Holmes Smoke Grabber Ashtray and Odor Eliminator (HAP75-UC2)

My Value-to-Price Ratio: 2.5 This product delivers on its promises, and really, that's no surprise. It's from Holmes, the industry leader in home and personal ventilation products. (We love their double window fan!) It comes with an activated charcoal filter and replacements are both cheap and readily available. An extra filter is also provided with the initial purchase. The suction is sufficient to take in the smoke from even multiple cigarettes as long as the cigarettes are resting on (or very near) the tray. The tray itself is dishwasher top-rack safe, and the material resists damage from contact with the lit end of the smoking material when "butting out" the cigarette or ... whatever. There is a very, very small amount of ambient noise, but you don't notice it once you are more than a few inches away from the device, and it's so slight that your ear quickly accustoms to it and filters it out. This ashtray does have a boxy, 5" square footprint, so it loses a bit in the design category, but other than that, it's a top-notch product in this category and at the low end of the price range. How do I calculate Value-to-Price Ratio? I'm glad you asked. First, value: I peruse both product listings for multiple products of the same type to determine the range of features a product of this type would or should have. Then I scrutinize user reviews to see which of those features seemed to be most important to most users. I then give a "Features" grade on a scale of 5 to 1 (Product meets all/most/some/few but hits the important ones/few or none of the user requirements.) I then give a 1 to 5 grade in two other categories: Design, and Safety. As I said, this product is a bit industrial in appearance and has a significant footprint that makes it more conspicuous than many users might prefer, so it lost a point for design. On safety, I do some research to see if there are any product warnings out on the web regarding the product or if any user reviews cite safety problems. Does the seller make the safety requirements clear? Was the product designed to anticipate and compensate for any potential usage risks? For value, I rank the product by price amidst its competitors that offer the same level of features or nearly so. Here again, I consult user reviews to see whether anyone felt "cheated" and why, or why someone was particularly satisfied with the purchase. However, price is the determining factor. I rank the product against at least five of its competitors (if available) and determine where its price falls in the range of highest (5) to lowest (1). So a product with a high value score, say 5, that falls at the lowest end of the price ranking will be 5 over 1, for a ratio of 5. The closer the ratio is to a value of 5, the better the value-to-price relationship for the consumer. The consumer got a great product at a fabulously low price! If a great product sells at the highest price, it gets a VPR of 1. Why? You got what you paid for, which is to be expected. The product does not deserve to be advantaged for delivering on its promises if it cost you the maximum price amongst its competitors to obtain the promised features. Is VPR ever zero? Yes. If the Amazon user rating nomograph, which appears at the top of every review page, shows a bicurdic distribution, an inverted normal curve, I suspect out of hand that something is wrong. An inverted curve means that most users either rated it 5 (or 4), or 1 (maybe 2). Few or none was in the middle (3). In statistical analysis, an inverted normal curve is a warning sign: Either the tester did something wrong, or bad data crept into the results. Sadly, the bad data issue is usually a signal that the data has been manipulated, either consciously or through unconscious factors. A seller who sees a product tanking in the reviews may start encouraging his near and dear to post positive reviews; a rankled customer might encourage friends and family to bolster his viewpoint by submitting negative reviews. Both of these things sound unlikely and a bit bizarre, but sadly, they happen every day. In these cases, I either decline to review, or I review frankly, and the VPR is automatically zero. You may choose to read that as "undefined". By no means does the VPR answer the question, "Is this a good product for me?" For that answer, the overall review score shown with the product listing, and the comments of individual reviewers, are the best way, and perhaps the only real way, to make that determination.

This product came very quickly and I was very interested due to the fact that I smoke in my office, as well as, in my kitchen. The product takes two D batteries which was disappointing. The product does lessen the amount of second hand smoke if you hold it by the machine while smoking. Since using it in my office when I work I have noticed a diminished smoke smell but not completely gone... obviously. I read reviews prior to buying this product and several mentioned that the hinges on the lid will break and the machine will not close all the way... those reviews were accurate as the one in the kitchen that gets used the most has done just that. It also means that the batteries will not last a long since the machine runs if not closed properly. You also have to get into the habit of closing the lid as well. Most ash trays don't have lids so it's an afterthought the first few uses. Would like it better if it plugged in and the lid hinge was constructed better. Not a horrible waste, but somewhat helpful for it's intended purpose.

I keep buying these things. Initially because they were cheaper than $25 a pop. MUCH cheaper. They've almost doubled in price since I started buying them about 4 years ago. They start out fairly quiet until tar and nicotine build up below (where the fan is) and they get noisier as they get older. They will eat your batteries in a day or so if you're a pack a day+ smoker like I am. And then there's the times I forget to close the lid and walk away...so there's that. I've since bough several rechargable batteries and that saves the cost on batteries. I have 3 in my house (one for each level) but it seems that they don't seem to quite last a year and then they just stop working. I've cleaned terminals and batteries and contact points and it never seems to fix the issue. One just died, mid cigarette, the other day, for no reason that I can tell. They do keep the bulk of the smoke down...of course not the smoke coming from your mouth....but it's a VERY noticeable improvement over a plain old ashtray. And you can close the lid which makes it more palatable sitting on your end table. Since they've gone up in price, I've looked at other options but don't see any that do the job as well as this does....and I already have the rechargable D batteries..... so I guess I'm buying another one. Damn this habit's getting expensive!

I researched the best AND most economical smokeless ashtrays (FOR CIGARETTES-this one is not meant for cigars) on line and this was a winner. It arrived in a timely manner and was undamaged. I've been using it for over 2 months and am very satisfied. Some of the Amazon reviews have reported malfunctions ("Arrived broken," "Stopped working after a few days") that I think are really just problems caused by not using it correctly. It's a little bit sensitive (which kinda sucks) but if you are patient and take a little time, you can learn how to operate it without problems, for instance: If it works when you get it and then seems to stop working, make sure the removable tray is inserted correctly. When it's not, the circuit that turns the fan on will not complete upon opening the lid. NOISE: Mild whir from fan is noticeable but is not so loud as to make watching TV etc. difficult. It will SEEM louder at times when the ashtray is on a surface that vibrates OR if the removable tray is not fit in properly. BATTERY LIFE: Remember to close the lid as soon as your done using it, and that will prolong batter life (My cheap batteries probably lasted 6-10 weeks.) EFFICACY: SMOKE: It works very well to control the smoke of a cigarette that is sitting in this ashtray. It cannot do anything for exhaled smoke and cigarette smoke coming of the tip while you're holding the cigarette. What has worked for me for this part is a fan on one side of the room that blows towards my open back door, forcing a cross breeze. The ashtray alone is not enough to keep all smokey smell from my studio apartment, but they cross breeze method I just described does not work with out the smokeless ashtray. SMELL: The filter works well on the smoke, but if you have too many buts in the tray it will start blowing nasty butt smell into the room. I never let there be more than about 3 butts sitting in the tray at a time to prevent this. CAPACITY: It has 7 slots to hold cigs, so more than one person can use it at once. I can hold probably 10 to 12 butts (but that will make it blow stinky butt smell around, so I don't reccomend it).

Within a period of 10 months, I went through 3 of these as they wear out super fast. Why I even bothered to order another one after the first one (and especially again after the second one died), I have no idea. Maybe I was hoping that the first one (or two) were just defective and/or didn't work well because they got damaged during shipping... who knows. VERY wishful thinking on my part! But, I'll admit, I was just being an idiot. This thing is just a waste of money. The tray itself is SMALL. The ashtray ONLY helps a LITTLE in absorbing smoke if your cigarette is sitting in it & you don't remove it! That's the only way SOME of the smoke can rise to the top where the filter is (underneath the top of it when you open it). Yet my cigarette ended up falling out of it several times since the tray's so small, obviously allowing smoke to just go straight into the air and being a very potential fire hazard if you don't notice that this happened. If you're holding your cigarette, there's NO way it can absorb the smoke (and of course it also can't absorb the smoke from your cigarette as you're smoking it either, unless you blow the smoke directly into the ashtray's filter). MAYBE then a very LITTLE bit of the smoke will get sucked into the filter. However, I don't recommend doing this as it's not worth it. The top barely lifts up to open & give you room for your hand to pick up & put down your cigarette, so if you try to exhale directly into the filter in an attempt to keep the smell of smoke to a minimum, you just end up blowing all your ashes & cigarette butts OUT of the tray and all over the place, creating a huge uncalled for mess and an even stronger smell. When I bought it, it did come with one replacement filter but the ashtray may wear out and die before you even get a chance to use it (if it does still come with a second filter). If it doesn't, cleaning this thing is SO difficult due to its small size and odd shape (again, since the top only lifts up to a certain point, allowing you VERY little access to the tray, filter, etc). And you'll also go through filters FAST, having to continuously order more to keep this thing doing at least 25% (if that much) of what it's supposed to do. If you DO intend on trying this, expect NOISE. It IS loud. I could not even hear someone talking to me from a few feet away without them raising their voice & practically yelling. I had to increase the volume on my TV if I had the ashtray going while watching television (and I was sitting right in front of the TV!) I tend to smoke at my desk and that's the main reason I got this (besides trying to keep cigarette smell out of my room, I wanted to avoid it from going into nearby items such as computers). No such luck at all. And, if I got a phone call, forget it. I had to turn the thing off in order to hear the person on the other end (and if I wanted to continue smoking while talking on the phone, it was just being used as a regular ashtray since it was too noisy to leave on). Even worse though, as regular ashtrays at least allow you to easily flick your ashes in them, set your cigarette down in them without falling out and be able to have enough room to get to the tray without a huge lid in the way that won't lift up any further to provide more room for your hand. Of course, smoking is a bad habit and we should all quit (easier said than done!) Those of you who don't smoke, just don't start! Just say no... and, to the smokers, just say no to this piece of crap ashtray!

My daughter who is a smoker asked me to find a smokeless ashtray for her to use. As usual, for an uncommon item, I went to Amazon to see what was on the market. I didn't really find much, based on the information and reviews of the items I could locate. There was no single obvious best choice that I could determine. After some debate, I decided to give this Holmes unit a try. This Holmes ashtray turned out to be a little bit mystifying. The basic shell is a fairly nice, heavy, well-made looking unit that looks like it would perform well and hold up for a long while. Unfortunately, the mechanism inside that actually produces the "smokeless" function appears to be something you would find as a student's project at a middle-school science fair. Long-term performance, predictably, is just about that reliable. I really can't understand how a company could engineer and produce such a solid and reliable outside package, and then stuff it with an apparatus that looks like it was designed and built in a garage. The "switch" that turns on the motor when you raise the lid is simply a piece of steel wire bent in such a way to press against another piece of wire to make the electrical contact. The exact shape and bend is critical, and if you somehow manage to distort the wire slightly while cleaning, you'll never get it back right again. How much additional cost would it have been to put a simple micro-switch or magnetic switch in place instead of the Mickey Mouse wire configuration. It's too bad that the company went only halfway with the design of this ashtray. If they had installed a solid functioning mechanism inside their very good outer shell, they would have had a great product.

I’ve bought eight of these since 2018, for use in both my home and also in my studio. I didn’t use them religiously, however, until the most loving of my cats, who was the one always lying by my side, developed a relentless cough. My guilt and sorrow over accidentally killing her through her developing lung cancer from my actions, and at such a young age, have yet to leave me. With quitting smoking so hard to do, the least I could do, I decided, was to always use my Holmes Smoke Grabber at home and in the studio. Losing Willow had taught me the importance of protecting my pets — and my husband. In the studio, it’s also important not to expose one’s artworks to cigarette smoke. The latter is much less important than the former, of course. It’s my understanding that people like me who become the chronic smokers of the world become that due to lower dopamine levels in our brains. Cigarettes are one of our ways to try to raise our dopamine levels even though they aren’t long-lasting satisfactions. With the fact that our journey through life is harder due to some quirk of birth, I have come to believe that we smokers still have a responsibility to protect our family members and pets by using devices like the Holmes Smoke Grabber ash trays. I have yet to find any other product like the Smoke Grabber or any as efficient as it. I’ll be making my ninth order of these after finishing this.. There are occasional problems with the Smoke Grabbers, however, and some people give up way too early in using these little machines, rather than trying to figure out possible solutions. My biggest mistake in using the Smoke Grabbers was in unnecessarily wasting so many batteries. When the ashtray seemed to be receiving less and less power and finally stopping altogether, I’d just replace the batteries. I didn’t even bother to use the device which measures the amount of charge in the batteries; I just tossed them. In time, however, it finally occurred to me, for some reason or other, that perhaps the batteries hadn’t run out but maybe there was some tar build-up around the top points of the batteries. I put a touch of water on top of them both, dried them, and reinserted them. I was shocked to hear the motor start up as if it were new! I’ve only recently learned since then that simply breaking the connection between the batteries and their walls by rotating them several times in their enclosures will do the same thing. How long this will last is something I suppose I will find out soon. At that point, I’ll try the physical cleaning of the battery tops again. Life here is much better with my continual use of a Holmes Smoke Grabber. The house smells better. None of the cats cough anymore, and none show signs of lung cancer. My never-complaining husband remains uncomplaining, but surely he must be happier now that I use the Smoke Grabbers faithfully. I must throw in that, yes, I received one which didn’t work; I could absorb the cost so I did. I hate returning things. Still, the many others that I’ve purchased have literally been life-savers here in my house. I cannot think of any higher recommendation than that.

Bought one about 5 years ago to limit the amount of smoke when smoking indoors in the winter. The only reason I decided to purchase a new one was because the old one got pretty smelly after a while and it’s kinda hard to deep clean the inside of it underneath the tray where the motor’s at, I did what I could though with alcohol wipes and mini vacuums without messing with any of the components, but the foam understandably got pretty gross over time. The tray itself where you ash into is easy to clean and even though it’s plastic, it’s coated so the old tray is still almost as smooth as when I bought it. I recommend putting all ashes out completely before closing the lid though because the plastic screen that holds the filter will melt. The filters are easy to find for a decent price and I like the fact that it has a lid that closes solidly. I keep a big pack of D batteries on hand just for the gadget and if you get good batteries you won’t have to change them too often, and I use this thing multiple times a day, sometimes daily for months and months at a time. My old one even survived a few falls off of beds and tables and I’m hoping to enjoy the same longevity with this new one. I would like to add that I also have an air purifier in my room as well, and this item is only meant to limit the smoke coming from the spliff itself while you’re not hitting it. Blowing the smoke directly into the unit will just get the ashes everywhere and it won’t be very effective at sucking up the smoke. I also recommend putting it on some type of tray because it blows the air out the bottom and it sometimes blows the ashes around a bit. Every indoor smoker should have one. *Update 12/23* So a few months back it randomly stopped working and I grew concerned because the motor wasn’t working at all, so I contacted Amazon support as well as Holmes cuz I had only had it a few months and I was disappointed. When that didn’t produce a solution I decided to look inside and see if I could figure out what was wrong, and lo and behold I was able to move the metal parts around the battery to re-connect the electrical circuit. VERY easy fix and I hope others are able to extend the lifetime of their smokeless ashtray with this information as well! STILL LOVE THIS THING.

This works very well. If you are a daily smoker keep a stock of D cell batteries handy as you'll go through a pair a week - roughly. The item is not magic so know you have to exhale into it so it can grab that smoke. It's not 100% but with a bit of air freshener it certainly keeps the smell to a minimum.

it is an ashtray with fan, nothing more to expect

Me sirvió bastante porque al fumar y dejar el cigarrillo en el cenicero no se apesta la casa porque todo el tiempo está jalando el humo

I bought one of these at Walmart before Covid and it lasted 3 years, and only paid 10.99! In March of this year I bought one from Always Quality and in October of 2023, it just died, did not work anymore! Total cost with shipping 47.00! Contacted them, they said I had to contact the manufacturer! So on November 3, 2023, I ordered a new one. I could at no point track this package with the tracking number they provided me, it On November 24, 2023, I checked my Amazon account and it said arriving tonight by 8:00! It however, did not arrive Friday night! Saturday morning, check the order again, it says shipped late. Contacted Seller and told them I could not track this package, is it lost, well guess what it was lost! This has never happened to me ever, and it is quite upsetting to have to deal with this! Not impressed with the customer service received and will definitely order elsewhere when looking for this item!

Motor died after 4 weeks