These 3 HEPA purifiers are a breath of fresh air
I've had at least 3 or 4 people reach out to me this week for advice about air purifiers, given all the wildfire smoke we've been dealing with. So I'll turn my focus to that.
After the last few California wildfire seasons, I decided to upgrade my old Honeywell Enviracaire with some "smarter" air purifiers. After a bunch of research, I settled on a combination of a few models.
Coway Airmega 300: I'm using this as my primary purifier, as it covers 1256 square feet and can handle my open floor plan (They also make a 400 model that covers 1560 square feet.) This purifier looks great and has a smart functionality to automatically kick the fan up when the air quality gets worse. It has 3 different fan speeds; the lower two are really quiet and the high speed is still quiet enough that I can keep it a few feet away from me while on work calls. During wildfire season, I've been keeping it on the middle speed most of the time and then I'll kick it up to high periodically when things are really dire or when I'm trying to quickly air out the house. (Note I did *not* opt to pay an extra $100 for the 300S model, which includes WiFi for remote management via your smartphone. Plus the reviews of the mobile app were abysmal.) It also features sleep and eco modes, though I don't really use them. This lists at a whopping $549 but I managed to get mine for about $430 pre-wildfire season by watching for sales, finding a good rate on Walmart.com, and then getting Target to price-match. Trust me, it's been worth every dollar during wildfire season.
Coway Airmega 200: Same basic features as the 300, but it's smaller. Perfect for the bedroom, though it will actually cover 361 square feet. This one is still really quiet on the lowest level, and it has a subtle white noise on medium. The high setting is much louder than the 300, so ideally I wouldn't sleep with it on high. While it retails at $229, I got mine for under $125 (again pre-wildfire season) by keeping an eye out for deals, finding one via Walmart.com, and then getting Home Depot to price match. I thanked Home Depot by buying a bunch of filters from them a year later.
Which reminds me, you should also stock up on filters in advance, so you aren't left in the lurch using last year's ash-coated filters should the demand go through the roof again. I stocked up at HomeDepot.com.
Levoit LV-H132: Lastly, I got a small air filter that is perfect for the boat. It stows away easily and works great. Only covers 129 square feet, so best for bedrooms and other small rooms (and sailboats). This has a nightlight on the top, but you can turn it off if you read the instructions. Same goes for the lights on all the Coway Airmega models.
I write this in September 2020, when it's nearly impossible to get your hands on an air purifier. What you can do today, though, is click on these 4 links and ask to be notified when they are back in stock:
And don't forget to buy extra filters! Set a reminder for a few months from now.
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