FellowesAeraMax 190 Air Purifier for Mold, Odors, Dust, Smoke, Allergens and Germs with True HEPA Filter and 4-Stage Purification, Medium-size Room 200-400 sq. ft., Black

**EDIT**After having owned this unit for a year and a half, I can definitely vouch for its odor eliminating prowess. If it detects any cologne, spray, food, or other smells and particles, it automatically kicks into high ear until the smell is gone. It's wonderful for that feature.It has also collected enough dust to warrant a new filter. This took about three to four months before a filter had to be replaced. The black carbon filter was nearly fully gray from dust that it had sucked in.So this unit works at removing dust free-floating near it. The amount of air it circulates is more than I first noticed, similar to a desk fan on high settings.However, it still does not help me with my allergies nor does it remove the dust particles and allergens from the air in the room. It only does a good job in the small area around it. Everywhere else had a build up of allergens on the desktops, shelves, etc. in my room.If you want to eliminate the allergens from a room, you'll probably need to buy multiples of these and put one in each corner. But I'm raising the review from 1 to 3 stars simply for the fact that it does a superb job at detecting allergens and removing smells. It's just not going to cut it for people who need to cleanse a room of allergens.**ORIGINAL**I moved to a new city recently, and I was fine for a couple of seasons; I never suffered form allergies until this Spring. It seems that staying indoors all Fall/Winter and running outside on the first warm day of the Spring made me develop allergies, especially due to the heavy pollen in this area. This is the first Spring where I suffer from puffy eyes, an itchy face, and heavy mucous production while I'm outside. My main reason for purchasing this air purifier was to help remove any allergens that may come into the bedroom, in order to help me sleep without the need to go through a box of tissues every night.I would first like to address a concern with this unit. During the first week of use, the unit emitted a strong chemical odor much like most other air purifiers with carbon filters. However, I also experienced trouble breathing during this time, which I attributed to the installation of this new air purifier. Unlike a regular mucous build-up, even if I wasn't suffering from a stuffy nose, I was having labored breathing. I wonder if it is due to the ozone that the unit produces: While the air purifier doesn't have elements to explicitly produce ozone, it is a by-product of the "PlasmaTRUE" technology that this unit uses to ionize air. Most companies state that customers should be vigilant of "labored breathing" during the initial month of use with their air purifiers if it has an ionizer built-in. This unit is sold as "asthma-friendly", but rather than taking the marketing line at face-value, I would make it a point to monitor myself or my child during the first few weeks of use.However, after the first week, the strong chemical odor was gone and I don't seem to have the compounded trouble of breathing. I cannot determine if it was due to any ozone by-products, but I was glad to find that I have the option to turn the ionizer off. To turn the ionizer off, hold the ionizer button (the lowest button on the panel) for a bit over five seconds; the light on that button will turn off when the ionizer turns off.The unit itself is slim, very light, plastic-y, and wobbly if it is placed on carpet. I was surprised at the construction. It is basically a hollow piece of plastic with lots of open room inside, with just a little board for electronics, what looks to be a 200mm fan, and two filters (a very thin carbon filter that needs to be replaced every 3 months, and a large HEPA filter that needs to be replaced yearly). Setting up the unit was as simple as sliding the filter tray open, removing the filters from a plastic bag, and then sliding the whole thing back in. Whenever the unit powers on, it needs a few minutes to "measure" the air and go into automatic mode. If the unit is ever powered off, none of the settings are saved so it always starts back up with the default auto settings.The most surprising thing about this unit is that it does seem to have a good PPM air sensor that not only measures physical debris (dander, dust, etc.), but also gas. It is very sensitive. Release of methane from the other side of a bedroom (if you get my drift) will trigger the machine to kick up to medium settings within a matter of 10-20 seconds, although the only reason it can react this fast is probably due to the ceiling fan that I run on "high". It also works great to notify me when allergens are present, and therefore, it works as a warning that I am about to suffer from a runny nose. When the central air kicks in, it sometimes circulates allergens in my home. I can be sitting in my bedroom with a clear nose for hours, when suddenly my allergies kick in (runny nose, puffy eyes, etc.) The air filter seems to detect allergens quicker than my body does; the Fellowes AeraMax 200 will go from its "low" automatic mode and kick over to "high" about 10 minutes before my nose starts running.The unit itself is very quiet and hard to hear on low settings (blue light). It's audible but not intrusive on medium settings (yellow light), and loud on high settings (red light). However, I worry that the "low" setting is useless. The unit itself doesn't have a very efficient design, as it only pulls air in from small gaps in the sides rather than having open access through the front. This is a clever design for one reason only: It gives the illusion that there is a lot of airflow. By limiting the opening to small gaps, the unit can pull in small amounts of air but it "feels" like a strong current. It gives the illusion of strong air suction, while it is actually pulling in a low volume of air. Bigger air purifying units have larger openings and more surface area exposed to the open air, but they run "loud" in order to move a higher volume of air and to give the customer a sense that there is a high turnover on airflow. On this AeraMax 200 at low settings, it feels as though someone is just gently blowing air past their lips. Hardly any air movement, and it's definitely not enough to circulate the air in a bedroom. Medium settings may be too low as well, as the medium settings is comparable to a desk fan on "low" setting. The advertised CADR and rating for a 200 Sq.Ft room is probably only achieved on the high setting. This device hardly ever cuts over to the "high" settings while it is in automatic mode.In addition to my concern about the airflow, I can see the fan is "wobbly" inside. It doesn't produce any odd sounds, but I'm afraid that this unbalanced fan will eventually go through extra wear and tear and start causing undue noise.So this brings us to the conclusion. Has it helped me with my allergies? I'm sad to say that it hasn't. I still suffer from a runny nose in my closed bedroom. I honestly can't tell if it's helped at all with removing allergens from the air. Perhaps if I switch it over to manual settings and keep it running on "high", I can get better results. But at that point, it may be better to buy a cheaper unit from a different manufacturer that has more airflow and bigger filters. Keeping it on "auto" only seems to help notify me when there are allergens in the air (since the unit kicks up from low to medium) and it definitely keeps the air "clean", but it's probably aided by the ceiling fan in my room since the unit itself isn't powerful enough to circulate air for the entire bedroom on "low" or "medium" settings. Now that the chemical smell is gone, I am amazed at how odorless the air is in my room. No more trace smells drifting in from the kitchen, no more BO, any cologne or spray is gone form the air after a few minutes... If nothing else, this is a $120 glorified odor eliminator. That alone may be worth the purchase, but it missed the mark by a mile when it comes to relieving my allergy symptoms.

So far, so good. There is a power-on switch on the top rear which some reviewers seemed to not know about, and if you don't turn it on, it will seem the unit is DOA when it is not. There is also a reset process for the filter-change lights, which is in instructions, but which I haven't used yet.I have elected to leave the unit on, all the time, on low setting, and so far it has been quiet with none of the vibration or noise reported by some other reviewers. The reason I don't give it five stars is because the air-quality light changes when sometimes I can see no reason for it. It is usually blue, for good, and it will usually move into orange when cooking, indicating that it is filtering something associated with the cooking process, odors or slight, not-visible-to-me-smoke. Also, on occasion, I use alcohol to clean glasses or other things, and the unit's air-quality indicator, which is in my living room, will turn red, indicating poor quality, which is true, since the odor of alcohol isn't great. But sometime, the indicator will change to orange or red when there's nothing happening and I'm not doing anything except watching TV, so I don't know what that's about.I ran it in auto once, for a while, and the unit would then kick up the fan speed when the indicator changed to other than blue, returning to low when the air was no longer "active" for it. The fan wasn't too loud at the second setting, but at the third and the highest setting, it is obvious, but I don't ever go there, using it in manual on low. However, if I start a fire or other emissions become a problem, it's nice to know I can crank it up.The unit's intakes are on the side, so it can be placed pretty close to things directly in front or behind it, and I leave the sides with at least a foot clear and it's fine.The indicator lights are bright, but not a problem if you place the unit so they don't point where you usually are. If in a bedroom, the unit can be placed with its front facing a wall, since intakes are on the side, and the exhaust (filtered air) going out the top, toward the front will just be deflected off the wall and the lights no factor. In my living room, the unit is behind the TV viewing positions and to the side of the desk, so the lights are no problem there, either.Unwrapping the filters and replacing them in the unit was no problem, and I'm about a week away from the first carbon clean-up or change-out.It may be sub-conscious peace of mind, or it may be that I actually seem to feel the air is better, clearer of any odors, and as I said, on low, very quiet, yet strong enough flow that I can feel it on my face when I walk past it, and I'm 6'1", so I'm happy with it.

I bought two of these Fellowes AeraMax 200 Air Purifiers in 2015 when we got our second dog and I could smell dog when I entered my home. Blech. Also, with the addition of a second dog, my dog allergies really ramped up. Our living room is large, almost 500 sq ft, and I put one of these at each end of the room. The air quality (smell) improved immediately, and my eyes weren't as itchy as they had been before.Then last year, we had the bathrooms redone. No matter how careful the workers were, there was drywall dust in my room. And no matter how much I dusted and vacuumed, I could still smell the drywall dust. So I grabbed one of the AeraMax filters out of the living room and put it in my bedroom for a few days. Its little red dial let me know it was sucking the yuck out of my bedroom. In those few days I discovered I was waking up less congested and my eyes were clearer. Plus, on the third speed setting, it made better white noise than the fan I always used. That air purifier never left my bedroom! In fact, I bought its big brother, the AeraMax 300, to replace it in the living room.Pros- It has an automatic setting, as well as four speeds. I prefer to keep it on the second level constantly. It's super quiet on the lowest speed - you don't even know it's running. It sounds like a wind tunnel on the highest setting.- The carbon and the hepa filters are super easy to change.- The sleek design doesn't take up much floor space, and it's attractive.Cons- The hepa filters are pricey. I change them twice a year, because of the dogs, but its only recommended to be replaced once a year. (I put an alert on my phone to remind me to change the filters.)Since I bought another one almost five years after the purchase of my first two, I guess you'd say I definitely recommend this product.

Bought this one in 2016. I liked it so much that I bought 2 more of the larger model (Aeramax 300.) Removes 2nd hand smoke, very good for pollen. Aeramax 200 and 300 best sensors for odour control I've had, works well if you replace the carbon filter every few months. High speeds are noisier but lowest speed is barely noticeable. Value because they still work, and because unlike other brand which discontinues filters after a few years, I can still buy Fellowes hepa filters.

Quiet when running at low speed but the ion generator always makes a little hiss that you can notice when the room is very quiet. I wouldn't use it in a bedroom just for that because you can't disable it.The automatic mode will detect most organics in the air and amp up the fan speed accordingly. Here are some examples of things in detects; isopropyl alcohol (hand sanitizer), ethanol (wine), hair spray (butane), perfume or when cats go to the litter.For the purifying side, well, it didn't change much for our house, when making food or using hand sanitizer, it'll clear up scent quicker for sure. There's also a bit less of floating dust in the air.There are 4 fan speed, automatic mode will only use the first 3 settings, for the full speed, you have to use the fan button manually, it is very noisy but very powerful, nice if you're training near it, it'll really help with the sweating.Replacing the filter is easy and I didn't have too since I bought it yet, but that's only a couple months ago.

works well - satisfied

All working fine, except unexpectedly, sometimes in the middle of the night during sleep time, the unit starts to signal high level of contamination (red light) and turns on the the noisy high speed fan (hence four stars). Not sure what could cause it. Other than that my allergic reaction to house dust is nearly totally gone. If you blow into the unit after a glass of wine, it will turn to yellow and stats to blow faster. Normally very quiet running.

This is great for my fiance who has cat and dog allergies. We keep it in the bedroom. We have a dog and a cat at home and it is so noticeable when they accidently get turned off. I own two of these now and have been running them 24/7 for 4 years now and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. The replacement filters are easy enough to find. The lights are bright at night, annoying but soooo worth dealing with because the air purifier works so well. I have definitely gotten my money's worth!