This is especially true in children and those with asthma and other chronic conditions. The Honeywell HPA5100B can help purify your and works to remove wildfire smoke particles, creating a safer and healthier environment. The AirSoap uses washable, electrically charged plates to capture airborne particulates. Manufacturers typically base their room-size recommendations (and CADR ratings) on tests with the machines set on high. But high is usually too loud when you’re watching TV or sleeping. Purifiers rated for larger spaces can operate on lower, quieter speeds.
It’s extremely energy efficient, drawing just 30 watts on its highest setting (out of four), versus the Coway Mighty’s 68. And it’s a fantastic performer, reducing smoke levels by 99.9% on high and 99.7% on medium-high. Air purifiers can help to remove harmful pollutants and allergens from the air, leading to improved indoor air quality and a healthier living environment. They can help reduce respiratory problems such as allergies, asthma and other respiratory diseases by removing airborne particles that can trigger symptoms.
But it’s not the only excellent air purifier we’ve found, and if you prefer the looks, price, or features of our other recommendations, be assured that they, too, are top-notch performers. The Mila air purifier is a notable entrant in the nascent category of truly smart air purifiers. When we tested it in October 2020, it delivered excellent performance on smoke particles, virtually identical to the performance we got from the Coway Mighty. Compared with the features of other smart air purifiers we’ve looked at, its app, sensors, and programmability are head and shoulders more advanced—almost another species. Although we believe that most people are likely to be happy with a purely analog purifier, if you’re keen on smart appliances, then this model is worth considering.
The Coway Airmega 250 is the larger, more powerful sibling of the Coway Airmega 150. It’s equally attractive, but it’s only slightly more powerful than our top pick, the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty, yet it costs $200 more. One standout test finding was that the honeywell purifier 211i Max is remarkably quiet, particularly for a machine of its capability. On the high setting, it barely broke our 50-decibel limit for comfortable conversation, sleep, or TV watching. On its four lower speeds, it measured a barely noticeable 41 decibels or less.
But both of those models have been retired, so in January 2023 we purchased and tested the company’s current models, the Molekule Air Pro and the Molekule Air Mini+. In 2019, we purchased a Molekule Air—the honeywell purifier company’s iconic original purifier—and found it to be the worst air purifier we’ve ever tested. Its performance on particulate pollution was dismal—and absolutely unacceptable for an $800 device.
The GermGuardian AC5900WCA was a star performer in our 2019 test, but we also found it to be much louder than the top-pick Coway Mighty, measuring 47 decibels versus 39, on its quiet/medium setting. And the quality of the sound was rough and whooshy, versus the Mighty’s steady white honeywell humidifier noise. The Medify MA-40 performs similarly to the top-pick Coway AP-1512HH Mighty, but it’s much louder, at 52 decibels (above our 50-decibel definition of “quiet”) on its medium setting and 42 on low. The Coway measured 39 decibels and 31 decibels (nearly inaudible), respectively.
In the North American definition, “true HEPA” means that a filter removes at least 99.97% of airborne particles of a 0.3-micron diameter in a single pass. For reference, human hair usually measures between 20 and 180 microns across. A particle with a 0.3-micron diameter is the toughest size to remove via physical, HEPA-type filtration. So both larger and—counterintuitively—smaller particles are captured more efficiently. We’ve tested more than 60 air purifiers in the past nine years, and the exceptional Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty is our top pick among them. It’s powerful enough to clean a large room, quiet enough to sleep near, engineered to run for years, and inexpensive enough to set up several throughout a home.