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I recently bought the winix a231 and t810 and my house smells so fresh and nice. I have 8 dogs. I am loving them definitely will get more for the rest of the house.
If you're looking at the Winix C610, you could also look at the T810 which has higher CADR and right now is going for cheaper ($185 on Amazon). Very similar looking models. Technically it would be "overpowered" but that just means it'll perform better at lower air speeds, which means you could operate it quieter than others. I know a lot of people really like the Blueair 211 and it's very popular. I'm personally not a big fan of the pre-filter and I found the fan noise of a different Blueair model to sound more high-pitched. Minor complaints and very much personal preference.
Theyre definitely worth it, helps my allergies. If I do something small like lightly wipe down my blinds the air purifier can detect the change in the air same as when I change my bed sheets. When I cook its really working. I really have tremendous peace of mind knowing the air I breathe is better for a small investment. It'll sometimes go on turbo unexpectedly. I had only realized why later in the day when I smelled burned barbecue literally a hundred feet away or so when i left my house. If I were you id go on amazon and get a winix t810 for the bedroom. If you have a massive living room like me id get a air mega 450. They look cool too tbh.
I got a fairly small apartment with 2 bedrooms upstairs and a small basement and I got a Winix T830 in my living room/kitchen area(with my setup basically in-between the 2) a Winix C535 in my kids room a Shark Compact Never change in my room and a Shark Hp100 in the basement. I'd say it's definitely not overkill lol. I've definitely preferred the Winix over Shark
I would buy either the **Levoit Vital 200S** or **Winix T810**. Third choice would be Blueair Blue Pure 311i Max I guess (this has an always-on ionizer). Try to keep the purifier on the top airflow speed/setting for the best cleaning performance. Lower settings will not clean the air as quickly.
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 have the first leviot on your list, it works good for pet hair and js fairly quiet. I dislike the winix because it has the plasmawave ozone stuff that is on by default. The winix is very strong but it makes my lings hurt if I forget to turn it off
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.
I have the Winix. No issues to date. I don’t use the plasma wave feature.
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