Which of these air purifiers are good for me?

Question

I'm in the market for an air purifier and I'm not sure which kind I should get. I've taken a look at some, and I'm not sure which would fit my needs. I first took a look at some HEPA filters, since I know they filter 99.99% of air particulates. But I also knew that they're usually loud, you have to change the $100 filter every other month and they take up a lot of energy. I saw a Kenmore Envirosense filter and though it looked nice, but still; the hassle with expensive filters and energy. Before I go on, I should say the men in my family (My dad, brother and me) all have asthma, so we need something that would help with that. We also took a look at some models over at Brookstone. We found a Pure-Ion Advanced Air Purifier. The thing was ugly, but it worked, saying you would have 80% cleaner air in about 8 minutes. This isn't a HEPA filter, but it had a fan. They say this one helps with asthma, but I'm not sure. Another one from Brookstone was the Blueair HEPA filter, one that was more

impressive than the Pure-Ion. This one came in a tabletop form, but still, the filters and the whopping price tag of $400.

Anyways, after that, we went to the Oreck store because we heard about some kinda amazing deal on TV, letting us try an Oreck Air purifier, vacuum, and a refrigerator purifier. one of Oreck's points was "You can't clean the air if you can't move it", which made perfect sense to me, but there was one trick up my sleeve that made me think otherwise. Anyways, the Oreck one was impressive, requireing no filters and taking up much less noise and space and eating less eletricity than HEPA filters. However, when compared other filters like this one, it ranked the lowest, but I've never tried it, so I really wouldn't know. After that, came our last stop which would be the trick up my sleeve. We went into The Sharper Image immediately seeing their crown acheivement, the Ionic Breeze Quadra, the purifier I had heard about long before the other filters, so I had somewhat of a bias towards it. Like many other purifiers, these use ions and electrons and stuff like that to clean the air

And it game in multiple models, the Tabletop version, the MIDI, the Quadra, the GP, and the Hybrid GP, which is some huge powerful air purifier. The GP caught my eye because It offered deep cleaning without an over-the-top price tag. These however, don't use fans. So I had no clue how it was cleaning all the air. An explanation from you guys would be helpful. If you guys have owned or used these fiulters, please tell me and how you liked them. Especially if it help with your asthma.
For all the air purifiers mentioned here online, with details:

Pure-Ion by Brookstone: http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=506840&search_type=search&search_words=air%20purifier&prodtemp=t2&cm_re=Result*R1C1*T

BluAir, sold at Brookstone: http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=530196&search_type=search&search_words=air purifier&prodtemp=t1&cm_re=Result*R2C1*T

Oreck Air purifiers: http://www.oreck.com/air-purifiers/xl_air_purifiers_choice.cfm

BlueAir fixed link: http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=530196&search_type=search&search_words=air purifier&prodtemp=t1&cm_re=Result*R2C1*T

The Sharper Image Ionic Breeze models:

TableTop
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview/sku__SI719GRY

MIDI:
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview/sku__SI853GRY

Quadra: http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview/sku__SI867GRY


GP: http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview/sku__SI871GRY

HEPA Model: http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?pid=03285500000&vertical=Sears&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Since we only took a look at 2 HEPA models, if you know of one or use one that you like, could you tell me about it?

Answer 1

I know air purifiers are sold at various stores on-line, and you have mentioned that price is a serious issue. I know my grandmother uses the air purifiers from sharper image and has never complained about them. You can get some great coupons from gaiam, sharper image and brookstone at http://www.24houredeals.com/brookstone-coupons-356-mer.html to help offset the costs.

Brookstone $20 off $200: http://www.24houredeals.com/brookstone-coupons-356-mer.html

Sharper Image $15 off $50: http://www.24houredeals.com/sharper-image-coupons-34-mer.html

Gaiam: http://www.24houredeals.com/gaiam-coupons-247-mer.html

Good Luck

Answer 2

If you're looking to move the air, especially if you have a large, open house, (like myself) you're going to want something like the Nanobreeze
http://www.nanobreeze.com/index.html It's cheaper($130), there are NO FILTERS to replace or clean and I think it's kind of cool looking!

GAIAM has a lot of air purifiers http://www.gaiam.com/retail/3/FiltersPurifiersAir
but the PlasmaWave sounded wicked!
http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/01-0514_MSTR but of course, a higher quality means a higher price ($550!)


There's also a simple explanation of how those fanless air purifiers work.
Consider the two poles of a magnet, North and South. Two like poles repel and two opposite poles attract. The air we breath and the purifier work together the same way. The air has a positive charge and the ionizer has a negative charge. Likewise, since opposites attract, air will be drawn towards the purifier to be cleaned. Once it is done with those air molecules, they will be negatively charged and get hurled away from the purifier. That's why these purifiers manage to clean the air in a whole room and not just keep sterilizing the air around them.

Answer 3

We have the ionic breeze Quadra....it's amazing the amount of gunk it collects.