Austin Air Healthmate Plus - Powerful Air Purifier with HEPA Medical-Grade Filtration System, Eliminate Harmful Airborne Contaminants, (Black)

Extremely loud. There’s no way any can realistically use this in a modern apartment.

I have a nice apartment, and my neighbor has a heavy pot smoking habit. This machine (cranked on high) will remove 90% + of pot smell leeching into my space. In my case, the smoke smell was seeping through the wall that divides our units. My neighbor does not share any ventilation ducts with me and is completely walled off. I tried (2) other Levoit air purifiers (300 and 400) before landing on this one. They were a joke and did not remove the smell. This unit, the Austin Healthmate Plus with 15lbs of activated carbon, actually works. I stuck it in the corner where the smell seeps in, and leave it on low or medium all the time. The unit is a bit loud on high, and the fan seems to "flutter" a bit on low/medium. If you are buying this, you care more about clean air than you do a very slight flutter in the acoustics. You are paying for the commercial quality air filter. This unit is powerful enough to clean all the air in my 1200 square foot space on medium. There is a noticeably neutral smell throughout the apartment if I leave it on high. When my neighbor is actively smoking and the machine is on medium, I can smell something slight. I then turn the machine on high and the smell goes away. If I turn the machine off I can start to smell it again within 5 minutes, so I know it works. I think this is the best tool to regain control of your air if you are struggling with a neighbor's smoke. Before I got this I was coughing/sneezing, and it was psychologically distressing since my bedroom is where the problem originates. Completely worth it in my opinion. Also, apparently the relative humidity in your space should not exceed 60%. Excess moisture will react with the potassium iodide impregnated carbon filter, and that will apparently reduce its life. Only the Healthmate PLUS has potassium iodide in the filter. I don't know how well this machine would handle direct smoke in the same space. Anyway, now I don't have to move, and I can think about something else besides what my neighbor is smoking.

Initial subjective impressions -- does a great job at scrubbing dust and allergens from the air. Squeaky clean. Jury’s still out on odors, can’t tell yet either way. To that end…. Pros: 1) Heavy-duty, all powder-coated steel construction. 2) Simple design. It’s got a simple mechanical switch for speed control, and a ball-bearing motor driving the impeller. 3) The filter canisters are BEEFY, also fully steel construction, with a serious gasket sealing both ends of the barrel. 4) Outside of the generous warranty period, Austin Air will repair any of their units for a $90 flat rate. 5) While the pre-filter is replaceable separately, when any part of the multi-stage filter can becomes saturated — the whole assembly needs replacing, which is fine. Austin does offer a pro-rated discount on filter replacements, so it’s hard to complain about that. 6) No stupid app, WiFi or "smart" features! It's an air-cleaner, and that's it! 7) Made in the USA. Cons: 1) Price. Despite building these with US labor, it’s hard to see how such a simple machine costs quite so much, but I digress. 2) Size. These things are about the size of a tall mini-fridge. 3) Quite loud on any setting other than low. 4) Power hungry. Final thought — it’s my understanding Austin Air has been building effectively this same machine for decades now, with only minor enhancements to the filter media package. Advancements in motor efficiency, and turbine /fan blade tech have come a long way since then. These units could easily be made quieter, and to use less power. It would be nice if Austin were to not only roll upgrades into new-build air purifiers, but offer existing owners an upgrade program as well.

I Live in a clean apartment with a disgusting next door neighbor who smokes cigarettes all the time and it leaks into my apartment through the dividing wall. I got this specifically to battle that, which it does a decent job of doing , the severity of the leak depends how much my neighbor chain smokes and his location in his unit, but 80% of the time on medium setting the Austin system is enough to contain the smell to just the leaking point maybe with 5-10 sq ft. During more intense smoking sessions the unit must be on high to have same effect. During the absolute worst smoking sessions (but rare) even on high the machine may stop 80-90% of the leak but a little odor and smoke will find its way into the rest of the unit. Still overall definitely worth the purchase as 3 over months later the 15 lbs of carbon/zeolite is not saturated and still smells fresh which I certainly cannot say about the TWO winix 5500-2’s I was using before , they contain .8-1 lb of carbon and they worked well but only for a couple days and they would have complete odor breakthrough. Not the Austin! Over 3 months and air still smells like new !

Seems heavy duty and not too loud

Not sure about this item yet. I have a Winix 5510 and I think that they both work about the same. But the cost of the Austin Air is about $500.00 more. I bought it due to smoking in the home.