aesthetic of the AM80. 5500-2, AM80, 5510 I believe all use the same filters - so replacements should be the most available. Not sure about 5520-I read somewhere it was smaller, but I think I’ve seen it included in the compatible models when buying replacement filters for mine. There was an older model (5300-2) with a different lower end carbon filter that was cheaper, but I don’t see it available anymore. My mother sent this to my aunt in Chicago as she wanted to start cheaper and be able to replace the filters more often at lower cost. So we know about old Midwest buildings! One thing, sometimes people complain about the “plasma wave” option that turns on automatically which is an ionizer. Apparently it creates a small amount of ozone, so a lot of people turn it off. Something about birds. You can definitely turn it off too if you don’t want it. I actually grew up using full on ionizers as air purifiers recommended by her drs and allergist for my sisters asthma and you can’t beat the smell of sterility they bring.😅 Double check Winix site for pricing too though! I think they are comparable to Amazon, but may also only have the newest models. I also heard there’s a Costco specific model, not sure what that one is. I’d probably go with the two of the 5510s!

Oh a double check my pricing! I just saw a 5500-2 with the older aesthetic for $152! https://a.co/d/hgis3a1 5500-2, 5510, 5520, AM90 are all “color” options in this listing, but they are in fact the different models with the different prices. https://a.co/d/aBUYET8 am80 that I bought

With that size room I’d probably want to put one in each quadrant but I’m dramatic-your budget may limit you to 2 though, which I think would be the minimum for the room. I had a good time with Winix 5500-2 (mine was AM80 for aesthetics, but pretty much same thing). I have high humidity and also had a bathroom leak and it was a game changer while I was fixing those issues, and since. The 5500-2 and AM80 can still be found, at $205 and $190 respectively. There are newer models that are pretty much the same thing available as well. The 5510 on Amazon for $179, and the 5520 for $199. Somewhere in there is the AM90-same aesthetic of the AM80. 5500-2, AM80, 5510 I believe all use the same filters - so replacements should be the most available. Not sure about 5520-I read somewhere it was smaller, but I think I’ve seen it included in the compatible models when buying replacement filters for mine. There was an older model (5300-2) with a different lower end carbon filter that was cheaper, but I don’t see it available anymore. My mother sent this to my aunt in Chicago as she wanted to start cheaper and be able to replace the filters more often at lower cost. So we know about old Midwest buildings! One thing, sometimes people complain about the “plasma wave” option that turns on automatically which is an ionizer. Apparently it creates a small amount of ozone, so a lot of people turn it off. Something about birds. You can definitely turn it off too if you don’t want it. I actually grew up using full on ionizers as air purifiers recommended by her drs and allergist for my sisters asthma and you can’t beat the smell of sterility they bring.😅 Double check Winix site for pricing too though! I think they are comparable to Amazon, but may also only have the newest models. I also heard there’s a Costco specific model, not sure what that one is. I’d probably go with the two of the 5510s!

With that size room I’d probably want to put one in each quadrant but I’m dramatic-your budget may limit you to 2 though, which I think would be the minimum for the room. I had a good time with Winix 5500-2 (mine was AM80 for aesthetics, but pretty much same thing). I have high humidity and also had a bathroom leak and it was a game changer while I was fixing those issues, and since. The 5500-2 and AM80 can still be found, at $205 and $190 respectively. There are newer models that are pretty much the same thing available as well. The 5510 on Amazon for $179, and the 5520 for $199. Somewhere in there is the AM90-same aesthetic of the AM80. 5500-2, AM80, 5510 I believe all use the same filters - so replacements should be the most available. Not sure about 5520-I read somewhere it was smaller, but I think I’ve seen it included in the compatible models when buying replacement filters for mine. There was an older model (5300-2) with a different lower end carbon filter that was cheaper, but I don’t see it available anymore. My mother sent this to my aunt in Chicago as she wanted to start cheaper and be able to replace the filters more often at lower cost. So we know about old Midwest buildings! One thing, sometimes people complain about the “plasma wave” option that turns on automatically which is an ionizer. Apparently it creates a small amount of ozone, so a lot of people turn it off. Something about birds. You can definitely turn it off too if you don’t want it. I actually grew up using full on ionizers as air purifiers recommended by her drs and allergist for my sisters asthma and you can’t beat the smell of sterility they bring.😅 Double check Winix site for pricing too though! I think they are comparable to Amazon, but may also only have the newest models. I also heard there’s a Costco specific model, not sure what that one is. I’d probably go with the two of the 5510s!

With that size room I’d probably want to put one in each quadrant but I’m dramatic-your budget may limit you to 2 though, which I think would be the minimum for the room. I had a good time with Winix 5500-2 (mine was AM80 for aesthetics, but pretty much same thing). I have high humidity and also had a bathroom leak and it was a game changer while I was fixing those issues, and since. The 5500-2 and AM80 can still be found, at $205 and $190 respectively. There are newer models that are pretty much the same thing available as well. The 5510 on Amazon for $179, and the 5520 for $199. Somewhere in there is the AM90-same aesthetic of the AM80. 5500-2, AM80, 5510 I believe all use the same filters - so replacements should be the most available. Not sure about 5520-I read somewhere it was smaller, but I think I’ve seen it included in the compatible models when buying replacement filters for mine. There was an older model (5300-2) with a different lower end carbon filter that was cheaper, but I don’t see it available anymore. My mother sent this to my aunt in Chicago as she wanted to start cheaper and be able to replace the filters more often at lower cost. So we know about old Midwest buildings! One thing, sometimes people complain about the “plasma wave” option that turns on automatically which is an ionizer. Apparently it creates a small amount of ozone, so a lot of people turn it off. Something about birds. You can definitely turn it off too if you don’t want it. I actually grew up using full on ionizers as air purifiers recommended by her drs and allergist for my sisters asthma and you can’t beat the smell of sterility they bring.😅 Double check Winix site for pricing too though! I think they are comparable to Amazon, but may also only have the newest models. I also heard there’s a Costco specific model, not sure what that one is. I’d probably go with the two of the 5510s!

This I think the only air purifier I'd trust in the case of major chemical removal would be an expensive IQ Air Gas. That said, I've been using Winix for years and I love them. They are quiet, work well overall, and are a much better bang for the buck. The 5500 is a better machine for VOC removal as it has a much more substantial carbon filter. I also believe their PlasmaWave tech does help too. I understand the science behind it, and in my experience it seems to help in the long term.

One of the best for the money is Winix, as they are AHAM verified for their CADR, of which are higher than most. However Blueair and Coway are also great options with good performance for the money. They all use quality HEPA filters and most models are Energy star verified too.

I've been running this one in a studio apt and have had very little smoke smell.

the highest dollar per CADR I think is the Airfanta 3pro, but its a bit more finicky than a plug and play, and I don't know if it does smell very well. Between the two you have there, I'd go with the Winix.

that is true. I don't know how well they compare against the 5500-2, and one of selling points of the 5500-2 is that the carbon filter is separate (and apparently washable?) where as on the airfanta its bound to the filtration medium. But also it would raise the cost well over 150, where as just the airfanta 3pro itself is under 160 with the standard filter set.

If you decide to get the Winix 5500-2, keep the plasma wave OFF. It's Winix version of ionization which is of concern for people who care about ozone. Supposedly it's negligible but i don't take my chances so I keep it off.

I'd get the Winix. I know odor is last on your list but that carbon pellet filter on the Winix makes a difference. I'll likely sell my Coway to get the Winix.

Yes, Winix is every 6 months for filter placement. You can rinse the pre-filter and carbon filter. Just make sure they're both dry before adding them back.

Winix 5500-2. It's a good time to buy since a few places have it at a lower price. One of the reasons I purchased it was due a House Fresh article on the best purifiers for weed smell and it was the one that fit my budget the best. If you're using it for your bedroom you should be good.

😅I live in a one bedroom and I am on purifier 4. I’m going for 5 but could manage with 4. I knew my Winix 5500-2, the third one I bought and bought with way more knowledge than the first two, was underpowered for my space but I love that it meets a number of needs for me. No regrets. In my everyday I don't really need all four of mine going. 2 in my bedroom, 2 in my living room. I'm in no rush for an air purifier for the kitchen but we've all got different priorities in a device.

Winix 5500-2 first came to mind because it has a great activated carbon filter which is great for smells. It doesn't have an app for scheduling though. The Levoit Vital 200s hits right at your budget limit but you can schedule. It even has a smart mode where it can detect poor air quality and ramp up the fan. The Vital 100s is cheaper but won't filter the air as often/fast. It's often best to size up as much as your budget allows when it comes to air purifiers

You'll likely need a purifier for each room, at the very least one for the living room and bedroom. The Levoit Vital 200s is right at your budget limit but it's supposed to be good with pet dander and it has an auto mode. It is certified by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers for 388 square feet BUT that's based on the highest fan setting. I'd say a 300 square foot room would be it's best setting. Slightly cheaper but larger in size is the Winix 5500-2. It's AHAM certified for 360 square feet. AHAM certified coverage area means it can provide 5 air changes an hour within that space on the highest fan setting. I have the 5500-2 and I have two cats. I'm not allergic to them so I don't care about dander but it helps collect some of their hair. I still run my robotic vacuum every day, vacuum the couches nearly daily, and brush them 1-2x a week and there's still hair. MAYBE if I had a better robotic vacuum but I'm fine with it. You might be able to save funds buying used on Facebook Marketplace. Most people just list "air purifier" and not the brand in the listing title.

I would suggest the Winix 5500-2. It's rated for 360 sq ft based on the highest fan speed. It has about 4 fan speeds and you'd probably want to run it at the next to highest fan speed during the day. There's a "smart" version with app support: 5510. Only con with the 5500-2 for a bedroom setting is the bright air quality indicator light. I've see some people say they cover it with black tape.

Could you also upgrade the filters in your apartment? It sounds like you have central heat and air. I wonder if the Winnix 5500-2 would be a better choice. It has a higher CADR for tobacco smoke than the Levoit and it has carbon pellet filters which will be good for odors. I have one for weed smoke. I bought it based on a recommendation from a blog I like, House Fresh. Independent blog that reviews on air purifiers. Just know that one of these alone won't be enough since you said it's a big room but one machine is better than zero.

Oh yes, it will help with allergies as well. *It may not help as much as you might hope because if the room is really large. You'll need a device equipped to change the air often to significantly reduce the allergen. Working within your budget. I think the Winix is a good option. I'm not aware of purifiers in the $140-$150 range that can provide 5 air changes an hour in a large space and have enough carbon to reduce or eliminate the smell of cigarette smoke. Others might know. 🙂

There’s a House Fresh article about the best air purifiers for viruses and bacteria. Sadly the Coway wasn’t on it. I wish I had came across the article before I bought my Coway 1512hh. The Winix 5500-2 is listed as a good buy for viruses. I ended up buying it for my living room and have the Conway in my bedroom. At some point I’ll upgrade to the Winix. Update: A few months ago I was looking at Coway's website and thought I didn't see viruses listed in terms of what their HEPA filters can filter out for the Coway 1512hh. I just looked and it's listed. Definitely put me at ease and I can cross getting another Winix for the bedroom off my list.

Just comparing the Coway 1512hh to the Winix 5500-2 I'd say Winix is slightly better due to the carbon filter and having an additional fan speed. You are correct, the square footage is based on the device running at the highest speed. Both devices are verified for 360 square feet. OP, you might want to look into the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers' directory. It allows you to see what square footage an air purifier is verified for. I may have mentioned Coway isn't in it. Another option would be to look at the different devices on Coway's site and look at the square footage for a device in 12.5 minutes, that way it's giving you the square footage for roughly 5 air changes an hour.

AirFanta 3Pro. It's not the most aesthetic machine but it has great specs. Rated for a room around 500 square feet. They have a version with a carbon filter. I've been testing it and it cleans the smell faster than my Winix. To be expected with a higher CADR. The Winix will help a lot if you're in a smaller room, like 275 sq ft max

My Winix 5500-2 does well with weed smell but not my cat's poop. For the most part their litter does a good job. Occasionally I have to sprinkle in some Rocco and Roxie cat litter deodorizer to quickly knock out the smell.

+1 for the Winix. I'm a smoker myself and it's great for getting rid of the smell. One of my neighbors smokes splits (tobacco and weed) and I absolutely hate the tobacco smell. I placed my unit outside my door and it really made a difference in the hallway (which is taller than it is long). I've tried weatherstripping on my front door and it just won't stick.

Winix 5500-2. It’s what I use as a weed smoker. I occasionally put it in the hallway because one of my neighbors smokes cigarettes or mixed tobacco with her weed and it seeps into my place🙄

If the Winnix 5500-2 is available in the UK, I'd buy that. I smoke cannabis too and part of why I bought the Winix 5500-2 was after seeing it listed in an article re: best purifiers for weed smoke and smell. Another option is the AirFanta 3Pro. You'll need to buy the carbon filter version so it can filter out the smell. https://housefresh.com/air-purifier-for-weed-smoke/

If outer asking about the Winix filter:They're not super thick. It works though. It's more about the size of your room. It's certified for 360 SQ feet at it's max fan volume. In practice, it's best suited for 275-300 SQ ft. Because of the layout of my space I'll need a second one but for now it does a good job despite me not getting the recommended air changes per hour. If you're asking about the AirFanta, Amazon should provide the dimensions of the filter.🙂

You can physically remove the ionizer in the Winix 5500-2; it’s super easy and I’ve done it myself twice. You should be able to find a how-to on google pretty quickly :)

Got one recently and I’m super happy with it as well. Settings 2 and 3 move a significant amount of air and it makes the perfect level of white noise for sleeping. Its also super easy to open it up and remove the ionizer if that stuff gives you the heebie jeebies

The **Winix 5500-2** has the highest Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) including Dust. This will give the best cleaning performance of all the choices listed. I don't know if you're strictly limited to the units above, but if you or someone you know is a Costco member the **Winix C909** has even higher CADRs and a larger coverage area (4.8 Air Changes per Hour at 500 sq. ft.). It's ~~on sale for $159.99~~ at Costco.com. Drawbacks: the **Winix C909** has a max Power Consumption of 95 W so it uses more energy than the 5500-2. It also has a carbon-sprayed plastic sheet instead of activated carbon pellets. It will be quite loud on the "Turbo" setting (although 5500-2 is likely similar). Link: [https://www.costco.com/winix-c909-4-stage-air-purifier-with-wi-fi-%2526-plasmawave-technology.product.100842491.html](https://www.costco.com/winix-c909-4-stage-air-purifier-with-wi-fi-%2526-plasmawave-technology.product.100842491.html) **Edit**: the price of the C909 is now back up to $199.99.

I don't know much about TaoTronics in general. Someone reviewed the TT-AP003 a few years ago in this subreddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/10l6r9z/review\_of\_the\_taotronics\_ttap003\_compared\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/10l6r9z/review_of_the_taotronics_ttap003_compared_to/) Subsequently, a user in the UK inquired about buying filters "without getting ripped off" about 3 months ago: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/1ecxdrl/uk\_where\_to\_buy\_taotronics\_ap003\_or\_ttap003/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/1ecxdrl/uk_where_to_buy_taotronics_ap003_or_ttap003/) If the Built Environment Research Group at Illinois Institute of Technology is to be believed, you may only see a decline without PlasmaWave for the Pollen CADR. Keep in mind that unlike Blueair units, Winix's mechanical filtration media *is* actually HEPA. I'll post the Winix results again alongside Blueair. **Portable Air Cleaner Test Report for the WINIX 5500-2**: [https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf](https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf) Winix 5500-2 with PlasmaWave (Ionizer) Disabled: * Dust CADR: 283 CFM (+5% *gain*) * Pollen CADR: 228 CFM (-18% *loss*) * Smoke CADR: 301 CFM (+1% *gain*) **Portable Air Clean Test Report for Blueair 211+**: [https://built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-Blueair-211-August-2021.pdf](https://built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-Blueair-211-August-2021.pdf) Blueair 211+ with Ionizer Disabled: * Dust CADR: 250 CFM (-19% *loss*) * Pollen CADR: 181 CFM (-53% *loss*) * Smoke CADR: 159 CFM (-44% *loss*)

Hello! I'm glad you responded here, as I had accidentally copied + pasted the Winix URL for the Blueair. My comment has been corrected. The tested Blueair Blue Pure 211+ purifier is no longer available. Air cleaner testing demonstrated performance with the ionizer functions disabled for both the Winix and Blueair models. Keep in mind you're *not* meant to disable this function on a Blueair purifier; researchers had to open the unit and disconnect the ionizer unit from the control panel. Winix *does* offer on/off ionizer functionality. With the ionizer disabled for both, the Winix 5500-2 outperformed the Blueair Blue Pure 211+. However, with the ionizers enabled, the Blueair outperformed the Winix. Some people are worried about the effects of ionizers in general. Most common air purifier brands in the USA are [CARB-certified](https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/list-carb-certified-air-cleaning-devices), meaning ozone emissions are 0.050 parts per million (50 ppb) or less. Ozone (O₃) is a pollutant. There could be an effect on gaseous chemistry from bipolar ionization: "Both the chamber and field tests suggested that the use of the tested bipolar ionization unit led to a decrease in some hydrocarbons (e.g., xylenes) among the lists of compounds we were able to analyze, but an increase in others, most prominently oxygenated VOCs (e.g., acetone, ethanol) and toluene." From Zeng et al., "Evaluating a commercially available in-duct bipolar ionization device for pollutant removal and potential byproduct formation" in *Building and Environment*, (2021), Permalink: [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107750](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107750) You should **not** use ionizers around birds, as they are far more susceptible to low levels of ozone than humans. Generally you want higher Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) as well as good reliability in an air purifier. Depending on budget and room size, we generally recommend Coway, Blueair (if you're okay with the ionization), Winix, IQAir, and Smart Air brands for particulates removal.

Purifiers with a little more sorbent media tend to be really expensive. The [IQAir HealthPro Plus XE](https://www.iqair.com/us/products/air-purifiers/healthpro-plus) has a 5 lbs. gaseous filter, but it's $1,199.99. So in needing two, you would be shelling out over $2,000. The [Alen BreatheSmart 75i with the "Fresh" filter](https://alen.com/products/alen-breathesmart-75i-air-purifier?variant=13172054949955) is $814, but I don't think the activated carbon is impregnated for better removal of VOCs like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. The good news is that your rooms are relatively small. The main room needs a Smoke CADR of 288 CFM and the bedroom requires a Smoke CADR of 121 CFM. Remember that CADRs are given for the top speed setting only. Lower speeds have lower CADRs; if you need these figures, you should contact each brand. For the main room, a good value would be the **Winix D480**. It's [sold at The Home Depot only for $219](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Winix-D480True-HEPA-3-Stage-Air-Purifier-AHAM-Verified-for-480-sq-ft-1022-0221-02/315963577). Smoke CADR is 310 CFM. For the bedroom: **Levoit Vital 200S Smart Air Purifier**. Smoke CADR of 250 CFM. Price: [$189.99 on Levoit's website](https://levoit.com/products/vital-200s-smart-air-purifier), but available elsewhere. **Winix 5500-2**. Smoke CADR of 232 CFM. Mid-grade quality. Has an on/off ionizer. Price: [$249 on Winix's website](https://www.winixamerica.com/product/5500-2/), but usually much cheaper on Amazon and from other retailers. **Coway Airmega 240**. Smoke CADR of 282 CFM. Brand is considered higher quality than Winix or Levoit. Price: [$299 on Coway's website](https://cowaymega.com/products/airmega-240), but should be cheaper on Amazon. Again, these suggestions are for particulates only. An AC Infinity configuration would be your best bet for DIY sorbent media purifiers targeting VOCs and other gases.

Freestanding air purifiers can't overcome walls and doors. You need one for each room or area. **Therefore we need each room's length x width x height to calculate Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs).** As for your questions: 1. Winix is good, but not the best. I'd generally say Coway is the best in terms of quality for consumer-grade units. 2. PlasmaWave is Winix's name for their bipolar ion generator. It can be turned on or off. PlasmaWave (in practice) seems to enhance Pollen CADR. I believe Levoit's PlasmaPro is also generates positive and negative ions. 3. HEPA vs. "True" HEPA is mostly marketing. What *is* important is listing the appropriate standard, the filter class (where applicable, like H13 or H14), and the filtration efficiency % at a particular particle size or sizes. 4. DIY Corsi-Rosenthal boxes can work very well, which typically use MERV 13 furnace filters. MERV 13 is a lower filtration efficiency than HEPA, meaning it captures fewer particles of certain sizes on a single pass. But... since MERV 13 is less restrictive, it can achieve more passes through the filter media faster which can result in higher CADRs. (Assuming sufficient airflow.) If you wanted to build a C-R box, I would recommend doing so with PC fans. Drawback: most C-R box configurations do not specify fine mesh pre-filters. Without these, the MERV filter media can clog sooner with coarse particulates such as visible dust and hair. 5. "Level of filter": I assume you mean filtration efficiency of a mechanical filter. Mold, fungus, pollen, and viruses are bioaerosols. They can be captured with HEPA, EPA, or certain MERV filters (generally MERV 13 and higher). EPA and MERV 13 filters are a lower filtration efficiency than HEPA, so it will allow more particles through on a single pass. But EPA and MERV 13 can achieve more filter passes and higher CADRs than HEPA with proper airflow for less money. 6. As for secondhand purifiers, that's up to you. Sometimes you can find items that are barely used. But it's also possible purifiers were used in highly polluted environments (e.g., lots of mold or post-fire remediation) or could have bed bugs inside. 7. The blue box looks like an air scrubber. These are meant for more challenging and large environments, e.g. during renovation, fire remediation, or serious mold remediation. Air scrubbers tend to be quite loud.

Avoid Tailulu, it's a garbage rebadged brand. Winix 5500-2 for the living room. Winix A230 for your bedroom. Keep in mind: Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) apply to the highest airflow speed/setting only. Lower settings have lower CADRs. In all likelihood, disabling PlasmaWave (the ionizer) will decrease Pollen CADR. The Built Environment Research Group showed the Winix 5500-2 showed an 18% decrease in Pollen CADR during their testing: [https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf](https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf) Another note: the Winix 5500-2 is being phased out. But... filters will be available in the years to come. That would be [Filter H – 116130](https://www.winixamerica.com/product/filter-h-116130/). The genuine Winix filter is cheaper on Amazon.

We have a few models: Oransi mod+ for large spaces, Winix 5500 for a bedroom and Oransi TrueCarbon for smoke odor removal. Have tried some others and like these the best.

I live in the US and have a 1,500 sq ft home with 2 cats and a severe dust mite allergy. Particle pollution is also a concern living close to NYC. I got the house covered by 4 Winix air purifiers. I have some ancient first gen 5500 that still work but are a bit louder and lack the mesh filter that's a necessity with pets. I bought three 5500-2, a D360 and an AM90. Only one 5500-2 works fine. One of the other two makes a ticking sound that I know can be fixed, and the other one, the newest one, rattles. The AM90 developed a bad bearing right after the warranty expired and is out of service. The D360 also developed a bad bearing, thankfully within warranty. Winix sent me replacement D360 a couple months ago. Now the new D360 smells like burning plastic. Winix used to be my go-to air purifier. What would be a good, reasonably priced alternative to Winix? It seems like bad bearings are a common issue with other brands, including the really expensive ones. Has anyone tried Sans? They claim that their purifier is somehow different and can draw in air from the whole house, but it seems more like a marketing gimmick and not plausible to me. But it is FSA eligible, which is a bonus.

I live in the US and have a 1,500 sq ft home with 2 cats and a severe dust mite allergy. Particle pollution is also a concern living close to NYC. I got the house covered by 4 Winix air purifiers. I have some ancient first gen 5500 that still work but are a bit louder and lack the mesh filter that's a necessity with pets. I bought three 5500-2, a D360 and an AM90. Only one 5500-2 works fine. One of the other two makes a ticking sound that I know can be fixed, and the other one, the newest one, rattles. The AM90 developed a bad bearing right after the warranty expired and is out of service. The D360 also developed a bad bearing, thankfully within warranty. Winix sent me replacement D360 a couple months ago. Now the new D360 smells like burning plastic. Winix used to be my go-to air purifier. What would be a good, reasonably priced alternative to Winix? It seems like bad bearings are a common issue with other brands, including the really expensive ones. Has anyone tried Sans? They claim that their purifier is somehow different and can draw in air from the whole house, but it seems more like a marketing gimmick and not plausible to me. But it is FSA eligible, which is a bonus.

Thanks for the detailed help! The AirFanta looks almost DIY! It's sad there really isn't anything comparable to winix in terms of purification and price. Might have to splurge on the Conways. What's up with purifiers all using blue lights now? My rooms aren't that big, the first floor is 970 square ft with 9ft ceilings, the second floor is 500 square ft with slanted ceilings. Odors are a bit of a concern with litter boxes, though even the charcoal filter in the 5500-2's doesn't seem to do much.

I have a two Winix air purifiers, they work great. No, not a scam. Even if you don't have allergies why not filter the air in your house? A good HEPA filter will remove bacteria, viruses, microplastics, all kinds of stuff from the air. Ever watch all the dust floating around in a beam of sunlight? It's there all the time, you just can't see it. Give your lungs a break, anything removed by the filter won't end up in your lungs.

Winix 5500-2 or AM80, or Coway 1512 offer the best bang for the buck in terms of finished units as they sell for about $150 on sales--they mainly remove particulates, but for allergies, this is what you want. Each cover about 350-400 square feet of space for optimal performance and air quality, and they represent the most cost-effective performance relative to unit size/price/energy use/filter replacement costs. Buy as many as you need for your living space's size. Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are even less expensive.

Winix 5500-2 or AM80 (same unit, different look) or Coway 1512. They optimally cover 350-400 square feet a piece. They are the best bang for your buck when considering airflow, energy usage, and filter replacement costs. You can find them on sale for around $150. There are good aftermarket filters for them, too, from brands like Filter Monster, that further bring down operating costs (I've been using several Filter Monster products for years now and previously tested their particulate performance using a Purple Air PA-II--they perform comparably to factory filters.) Smaller units are actually less energy efficient due to a need to run on higher fan settings and larger units often have much higher purchase and filter replacement costs (although some are extremely energy efficient). Most air purifiers **do not** remove odors. They can disperse them by moving air around, but they do not have enough carbon to provide a significant level of adsorption to remove VOCs for any sustained period of time. Specialty purifiers that have large carbon canisters exist, and these work very well at odor removal, but they have some major downsides, such as price, energy usage, carbon canister replacement costs, and noise. Beyond that, air purifiers that excel in VOC removal sacrifice particulate performance, as you want slower airflow for adsorption (to allow sufficient 'dwell time' where the air is passing through the carbon bed), versus higher airflow for filtering particulates. An example of a purifier that removes VOCs is the AllerAir AirMedic Pro 6. I have one with a 40 pound Vo-Carb carbon filter and it was about $1,000 to buy, it's massive, loud, uses a ton of energy as it has a commercial motor, and the carbon canister is several hundred dollars to replace. Unless it is not possible, ventilation with outdoor air is a much more effective way to remove VOCs (and hence, odors.)

Winix 5500-2 and AM80 (same unit, different look) and Coway 1512 are the best prebuilt units from a value perspective and can be found for around $150 on sale. Smaller units and larger units are less efficient, and buying several 5500-2s is more effective and efficient than a single large unit when factoring in things like purchase price, energy use, filter replacement cost, and effectiveness at filtering particulates. Each 5500-2/AM-80/1512 covers about 350 square feet optimally, although you may need more filtration than that for severe smoke. There are good quality aftermarket filters for them that are significantly less than the factory filters and perform equally well. If you are on a major budget, build a Corsi-Rosenthal Box. They are as effective as they are ugly--if you need air filtration in a pinch or on a budget, they are exceptional. If you want a real BIFL purifier that will last like 30 years, the AllerAir AirMedic line is built to this standard, but they also have some significant drawbacks and are not a great match for someone just looking for particulate filtration.

None of them use monumental amounts of energy except the ones that actually are BIFL, as these use commercial motors. Those use a lot of energy. For most, the Winix 5500-2 or AM80 (same product, different look) or Coway 1512 represent the best value of cost, features, efficiency, effectiveness, filter lifespan, replacement filter costs, generic replacement filter longevity (see Filter Monster), and longevity. They often go on sale for around $150. These units provide optimal performance for up to about 400 square feet. If your living space is larger, you would need multiple units placed in different areas of the home to get the best results. Multiple smaller units generally provide better performance than a single, larger unit. Both of these have reusable prefilters, which if cleaned often, will extend the life of the pleated HEPA filter (which cannot be cleaned). They also both have sensors that allows them to ramp or reduce fan speed based on air quality readings. The Winix has a really nice night mode, where it ramps down the fan speed when air quality is good + it is night, and it also dims all of the LEDs. Keep in mind though that the higher the fan speed, the more air turnover you get, and the faster particulates (including allegens) that are in the air will be filtered. If your roomate's allergies are severe, keeping them on a higher speed continually might be necessary to achieve allergy relief. Finally, keep in mind that most purifiers do not do much for odors or volatile organic compounds. (It doesn't sound like you are buying it for this reason, but I still wanted to note this.) There are specialty units that do offer significant VOC adsorption capacities, but these are specialty products that are generally extremely expensive and have quite a few downsides.

The Winix 5500-2 or AM80 (same unit different look) and Coway 1512 are the most cost-effective units short of building your own Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes. Multiples of these units are cheaper to run than one very large unit. Yes, they make a huge difference in removing particulates from air. Particulate matter is linked to the deaths of millions of people every year and it wreaks havoc on the human body--especially that of children. The lower the PM levels indoor, the better, and purifiers/CR Boxes are extremely effective in lowering PM. They do not remove odors. Only specialized units with large carbon filters designed for VOC adsorption can do this, and these units are extremely expensive to purchase and operate. If you are on a budget, you can build your own purifier, called a Corsi Rosenthal Box. They are cheap, ugly, and extremely effective at removing particulates from the air.

I don't recommend Winix 5500/5300 for the simple fact that it doesn't turn back on automatically when there's a power interruption. 

I love my Winix. Quiet and effective. Also great for smells and smoke. I have large one in the main room and smaller ones in the bedrooms.

Mine has no specific setting for smoke. I have both the larger model with plazmawave (zero idea if that makes any difference) and the smaller models without that added feature. They all will filter outdoor smoke, including wildfire, quickly.

I have a pair of Winix 5500-2 that have been operating near constantly for 4 years now. Great value combined with fairly quiet operation. They have a sensor that will increase/decrease the fan speed. They will not turn back on automatically after a power outage. Mine are grey, but generally unobtrusive up against the wall or bookshelf.

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.

I also had a ticking 5500-2 out of the box. Luckily winix replaced it free of charge, but still.. seems like they have some QC issues.

I own the 5300-2 and 5500-2, about 7 units total. No noise on any of them running continuously. I can't say the same of the smaller C545 - they're noisy and sound scrapey and unbalanced after a while. I have 3 of those and two are significantly nosier than the rest. They also have a higher pitched sound profile, which is easier to drown out but more annoying if you aren't drowning it out over something else.

There's a guy who did a youtube video on it - essentially the same filters except some of the prefilter and filter depth area is different. Meaning - the carbon pellet prefilter WILL NOT fit the 5300-2/C535. Basically you can try putting the carbon pellet cartridge/rigid filter in - but the mesh prefilter that clips on won't be able to "clear" it and lock into place flatly. If you don't mind a bit of bending or don't care to have a prefilter - it'll "fit". - But the filter can "fall out of place" since nothing is clipping it in. If its installed and the unit is never moved or knocked, the filters will stay in place - suction alone at speeds 3 and above can keep it fairly in place even when knocked around. The C535 and 5300-2 are basically the same. The 5500-2 is where the differences start - since the 5500-2 basically allows you to run any filters you want because it has the filter depth area to hold anything. Performance wise, they "feel" similar; acoustically - you wouldn't be able to tell filter to filter which is which unless one was defective or had something lodged inside the fan. For full disclosure - almost every single unit except for maybe 1 of my C535's are refurbished from Winix (often resold through woot/meh) which is why I have so many. (Usually I get them for $69/ea or less). So the act of "refurbishment" might have saved me from any defective noisy units. That or my batch - all of my 5500/5300's are over 6 years old. A quick check puts 3 of my C535's at 2018 vintage - and these are my newest units of the "5500" series. Summary: \- Remote control differences \- Different Filter Depth acceptance (5500-2 is larger) \- C535/5300-2 is the same \- Same acoustic performance \- Same airflow performance \- Carbon Filter differences

To be super explicit; the 5500-2 does come with a honey comb style carbon filter with pellet style activated carbon. Its not their lower end models with a black foam filter with activated carbon dust. Here's an image: [https://www.winixamerica.com/product/filter-h-116130/](https://www.winixamerica.com/product/filter-h-116130/) A filter that advertises the weight of their activated carbon weight is great; but its not an end all and be all; as activated carbon performance varies significantly based on its product. However; its a good guideline that if its not advertising its activated carbon content that its potentially not a great filter for VOCs. Again - guidelines don't apply to all, and the 5500-2 is an exception to this guideline Like most filters not designed for long term high performance VOC removal, the 5500-2's original carbon filters do get exhausted fairly quick. There's just not enough activated carbon in nearly all consumer room sized filters to be effective for more than a few weeks to a few months.

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 have their previous model the 5500 and run it 24/7 the replacement filters are spendy if you buy Winix brand but you can find aftermarket versions for hella cheap

I would buy whatever Winix fits your budget and space. My two Winix units are 11 years old with 24/7 use and still going strong!

My Winix 5500 is going on 11 years of 24/7 use. One of the best purchases I've made

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

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.

Winix 5500-2 is the only air purifier you need friend

good brand, but poor filter format. circullar filters units die faster than square ones that have bigger fans in them. their filters also clog up a little quicker than flat filter style units. this will be an upgrade over having nothing. but it will cost more in the long run via filter replacements and then the unit itself failing too. the winix 5500 is a very popular model and the coway airmega is another fantastic option.

Winix 5500-2 is a solid choice. As well as the new Coway Airmega 350.

Winix 5500-2 or Coway Airmega 1512

Winix 5500-2 has been great. I have 3 in my house.

Definitely return it and buy the new Winix 5510 or 5500-2. If you have a bigger space, the Coway Airmega 350/450 is amazing.

Winix should be $150 or less.

Winix 5500-2 works great.

Coway Airmega 350, Winix 5500-2 and Coway Airmega 1512.

I have a 2,400 sq ft raised ranch. I run 2 x Winix 5500-2 and 1 x Coway Airmega 350. Airmega 350 is my favorite but its also 2x the price. Winix 5500-2 works great too.

I'd get 2 or 3 small ones. 1 for each bedroom and 1 for the main living space. Id recommend the Winix 5500-2 or Coway Airmega 1512..

Winix 5500-2 or Coway Airmega 1512

The winix and coway air intake is from the front. You want an air purifier oversized. Then you can keep it on a lower fan speed and still purify the area every hour. My house is 2,400 sq ft. I run 1 x Coway Airmega 350 which is rated for 2,600 sq ft. Plus 2 x winix 5500-2. 1 in the basement and 1 in my bedroom.

Winix 5500-2 or Coway Airmega ap-1512hh

They are cheap. Go with aftermarket filters. I run 3 of the Winix 5500-2 in my house. Covers 2,400 sq ft.

Winix 5500-2 or 5510. Also Coway Airmega ap-1512hh

With the Winix yes. It has a feature called Plasmawave which you can turn off. Coway doesnt have any ozone. I have an 8 month old, and the Winix hasn't bothered her at all. We keep plasmawave on all the time.

Sorry. 2 x Winix 5500-2. And the Coway Airmega 350.

I'd look at the new Winix 5510 or Coway Airmega 1512. I have 2 x Winix 5500-2 and 1 x Coway Airmega 350 in my house. They work great.

Winix 5500 is 126 right now. Nice and quiet on low settings.

I have a bunch of Winix 5500-2 units and they're great. Rated as one of the best bang-for-the-buck.

I have a Winix 5500-2 and like it. It's quiet and seems to be pretty effective. For your budget, you could get a few and place them around your house. Or, I guess, just buy one super advanced air purifier or something.

Two weeks into using winix 5500-2 and night 1 I noticed a difference in my sleeping. I’m obsessed and now want the whole house with a unit

my winix 5500 uses 28 watts on full blast

I like my Levoit operation/efficacy wise but the filters are stupidly expensive. If I were to get something else I’d go with the Winix 5500-2. Best unit I ever had was the rabbit air minusA2 but it’s outside your (and mine now lol) price range

Thank you! The Winix 5500-2 is a really really good deal for functionality. The only thing I hate about it is it looks absolutely hideous.

Allerair, Airpura, Austin Air for both Hepa and Voc's.  What I use: AllerAir AirMedic Pro 5 Plus Vocarb Air Cleaner   What I used before I purchased the Allerair: Two Winix 5500-2 air purifiers  I have an Allerair with a Super Hepa filter .001 microns and 18pds Carbon for Voc's. Works very very well for "cleaning" the air. Cost was $637. I had two winix 5500-2 purifiers but they weren't doing the job especially for Voc's. Three people came over and commented how clean the air felt and tasted.   Our area isn't polluted at all, quite the opposite, yet there was a noticeable difference in air quality. I would highly recommend just buying a very good air cleaner like an AllerAir or one of the others mentioned and one Winix or no winix. We both sleep better due to the Allerair cleaning any and all toxic fumes and smells from our 750 sqft apartment. 

The winix 5500-2, 5300 and the Zero S all work up against a wall as they only pull in air from the front and sides

From what i understand its marginally better and much better looking but the filters aren't readily available. I was deciding between the two but I prob gonna end up getting the 5500-2 just because the filters are actually available for purchase

I had all these except COWAY which is very similar to Winix. If you want the best value for money it's Daikin since filters last for so many years. If you want the most sensitive one, Winix 5500-2. I had daikin and this one side by side and winix reacted to cooking smell, open window etc where as Daikin only reacted in extreme cases. But keep in mind filters are quite expensive. Also look at which has more warranty, Winix usually has 2 year vs Daikin 1 year. Like very motor, it's better to get a more powerful one and let it run gentler.

That's great to hear, you have the good levoit model people usually opt for the 200 or 300. I can tell you from personal expeiernce when I was suffering from dog allergies, I bought 2 levoit core 300's and they didnt make a lick of a difference. It wasn't until I upgraded to 2 winix machines that I finally got relief and it was instant.

Winix 5500 its a buy it for life. I've had a levoit fail but I've had my winix for 5 years running non stop and its great stilll

Your best bet is to build a cheap Corsi–Rosenthal Box as it works better than anything else you can buy. That said I do keep a Winix 5500-2 in the master bedroom of my always under constant renovations fixer upper house because drywall dust is evil and gets everywhere even with plastic walls and negative pressure. It was $100 on sale at Home Depot and it's fairly quiet even on the 2nd to highest speed.

I have a few of these and they have a bit of an annoying sound. Not that smooth. Fine during the day, but too much oscillation for night time

How many sq. ft? Coway Airmega 200M or 250. Winix 5500-2. Yes they will help a lot for allergens and odors, as long as you clean the pre-filter weekly, replace the carbon filter every six months, and replace the HEPA filter every year.

i wouldnt choose any of those, i'd go with Coway Airmega 200M or Winix 5500-2 all the way

The winix 5500-2 is the best value air purifier out there. Lots of reviewers point that out about it.

Winix 5500-2, it’s the best value filter out there by a long shot. Filter replacements have the best life/cost. It also has an excellent activated carbon screen. If you buy any other filter out there, it will either filter less, or cost more to maintain.

I can’t stand cat litter odor and have got it nailed down to a science: 1. Platinum Slide Multi-Cat litter. This exact one is the best for odor control. 2. Buy separate carbon filters cut-to-fit to use as a pre filter for your air purifiers and can change them regularly. 3. Consider a carbon filter for your HVAC. 4. Which purifiers did you get? Not all are equal. Look on Facebook Marketplace for a large air purifier from Levoit, BlueAir (the big rectangular ones, not the round small one), Coway, Rabbit, AustinAir, IQair, Healthway, or Winix. The Winix 5500 and 5500-2 are popular and you can often get them cheap on marketplace. 5. Get a good vacuum. Consider looking for a Kenmore bagged vacuum on Amazon or marketplace. SEBO is even better but expensive. The bags last a long time and odor doesn’t escape.

I can’t stand cat litter odor and have got it nailed down to a science: 1. Platinum Slide Multi-Cat litter. This exact one is the best for odor control. 2. Buy separate carbon filters cut-to-fit to use as a pre filter for your air purifiers and can change them regularly. 3. Consider a carbon filter for your HVAC. 4. Which purifiers did you get? Not all are equal. Look on Facebook Marketplace for a large air purifier from Levoit, BlueAir (the big rectangular ones, not the round small one), Coway, Rabbit, AustinAir, IQair, Healthway, or Winix. The Winix 5500 and 5500-2 are popular and you can often get them cheap on marketplace. 5. Get a good vacuum. Consider looking for a Kenmore bagged vacuum on Amazon or marketplace. SEBO is even better but expensive. The bags last a long time and odor doesn’t escape.

Do have the Coway 250 as an option? I got one for $250 open box or refurbished on Amazon. It’s amazing. The sound it makes is very pleasant and it’s easy to clean, and aesthetic. The Coway or 240 is also a good choice and comes in white. The Winix 5500-2 or C535/C545 is also a solid choice and a bit more affordable. I believe Costco has good deals on the C545. Lastly, you could check local marketplaces. I got some Winix, and Blue Air purifiers (the 203 slim, 403, and 503) for a great price.

This [review](https://www.airpurifierfirst.com/review/winix-5510/) states "I would like it **if it had a larger filter media**, at least as large as the one in its predecessor, the Winix 5500-2." The [picture](https://www.airpurifierfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Winix-5510-Vs-Winix-5500-2-Side-by-side-1024x768.png) from the same review indicates 5510 (which uses Filter Q) is smaller than 5500-2 (which uses Filter H). It would be nice if manufactures or reviewers mention the dimensions and surface area of the HEPA filter on the product or review pages.

So for that size room you need a CADR rating of around 140 to 5 air exchanges per hour. I would try and aim for an air purifier that has a CADR of 300 or more so you can run it at a lower speed and still get the required air exchanges. That Coway 400 would be alright or Winix D480 would be good, the Winix 5500-2 would be ok but you would have to run it at a higher speed so it would be more noisy.

I'd actually challenge you to reconsider your budget if possible. I initially went with a $200 purifier and ended up replacing it with a $400 one a year later. The difference in performance, noise level, and overall quality was substantial. Sometimes it's better to buy once and cry once. That said, if $300 is your absolute max, the Winix 5500-2 is probably your best bet for overall value.

I have both. The 610 is smaller and looks better but the 5500 is quieter and has a better sounding hum and is easier to clean the pre filter

That's not a bad deal, especially since it should come with 2 filters. The listing on costco.com shows 2 filters. The Levoit Core 300 may be a slightly better deal. I've had one since Black Friday and so far, it's good. Noise on low is good in my bedroom. My Winix 5300 is almost 14 years old now, so I'm very satisfied with it. The much newer Winix 5500 may be a better choice than the Winix 610 or Levoit Core 300. So if you have the space for it, I would go with the 5500. All of these have reasonable priced replacement filters, so that's good. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these three, don't feel compelled to analyze this for another month! Good luck!

I have a Winix 5500-2 for my bedroom and it does a bang-up job. It's quiet and does a great job. I might get one for the main floor, too.

Don't get a winix 5500-2. I got 2 of them a few years ago and within months of each other the bearings on both started making a horrible noise. I looked into fixing it myself and it turns out it's very common, and it's nearly impossible to fix because it's a sealed system. They cheaped out on a 10 cent bearing and now they're pretty much useless. My blueair 211+ has been great though. I don't really know how they would be a scam. Just like any filter, they take stuff out of the air.

The only reason to have a "smart" air purifier is if your electric company charges peak rates during certain times and you don't want to run it during those times. Otherwise you should just be leaving it on. The one in your picture is made for a small room. You have to look at the square footage on the box and compare it to the square footage of the area you want to use it in. I would not recommend the winix 5500. I bought 2 a few years ago and both had the bearings go out after a couple years of usage. Turns out it's a common issue. My blueair I bought at the same time still works great.

Yeah I covered mine with black tape. Perfect since then

I have a winix 5500-2. I am really happy with it. Highly recommend.

Amazon has some black Friday cyber Monday deals. I just picked up the coway 1512hh for my son's room, and a winix 5500-2 for the kitchen. Both on sale are under 300 all together. I'd recommend those for a bedroom and or living area depending on size of the rooms. I believe the coway has a pet filter optional you can purchase which may or may not help more. Ideally you'd want 4 air changes per hour or more in each room you'll mostly be in with the pets. There are calculators to help you understand

I wanted a shorter height purifier for my son's room. And have been interested in coway. I also decided to get the 1512 as I read you can swap in the carbon pellet filters with some modification that they offer for the 1512hhs. Also, I put the coway in my son's room as it's sensors are more focused on particulate matter. Whereas the winix also has odor and gas sensors iirc which would be better suited for the kitchen. Interesting note is all 3 are highly regarded South Korean companies.

I like Winix. Have had 2 different models both really good. One is a 5500-2 and one is a 5300 I've been using since 2014. Air filters needs changing 1 time per year (when you order the filter it comes with 4 carbon filters to change every 3 months)

Yes, I also have 2 of these running 24/7 for 5+ years.

Winix 5500 is your answer

Lets say you have a budget of 400usd. I would buy a dry herb vape(if you need to make use of flower instead of wax/oil), a winix 5500, and a smokebuddy. This would give you the lowest chance of detection. If you need to burn flower, i would place purifier under open window with another fan blowing out the window, keep all related items by purifier intake, use smokebuddy to exhale into the intake, and make sure the flower isnt cherry red and putting out unfiltered smoke into the air.

I also recommend Winix 5500-2. It has a washable pre-filter to remove pet fir and large dust, a carbon filter to remove smells and small dust, and a HEPA filter to remove smallest particles in the air aka particular matter (PM). I like that it has a remote and it supports night mode where it dims the lights and slows down to be super quiet at night. It is also convenient that the same remote can control many units — just point to the device and push a button on the remote. It makes it fast to switch modes if needed. Note, the Winix 5300-2 is very similar but it doesn’t have a remote.

the Winix- 5500-2 is highly recommended for its effectiveness with pet-related issues like dander, hair, and odors. a good alternative also is Levoit- Core 300S. FWIW, my mate and I recently did an analysis on Reddit data for air purifiers. basically ranked them by aggregated sentiment. maybe you'll find it helpful [https://redditrecs.com/air-purifier/](https://redditrecs.com/air-purifier/) you can filter by price and filter for comments about pets and allergies and get a breakdown of what ppl have said about the most often recommended ones (disclaimer some links are affiliate they help fund the analyses)

I have 4 Winix 5500(?) running in my house 24/7 that are 3-5 years old. I keep them on fan speed 3 out of 4. No issues, but if power goes out you have to turn them back on. I think these are the best priced BIFL option on your list. Levoit is meh. I have a blue air, and have done research on hospital-quality others. They're good, but filter costs will bankrupt you if you follow the frequency they suggest.

Get a Winix 5500. I have 4 throughout my house for 5 years. It's got a lot of carbon for smells, has a pre filter to catch dog hair, and is easy to maintain. One issue you'll have with automation is if the machine will turn back on to whatever setting after being off. Air purifiers have a huge price and quality range. I also have the one you are showing, it's enough for a bedroom or home office. I have a blueair that's nice, but expensive for what it does.

I like my winix 5500. I have the levoit cylinder style too among my collection. Go with the winix. It's easy to clean and quieter in my experience. Filters last much longer too.

What you should keep in mind is that big units like that really cool down a small room fast. That was the reason i had to return mine. In summer it would be great but in winter, after just one hour on the sleep setting!! my temperature went down 0.5-1°C

No, I’m a real person. While I’m a retired filmmaker, I also had a long career in advertising at McCann-Erickson WorldGroup in NYC and McCannSF. That’s why your assumption is entirely incorrect—I’m neither an LLM nor a marketing shill. To clarify my position: I was a loyal Levoit Core 300/350 user for over five years. However, over the past year, I’ve noticed a decline in their performance, even when using their smoke filter replacements. Anecdotally, the smoke filters are a better value, with removable charged pre-filters and 450 mg of carbon pellets (compared to 300 mg in their other options). Still, the results were disappointing. I was transparent in my original comment about conducting extensive research and analysis, including third-party testing—not just relying on YouTube content creators. I’m well-informed about major air purifier brands, their reputations, and independent test results. With two decades of experience at one of the world’s largest ad agencies, working on top-tier brands, I understand marketing strategies better than most. That’s exactly why I’m cautious about deceptive claims, especially for a product that affects something as vital as the air we breathe. My recommendations are based on data, experience, and thorough research. For anyone who takes air purification seriously, that level of diligence should be expected. When I purchased my second Winix unit on Black Friday for $120 on Amazon, it was the best value on the market. Unlike Levoit’s all-in-one filters—which combine filter types in an inefficient order—Winix separates filters based on their specific effectiveness thresholds. Studies show that combining filter types is a poor design choice; for instance, carbon pellets can become saturated in weeks (especially with smoke) and potentially reintroduce VOCs into the air. Levoit’s filters exacerbate this problem by placing the tiny amount of carbon pellets last, directly before the fan. Furthermore, I take issue with Levoit’s misleading “True HEPA” claim. This unnecessary and deceptive marketing undermines trust. Their Core 300/350 units have consistently performed well, so there was no need to overstate their filtration capabilities. If they’re willing to mislead consumers about something so fundamental, it raises concerns about what else they might be hiding. In my experience, Winix has been a game-changer. The pre-filters on my Winix unit capture significantly more buildup than any of my three Levoit units ever did. It’s a night-and-day difference. If you prefer to stick with Levoit or any other more expensive option, despite this, that’s your choice. But ignoring well-documented facts and confirmation bias won’t change the reality: Winix offers better performance, superior filter design, the ability to replace or wash the first two anytime other then the estimated 9-12 months and more value for your money.

Levoit says it has 450 gm vs 300 gm. I asked and they confirmed but I would not use all-in-one filters. Their effectiveness have too many variables that render these compact filter simulations both economically and cleaning ability hard to find suitable. The tiny amount if carbon pellets in Levoit’s 300 smoke filter with a 4 removable pre filters still is unmatched by Winix 5500-2. Which is by far the best solution head to head by miles!

Get the Winix 5500-2 on Amazon. Right now it’s $155 from $250. I have 2 that replaced my Levoit 350’s, like night an day. I love the Winix. I used to be only Levoit but my antidotal experience was pretty shocking at the air quality and speed of the Winix vs the Levoit. The heat advantage is the 3 separate filters that are in the science back right order and replacement can be Taylor’s to the actual filter’s effectiveness unlike the all in one laminated filters where you have no control if your voc carbon filter gets saturated… it often can re-pollute the air by the air knocking the pollution back into the airflow. Most all in one filters has the carbon last and the True HEPA should be the last stage, having multiple stages in front protecting as well as the most robust filter >99.97 micron particle size is captured before getting g circulated out from the unit. It also has 2x more carbon pellets and the filter is washable for up to a year.

I have 3-4 Coway Airmegas and Winix 5500s. I found them all on my local Facebook Marketplace for $50-75 over the last 12 months. All in great condition. Previous owners sold because they were moving (college students; young professionals).

We have three Winix 5500-2. They are running great for over a year and are on 24/7. We have them in a family room, living room and bedroom. I never wake up with a stuffy nose. My dog sleeps in my room at night.

Excellent! I am so glad you feel a difference. Yes, mine run all night. I try to remember to shut them off here and there if no one is in the living room all night. I think they are most useful while you are in the same room. Just remember to vacuum the screened filter every month. I use the hose ( of course). I also vac the black filter with the carbon beads. After 10 to 12 months, you probably will want to replace that Hepa filter. Thanks for the update and happy holidays!

Hard to beat the winix 5500-2

I have 2 Winix 5500s Haven't had any issues and they work great.

Actually, blueair makes some of the best air purifiers available. There's a really short list of reliable manufacturers: blueair, levoit, coway, and winix. The benefit of buying something like a winix 5500 or a coway 1512, is that the filters are rectangular, and there are a kajillion of them so there will always be a market for replacement filters. VOCs is a whole separate thing.

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.

As someone with 3 cats and a dog, the Winix 5500-2 has been a game changer. The pet hair that thing catches is disgusting but satisfying

I have 3 Winix 5500-2 air purifiers, and I run them on the second highest fan speed 24/7.

Hard to beat Winix, remember to turn  pasmawave off.

I have some 5500-2's and the motors got super noisy because the bearings are going bad. I opened it up and the motor is a sealed proprietary motor. I contacted Winnix and they won't sell me one, they recommended buying a new entire filter unit. After that I can no longer recommend them no matter how well the filters work.

I second Winix. I did research as well and found an article written by experts not journalists or bloggers.. All the tech jargon included. We have indoor animals and almost a year later running 24/7 no issues. Love how quiet it is as well as ramping up quick when it detects “dirty” air. I’ve seen plenty of comments wherein people with bad allergies and/or lots of pet dander have gone through BlueAir brand like candy. It’s just not the workhorse Winix is.

I really like these over other brands. I like that 2 of 3 of the filters can be easily washed. I like that it’s ultra quiet. I have 3 of the OG 5500s.

I have about 900 square feet to cover, but I planned to get 3 of them, for the living room, bedroom, and laundry/bathroom. I might get that Winix. You think it's better than a Coway?

Just seen, but I got the Winix 5500-2! I was researching & settled on that. Lol, crazy how that works

Costco has the Winix C610 for $99 with two air filters ($30-40 per year after for filters) on sale right now. I have the discontinued Winix 5500-2 downstairs and the Costco Winix C610 upstairs recently in my 1000 foot townhouse apartment. It's a good value and you could get 5 in your budget and should be good for two years with reasonable filter usage and maintenance. They're not meant for huge spaces but one or two in a bedroom would definitely make a noticeable difference in air quality. I love that I can control it from my phone. Hope this helps!

The winix 5510 (i have the old version 5500-2) is generally regarded well for bedrooms. You could also try the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH. You'll need to replace the filters every year. If you can wait until black friday these filters usually go on sale then along with the extra hepa filter replacements.

I don't know which winix you're looking at, but I've been abusing my winix 5500 for 4 years and it's the best I've ever had. I've got 3 dogs and 4 cats, plus a strong grass allergy and I've gone from needing daily allergy meds, prescription nasal sprays, and 2 inhalers to make it through the day to just needing allergy meds in the height of allergy season and inhaler usage when outside. If I sweep in the next room it knows and kicks up the fan.

Winix 5500-2 and 5510 do remove some VOC, other models don’t. And “some” is relative. I wouldn’t trust them with a major chemical incursion but they ought to take odors out of the air.

Yes. Best value for the money at sub-$150.

Yeah sorry if that seemed overly snarky but basically - although most people have stuff in their air, it’s not clear that everyone needs an air purifier. The first question I always ask is what problem you’re trying to solve - if the answer is (as it sounds like) “well I must have stuff in my air”, then I advise you to get a very basic unit and run it in your bedroom with the door closed to see if you notice a meaningful difference. At the $100 price point you could get a Levoit Core 300, of course we tend to recommend jumping up to $150 and getting a Coway Mighty or Winix. But without knowing your actual air composition or any health issues or concerns, all we can do is recommend a general purpose unit. And honestly it may or may not even be necessary.

So here's the thing - no matter what anyone tells you, there is no magic box that will do what you want. Air purifiers move air at relatively low speeds through a fairly restrictive filter. That means that they only "clean" an area of about 300sqft. around the unit effectively. They are almost universally ineffective through doorways, around corners, etc. If you have HVAC, the single best thing you can do is put a better filter in and run it on "always on" (not "circulate" or "auto", but ON). The best filter for a 1" insert (the most common) is a 3M Filtrete 1900. They're $20. The problem is they clog quickly, so you'll likely have to replace them every 30-60 days. That said, it'll cover your whole house. If you don't have HVAC, you could consider an AirFanta or building your own CR box. They're ugly and loud, but they move a lot of air. Again, I'd use those 3M filters if you want to stop smoke. Dust and other allergens, any ol' filter will do. The "traditional" route would also be to put several purifiers in your home, sized appropriately for the rooms - a large one for the open living space, and smaller ones for the bedrooms. I have the following setup: 1st floor, 1000 sqft, semi-open plan: I have an IQ Air and an Austin running at opposite corners of the home on a constant speed of medium. 2nd floor (bedrooms, also 1000 sqft): Master bedroom has a Coway 250, guest bedroom has a Winix 5500-2, both kids' bedrooms have Blueair 411's. Finished Basement (also 1000 sqft): Coway Mighty and Winix 5500-2 at opposite ends, running as needed (since the basement gets less outside air) and the one bedroom down there has an aging but still functional HEPA from Idyllis/3M (the Lowes brand) that was purchased years ago but uses 3M HEPA filters. IN ADDITION, I use MERV13 in my furnace and my ERV. The air here is VERY CLEAN. (Bad allergies run in the family...)

You have a cat - be aware, hair will get in the unit. DO NOT buy a cheap round purifier. They will get fouled very quickly. Levoit VITAL (not Core) is a good choice. As is Winix 5500-2, Coway Mighty or 150. 3 rooms at 300 square feet each shouldn't be an issue, but you may want to size up for the largest space (living room, I'd assume) which could certainly use a Coway 250 instead. If it were me, I'd do Coway 150 or Winix 5500 or Levoit Vital in the bedrooms, and Coway 250 in the living space, unless your master bedroom is bigger. In our house we have Coway 250 in the Master, smaller units in the other bedrooms, and another larger unit in the living area.

The Winix 5500-2 is better than the C545, and roughly equivalent to the Coway 150. The 150 is newer design and likely quieter. :) Those are the two I'd be looking at.

Give the subreddit a read. It’s pretty clear what we recommend - Coway and Winix are the usual clear winners but we need to know how much space you’re cleaning and what you’re trying to clean from the air.

1. You don’t really want an app. It is t useful in any way. Why? Because the sensor on the unit isn’t accurate, so the app won’t really tell you if your air is clean. Also because the only way to clean air is to run the unit on a constant speed 24/7. So unless your use case is very specific (vacation home, away for long periods, etc.) then an app isn’t helpful. 2. Shark is junk. Levoit cleans air just fine but is not HEPA, if that matters. Blue air is the best of the three, also isn’t HEPA but has a static generator which bothers some people. 3. Consider winix or Coway. They’re better in every way.

I have a large Winix 5500, I think the 5510 is the new one.

I have the Airmega 300 and a Winix 5500. I love them, a must have for indoor dogs. I don't have the 400s, so I can't speak on the smart functionality. I think I've had both for 6-7 years, don't know if the new models have gone down in quality or not, but mine are great

I got Winix 5500-2 for my cat. Main feature you want is true HEPA filter, you'll probably need like 2 for your home.

My parents have had the same Winix 5000 something (don't know the exact model) for maybe 10 years now and it's still silent outside of the air itself moving. Runs 24/7 on auto mode.

I bought a few during COVID. A couple are cheap Costco ones (Winix), but one is a fairly expensive Coway Airmega 400. Can't say I noticed any difference in my health or in the amount of surface dust landing on furniture. I think to see any real reduction in dust settling on furniture, you would probably need to run them on high to get a lot of air movement, but the noise of them running on high is annoying IMO.

I have the Winix 5500 series. I use it exclusively in my bedroom. I have a separate desktop monitor that will monitor: C02, PM2.5, PM 10, TVOC and HCHO. The automatic system with the lights on the machine perfectly matches the desktop monitor. I am going to add this statement, and it is a medical statement, so you might want to ask your own doctor for your own answer. That statement from my Pulmonologist is, "absolutely do NOT use the ionizer function of any type, period". We know there are several companies that advertise their unit meets California or some other city standards. The trouble with that statement, it was not a pulmonologist who wrote the guidelines for those approval companies. My unit has an on/off button for the ionizer. Tip: The slower air and dirt particles move through the filter, is the more chance those little mean bits of nasty particles have to get caught. Smoke like cigars, BBQ grill won't be removed from the Walmart Costco off the shelf types. Those smoke odor removing units have a specialized extra filter which uses around 40-80 lbs of charcoal. Extremely expensive, but if you suffer extremely bad with odors and allergies, that is the route will need to travel. Starting price around $800US for a real unit that will work. They go up into the thousands. By mistake, I didn't get the remote control option for my unit and now realize I should have double checked for that. I could really use it at night. I researched for about three weeks before I ordered a unit. Mine is more of staying in an extremely clean environment as opposed to just some clean air. My daughter and I probably looked through roughly forty different designs and configurations. I came close to buying a whole house unit, but there are enough microscopic sized little objects that can come in through things like the dryer vent, the slides around the patio door, windows etc, it just wouldn't make sense or be practicable. Buying a unit that costs more dollars absolutely doesn't mean it will work better, however the 99 buck units have filters that cost around 40 bucks. An additional thing before you buy, check for the noise levels at what speed and the filter costs replacement. We found some with so many extra features it was crazy. I really don't have a need for a unit with internet connection so I can turn it on and off while I am on vacation, or just look at the level of impurities in the air when I am not home. Good luck. I am sure once you get it home you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference in your bedroom from the rest of the house.

I can't speak to this specific one, but we LOVE it WINX 5500-2. Our home requires a window AC unit in our bedroom upstairs. This wrecked my sinuses so season long, but basically put me out of commission during the spring. We live both in the city, and near open air rickhouses for bourbon (look up the unique fungus that comes from that!). Anyways, I kept waiting and waiting for the spring, and then the summer, and eventually the fall to destroy my sinuses and eyes. Never happened. 100% recommend. Absolutely the best investment we've made that made all the difference in so many ways

The PlasmaWave I looked at used an ionizer which is a huge no for me.

PlasmaWave is just a glorified ionizer. I personally cannot stand the scent of ionizers, it gives me headaches.

I’ve been using my Winix with Plasmawave since 2019 without issue, and that includes moving about once per year. These units have held up to that. I can tell you they really work. I have a mold allergy, and mold is literally everywhere in outdoor or indoor air with spores just waiting to land in a suitable environment for growth, but I have no symptoms at home with my two small Winix. I also have pets. These reduce any odors from that, and they are at what one might consider end of life for a typical air filter system. 5 years is typical. 10 is incredible. I am not washing the pre-filter nearly as often as I should and am slow to replace the carbon and HEPA filters sometimes, so 5+ is just astounding in my case.

Winix Plasma Wave is an affordable effective unit. I used three when I lived in a polluted area. I now use it sporadically to clean up the plastic dust and other crap that accumulates in a home

I’ve been really impressed by my Winix. I have a huge one that really seems to do the job. I change the filter once the year but vacuum it all out more often than that to keep it running really well.

You want a HEPA filter and actual activated carbon granules-sometimes the activated carbon is just a paper thin layer-not doing much. For cost, consider replacement filter costs not just up front ones. I also like ones that have a sensor so you can leave it on “auto” and it will kick on when you cook or air gets worse without you having to keep track of it. Also don’t splurge on plasma ion or ozone or whatever else-mixed studies show it can react with chemicals to form more dangerous ones at worst and generally not much better at best. Right now you may want to sacrifice optimality for actually having something going to clean your air since it’s a time of high uncertainty. What’s in stock at home depot may be superior to the “best” air purifier that arrives in 2 weeks. Those caveats-no one can give better advice based on “feel” than what’s tests show-and wirecutter actually tested performance https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/ . If you prefer anecdotes, here are some of my experiences: Winnix has been in stock at home depot. I evacuated with my air purifier and I needed something to leave during cleaning to try and detox my pasadena apartment. It was in stock and had hepa+carbon-it seems to be working. Oransi is the one I evacuated with, love the looks, it really seems to work well, lots of aftermarket filters available-downside is that sleep mode sets fan speed to auto, I want it to just turn lights off and leave the fan mode. But It has lasted at least 6+ years. Levoit is what was at the apartment I evacuated to. It seems a little less powerful per dollar spent than my oransi, but it’s night mode turns off the lights while still letting you set the fan speed. My roommate left a Coway going in his room and that thing worked very well to prevent any smoke smell from settling, and it’s highly recommended by wirecutter. If I had to buy right now and I could get one in a reasonable timeline, it’s how I would go.

Any filter with a charcoal filter layer will help some (Winix is one brand commonly available at Costco…I also have a more elaborate Rowenta)…my Winix came with multiple charcoal layer replacements. Dealing with total incontinence here, and not to criticize your MILs efforts, but you might want to look into the actual sources of the odors. Chairs, clothes that sit around waiting for wash, previously soaked furniture or carpet? If bedding or fabric furniture smells and you can replace it, do so. I use a combo of Depends on my father, and all his sleeping or seating surfaces have a first layer of puppy pee pads (Costco has large ones that work well and are cheap), and then a fabric layer on top (whether sheets or a chair cover or towel, tucked into the sides of the chair). Once he’s wet, after I changes his pants all clothes and chair covers and bedding goes in the wash (3-5 loads a day).  For the mattress you can find on Amazon washable mattress covers (the whole bed ones don’t work that well but that’s my base layer and then a thicker more absorbent one that I fit across the middle section of his bed, and on top of that layered dog pee pads).  So again, not sure if any of this advice helps but this method works for me.

Both of my Winix air purifiers started smelling like smoke, they are different models, cleaned weekly and filters changed regularly, I don’t recommend them.

you can't beat the physics. what you want is the big size as prioirty thing to look for first. then you can look into other things but the size of purifier(filter) has biggest impact. winix is solid imo for basiaclly 99% of the use case.

Winix seems to be the play here. I have two and they seem to work and are common enough for filters to be inexpensive. The prefilter is easy to clean. I did recently have a DOA unit but the replacement was easy through Amazon.

Definitely recommend Winix. Australian and comes out top of various tests. (If you haven’t been warned- don’t buy Dyson) Super sensitive to more than just particulates and has a ‘pet filter’ that is changed monthly that goes around the main filter and prevents it getting clogged with dust. Helps to prolong its life if you have pets

Winix is a solid air purifier, but not this model. This only uses a thin filter, no charcoal. The true HEPA rectangular ones are not that much more but work so much better.

Winix works great ! I have 2. Zero complaints.

Winix is fantastic and well-priced

AVOID DYSON AT ALL COSTS!!! They look cool but are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced for what you get. Spent $500+ on one and my cheaper Winix outperforms it by a mile. Total marketing scam.

I like the Winix. Bought three. One became noisy after 3 months. Returned and bought a new one to replace. Thank you Costco - this is why I spend thousands in your stores!

We got the Winix ones and have been using cheap replacement filters from the web. No issues so far. We now have 3 as you could buy refurbs from them for like $50 a few years ago. Been running 24/7 for the most part.

That Coway should not be over the Winix. The carbon filters in it are trash. Also, Dyson combo unit on the list? 🥲

Winix

I prefer winix , filters are good and cheap to replace ,

Get a winix. Costco carries them and it's on sale right now. Comes with a 2 year supply of HEPA filter. You can keep the ionizing feature off if you wish to do so.

Whole house or room? Room I like winex, legit, Dyson. Whole home not sure. Make sure it’s a hepa. See what size particles it can remove. Most of mine do not have carbon filters. I thought the carbon would make a big difference for smell but so far it does not. FYI it decreases dust which is great! Less cleaning to.

We've loved our various models of Winix found at Costco for bunny cage and litterbox.

Winix from Costco/Amazon for about $130 completely neutralized the smell of a bunny cage for almost a week (between changes). Bunny and cat pee are similar, so I bet it would work.

I also have a Winix, not sure of the model number. It seems pretty good, I’ve had no problems with it other than it has gotten noisier over time, especially on the “sleep” mode.

There’s only one correct answer. Winix Air Purifiers bought on sale at Costco. They’re excellent & under $200. Buy generic replacement filters on Amazon.

I love my Winix especially the feature that tells me when my dog farted before I even realize it (light turns red) 

we use winix too!!

Leviots are only good for hair and dander. You can get a 100s/200s to help with that and add a Medify MA 25 or MA 40 or winix/coway to help with actual particulates and allergens. I noticed much better results running 2 purifiers to help with coverage.

I like my cheap filtrete for white noise in the bedroom, I have two winix filters in my office and living room. Both have huge filters and prefilters that are cheap to replace. I used consumer reports to pick them out. Honeywell uses small filters and I wouldn’t recommend them unless it’s a very small room.

I've had my Winix for nearly a decade now and it's still working great. I love it and recommend it to everyone.

Winix is one of the better ones. When it comes to buying air purifiers, look for the companies that have been around for a long time to ensure replacement filters won’t suddenly become unavailable or unaffordable.

Yup we have several, one in our living room, one downstairs, and one in our bedroom. The Winix brand is good and sometimes Costco has them on sale. In our bedroom we have a smaller Levoit. It helps keep the air fresh, helps manage cat hair and dust, and of course is nice when it’s smoky out 🥲

I have a Winix in my bedroom that’s been running 24/7 since ~2010.

Winix at Costco especially on sale

I like my WINIX for these larger particles. It has a cleanable pre filter, charcoal filter and the hepa. I vacuum the pre filter weekly to get the cat fur off. I also use an old germ guardian that was my best buddy in a musty old office I worked. It’s still a great unit just louder like a fan so I use it in the bedroom as white noise now It’s worth mentioning a reminder to change the home furnace filter if you have one. I tend to change mine every 1-3 months during high allergen or fire seasons.

I have CoWay and Winix, Winix kicks on more frequently.

Nope hold Levoit accountable for their lies and don't buy their junk when there's other options. Get a Winix if you're on a budget. You can also get a box fan and put a filter on it but obviously it'll look like shit lol

I would get a Winix instead. I have several of these around the house along with Winix air purifiers, and these are not that great compared to Winix.

I have a few Levoit the same size as this one. I don’t really care for them compared to the Winix and Blue Air ones I have.

ya maybe, winix does the same…pre filter, carbon filter, hepa filter….I still had to change the carbon and hepa every six months.

Alen is the correct answer. It’s overbuilt and comes with a lifetime warranty if you buy filters from Alen or authorized retailer. I’m a fan of Coway and Winix too. But Alen is clearly better built.

Ask r/airpurifiers IMO the Coway is the only one worth considering on this list - blueair and Levoit are junk to be honest. Add Alen and Winix to your list. Also, 2 things to keep in mind with air purifiers. 1) the advertised sqftage of the machine is usually grossly overestimated. Typically these estimates are based on cleaning all the air in a room **once per hour**. If you’re serious about purifier air. You need **four** air changes per hour. 2) Curb your expectations about it handling hair. Sure it may be able to catch come hair in the general vicinity of the machine. But hair is too heavy to suck in from across the room. To deal with hair and visible dust look at a **corded and bagged** vacuum. Which will also help tremendously with allergies.

Coway Winix or Alen. Remember to get the right size for your room by dividing the advertised sqft by (ideally) 4. Many manufacturers over inflate their sqftage. Edit: lmao at the downvotes. Classic Reddit. Most manufacturers advertise their 1ach (air changes per hour) metric. If you want to actually filter your air you need closer to 4ach.

Not to be a dick, but these are all garbage. Yes even the Dyson. Get a Winix, Coway or Alen

Like everything shark, it’s cheap, disposable and performs poorly. But they have good marketing so people buy it. Coway, Winix or Alen are far superior brands.

Winix aren’t bad, blueair is one of the best performing. In my opinion, it’s worth the cost. I’d rather have a product that works AND fast, versus a mid product that was on the cheaper side.

Winix has always been great in our home. We run 3 of them and clean the filter by blowing them out and vacuuming more often than replacing them. Great value and efficiency.

I like air doctor. And then winix. Not a fan of my Coway.

Have a few winix and love them.

Winix has helped me tremendously. They are cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and they work extremely well.

We do not have that model, but both of the WINIX air purifiers we have do a great job. They made the house livable during the last wildfire season.

WINIX We've had two of them for a few years and they've made a huge difference when there are wild fires locally. I buy after-market filters, as the OEM ones are expensive.

I’ve had Coway AirMegas, Winix, and Whirlpool Whispure, and Coway is by far the best home purifier in my opinion. I have an AirThings air quality monitor and a dust allergy, and these filters make a difference. You do need to clean the Coway prefilter regularly, but it’s easy to do. I didn’t know they sold off market filters so I’ll have to look into that because the filters can be costly.

Yea I have 3 Winix's in my house running 24/7 (one of them in my pet room where I house 2 bunnies who shed like crazy). They've been running 24/7 for years now (since COVID when I started caring about air quality) and no issues.

Winix air purifier. Ours has a large item filter ( so like dog hair and large dust) then a carbon filter then a regular filter. My husband and I both suffer from allergies and it definitely helps. The tree in our front yard turns my car green with pollen and we have zero issues in the house

Winix brand. We get a lot of wild fire smoke and agricultural dust in our area and it helps so much

There’s 3 filters. A large particle one I vacuum monthly. A medium particle filter that replaced every 3 months and a fine particle filter that’s done every 12. A years kit of them is $30 on Amazon

You’ll likely want one all floors due to the pets if your really concerned. How often do you change your filters on your hvac system? That helps a lot. We have a winix air purifier off Amazon and I really like it. It’s been really useful during wildfire and harvest seasons as we are in a high agriculture area

I use Airgradient for monitoring and Winix Air Purifier, both integrand into Home Assistant with automations. It runs at 25% and ramps up based on indoor pollution. If the PM2.5 is high I also have HA run forced air HVAC fan, this moves/filters the air and helps to lower the PM quicker than just the air purifier.

WINIX for the win This is what I like and I run it in the bedroom with door closed. Also made some 20x20 box fan & merv 11 filters from Amazon held together with painters tape for the rest of the house. Primarily to catch construction dust cheaply.

Adding that we also have Winix and that you can get them from Costco, if you’re a member. Also, they usually have sqft ratings in them. I keep mine in the bedrooms. And set up a bigger one during wildfire season, as needed.

We've been happy with Winix. Quiet. Effective. Whatever you end up getting, *make sure it has a HEPA filter*. There are a lot of gimmicky "air purifiers" out there that boast all sorts of things. You need something with a HEPA filter to combat allergens. And make sure you change the filter according to manufacturer recommendations. That's really the key thing that filters allergens. You can generally get off brand HEPA filters cheaper than brand name.

I have a Winix in the bedroom for noise and the pre-filter gets covered in dust and fibers...it's crazy! Where does all this crap come from? The sensor is amazing, because I'm pretty sure a mouse fart would activate it.

I’ve had a Winix since 2019 and just in the past 6 months it’s developed an annoying rattle.

Last weekend we purchased 4 of the winix purifiers from Los Feliz Costco.

2 Conway and 1 Winix currently. Had 3 Levoit’s but they all died between 12-24 months. Junk

I love Winix, works well for me. Got a different model though.

I personally love both my Levoit which I bought used for a great price. A brand I have seen recommended here called Winix you can find on sale often at Costco. Two for under $100. I’m not sure how much the filter replacement in them are but that’s what you want to know before buying a unit because the filters are the most important part of the unit and will continue to cost you over time.

Winix is a popular, affordable brand with good HEPA filters. I love mine because it's not as noisy as the cheaper brands, it makes a noticeable difference in the air quality, and the app allows me to set a schedule. I run it on it's highest setting when I'm not in the room, and it's second highest setting when I am close to it. Also, I would highly recommend masking in public places (and probably around the infant) to prevent disease transmission. Grocery store, doctors office, and public transportation is a great start. I would personally recommend the WellBefore 3D Pro KN95 masks. They're the best quality ear loop mask I have been able to find. r/masks4all is a good place to start if you need other recommendations.

Contact Winix and file a claim with them directly. They will more than likely send you a new one (they did for me).

I love my Winix air purifier

We have Winix. Good purifiers. 3 of them!

I ordered 4 of these things and ALL of them sat off all day and night saying the air was perfect. I placed another brand (Winix) right next to it and it shows the air was dirty and ramped up for a couple hours. It's no wonder the filters last for 5 years, the thing never runs. All 4 of them did the same thing and would rarely come on. They are not "purifying the air" if they are not moving the air through the filters. Total garbage and I returned all four and replaced with much cheaper Winix units which have been great.

Hard to go wrong with a mid range Winix performance wise. Just depends on the space and styling you prefer.

I’ve liked winix and levoit and they aren’t super pricey. If you haven’t already, you may also want to upgrade your hvac filters to the highest option (merv 13) and set your HVAC fan to run more often.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/ I have owned the Winix mentioned here, a few of them and they have been good. No complaints

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/ Winix is great in my experience. Grt the correct size for your room, run it on a higher speed. You want lots of air changes

Okay so as a fellow LA mom (SFV valley/burbank) I’ve been in full panic mode because everyone else is and it’s easy to get caught up in hysterics. A few things…. 1. The 2018 Camp Fires showed only a spike of the toxic burning for 2 days and everything leveled out within 2 weeks. We’re coming up on 2 weeks of the structures stopping their burning soon. 2. Consider wind patterns. I know for Burbank, we got smoke but likely more from the Hurst fire based on wind patterns. The winds carried so much of this out to sea. 3. Yes there’s residual sitting on the ground. But we don’t know *how* much. The amount is what makes the poison according to experts. With how windy it’s been, again, things are getting dispersed and breaking things down so it’s not sure concentrated the further out from the fire zone you are. Idk i personally am not having any issues breathing or being outside anymore than I do any other dry LA winter. We run air purifiers in our house no matter what (Winix until now, but did take advantage of air doctors sale and stocked up with them for both home & the kids daycare). We’re not sitting outside as much right now at our house because i haven’t had a chance to hose everything down bc of course I’m also 8.5 months pregnant and we’re moving in 2 weeks BUT i know she’s been getting intermittent time outside at day care. Reality is, LA air quality sucks to begin with and we don’t really know what’s around, but unless you’re in direct vicinity around the burn zone i wouldn’t be too worried, maybe just slightly more vigilant to not go outside on super windy days until it rains, don’t wear shoes inside the house, and run air purifiers.

Makes sense. I want to give Winix a go for my parent’s main living space area. I like their machines and hear great stuff about them. (I’ve tried coway, not a fan. Weird quality control issues in my experience). I do have a new 3m/Filtrete I got on clearance in my bedroom and it works well for a smaller space and I haven’t noticed dust build up in bypassed areas. As for longevity we shall see.

I do turn off the Plasma Wave feature. But I LOVE my winix and I own 5 different air purifiers.

I found a winix on fb marketplace for $40 so id recommend looking there too

Tried Winix for the affordability and great reviews. Trashed within the year, Co-way outperformed it by far. 

Winix or levoit. Make sure it has a carbon filter to help with pet odor. Don't get one with the plasma tech bc they make ozone

I have the winix like the other commenter. I really really like it. On power 3 it’s barely even audio (power 4 is crazy loud) it also has a plasma thingy that essentially helps with allergies and stuff as well. It’s got hepa, activated carbon, and perhaps best it has a prefilter catch which is just a really fine metal filter that catches large dust and hair. I get the replacement filters via subscribe and save that’s an off brand version but based on the smells and time the last I’d assume are of very similar to stock quality. Point is the winix is kinda expensive I got mine around $180 but it’s a nicer unit that I expect will last a lot more years (already lasted 2) and the replacement filters are really common. You want to try and use the more well known models so you can get 3rd party filters and have them keep being made for a long time. Sorry for ramble.

I just bought a Winix at Costco yesterday because the smoke was bothering me It has really helped in just 24 hours.

Before you buy any purifier check out how the manufacturer has priced replacement filters over a few years. Winix is good value if a little cheap on the construction, I just opened up and replaced bearings on one that has been running for maybe 8 years as it got too noisy. IMO research three things: filter cost and availability, how much air it moves, and how loud it is on various speed settings. Don't spring for the super expensive models unless you have really bad allergies, these things are all just a fan in a box sucking air through a hepa and carbon filter, sometimes with a fancy germ/voc filter in between.

Get Winix from Costco. Better price and easy returns if you don’t like it.

My Winix is a good 10 years old and going strong. My son has terrible environmental allergies and this filter helps a lot.

Do you care about VOCs or just particulates?  The best might be Austin Air and a few similarly expensive brands but that's mostly because they filter stuff like VOCs.  I think dust is probably particulates.  I'm not exactly an expert.  If money is no object and you care mostly about particulates, it might be a matter of having multiple air purifiers.  You definitely want one with a HEPA filter.  If you care about VOCs, this list strikes me as reliable because it's specific and because it explains why most air purifiers are somewhat limited: https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2023/01/the-5-best-activated-carbon-air-purifiers-compared.html.  Personally, I've been happy with my Winix and my BlueAir, but I think the Winix is a little better and neither is quite perfect.  If money is really no object, one of the expensive ones on that list will probably help but may or may not be necessary if you're only concerned about dust.

They can’t even get there stats straight on their own website. In three different sections of the product description it switches between 1200 and 1000 sqft coverage. I also didn’t see it list stages of filtration which is a red flag, just that it has HEPA. As others have said Winix is good. I used to smoke a lot of weed and had 4 different air filters in my house. The LG towers are great blue air also makes great ones rabbit air is a lesser known brand and spendy but with all these filters I never lost a security deposit.

I actually have several at this point. I have Winix, Oransi, and Jafanda (cheap Amazon brand). Still trying to find a solution to remove smoke while trying to pursue landlord to get the smoker out, (non-smoking building). She signed a lease less than 1 year ago that said she would follow no smoking ban or risk eviction but she still keeps smoking 18-20 hours per day inside her apartment. The Oransi was a budget stretch for me as a single mom so I guess I’m screwed and have to deal with this.

I like mine. And the colours on the front change from time to time. Letting me know it’s actually doing its job

I have one in a 14x10 kids room and it’s been great for two years. The winix ones are better for more space

Second the winix! I have a small house and big dog and I love mine

My coworker loves his coways, I’m not a huge fan of the airmega 400 we have at work but maybe I should read the manual again. I personally have a honeywell that’s been an absolute tank of an air purifier for years now. I recently got a Winix as well that I like although it has a light sensor so it knows when to go into “night mode.” I thought I would like this feature until winter hit and the sun started setting at 4:30 pm and my air purifier thinks it’s night time and isn’t detecting contaminates without a light on near it. I do like that Winix has a year life filter (or we’ll see) and that I can set schedules and check filter life on the app. Costco had the Winix one I got for a good price back in October and I heard they run the sale often so if you have a membership I’d check there!

So here's what you need to know. Levoit does not HEPA filters. That is a problem. They can't dter as effectively as a HEPA. Next, in order for an air purifier to do its job it should really run 24/7. With that said Coways are amazing but the filters are expensive and need replacement every 3 or 4 months. With your layout if you want to purify the whole home.you need to determine the size of each room and get a purifier for each one. The purifier cannot clean the air in all the rooms or in half the rooms.if you were to have one big one or one for each end of the home, even with doors open. The only way you can achieve that is to have a special whole home purifier installed on you HVAC system which costs a ton of money. Id recommend a Winix per room to achieve what you want. You should measure the sqft per room and determine what size room it should clean. It needs to have atleast 4 air changes per hour. If you are wanting something relatively cheap. I'd stick with Winix, you cannot beat it for the money.

Yes. All of their purifiers use HEPA

I moved last year and replaced all my Winix purifiers with Alen HEPA filters. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made. My spouse is allergic to pet dander (we have two cats and two dogs) and we're both very sensitive to wildfire smoke (we're in California), so we needed something heavy duty. The Winix ones did an okay job, but the Alen ones are incredible. We have a 75i in the open living room/dining room/kitchen area and a 45i in my spouse's office, our bedroom, and one of the guest bedrooms. The 75i and all but one 45i have the fresh filters and the office 45i has the VOC/smoke filter. They're surprisingly quiet, even on turbo mode. Not inexpensive, but the investment in our health was worth every penny. And the filters last 9 to 12 months, unlike the Winix ones that we were replacing all the time.

Make sure it says True HEPA filter. For some reason companies are allowed to market HEPA-like filters which is confusing until you know what to look for. Look at the square footage the purifier can handle. It needs to completely recycle the room air to be effective. Look at the cost of consumables. The filter will need to be replaced at some point. How much does it cost? We have a Winix for our living room and a Honeywell for my son's bedroom.

I am currently running the house special of "I bought whatever was on sale at the time." So I have a mix of Levoit, Winix, Blueair, and a couple of decades old Honeywells to round it out. My AC system also has a "circulate" option and has a built-in HEPA filter and UV light. I monitor it all with a Airthings 2960 (one upstairs, one downstairs). Currently, I am trying to consolidate to a single brand (settled on Levoit - 300 and 600 sizes) just to make filter replacement simpler. Trying to get to a 6mo filter replacement schedule (currently closer to 4mo here in Texas, thanks to all the allergens). From my testing, here's the short version - as long as it moves air and has some sort of filtration, it'll probably help the air quality in your home. Everything else - air quality monitoring, app access, noise level - it's all bonus features that don't really affect the overall performance of the device. According to my Airthings AQ monitor, they do make a difference. I see VoCs and PM1 and PM2.5 go down when you ramp up the filter fan speeds. For recommendations - Level 1 - regularly change the air filter that your home uses - go cheap and replace more frequently rather than going expensive and hoping it lasts longer. Also, vacuum and dust regularly. Level 2 - bang-for-the-buck is the Corsi–Rosenthal box - and it will always be what I recommend to people who are trying to figure out if air filters will make a difference for them. Level 3 - buy the system that moves the most amount of air and has replacement filters that don't cost an arm and a leg. Levoit, Winix, Blueair, are all honestly decent systems - and if you open them up to replace their filters, you find out that they're really just doing the same thing the Corsi-Rosenthal is. They're just intake fans sitting on top of a filter. As price goes up, you're really just paying for things like automation (fan automatically ramping up when it senses high particles), noise reduction, filter change nagging, etc. My suggestion is to buy whatever goes on sale next time and stick with the brand/size for ease of maintenance. Minimum size I'd recommend is 1000sqft even if your home/room is smaller than that. The max room size is calculated by their highest fan speed - chances are, you probably won't be running it that high all the time. It is better to get multiple smaller units that are local to the area you're using versus a single large unit for a big space. These do not move air vigorously (less than your standard fan) - so even if they say they'll do "3000sqft" - they are assuming you're in a single rectangular room with only four walls. If your home is 2000sqft with lots of rooms and hallways, a single unit will not work. However, the number one thing about any air filter is that they are a continuous cost and will only work as long as you are regularly replacing their filter media. At least with air filters you will be able to see exactly what they're doing when you replace them - mine are usually pretty grey-looking by the time I take them out. Oh, I wouldn't bother with all of the fancy filters (like pet, charcoal, or whatever) unless you have a very specific need for them. Those are are mostly gimmicky. Air quality monitors (like the Airthings) are also not needed - and in fact, many of the higher end filters have particulate sensors in them. It's mostly informational for people like me who just really wanted to know if all of these filters actually did anything. Plus, AQ monitors don't tell you *what* the stuff in the air is, they just tell you it's high. I found out that vaporizing humidifiers make PM sensors show deep red spikes because they're literally throwing tiny bits of water into the air (but it's not specifically a negative thing - especially when you're trying to raise humidity). For the "do they work?" question, my answer is "Eh... sorta." They definitely help with things like odors (such as from cooking or pets). I have not noticed a huge decrease in dust build up (but my house is not sealed in any shape). I definitely notice that my allergies get worse when I go outside versus hiding in my house, but it's not like they're completely eliminated when I'm home. So for me at least, they help, but they're not some sort of miracle cure that'll magically fix everything.

I have several Winix purifiers catching a lot of ick that we see on the filters. Also just nice to keep the air moving. Edit for typo

Winix makes a quality product. I have one that’s run basically non stop for almost a decade.

I own two winix air purifiers and a Ninja, I know people swear by their winix but I find my ninja to be more responsive on auto mode. A window can be open across the house and my Ninja will notice a drop in AQI and speed up the fan while the winix just continues to blow slow. I have noticed if I turn the fan speed up on the winix it will notice the AQI change, but that makes the auto mode useless. Just my anecdotal two cents

Winix is the answer.

Yeah, got Winix from Costco online

The jet kicks winix’s ass. Filtersystem is better on the Jet - Hepa filters design is up to date and fits snug inside, pre-filter before the carbon filter to prolong hepa filters life. Also, you can use the Jet as a fan and blow air out from the front circle. Last but not least, Winix does not update its filters, but Coway applies it’s latest filter technology on all of their filters. Even on Coway Mighty, that is 8 years old, but the design is still bad.

Make sure you check the price of replacement filters. They'll need to be changed at least twice a year. I have a nice Winix Purifier, that seemed like a good deal when I purchased it. I like it a lot, but I could buy a brand new unit for the price of 3 replacement filters.

In response to u/spacex_fanny Unless you buy a cheap fan and constantly have it cranked up to its highest setting, CR boxes are not as noisy as you seem to think they are. Having several set to low will be significantly quieter than one large air purifier cranked on high. Last time I was around several CR boxes, it was literally in a church during a mourning service. And I can promise you that it wasn't too loud. And yes there are several different configurations using 1 large or a several smaller fans. In my experience, even cheap CR boxes are much more tolerable than cheap air purifiers. The Germ Guardian air purifiers from Costco are incredibly noisy and create a constant high-pitched noise at *any* setting. Winix is a good option for cheap air purifiers that aren't horribly noisy, but not as cheap as just making several CR boxes. And trust me on this, I'm autistic so I notice these kinds of things literally constantly. I am unable to tune out the noise like other people do. And things like the Nukit torches are **not a replacement for an air purifier at all.**. That's genuinely just bad advice.

I have a Purivortex from Amazon. Actually I have like 4 because the house I rented last year was awful air quality. I ran 4 of them in a 500 sf studio and had to swap filters every 3 weeks. It was bonkers. I notice a difference when the filter is ready to be changed. Wake up sneezing and stuffy. It's usually that and my dog needing washed and groomed. You might consider trying a low histamine way of eating for awhile to see if you can bring your inflammation load down. If you're in a climate like me, it's pollen and mold city right now as the snow melts and spring is in bloom. If you have a $600 budget you could splurge for the Winix air purifier. It's kinda large but it's beefy and has wifi capabilities. They usually sell one at Costco. I found the filters difficult to source at times. The nice thing about my Purivortex is the filters seem pretty universal and the replacements run about $12–14 ea depending on quantity. I also was happy with their customer service—one of the tabs at the bottom of the filter broke off and I wrote that in a review. The company reached out, asked for a little more info—then sent me a new one. The old one worked still but they didn't want it. They're worth getting. And I probably sound like a broken record but please do look for signs of mold and water damage in your home. [Brian Karr @moldfinders](https://www.tiktok.com/@moldfinders?_t=ZP-8v3zwHZmD5a&_r=1) this account on tiktok taught me a lot. Unless you're wealthy I wouldn't do their "free consultation" because it's like $1200 just for the "diy find it yourself" mold detection thing. But still some smart tips and things that will make you furious because we've been gaslit for a long time about mold.

I use Levoit and Winx. Winx runs in the basement. Levoit runs on the main floor and a smaller Levoit in each bedroom. My experience is that air purifiers are one tool used to help reduce/alleviate allergies. Expecting a purifier to fix the issue entirely is setting oneself up for disappointment. You may also want to investigate an air quality monitor.

Winix or Coway look no further

The winix ones do well for me you can get em at Costco or Walmart for a decent price. I usually buy them during cyber week!

100%. I have [one of these Winix air purifiers](https://www.costco.com/.product.100842491.html?COSTID=iosapp_25.7.3&TRACKING=NO&adobe_mc=TS%3D1754146102%7CMCMID%3D02646583154164827677569000347471877505%7CMCORGID%3D97B21CFE5329614E0A490D45@AdobeOrg&sh=true&nf=true) downstairs and one upstairs, and they’re fantastic. It’s also great to put in a bedroom if someone’s sick to clean the air for the rest of the household.

Most are pretty similar these days. I have Winix, Dyson, Blueair, and Levoit (7 total) and I’d recommend any of them.

I’d recommend the Winix as it will be easier to find aftermarket replacement filters but either one would work fine. As long as you have the vacuumable mesh over the media to extend its life you’re good. At the end of the day it’s all just fans pushing air through HEPA material.

The Winix has a light sensor that doesn't allow it to work in auto mode in a dark room.

Sleep mode is basically off. If I put mine in auto mode and turn the room lights off it goes into sleep mode which is basically turning it off. The auto mode works just fine when the room lights are turned on. Maybe they have different versions of this model that act differently. The Coway models work way better.

CR boxes aren't HEPA, may as well spend a tiny bit more money on a Winix or Levoit or something and not have to DIY.

Two years out of the past three, probably time to admit that we now have a wildfire season in the midwest and prepare accordingly. It's common for some west coast folks to keep n95 masks on hand, and a lot of people out there invest in air purifiers. But be careful with purifiers, some of them, especially ones branded "ionic", actually make ozone and can therefore make indoor air quality actually much more hazardous. Look for hepa filters, and if in doubt about safety the California Air Resources board maintains a list of tested, safe indoor air purifiers: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/list-carb-certified-air-cleaning-devices I personally like my Winnix. If you have central air, you can also get your hvac upgraded with hepa filtration if you do not already have it.

I have Winix and Levoit (Vesync) throughout my house. But I also have a whole house air purifier that was installed by the HVAC company.

My Winix does a fantastic job. It's several years old and good as new.

Air purifiers don’t really do a lot for strong smells. They can help generally by moving the air around so that things dissipate more quickly, but neither one is going to cover or eliminate odor. Either would be fine. Which ever you prefer and you can always turn the ionizer off on the Winix. Levoit makes some different filters for the 200 that might do a better job with odors than the regular one the unit comes with. I think the Levoit is quieter also, but both good units.

I went with Winix because from Costco it came with several extra filters. I did the math on cost of ownership for a couple years. It’s def the filters that cost long term. Winix also sells refurbed on their site.

The whine that Dysons eventually make is super annoying. I’ve been slowly replacing them with Winix or Coways. They move much more air and are far more effective.

very expensive ones (cost difference is high) work well and are tested very heavily On the cheap end but with good reviews WINIX. It helped me do better my first year in a very dusty old house and reduced pollen dust that had come in through having windows open . These weeks with smoke mixing with summer air also really gave my lungs relief. It's reddit---folks will hand you AI reports, double down on each other. Read your own materials. There are reports and recommendations by allergists which are helpful too!

I should have been a bit more clear ---after researching many many units (and it was Covid) Winix was the one we got. It wasn't too expensive. Mine is like a rectangular box (dehumidifier sized). There are definitely weeks in the year I run it continuously. Yes it helps, notably.

I have 2 Winix HEPAs that have been running 24/7 for 6+ years. I clean the screen every week or so, replace the carbon every month, and the HEPA every ~8 months.

Love my Winix and keep it on auto mode.

I have a Winix and a Levoit. I leave them on Auto, and if they sense bad air quality, the fan speed will increase for extra purifying

We have two devices from Winix, they work really good. Also equipped with a plasma light to kill some "things"

Same. I have a dust mite allergy and Winix is great. I love that the app tells me the filter life as well 

I like Winix. Nice performance and HA integration.