As a guy who suffers from allergies and occassional athsma I've tried a variety of air purifiers over the years. The best, the hepa filters can be a real pain to clean, and if you don't keep up the maintenance its as good as not having one at all. Then there were filters that had the negative side-effect of producing ozone in the very air they were supposed to be cleaning.
Enter the BlueAir Classic 205, a smart-home enabled air purifier that really works and cleans up easily.
Prior to using the BlueAir Classic 205 on many nights I would enter my bedroom feel my allergies kick in. It is the only room that has wall-to-wall carpeting, and that, combined with other environmental factors seemed to trigger sneezing and itching almost as soon as I stepped through the door.
Unlike some ungainly and ugly hepa filters, the BlueAir Classic fits nicely, compactly, and neutrally in most rooms. There are three fan speeds, from a nearly silent slow to a faster, but louder high. Even at high speed I had no trouble sleeping in the room, however, I generally turn down the fan at night because the air circulation can be a bit distracting and chilling.
Setting up the device is simple. The system uses a replaceable, disposable filter. This really takes the hassle out of operation. The purifier knows when you need to replace it, and it will let you know. It just slides in and out. There are two types of filters, one that handles particulates in the air and another, with a charcoll that also filters gas and smells. I tested the former which costs about $50 to replace.
I downloaded the app, set up an account, and connected it to my network. Then from the app I could control the purifier.
The BlueAir Classic 205 is designed for rooms up to 250 square feet. It can move the air in such a room through the filter 5 times in an hour. That is more than many competitive units. Of course, BlueAir makes larger units for bigger rooms, but in my bedroom the 205 was just perfect.
BlueAir takes the concept of the connected home quite seriously. Not only can you control the air purifier while in your home, you can even adjust it remotely over the internet. That functionality comes built-in. You can even control it via an Apple Watch!
They also offer an accessory ($200) called the BlueAir Aware that monitors air quality in the room. The device monitors temperature, various particulates in the air, as well as humidity, CO2 and other pollutants. It reports to the same app that you use to control the purifier, so you have total control.
I've found my bedroom welcoming since the unit was running. I just don't have those awful reactions I used to get from airborn dust. The manufacturer claims that it removes 99.97% of all airborne particles down to 0.1 micron and smaller, including ultra-fine particles (PM2.5), pollen, dust, pet dander, mold, bacteria and viruses. They also claim that the machine produces no measurable ozone. I haven't independently tested those claims, but the unit has been entirely effective in my case.
The BlueAir Classic 205 is one of the best gadgets I've tested all year. It is easy to configure, easy to maintain, and performs excellently. It has significantly upgraded my quality of life, radically reducing the number of nights spent with a runny nose, cough, and itching. It's not cheap, but try to put value on your health. For me, and many of my allergic friends, this is a no-brainer, must-have product.
