Austin Air HealthMate Plus Junior Air Purifier, Black - Advanced 4- Stage Filtration Air Purifiers For Home with Activated Carbon & Zeolite - Ideal as Air Purifiers for Bedroom, Model A250

I have pretty extreme chemical sensitivity. My building is re-carpeting all of the public areas, and my own unit (425 sq ft) was just recarpeted. A number of years ago when the carpet was renewed, I had terrible, terrible vertigo. This time, running the Austin unit, I haven't had any dizziness at all (15 nights). The air filtered by this unit is incredibly fresh and is remarkably cooling. it literally feels like my indoor air is as fresh as the out of doors. I run it on high all day and night, and haven't had any trouble with noise, it runs quietly. It also looks great- small footprint, minimalist design, elegant. I would buy this again in a heart beat. Apparently nothing else comes close for VOCs. This from Gizmodo: Though the Coway is great at removing particles, it does very little to reduce odors (though that’s the same across the board for air purifiers costing less than $400). The Blueair, with its charcoal packet, fares a bit better. However, if you live in a problematic environment with microscopic chemical pollutants—say, near a freeway, non-organic farm, chemical/power plant, or refinery—or are particularly sensitive to odors and/or other volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde, we recommend the $530 Austin Air HealthMate Standard HM-400. It gets loud when you run it at settings needed to get a decent filtration rate (medium or higher), but no other purifier came close in our VOC test. In our tests for odor removal, the HealthMate’s 15 lbs. of activated carbon bested all other air purifiers by a wide margin. (For reference, the Coway doesn’t even have a quarter pound of activated carbon.) Its exceptional performance in this area is a big part of why FEMA and the Red Cross chose Austin Air units for deployment at Ground Zero and the surrounding areas in the aftermath of 9/11. The HealthMate’s annual operating cost of about $283 also makes it by far the cheapest high-end purifier to run. This is due to a filter that’s designed for you to replace it every five years instead of annually. It’s worth noting that when running the fan at comfortable sound levels, the Austin Air was less efficient than all other models at removing particles from the environment. But a little extra background noise isn’t too much to ask if serious health concerns involving pollutants are an issue.

I can't give a thorough endorsement, since there were certain circumstances which would skew a 'controlled study' of the HM Plus JR, and which could have made a huge difference in claiming results. The situation before buying the JR: Our preK child was suffering from congestion throughout the day, particularly heavy during the mornings. It was chronic -- friends who were familiar with our situation said that our child seemed to have post-nasal drip. Maybe. I suspected allergies (and/or a reaction to mold) since I have mild symptoms of allergies to certain things, plus eczema. Our child has skin sensitivities as well. First, wood floors were installed before the JR had arrived. We had carpeting in the house which was well over six years old, and who knows what became embedded or decided to live in that carpet. Second, our son and I take ginko biloba as a daily supplement. Ginko biloba is a natural antihistamine. Third, the JR arrived at our doorstep a day or two after the wood floors were completed. Fourth, we purchased new allergen-free linens, e.g. mattress cover, pillow casings. In the meantime, we also went to an allergist and confirmed that our child is highly allergic to dust mites, which were living in the carpet and/or our child's bed and linens. I am forgoing the occasional use of the Rx from the allergist and continuing with the ginko biloba supplement and utilizing the JR. Maybe we didn't need the JR afterall? Maybe, but I believe it has made a considerable difference in the air quality in our home judging by our child's lack of phlegm/congestion in the mornings and throughout the day. Also, whenever I hear any congestion I ask our child to go sit in the room with the JR and the congestion dissipates in a matter of minutes. Our child's congestion, now, is triggered by the library books we bring home, specifically the older books, as well as anything that could be a dust mite haven. Being enclosed with the JR works wonders. The JR is fairly quiet at the lowest setting which is great at night. We put the highest setting on before bedtime stories are read. I will often put the library books we bring home in the closed bedroom to minimize any reaction. It works for us. I will be using our vacuum on the JR soon to clean the vents and filter. The JR is costly for a family on a budget, but the quietness, ease of use and filter cleaning, a 5-year warranty, its aesthetics, plus the job it does in purifying our indoor air is well worth the purchase.

It keeps the smoke down but doesn’t eliminate the odors. I keep the central air vent closed and the door closed. That keeps the smell away from the girlfriend and the filter keeps the air pretty clean to breath. I’m using in a 10’x12’ bedroom. I had high hopes for the charcoal filter. To me it didn’t live up to the advertisements.

This is by far the best air purifier my family has tried so far. Previously we purchased two different types of Honeywell purifiers, their main use was to cut down on cat dander in our home. Those did a great job at that so if you're only looking for something basic like that, I'd go with something cheaper than this. Our problem began 2 years ago when a chain smoker moved into the apartment below ours. No matter how much we pleaded with her to go outside, our house continues to fill with her smoke and leaves my toddler with congestion, bloody noses and I imagine pretty bad headaches since I am experiencing those. The Honeywell purifiers, left on the high settings 24/7 could only barely make a dent in this situation. I began searching for something that would help since moving is not currently an option for us. A neighbor told me about his Austin air purifier and how he never smells smoke in his apartment despite having a smoker (though not as heavy as ours) below him though his is one of the more expensive models. I went with the smaller one because I plan on buying one for each room rather than try to have one function for the whole apartment. That might sound crazy but our desperation to rid ourselves of this problem is such that I'd rather err on the side of overkill. So, we set it up in our bedroom. I can tell you, this thing works so well that for the first time in two years I can smell the wood from our furniture instead of cigarette stank. This is only three days in. The moment you walk through the bedroom door into the hallway the smell of smoke hits like a wall, so I know that this is doing the job we wanted. I can't say as to whether it's removing the harmful chemicals of the smoke, but for now it's enough to just not have to smell the crap. It's quieter on high than any of our others on low. Ours doesn't have the whistling effect that another review stated so maybe they got a defective model. It doesn't make a huge wind like our other purifiers either. I also like that it's metal construction. The Honeywells we own are plastic and being a porous material I have noticed that the purifiers themselves smell like smoke these days. I don't feel like that will happen with this one. As another review also stated, there are no indicators for needing to change the filter. I do wish that was included but I suspect we'll smell the need when the time comes.

This is our second Austin Air. The other one is the larger model - also a plus. Both were purchased in an attempt to control cigarette smoke inflitrating into our apartment from a neighbor's unit. Although this is the smaller filter, it seems to work better. It cannot keep up with the worst of it, but definitely helps. I should add that I was certain that this particular filter was new and unused. The first one, bought from another vendor may have been a return. You don't want a return, but it is very hard to be certain and performance is difficult to ascertain. I was certain the machine itself was new because it took a couple of days for the fan to break-in, make less noise at high speed. But the packaging on the filter itself looked "experienced." The reason you want a NEW filter is that another customer can ruin a filter in a couple of days by running it in a room which also has an air-freshener system or some other vapor source. Note that I was completely satisfied with this machine and this vendor.

i got a cheaper version and works better

I did a lot of studying before I made this purchase. The high setting is not loud at all to me, was less than a hairdryer, after reading that it was loud, I wondered if mine wasn't working right UNTIL I noticed the difference in the air quality within minutes. This is a workhorse. I have had it now a little less than a week and now, I am saving up for another one. My living room is average size and I carry this to the bedroom every night. No more coughing in the middle of the night for hubby and me. Today we had major cooking smells in the kitchen and within 30 minutes all is clear. I am very pleased. Yeah, $400. But worth every dollar.

So I've had this since 2012 and also the larger Pet version. We haven't changed out the filter yet but still seems to work well. My husband has allergy attacks from time to time and will go in the room and shut the door with the Austin Air running full blast, take a nap, and wake up feeling better. A few months ago, the machine started making a rattling or screeching noise and I emailed the company and they never responded.. This was September 2019. Luckily they noise stopped after a couple days for no apparent reason, but if you expect any after sales support from this company, you should look elsewhere. Side note: the loudest setting works great as a noise machine for helping my kids, and myself (drowns out my husband's snoring), sleep.

This is my second Austin so I can have one in both parts of my house. I have mold poisoning and this works for it. I have tried another air purifier and the plastic fumes it emitted was as bad as the problem it was meant to correct.

Love it other half had a older model and this works as well as it did and better but, the speed knob is to recessed and hard for big fingers to grasp