Keep allergens, odors, and a wide variety of other airborne contaminants out of your home with the Levoit PlasmaPro™ 400S Smart True HEPA Air Purifier. He has been featured in Fast Company, Reader’s Digest, Business Insider, Realtor.com, She Knows, and other major publications. Derek has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University. Both of these are quite a bit taller than the smaller
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Considering the performance alone, all of the Levoits were really great. The only air purifier that didn’t get the AQI down to 0 is the Levoit LV-H132. Both of these purifiers took PM2.5 and PM10 down to 0.1 and particulate count to under 15 particles. We compare the results by looking at the overall air quality index, and particulate count based on PM2.5 and PM10. If you’re looking for a more budget friendly air purifier that still has good area coverage (up to 161 sf), the Levoit Vista 200 may be the right choice.
And we consider subjective factors like the ease of operation and maintenance, the presence or absence of distracting lights (which can disrupt sleep), the user interface, and the physical size and aesthetics. One attractive feature of the Levoit air purifier is its filtration system. The company states that it uses three stages to ensure it disperses only the cleanest air. The outer layer is a pre-filter to capture some larger particles, including dust or lint, and keep them from clogging the filter.
A model that scores well for dust removal should perform comparably for pollen. The Levoit LV-PUR131S is an excellent option for those looking for a powerful machine, capable of cleaning the air in a medium-sized room. 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. If you simply need to remove particulates from your air in a large space, the Blueair Blue Pure 211+ is easier to live with—it’s quieter, smaller, and better looking, which is why it’s our main pick for large spaces. If you have specific concerns about VOCs, the HM400 is by far the best portable air purifier we’ve ever found. However, it has excellent clean air delivery rate (CADR) certifications from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which in some ways is a more rigorous measurement.
Like our other picks, it uses a true-HEPA filter that efficiently captures particulate pollutants such as pollen and smoke. Most of our picks have token adsorbent filters that amount to a few ounces; in contrast, the HM400 has 15 pounds of adsorbent. In our past testing, it reduced a heavy load of ethanol vapors to 13% of the starting point within 20 minutes; the nearest competitor we tested did only half as well, and the rest were marginally or simply not effective in this regard.
Each of the units has been put through it’s paces during our real-world testing, without bias as we never accept free products, making our reviews 100% independent. Levoit air purifiers are not without problems so be sure to also look at our troubleshooting levoit air purifier guide that will help you
fix most issues that face these purifiers. Our previous top pick among large-space purifiers, the Coway Airmega 400, is a stellar performer, registering 99.9% and 99.7% reduction of particulates on high and medium, respectively, on both new filters and filters that had been run 24/7 for a year.
The display tells you how dirty or clean the air is with the PM 2.5 reading; that’s the amount of particulate matter per 2.5 micrometers in a cubic meter of air. For the less scientifically-minded, there’s also a color-coded indicator, going from blue (under 35 ) to green to yellow to red. The latter indicated bad indoor air quality, when the PM 2.5 reading climbs above 115.
That said, as strong as the Mighty is, its performance is not as singular as it once was, and in recent years many other air purifiers have closely approached our high standards. If you prefer the looks, cost, or other features of our also-great picks, know that they match this Coway model in purifying performance. With a clean air delivery rate (CADR) of 260 cubic feet per minute on high, the Core 400S is slightly more powerful than our top pick, the Coway AP-1512HH, which has a CADR of 240. In practice, that doesn’t make much difference, and indeed the Core 400S delivered numbers almost identical to those of the AP-1512HH in our testing, reducing 0.3-micron smoke particles by 99.1% in 30 minutes on high. But it also draws twice the electricity (16.1 watts versus 8.1 watts) and moves more air per minute on that setting than the AP-1512HH does on its medium speed, so that’s not surprising.
One Levoit air purifier in this comparison, the LV-H132, positions the controls on the top, but along the outer perimeter of the vent. As dirty air enters the system, the filter traps debris, allergens, and bacteria, so that only clean air is recirculated back into the room. All of these filters are HEPA filters, which rely on folds in the filter paper to trap finite particles down to 0.3 microns. This filter is significantly larger than the small 360° filter and is designed to fit the largest Levoit purifiers.
If you’re on a tight budget and have a small space to address, this purifier—with its slight footprint and powerful HEPA filter—is a great option. If you want any additional features, like the ability to monitor your air quality or set timers, however, you’ll need to consider a more expensive model. From a technical standpoint, the only major flaw we found with this purifier is that there’s no definitive way to know if it’s working. We tested the purifier in a bedroom with two people and a shedding Bassett hound, running it overnight for a week. Following our initial run, we turned it off for a few nights to compare the difference in air quality. While we didn’t notice any significant difference during the week it was running, we could certainly tell during the off-days that the unit had indeed been doing its job when it was on.