Austin Air B400B1 Standard Unit Healthmate Air Purifier, Bla

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 :).

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.

This is a simple device designed to do one thing well... it cleans air really well.

I Live with a cigar smoker. Drives me batty but I love him!! While he is actively smoking this cleaner does not take the odour away, but I leave it on all night, and when I come down in the morning the air is clean and there is no stale cigar odour which is a real joy! Other family members have commented on this as well. VERY PLEASED! If it could remove the odour as it is being released into the air I would give it 5 stars, but maybe that is impossible

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.