Classic 280i

I purchased this unit based on Consumer Report's review of Blue Air products. They are the highest rated brand and in my opinion, comparable in price to competitors. I read a ton of consumer reviews in addition before purchasing. I've been running this unit in my living room for about a week and it's probably a little too soon to tell if it's helping my allergies. I have both seasonal and winter allergies (dander, dust etc...) when the house is closed up. I live in SW Montana so the house is closed up tighter than a drum all winter. Plus, we use wood heat due to the low cost. I started noticing changes in my breathing every winter a few years ago, I was diagnosed with asthma and I am pregnant now so I can't take the usual medication that helps. I'm stuck with Tylenol and other decongestants that are safe but not as effective as I am used to. I basically have my inhaler and a combination of baby safe stuff that doesn't work well. I am so desperate for relief that I just spent almost $1,000 on air purifiers, special bedding etc... to try to get some relief. I basically struggle with sinus headaches, postnasal drip, a constant cough to clear crap out of my throat and chest plus sneezing...a lot of sneezing. I am already sneezing and coughing less but correlation does not prove causation even though it can make you hopeful! As far as noise, literally 0 reviews were useful in helping me judge the actual noise level to expect. While even Consumer Reports dings this unit on high speed for noise, it did the same for almost every other unit as well so apparently it's a "thing" you have to live with. The most helpful thing for me would have been if someone would have used other sounds to compare for each speed so that's what I'm going to do. Low: indiscernible, especially during waking hours and normal household sounds. It's basically silent for all intents and purposes, I can't think of something to even compare it to it's so quiet. I'll probably start running it on low after running it steady 24hrs a day on medium for a week or so. We're doing construction in the house so we have extra dust in the air. Medium: Seriously, my microwave is louder than this unit. Think of an oscillating fan on low. You can hear it but it's not distracting by any means. Honestly, it fades away when I'm working. I'm finishing up my end of semester papers in the living room and the unit is in the dining room and I find it easy to tune out. High: Yeah, you're going to hear it. To me, it sounds like a big ole box fan. Which, yeah...it basically is. However, I can't really think of a reason to run it on high unless you're like me and you set something on fire in the kitchen. It would probably be useful on high to air something out or get rid of a pungent odor quickly. Otherwise, I can't imagine running it on high. Perhaps if you're in a high fire activity area during the summer in which case I'm sure the relief it provides would be worth it. We have our fair share of fires here and I guess I'll find out then if I need to run it on high. As far as effectiveness, when you walk by the unit and it's on medium, you can feel the air moving around the entire unit. I'll take this as a sign that it's working, taking air in and expelling clean air in the process. This unit is ridiculously easy to set up. The filters are already in place you just have to plug it in. If you don't feel like using the app right away, you can run the unit with the hidden controls. I easily set my unit up on my phone with no issue and it appears to be working fine. It is large, be prepared to make room for it. The casters are super easy to roll and the unit isn't overly heavy as much as it is awkward. Once our renovations are finished I'm sure I'll find a nice hiding spot for it. You can't put anything on the top of it though because the top is part of the ventilation system. Like I said, I'm still waiting to see if my breathing improves but so far I'm encouraged. We live in a home built in the early eighties, we use wood heat all winter, the air is notoriously dry here in the winter and we own two dogs that are outside/inside dogs. One is a hypoallergenic poodle and the other is a slightly neurotic, shedding monster aka mini Aussie. The house can have moisture issues in our master bedroom and bath in the winter when it's closed up which we try to manage the best we can. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there is mold present at times in the winter. I've never been allergic to animals in my past nor have I been diagnosed with anything besides seasonal allergies and difficulties in the winter. We experienced no odor issues as other reviews have mentioned. Perhaps they have something present in their home that is reacting with the carbon filters to create the odor? It's hard to say but I'm thankful we have no odor issues with our unit. Hopefully this review is helpful!

This is a large, well built, and capable air purifier that works well, is relatively quiet at lower speeds and doesn't require constant intervention. I live in a ~1600 square foot house that is two stories and I run the air purifier on the first floor. This purifier sucks air in one side and blows it out the other which I love compared to previous purifiers I've owned (Blue Air 211+, Medify Air MA-25, etc.) which suck air in from 2 or 4 sides and blow it out the top or another side. Since you only have to worry about two sides having enough clearance it makes it easier to place this air purifier near "stuff" and you can set items on the top if you have to. The item works very well, even on "low" and keeps the air in my house pretty clean according to both the readout of this unit itself as well as another air quality monitor I own. I still keep a smaller unit in my master bedroom (the Medify Air MA-25) but given how much air this unit moves it's really not necessary. I have not had the unit long enough to need to replace the filters yet so I can't comment on how long they last or whether they're expensive for how long they last. I would absolutely recommend this unit to others and buy another one if I needed an air purifier for another location. I have owned several air purifiers including the Blue Air 211+, the Medify Air MA-25 and a few other very small purifiers I've long forgotten the make and model of.

I’ve had a Blueair classic 200 series that I got probably 5+ years ago and have run 24 hours a day. It’s quiet even on the high setting in my opinion. From my past job, I would say it’s almost like airplane noise on high. I now added the Wi-Fi capable 480i that I just got today. It must’ve been a return. I got it “like new” for about $100 off in the original packaging, no damage for a fantastic price! It looks like it was never opened just returned so ecstatic about that! So far I’m playing with the auto mode and not sure because I like it to blow usually at medium speed all the time which you can do with but I am just seeing how the auto works. I am seeing that when I cook. It will look like the air quality is bad because of odors and come on hire for a short time, but then return to low which I feel is not as much as I like for a larger room. But it’s probably a matter of me adjusting to it. I opened my trash that I noticed a smelly odor about 15 feet away from my Blueair and the air quality went to moderate from excellent and cleaned the air of the odors and then went back to excellent. Impressed so far but I don’t know if I’ll use the Wi-Fi -it’s very easy to turn off , with holding down the Wi-Fi button and the filter button for about three seconds simultaneously. You can turn it right back on again by pressing the Wi-Fi button. What I really dislike about the Wi-Fi is it tells you you must put in your precise location in order to use all of the functions in the app and if you look at that I do not want my address and name in there and I can see everyone in my city listed that has one of these. so it looks like I probably will not be using all of the Wi-Fi functions. You can connect to Wi-Fi but you can’t use the app without your location??! Sorry I don’t need to be tracked that much! It is almost the same size as my other one but for larger rooms and the filters do look different and are a bit more expensive. But this one also has the carbon which is more expensive for the 200 series than the basic. I noticed some one said in a review that they wish the duo filters were separate, but you can vacuum them out and keep them going a little longer if you want. You can tell by the color when it’s time to exchange-it’s not quite as white and can go towards a gray ,My 200 has been flawless and I’m hoping this newer version will also. This one’s in the living room the other is in the bedroom. I don’t wake up congested when I have it in my room where I used to wake up several times a night and not be able to breathe out of at least one side. I do have a lot of allergies and there’s a lot of pollen in the air where I live now and it keeps my air “excellent“. Better for everyone including the pets! Really glad I finally bit the bullet and got a second one now that I live in a larger place , PS these are heavy metal but that’s a good thing and medical quality.

Wifi connect it flawless. Cell phone app is easy. Filters last 6 months and unit keeps track of filter life. Unit detects and reports air quality to your phone! This is much more than a fan and filters. On full speed will change the room air fast. But Loud because it has to push air everywhere. The noise is a perfect white noise so we use it on full speed for sleeping at night. This has automatic mode and changes speed automatically if you wish.

Air purifier is well built. Its beautiful. I think it does a great job cleaning the air but that's where it ends. Things to improve upon: 1. Add a better quality fan. On high speed, the unit should sound like a white noise not a cheap fan that's constantly buzzing/humming. I'm not complaining about the unit being loud -- you need to move air to clean it. However, it should be pleasant to listen to. It shouldn't sound like a cheap bathroom ceiling fan at high speed. I was really disappointed specially since normally Swedish and/or German engineering is top quality. 2. Advertise 6 month filter replacement based on medium speed. If you run the unit on high speed, your filters will need to be replaced every 3 months due to how the timer setting works. You need to add a pre-filter to the unit. It's impossible to take the unit apart and clean it unless I use my compressed air unit to clean the inside of the unit. The electrostatic ionizer brush fibers inside the unit need to be cleaned on a routine basis to maintain optimal performance especially since there is no pre-filter. 3. Answer your customer emails! I wrote an email on 25 Jan 2020 and it went ignored. I had concerns the warranty that you register for in the mobile remote application didn't register properly as my device did not show as registered on your web site. 4. Blueair Aware device to monitor air quality is out of stock and unavailable; difficult to find. 5. My questions as to the different replacement filters went unanswered. I normally like to be ready when it comes time to replace filters. 6. The fact their website wasn't showing my purchased device on my online profile. I was concerned the warranty of the unit would otherwise not have been honored. I wasn't going to let the return policy run out and returned the device due to this issue. 7. The gaps between the filters are such that unfiltered air can be pushed through. I had expected a much tighter gap. 8. The unit, while claims "European quality", is made in china. 9. Power cord is no longer a right angle IEC cord. It's a hard wired cord that makes a hard forced turn underneath the unit. They definitely went cheap on reducing costs on the 605 unit. 10. You get the box of the Blueair Classic 605 and then you see the advertised 680. What did I just waste my money on? I thought I bought the best air purifier on the market. Now you're expecting me to spend an extra $200 for additional monitoring? 11. I don't really like IoT devices (internet connected). Should the vendor stop supporting the device, you'll loose remote control capabilities of the device. While you can control the fan speed, the one item you cannot control without using the internet is the blue led light on the front of the unit. You must use the application on your mobile device to adjust the brightness or disable that led altogether. Poor choice. I should be able to operate 100% of the features of the unit without having to use the internet. 12. Over priced filter replacements from Blueair. If you purchase 3rd party filters, you void your warranty. My email also went to go state the following which went unanswered: 1. I'm disappointed that the device which will make the 605 function in auto is out of stock. Do you have any idea when the Blueair Aware device will be available again? Did I make a mistake of buying a 605 when I should have bought the Pro L? 2. You advertise all over your web site and in your manual the filters last 6 months. The unit has a sticker inside that the filters last 6 months. Why did the Blueair Friend app start counting down from 180 days for filter replacement (see screenshot from iOS app)? Can you tell me why I would choose the particle over the smokestop filter for a replacement? I can't discern the difference between the two filter replacements. I would like to sign up for the filter replacement program but want to make an informed decision before I do so. 3. Can you validate my extended warranty is valid? I have registered it in the app but I do not see it under "My Units" when I log into your website. The unit was purchased on Amazon.com through your Blueair Inc. store. I've attached a screenshot from the mobile app and from your website. ============ That email went unanswered. I sent a follow up email: Dear Sirs: Thank you for helping me make an informed decision regarding my purchase and that I had made a mistake purchasing from your company. You had over 2.5 weeks to return my email or call my telephone number that I included. Because you have not returned my email nor can I get a hold of any one on your phone system, I have returned the unit. I am highly disappointed. I had better expectations for your company. ============ I normally don't write long or negative reviews but I really did have better expectations for this unit and their customer service. Your mileage may vary.

I hate math and so do you, but with a little calculation and a couple hours of research, you can do a great job picking an air filter and weeding out marketing nonsense. First, the government CADR rating always has three levels that represent different *size* particles. They name them Dust, Pollen, and Smoke to represent big, medium, and tiny particles (of any kind!). The smallest, "Smoke", represent those tiny HEPA particles such as many allergens. Therefore, if you are shopping for a HEPA filter, you should only focus on the Smoke CADR results. The second thing to know is that the government believes people with bad allergies need air exchanged in the room 4-5x per hour, and non-allergy sufferers 2x per hour, to make it worth it. Anything lower and the particles may fall to the ground on their own, or you may just not feel a difference. (Once they fall, I recommend a vacuum with a HEPA filter such as Miele). Their calculation includes an open door to another room, and results get much better with a closed door, but you still need fresh air so you don’t get overwhelmed with carbon dioxide imbalance so keep your door open a little. Finally, CADR is calculated on max fan speed. NOBODY uses their air filter on max, lets face it!! In fact, my goal is to run my air filter on low because I know I can totally live with it no problem. So now begin your shopping. Find the brands you trust or heard good word of mouth, and visit their websites and download their manuals. There you will usually find the CADR listed and the CFM output at different fan speeds. If only one CFM is listed it is for max speed, so you can look at the power use of the fan and calculate the CFM of different speeds proportionately. For example if the low power setting is 1/3 of the max, you are probably getting 1/3 of the advertised CFM on the low fan speed. Take the CFM output from Smoke listed in the manual and divide it into the cubic feet of your room. The blue air Classic 205 says low fan speed outputs 75 CFM for smoke sized particles. (Again, smoke size are the HEPA particles that matter). My bedroom is 12 x 12 x 8’, so I divide 75 CFM (low output) into (12*12*8) 1152, and I get about 15. This means it takes 15 minutes to clean the air. Per hour, I will therefore get 4 air exchanges. Perfect! I never have to go higher than low fan speed. Using this method, I discovered the Rabbit Air is totally useless on almost all settings. Of course people will say the low setting is quiet - its not getting the job done whatsoever. It needed a room so small nobody would live in. So make sure to use this formula and guesstimate or calculate the room you will use it in and the speed you will use. Don’t let them trick you! You may need to buy a larger air filter if you want the lower speeds to be practical. Some brands are pure marketing, and are useless on low speeds. Finally, the filter replacement usually follows the same rule of max fan speed and 24/7 use. Blue Air says I need to replace it in 6 months. Since I run mine 12 hours per day (overnight) on low, I can calculate the proportion. 75 CFM is 35% of the highest setting 220 CFM, so running it 24/7 would mean I don’t change the filter for about 17 months. Since I will run it half the day, I don’t change it for 35 months! Sounds right; if you google for when to change HEPA filters it says they “typically” need to be changed every 3-5 years. Boom. Saved myself a fortune. So far, the Blue Air is working great and has a smooth quiet sound. I will give it 5 stars if nothing goes wrong over time. Hopefully this helps you. Do your own due diligence and good luck -- Update : After a year it is working the same as when I bought it so I moved to 5 stars. The app sometimes causes some trouble. I do not like companies that make you connect to the internet because they scrape your data. I believe the EULA says they upload your data to their servers which likely means it gets in giant correlative databases and sell it to unseen third parties, which is the basic business plan of Silicon Valley. For example, maybe people who live in Los Angeles who have their air filter turn on at bedtime who also recently bought fancy cheese are more likely to own a Tesla. This is the how Google and Facebook work and anyone who scrapes your data. I cannot be sure Blue Air does its well known companies are dying to get into your house (Google purchased Nest for this reason). I also wish I bought the smokestop filter because many times toxic smells came up such as weed killer accidentally used outside etc.

Improved Humidifier. I've had similar humidifiers from CVS and Rite Aid over the years $39 if I recall right. They were simple to use, no filter. The only down side of those was they didn't hold enough water or move the mist far enough in a small bedroom. BUT THIS is perfect in our large bedroom. It is quiet and holds enough water for a few days of night time use. We don't wake up all dried out and stuffed up anymore. It is one of the least expensive ones and it works great!

Really struggled with what to buy. Really wasn't sure we were going to keep it after we got it. Would not own one without the automatic feature! So glad we spent the extra money for that feature. We know when we have an issue with the air in our home - the fan ramps up. When it is idling it is virtually silent (which is by far the majority of the time). But if the air gets dirty (frying food!) it will ramp up and is pretty loud (rushing air loud.. not machinery loud - you can still talk just fine). It only takes a few minutes to clean the air and then it slows right back down. The thing we have noticed that tells us we are getting our money's worth is the lack of dust in our home. You could dust the furniture and 2 days later it needed it again. Now you can go weeks between dusting. So yeah, very happy with this unit! The only thing I would change is the monitoring app. It is a bit clunky. I would really prefer you could monitor it with a computer. But once I got it figured out it is fine.. just could be better.