From Himalayan Salt Rocks that attract dust to $10,000 whole house filtration systems, there are hundreds of products on the market that claim to have air purifying capabilities. But having a thousand options is not always what you want. How are you supposed to begin to narrow down the list?
We put this guide together to help you narrow down the choices and make finding the right air purifier a whole lot easier.
Step 1: Set your budget
Step 2: Know the tradeoffs: What’s the difference between $50 & $500 air purifier?
Step 3: Know your concerns
Step 4: Only shop the best in your category
Step 1: Set Your Budget
This one seems obvious. The first step to buying anything is to know what you are able to spend! While some people will spare no expense to resolve their concerns, most people simply need the best solution available within a certain price range. Fortunately, no matter what your budget is, there is an air purifier to help you.
Step 2: Understand The Tradeoffs
It helps to know what you can expect from an air purifier in your price range.
Most people would scratch their head if we asked them “What’s the difference between a $50 air purifier and a $500 air purifier?”
However, almost everyone can quickly rattle off a dozen ideas when asked “What’s difference between a $5,000 car and a $50,000 car?”
The more expensive car is going to:
- Be more powerful
- Have more capacity
- Be more versatile
- Come with more features
- Go faster
- Look cooler
- Cost more
The more you pay, the more you get.
So, Compared to $500 air purifier, a lower priced air purifier will
- Cover less area
- Be a little louder
- Have fewer features
- Address fewer concerns
- Not last as long
- Etc.
Will a cheaper air purifier still work?
Absolutely, if you buy it for the right concern.
There are a lot of good air purifiers under $200. You just have to know what to look for, and set your expectations appropriately.
Just because you can’t afford a Ferrari, doesn’t mean you want to walk to work.
Although a cheaper air purifier will not have as many features and functions, think of it like you do a car. Just because you can’t afford a $800 commercial grade air purifier, doesn’t mean you won’t get any benefit from the clean air that a $150 one can provide.
Step 3: Know Your Concerns
About 80% of concerns can be addressed by a low cost air purifier.
You can find a number of air purifiers for under $200 that will provide some relief from allergies and dust. But to effectively remove odors and address asthma irritants, you’ll have to jump up to the $400 range. To remove chemicals or germs, you’ll probably be over the $600 range. This is because these units include additional technologies that just can’t be produced effectively for under $200. These units also have more powerful motors, higher quality filters, and are going to do a much better job at the basic stuff (allergies & dust) than the lower cost units.
Concerns Easily Addressed under $200
Addressed by units $200 to $400
Concerns Best Resolved by $600+ Air Purifiers
Finally, if you want units with sensors, automatic operation, and intelligent filter life monitoring, many of those features don’t show up in units until they reach about $500.
Cheap air purifiers will simply be made more cheaply. Parts fail, pieces break, and warranties are shorter, so you may end up replacing the entire unit sooner than you would a premium model.
The bottom line: Low cost air purifiers can effectively remove airborne particles, which cause a majority of allergy and dust concerns.
Step 4: Only Shop The Best
Avoid obscure or no-name products
These days it is exceedingly easy to order cheap products from China and put them for sale on the internet. The last thing you want to do is find a no-name upstart brand that claims to solve all your problems and save you money. Odds are, the seller of these products won’t be around in a year when you need replacement filters, or won’t be very helpful if you have to get your unit serviced.
Air Purifiers America only carries highly rated manufacturers with years of established air purifier market presence.
So, stick to highly rated units/brands that have been in the market for several years.
Avoid review sites that don’t actually buy the products they review
In addition to steering clear of unfamiliar brands and companies that only sell 1 product, watch out for websites that throw together a top 10 list and claim to be experts in everything. There are a million sites on the web all trying to make a buck selling air purifiers and providing air purifier recommendations. Anyone with a little time on their hands can skim the web for product information and customer reviews and piece together their own reviews page. However, most people are lazy, and most websites will not actually spend the time to buy the air purifiers they are reviewing!
What does this mean? This means that they are reviewing the air purifiers based only on information already found online! How are you going to tell which unit is noisier when every manufacturer describes their product as quiet? How will you tell how flimsy the plastic is on the unit from the retouched product image? Or how hard to change the filter is if you don’t actually put your hands on the unit?
This is why you should only rely on a reviews site that purchases & tests the products they review, as well as provides real customer reviews for you to validate the expert review.
Air Purifiers America has been selling air purifiers online for over 10 years.
Shop the best air purifiers as determined by the real experts.
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