The Austin Air HealthMate is great as a noise machine. Very loud. It’s a HEPA filter and lasts 5 years. Never seen any other that lasts that long, but you pay for it upfront. after-market replacements are $250-300 for another 5 years.

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ungreased0675 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They are truly excellent machines. I’ve used a couple of these over the years, never had an issue.

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kccqzy 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I have that machine. It seems better at filtering chemicals and VOCs but not great at filtering particulates. It gets rid of odors very well but my PM2.5 meter barely budges.

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bradknowles 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I have IQAir HyperHEPA filters, plus whole-house AprilAire HEPA filters on the HVAC equipment in the attic. I’m fine on particulates.

Where I need extra help is with VOCs in certain locations. Like, in or near bathrooms. Or the cat litter boxes. IQAir does sell their GC line for that, and we have a couple of those. But the activated carbon filter media is super expensive. And these things are huge. Like, bigger than a dorm refrigerator.

So, I welcome an alternative that does VOCs well.

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jerlam 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, it's a completely different kind of air purifier than the "tape a HEPA filter to a fan" ones, which is why it costs $1,000 instead of $150.

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TedDoesntTalk 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Which PM2.5 meter do you have? I’ve been looking to buy one and AirThings keeps coming up.

	▲	kccqzy 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I have a Temtop indoor air quality monitor. The exact model seems to have been discontinued but it can measure PM2.5 and formaldehyde.