Winix - HR900

I got annoyed when my winnnix developed a noise, but then I realized it was the unit I’ve been running almost 24/7 for ten years. Bought another refurb and I’m going to attempt to take the ten year old one apart and see if it can be fixed. I imagine there’s buildup at the parts you can’t regularly clean.

I double checked and it’s my 2019 era one that has the noise! The 2015-ish one is still fine.

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 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!

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.

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

Seven years. The oscillating feature manes noise now.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

+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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.