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Blueair Pure Air 211
Blueair is an amazing air purification manufacturer out of Sweden that has some of the absolute best air purifier products on the market.
The Blueair Pure Air 211 is no exception.
This air purifier is about simplicity. It has one control button located directly on the face of the air purifier. One control button to simply eliminate allergens, odors, dander, and mold.
This air purifier employs true HEPA, activated carbon, and a washable pre-filter.
It is very small, coming in at only 20 in tall and about a foot diameter.
The video for blue Air is one of the most astounding videos that any air purification company has produced.
The rate at which this air purifier is able to remove all the smoke in a room is unheard of.
The noise level this air purifier operates on- 31 decibels for low and 56 decibels on high is also a landmark that other air purifiers have not been able to reach.
I know what you’re thinking. I’m pouring it on thick.
Well….
For starters, This IS an awesome HEPA air purifier and it’s easy to get caught up in the hype.
This air purifier does have an amazing clean air delivery rate and can filter a 500 ft room about five times an hour.
But….
There is some things you might want to consider with this air purifier before you go rushing in paying a big price for it.
For one, the replacement filter for it is $45. And the recommended time span to replace it is every 6 months. So you’re looking at an extra $100 a year to keep a fresh filter.
And companies like this are not stupid when it comes to the way they manufacture these filters.
They know that if they sell you a separate HEPA filter and a separate carbon filter that even though you will not be able to get a 100% clean result, you can still clean a HEPA filter pretty well and make it last much longer.
But when it is tied to a carbon filter, it’s not going to be nearly as easy to clean and you will not be able to reactivate the carbon since it has to be heated to 1,000° or something.
Second, carbon filters are sold by weight. And getting a carbon filter heavy enough and big enough to absorb strong odors is not very likely in a small air purifier. Another thing that you rarely hear about carbon filters themselves is that they can have a strong sweet smell.
Most of the reviews you find about the blue Air carbon filter is that the smell of the filter is not too good. And since the carbon filter is the part of the air purifier that is supposed to get rid of odors in the room…. WTF? You get the point.
Levoit Core 300
The Core 300 by Levoit is the close runner-up the BlueAir 211
It is less than half the price for one Levoit core 300 but it also covers about half the square footage.
The filters for the Levoit come in two different styles. One rated for pet allergies is $36 and one that is the original at $30.
What’s the difference between the two filters?
No one’s saying exactly but it looks like the pet allergy model has a heavier mass of carbon than the original.
That would make sense because carbon is the part of the filter that absorbs odors.
For less than the price of one blue Air 211, you could purchase two
Levoit Core 300s and place them on two different sides of a large room and get a better result than trying to clean a large room with one air purifier.
But two filters for two small air Core 300 purifiers is slightly more than one filter for one large air purifier.
But the fact remains that it is always better to put smaller air purifiers throughout the house than it is to have one large air purifier and try to get air from the whole house or large room circulating through the one air purifier. Make sense?
Plus there’s also the added benefit of being able to place smaller air purifiers and smaller rooms when you need them to be there.
Downside:
But remember, though you may be able to get a better air purification process out of two small air purifiers than one, the noise level of two air purifiers in the same room will be louder than one.
Levoit also has its own large air purifier line that is advertised to cover 700 square feet and only slightly more than the blue Air. But it also has a smart sensor that automatically adjusted the speed of the fan on the air purifier to match the amount of indoor air pollution that needs to be eliminated.
The price for the filter is $70. The pet allergy and smoker version cost $100.
The filter has a suggested life of 6 to 8 months before you have to replace it.
You can see how expensive it can get to run a Levoit large room air purifier pretty quickly.
The Levoit core 300 is an excellent air purifier that boasts all the same features as the blue Air.
Very quiet and able to completely filter the air in the room five times per hour.
And the reviews for Levoit are typically very good.
What’s the Best buy? Blue Air 211 or Levoit Core 300
Two small air purifiers by Levoit is a better deal than the larger 211 air purifier by Blue Air.
The price of the filters will be a little more but they are rated for 6 to 8 months over the 6 months expected exchange on the BlueAir.
It is better to have smaller air purifiers throughout a home or large room than it is to try to get one big air purifier to do all the work.
Food for thought:
If your main concern is getting rid of allergens and dust and you could take or leave the carbon filter, there are plenty of HEPA air purifiers that do not use an all-in-one true HEPA and carbon filter. Cheaper.
And though it may be true that you will not be able to completely wash a HEPA filter 100%. They still can be rinsed quite well if they are not sealed together with a carbon filter.
Regardless, filters are the part of the air purifier business where the big money is made.
And for the consumer, it is where most of the money is spent.
