With a pre-filter, H13 HEPA, and Activated Carbon filter under the hood, this unit makes light work of ultrafine particles, capturing 99.97% of pollutants as small as 0.3 microns. This time the NO2 and CO levels were in the safe zone, and the incense odor was much milder. In fact, after another hour of testing, the air was at safe levels for all pollutants except VOCs.
Be advised, the Core 300 can still utilize the same pet filters, perhaps saving you some money on the initial outlay. The Levoit air purifier was not the top performer in my tests, but it was reliable, easy to use, and compact enough not to take up precious real estate in a small room. Read on to learn more about this budget-friendly air purifier and to determine if it’s a good fit for your home or office. John Holecek, who co-wrote and performed testing for previous versions of this guide, holds a master’s degree in earth science, with a focus on climate, aerosols, and analytical chemistry. He has conducted laboratory tests for Wirecutter’s air purifier reviews since 2014. Since 1999, he has studied particulate air pollution for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and in the private sector.
When considering your budget for an air purifier, you might also want to consider the cost of replacing the filter roughly every six months. We found the noise virtually undetectable on quiet mode, though max mode produces enough noise to disrupt you while you chit-chat or watch TV. However, there are high, medium, low, and auto settings between those two, so you can decide which mode offers you your ideal balance between speed and noise. We ran this unit almost nonstop in a real-life bedroom environment and appreciated how we could set it and forget about it.
However, this was a minor inconvenience given the usefulness of the in-app features. In testing, we noted how convenient it is to monitor the air purifier on your phone. The app clearly indicates the quality of the air in a space, and it can also remind you when to change the filters.
Along with basic questions about CADR scores, keep these other factors in mind as you shop for an air purifier. Users who would like to add a particular fragrance to their living space will appreciate the option to add essential oils to the air purifier’s aroma pad and have it disseminate the scent of choice throughout their
room. The air purifier also weighs only 3.3 pounds, so it will be very easy to move around anywhere. Using it is also pretty easy thanks to its simple button, which is designed to navigate all of its settings. With filter costs of $28 per filter, you could end up spending an additional $56 dollars per year on filters.
It’s an attractive machine, too, with its simple cylindrical form and tweedlike fabric covering (which also acts as a prefilter; you can launder it to keep the prefilter performing at its best). The purifier comes standard with a gray covering, and several other colors “inspired by the natural landscapes of Scandinavia” are available for purchase separately. We have tested and reviewed the Molekule Air Pro and Air Mini+, and will be reviewing several other purifiers soon. With the Vital 200S, airborne pollutants that make you sneeze and cough won’t stand a chance. Here are some additional key features of the Levoit Core 300 True HEPA Air Purifier, according to Levoit. Perhaps the most unique part about this purifier is that it can be mounted to a wall and mimic a piece of art.
For a general-purpose air purifier, we look for at least 98% removal of smoke particles in 30 minutes on high, and at least 85% on quiet/medium, in our test rooms. Large-space purifiers should do at least as well on high and top 90% on medium. We do not dismiss purifiers that have ionizers in addition to HEPA filters, but we don’t look for that feature. Ionizers impart an electrical charge to air molecules that pass through the machine.
It isn’t a perfect approach, but considering the multiple variables involved, it is the most accurate way to compare different purifiers. Tim placed a TSI AeroTrak 9306 particle counter 7 feet diagonally away from the purifiers, 20 to 30 inches from both walls in the farthest corner of the room. The purifiers themselves sat at the midpoint of the opposite wall of the room, 2 feet from the wall, with no obstacles near their air intakes and outlets. The particle counter took readings continuously, with counts totaled in one-minute increments.
As the top unit in Levoit’s Core series, the 600S embodies power and performance. With its 3-stage filtration system of pre-filter, H13 HEPA, and Activated Carbon, this unit makes light work of pollutants, seen with its colossal CADR score of 410 CFM. Levoit’s Core Mini Air Purifier (LAP-C161-WUS) is considered a personal space model, meaning it’s designed for small areas. It will purify the air in a room up to 178 square feet, making it well suited for use in a nursery, bedroom, or small home office. Purifiers work best in a contiguous space; if you want to clean the air in both the living room and a bedroom, for example, it’s best to get a purifier for each room or to move a single purifier around with you.
(We use smoke to test them, in fact, so our picks directly reflect their ability to remove it.) But in a wildfire event, purifiers are part of a larger smoke-mitigation strategy. It’s helpful to think of them as a central piece of a comprehensive plan, which we detail in a separate guide to the best wildfire preparedness supplies and strategies. Typically, you should replace filters (or clean those that can be vacuumed) every six to 12 months for pleated filters and every three months for activated carbon filters. Portable room air purifiers are designed to filter the air in a single room.