Overview:

Pros: Good efficiency, good coverage, great warranty
Cons: A little loud on high
Great for: Allergies, Dust
Not Recommended for: Chemicals, Odors, Smoke

Summary:

The Alen T500 is a high performance unit in a compact tower form. It is smaller than other towers is easily portable, even more so if you opt to purchase the available travel bag.

The T500 is rated at >95% efficiency, which is good for a tower air purifier. The tower fan style lets it double as a fan, producing directional airflow. Some tower air purifiers we’ve looked at have the problem of not blowing air out in a straight direction, but instead at an odd angle. The T500 does not have this problem and will blow the air exactly where you point it.

Alen is a premium brand, offering excellent customer support, easy to use units, and a Forever Guarantee. Although the T500 is slightly more expensive than some other tower air purifiers, it is a great way to get the benefits of a premium air purifier without the premium price. We think the T500 is a much better buy than the average tower due to all of the extra benefits and features you get with it.


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Review Outline & Key Findings (Click to Skip Ahead)

1. Unboxing the Unit
Easy to Unbox
Easy to Carry
Easy Filter Change

2. Key Technologies
Portability
Optional Travel Bag
Filter Options

3. Available Filter Options
HEPA-Pure
HEPA-Fresh
HEPA-Silver
HEPA-OdorCell

4. Product Specs
500 SqFt
95% Efficiency
54 Watts

5. Our Testing
Power Consumption
Noise Levels (dB)
Efficiency Tests

6. Cost to Operate
Power: $5.83/mo
Filters: $4.88/mo
Total: $10.71/mo

7. Similar Units
Whispure 400
Alen Paralda

8. The Bad
Noise on High

9. The Good
Good Performance
Portable
Good Warranty

10. Why Buy Here?
Advice
Expertise
Long Term Support

Full Review of Alen T500 Tower Air Purifier, AP51030K

Unboxing the Unit

Easy to unbox
The T500 is similar to most other Alen products in that they are easy to unpack and start using immediately. A quick start guide is found on top with some basic instructions. Any more than that and they probably wouldn’t get read.

The filter needs to be added to the unit before turning it on but this is common with most air purifiers. There is a compartment where the filter is added and a different filter is present depending on which filter upgrade you order.

Compact and easy to carry
The T500 is smaller than the average tower air purifier which makes it easy to move around as needed. The carry handle on the back is deep enough that the unit does not hang just on the tips of your fingers.

3 Speed buttons w/ LED display
The T500 has 3 speeds and are enabled by pushing the speed button. An electronic display shows which speed is running.

The LCD screen is an improvement over most towers but is not as nice as you would find on a $500 unit. The benefit of the LCD screen is that it allows the T500 to have a 12 hour timer.

 

Easy to Change Filter
The T500 is similar to other towers in that the filter comes out of the rear panel. Just pull down on the clip and it comes of easily. The filter change process with the T500 is effortless.

High airflow but not too loud
The sound is quite low on speed one but is still audible. Most other air purifiers make the first speed silent, but they do this by not having any airflow. The T500 feels usable on any speed.

Good construction quality
The T500 is smaller than the average tower air purifier which makes it easy to move around as needed. The carry handle on the back is deep enough that the unit does not hang just on the tips of your fingers.

Key Technologies

Small size/portability
The T500 provides high performance in a compact size which makes it quite versatile.

Available Travel Bag
The T500 is the only room air purifier on the market that is easily portable and offers a travel bag.

Multiple filter options
Alen air purifiers all offer 4 different filter types to meet different air quality needs that you may have.

Available Filter Options


Four filter options for various concerns
The Alen T500 comes with the option of four different filters, each of which has different additives and technologies to help with different concerns.

  • HEPA-Pure
  • HEPA-Silver
  • HEPA-FreshPlus
  • HEPA-OdorCell

Product Specs








Coverage Area 500 sq ft
Efficiency 95%
Noise Levels 56 dB
Power Consumption 53 Watts
Energy Star Rated Yes


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Performance Testing

The following performance specs are what we measured in our performance testing.








Speed Power Consumption (Watts) Noise (dB) Efficiency (0.3 Microns)
3 54 56.5 92.8%
2 47 46 93.3%
1 39 41 93.8%

Cost to Operate

Cost to Operate: Very Good
Monthly Power Cost:$5.83
Monthly Filter Cost: $4.88
Maximum Operating Cost: $10.71/month
Typical Operating Cost: $5.36/month (We divide max operating cost in half since we don’t expect everyone will run it on high 24/7)

In order to determine the cost to operate, we consider power consumption cost and filter replacement costs:

Power Consumption Cost







Unit Power on High: 54 watts
Cost of Electricity from Utility: 15 cents/kWh
Your Daily Power Cost on High: 19 cents per day
Your Monthly Power Cost on High: $5.83/month on high

Filter Replacement Cost








Filter Cost Change Frequency
HEPA-Pure $44 every ~9 months
HEPA-Fresh $49 every ~9 months
HEPA-Silver-Carbon $59 every ~9 months
HEPA-OdorCell $89 every ~9 months

Power Cost:
Running the T500 on high speed, 24 hours a day will result in a power cost of $5.83/month.

Filter Cost:
Changing your HEPA-Pure filter on schedule every 9 months will cost about $58.66 per year, which averages out to $4.88/month.

While we recommend that you run the unit 24/7, it is unlikely that you will need to do so on high, 24/7. Therefore, we cut the Maximum cost of operation in half to give you a more typical cost of operating the unit.

Most Comparable Units















 
Alen T500 Tower
 
Alen Paralda Tower
Price $249 $324
Coverage (2 air changes) 500 500
Coverage (5 air changes) 200 200
Efficiency (0.3 Microns) 92.8% 99%
Noise on High (dB) 56.5 60
Power on High 54 56
Warranty Forever Guarantee Forever Guarantee
Max Cost to Operate $10.71/mo $13.38
Typical Cost to Operate $5.36/mo $6.69
Full Expert Review Not Yet Reviewed
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The Alen T500 is an excellent combination of reasonable price and high performance. It offers all of the key benefits of Alen’s multiple filter options and Forever Guarantee, but is only slightly more costly than the comparable Whispure 400 tower. The T500 is also 1/3 smaller but delivers similar performance and coverage area.

Areas for Improvement (The Bad)

The T500 is a little loud on the highest speed. For those that like fan noise when they sleep, this may not bother them. It is in line with most other Tower air purifiers noise levels.  

Reasons to Buy (The Good)

This is a great high performance unit for smaller rooms. It is easily portable

Why Buy With Air Purifiers America

With a hundred places you could buy this same product, why choose Air Purifiers America?

With Air Purifiers America, you always have someone to call if you run into a problem.

We can give you advice over the phone or online chat. Help you determine where and how often to run your unit. Help you find the right filter replacement, and more!

If you need to send the unit back, we’ve got you covered. If your unit has an issue in a year, we can walk you through the warranty process.

Amazon may ship it to you 1 day faster, but after that, you’re on your own! When you buy from Air Purifiers America, we are always available to help you resolve any issues you may have.  


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