Austin Air HealthMate Standard Air Purifier, White - Advanced 4- Stage Filtration Air Purifiers For Home with Activated Carbon & Zeolite - Ideal as Air Purifiers for Bedroom, Model B400

My neighbors like to burn wood. This would be fine with good lumber and a well maintained fireplace, but no. The idea was to save money and they were burning anything that would burn. The proof of this wisdom was the yellow walls in their house which were once white. So I became an air purifier expert of sorts. Not scientist, but also not a "trusted reviewer" with a website of Amazon links. There are two things an air purifier can do for you. (1) It can filter out small particles in the air. This is an easy and relatively inexpensive thing to do. Any unit with a HEPA filter wil do this. Get the biggest one you can, that does not have an ionization feature and you're done. I'd reccomend the Honeywell HPA 300. It moves a lot of air, can be placed near a wall (nothing goes in or out the back) and filters are reasonable. You'll be impressed at how much dust this thing traps. Item #2 is where BIG problems come in. Whereas a $99 purifier will catch dust, viruses, pollen etc., it will do almost nothing about noxious, poisonous fumes. Yes, smoke has particles of soot, ash, etc, but this dirt is carried along by VOCs, aka poisonous gases. Same as car exhaust, fresh paint, bug spray and so on. And I'm sorry to tell you, these gasses, like carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, sail right though a HEPA filter. The solution is charcoal filtration. Lots of it. Pounds of it. And for some reason, this is very expensive. A charcoal impregnated sheet or screen will work for about an hour during a fire before it becomes saturated and worthless. The IQ Air Multigas units have the charcoal needed to do the job. But besides the cost, they emit their own smell. This small is a lot nicer than smoke from a wildfire but it's still there and shouldn't be. The other popular high end units, Blue Air do not appear to have enough charcoal to do the job but I have not tried one so I can't say. The obscure Air Pura can do the job and is priced accordinly. And then there's the Austin Healthmate Pro. The Ausin is utterly no-frills but it has a monster charcoal filter and as far as I can tell, does not emit any odor of its own. Everything else about the Austin is disappointing; it's noisy, and the metal housing makes it even more so, the power cord is annoyingly short and with no place to store it, and if you want to mess with timers, Bluetooth connections or Alexa, you won't find any of that. But this is a real purifier; just a fan and a filter and most of the money has gone into that filter. I don't know if it's the high cost, or the assumption that people just want a dust filter, but even reputable sites like Consumer Reports and Wirecutter struggle with the cost/benefits of the few, really good air purifiers. But when your phone says "Air Quality Hazardous" what makes it hazardous is VOCs. The vast majority of air purifiers--certainly the affordable ones--will not lay a glove on these gasses. In summary: Buy a cheap air purifier and your eyes will burn from the smoke, but you won't have to dust as often.

Recently, I moved into a new apartment. I discovered after moving in that my neighbor is a heavy chain smoker and the smoke from his cigarettes was seeping into my bathroom and bedroom. I am a non smoker and found the smell hard to tolerate. I was also very anxious about the smell seeping into my clothes and mattress. The odor was making me cough and making my throat hurt. When I had friends over, they could smell it too. I bought this air purifier based on The Sweethome's recommendation as it apparently removes VOCs from the air better than other purifiers. The price is high but I justified the purchase as an emergency due to how anxious I was about the secondhand smoke exposure. Within a few hours of turning the purifier on, 90% of the cigarette smell was eliminated. I honestly have not smelled any secondhand smoke since using this purifier. I have kept the purifier on high during the day and have it in medium during the night. My apartment is about 800 sq feet and I feel that it does clean the air in the entire unit, even though there are a few different rooms. It sounds like a fan when it is running. I feel like it's a pleasant white noise overall, though the highest setting is a little too loud if you are trying to watch something nearby on a laptop. My only concern is how much the purifier will add to my electric bill. I have only had the purifier for a week, so I will try to follow up on that. To summarize: this filter has been so, so worth it for me. The price is high but if you are in a situation like I am, there is really no price you can put on your own health. Highly recommend. ***UPDATE***1 month use*** After one month of use, I haven't noticed any changes in my electric bill. I love this purifier! ***UPDATE***6 months use*** I still have this air purifier on all the time--on the high setting every day, and on the medium setting every night. It is still working great. I think that it has dipped a bit in performance since I first got it (maybe 5%). There is a significant difference in the air quality when the purifier is on high vs low. The low setting barely does anything, I never use it. I keep the purifier in my bedroom. Once, someone turned the purifier to low without my knowledge and I noticed a smoke smell in the other room--the smoke came from the purifier being on low and not high. Turning it back to high remedied this problem. For people in a similar situation to me, other interventions I suggest to reduce secondhand smoke exposure from your neighbors are to 1) never run the bathroom fan (it seems to suck in smoke from the neighboring unit) and 2) run your dryer as infrequently as possible as this will also suck in smoke from the neighboring unit. Our electric bill runs about $30-40 per month. Using the purifier does not seem to increase the bill at all. ***UPDATE***30 MONTHS OF USE*** Well after nearly 2.5 years I am moving out of my apartment and I am happy to say that the air purifier is still working well. We have not had to replace the filter during our time living here. The smoking neighbor still lives next door and is still smoking (I can smell it in the hallway) but it does not seem to enter our unit at all. For reference, our building is concrete (converted factory). I am planning to bring the air purifier to my next home just to help with dust and other odors in the air, but I am hoping to not run it on high every day any more. The noise has gotten more annoying over time but running it on anything other than the highest level does not seem to help as much. Another thing I wanted to update the review about is maintenance. Every week or so, I use the vacuum attachment to vacuum the sides of the machine. Dust usually builds up pretty quickly on the walls of the machine so clearing it frequently is important. Best of luck to anyone dealing with a challenging secondhand smoke situation.

I bought this unit about a month ago for my 750 square foot work studio. I absolutely love it and will be getting the smaller one for my home. The air that comes out feels so clean that it's a pleasure to have near me when I'm working. My work studio is full of computers and servers and I've long had a problem with dust. I have skin problems related to the dust and as a result I knew that I had to get something like this to prevent more serious health issues in the future. I did a lot of research and settled on the Austin Air Healthmate after at least a month of research and I couldn't be happier. Normally I have a cleaning lady come in once a month to clean and she always complains about the amount of dust that accumulates in the studio. She just came to do her monthly cleaning at the beginning of this month and was shocked at how little dust there was compared to normal. LOL! She thought I was using another cleaning person behind her back! The build quality of the unit is very, very good, and the shipment came fairly quickly. I keep it on all the time. When I'm at the studio, I have it set to the lowest setting and I find it's fairly quiet at that setting. When I leave for the day I turn it on full blast. At full blast it's kind of noisy. About as noisy as one of my computer servers when it's crunching numbers. I've only had for a month so far, so I don't know how much it's going to affect my electric bill, but whatever it does to my electric bill, it's totally worth it because of the outstanding improvement to the air quality in my studio! If there is one drawback I can think of, it's that the unit is pretty big compared to previous air filters I've had. Sadly, I may have a big problem convincing my wife to let me get one of the junior versions of this, because of the size. But she has noticed the improvement in the air quality in my studio and has been very impressed by it. I may yet be able to sell her on one of these for our home :).

Just received this a few days ago. I have a 740 square foot condo, so I made sure to buy this air cleaner with 2x the footage cleaning ability. I've been running it on the highest setting while at work. Once I get home I turned it down to the lowest setting, which is hardly noticeable. I also move it from my living room to my bedroom each night. The air does smell better, but not as good as I was hoping. Was hoping the charcoal filter would do a better job. In the past I had an ionizer with a charcoal filter that did a better job. Pros: 1. Like the caster wheels, for easy movement around the house. 2. Appears to be very sturdy and well built. 3. Was well packed for shipping. 4. No setup problems, take it out of the box, plug in the AC, and you're ready to go. Update: I just saw that someone else was smelling cigarette smoke, which I've noticed on and off since I started using this device. I don't smoke, but now I'm wondering if these could be units returned by smokers and the company is reselling them as new. 2/1/14: Just noticed a dent in the side grill area, most likely during shipping. With the grill being black it's hard to see unless you shine a light directly onto the grill. I recall there was no shipping foam protection on the sides, just the top and bottom. Hoping to push this dent back out after removing the filter. Still performing well. The air does smell better. I set it on the highest setting while I'm at work and turn it back to 1 after I get home. 4/9/14: A lot happier after more use with this unit! The air seems much better. I've been leaving it on the mid setting in my bedroom and keeping the doors open so that the rest of the house gets the cleaning. I increased the rating by 1 star.

Not worth the money! I was looking for something that took out cooking/other odors, and dust etc. from the air in my home. This does not do it! Other than making a loud motor noise (except on low) I'm not sure what else it's good for. I should have sent it back when I had the chance. Would not recommend.

I have been wanting to purchase an air purifier for a long time. I did a lot of research, and I kept reading that this model was the best on the market. It's costly but absolutely worth it. I've been recommending this to my friends and family, and I plan to purchase more (especially the smaller bedroom version) in the future. I purchased this because I needed something to eliminate the odor from a cat litter box. I keep mine in my basement, where there is minimal to no air flow. This means the stagnant air just sits down there--and so does the smell. I have three cats, and even though I take great care of the litter box, there is still a smell. (Anyone who has tired to clean up cat urine from carpet knows what I'm talking about. It's almost as if nothing will get rid of those silent odors!) It takes A LOT to eliminate that ammonia smell from the air. I tried everything--air fresheners, essential oils in vapes, candles, fans, opening windows, and even strong incense. Nothing worked because it was all just trying to mask the smell. Finally, I did my research on air purifiers and learned I needed something with activated charcoal. Otherwise, I'd be right back where I started just trying to mask the smell. Maybe now is a good time to note that my sense of smell is exceptionally heightened, so the cat box smell just really go to me. I purchased this, and it removed the scent within a few hours. That's it! Incredible! When you walk into my basement, it literally smells like NOTHING. It doesn't even have that typical basement smell. It's just clean, fresh air, and I don't know how I lived my life without this thing. Some features: 1. There are three levels. The lowest level is completely silent. The medium level only has a subtle noise. We have it on that setting all day, and it doesn't bother us at all. Our basement is finished, and the purifier is right by our basement living room. We watch TV and movies without any issues. Then there is the high setting. That's the loudest, and that's the level I leave the purifier on at night. 2. It is a pro at clearing out the air. My husband blew his vape smoke into the air, and it sucked that smoke out is record time. As you can see, I was thoroughly impressed. And my husband is thrilled that I'm not always complaining about him polluting my air supply anymore. :) 3. It has suctions on all four sides and a blow out area on just one side. So it is sucking in air to clean from all sides (360 degrees) and conveniently releasing fresh air on just one side. This allows you to strategically place the purifier for optimal benefit. I HIGHLY recommend this model if you're looking for an air purifier that also eliminates odors. It works fantastically and is well worth the cost.

********************* 2ND UPDATED REVIEW *********************** I actually purchased two of these filters, and the second was given as a gift. Well, after about 1 year, the filter completely stopped adsorbing any smells whatsoever. The person was smoking indoors, so I'm sure they just exhausted the carbon. But given how expensive these filters are, and how cheap activated carbon is, this is not a sensible solution to replace the $200 filter every year. To be honest, I thought that 15 pounds of "activated carbon zeolite" should last longer than a year even when exposed to smoke. It would be preferred if the carbon section of the filter was separate and could be replaced independently, because the HEPA portion has a lot of life left in it. I'm still disappointed in the performance of this air filter given it's high cost. This unit should be around $200 total, and then it would be a fair value, with replacement filters costing $70-100. Truly, this is just a low-tech fan with a clunky 3 speed knob, steel frame, and a filter inside. At least it still catches the dust and hair. ********************* UPDATED REVIEW *********************** This was an awesome filter for while it lasted. But after 1 year of use in a regular household, the air coming out of it STINKS like vinegar. At first, I though someone spilled some in the room. But after putting my nose to the air coming from the machine, I can clearly smell "sour" or "vinegar" coming from it. I have NO idea how this is even possible, since carbon effectively traps all smells. That makes me wonder if this unit has real, activated carbon in it at all??? I opened it when I first received it to check the filter, and it is indeed heavy and appears to be black carbon. But how is it possible for carbon to EMIT smell? Something is seriously wrong, and for $550 this is absolutely unacceptable, and a pure waste of money. The replacement filters for this are a few hundred each, NOT worth it at all. VERY disappointing to only last 1 year in a clean, non-smoking house. I guess I'll have to repurpose this machine. I'll probably try to turn it into a humidifier instead. BE WARNED! ********************* ORIGINAL REVIEW *********************** The Austin Air is a no frills air filter. It has absolutely no smart functionality, no sensors to auto adjust, no scheduling, no timer. Just off, low, medium, and high (aka extreme). On low, I can BARELY hear it, while it still flows a considerable amount of air. On medium, its cranking really good and is still tolerable, but it can be a bit nerve racking as it makes you have to talk louder to hear someone in the house. On high, aka EXTREME, this thing is like a jet turbine. It blasts out so much air, enough to cover what they claim to be 1100 sqft, which is the largest consumer air filter, by filtration volume, I found on the market. However, you would not leave this on if you were in the room. Its as loud or louder than a large vacuum cleaner. But every night I crank it on high, and the air quality in my room has significantly improved. The AWAIR air quality monitor used to always say 65-75 for our quality score in the main room. Now it always reads between 88-94. That is a significant improvement. Less than 2 micrograms per cubic meter of dust. It would be nice if it wasnt SO basic though. A schedule would be amazing, and an "auto" feature would be awesome too. Best of all, there are ZERO leds so it will not make the room turn into a disco party with colorful leds, like other units do. And, I got this on super sale for only $296 and another for only $346, not sure how, but I snatched them as soon as I saw the price. At a normal price of $550, it would still be worth it compared to other models on the market. They are awesome, I gave one to a family member with cats and it has helped them so much. There are just clumps of cat hair sticking to it after only a week. Simply vacuum the sides and keep it running. There is a prefilter inside the unit which could be beaten/washed if you wanted to prolong the life of the primary HEPA filter before you have to replace it, since replacements are around $200 from what I saw online. I recommend this unit.

We now have four of these units in our home, as our allergies are terrible. They run 24/7/365, usually on level 1, except for during allergy season where we will run them on higher levels. These are great at helping our allergies and cleans the air inside our house. I actually appreciate that they give a clear time limit for their filter life of max 5 years. The only thing is that they are becoming more and more expensive. The first one that I bought about 15 years ago was around $300, and now they are over $700, and filters are around $250 and rising as well. They do what they claim though, and I appreciate how well they work, so we will continue to make the investment every 5 years to replace the filters, our allergies are worth it. We have one in each bedroom, and then one in the living room. On level 1, they are difficult to hear, but on level 3 they are obtrusively loud. It can be nice white noise at times though, but know that at the highest setting it is considerably loud.