Health Personal Care

Early opinion of Honeywell HHT-081 air purifier (2008-12-28)
Let me begin by saying that I purchased this air purifier for my mom who, (like myself) suffers from horrible allergies. Dust, moisture, etc - it virtually all sends her into a sneezing fit. Congestion, stuffy nose, and other annoyances frequent her days.

So anything to give some relief is a God-sent. However, I found myself extremely skeptical as to the actual effectiveness of these "air filtration devices". That is - until I spoke to my uncle who owns this same model. He said that it really helped to remove the dusty, musty smell from his living room.

This was a gift for her for Christmas 2008, but I had considered one of these last year.

I helped her set it up today, and here are the (admittedly) early findings.

Pros;
1) VERY easy to set up out of the box. Just take it out of the box, remove plastic bag from machine, and open the plastic bags containing the filter cartridges, and place them back into the machine. Then just plug it in and turn it on. It's really that simple.
2) 2) Price - If you have done your shopping/research on these machines, you know that you can pay hundreds, and even thousands for an air purifier. For what I paid on Amazon - I feel like I got a deal, plus free shipping.
3) Filters for this machine are REUSABLE. This means that the device SHOULD be less expensive to use over time.
4) Air flow - An air purifier is obviously a fan (or series of small fans) which pull air through a filtration system that removes smells, dust, and hopefully allergens as advertised. So it is obviously a plus for the device to circulate a large volume of the air in a given area. This one does move A LOT of air.
5) Relatively quiet when in use. (though a bit loud on High)
6) Size - Many of the medium-room air purifiers that I looked at had a large foot print. But this one does not take up a lot of floor space, (about a square foot).

Cons;
1) Slightly noisy (especially on high)
2) Cool air - As I stated earlier, this device obviously has a fan to move the air through the filters. The air that it blows back into the room feels quite a bit cooler than the room temperature. This is primarily a cool weather annoyance.

Overall - I would have to recommend this device quite highly based on early impressions. The price is good for the volume of air which it seems to move through the filters.

One note of caution before buying; If you want an air purifier for your bedroom - I would suggest that this unit may be a bit noisy unless you like ambient (fan type) noises while sleeping. I would suggest this model for living rooms, dining rooms, and other day-use areas.

Not Everything I Was Expecting (2008-11-30)
I have noticed a slight difference in the morning when I wake up I don't cough as much as I used to. However, the purifier has some major downsides. The biggest downside is the fact that it dries out the air. I can tolerate it but everyone else who comes into my living space has a difficult time. It is also very loud almost as loud as an air conditioner. So keep that in mind, I kind of wish I spent more money and went with the more trustworthy brand.

Good filter for the price (2008-06-02)
One thing I learned about filters is that you definitely get what you pay for. When you drop big coin on a pricey, hospital quality filter you can expect perfection in performance and air quality. When you spend $75-$125 like I did on this air filter then you get what you pay for. This medium room purifier with "HEPA Type" filters is said to be about 95% effective at removing air born allergens. The two HEPA type filters are permanent along with the secondary outer carbon filter for bigger air particles. The ionizer is also fairly effective at changing the overall smell of the room. If you choose not to have the ion smell you can simply ignore the button that turns that feature on. I've owned this filter for about 3 months now and it will occasionally buzz a little at high speeds. However, with mine it is easily fixed by tapping the top or by adjusting the tightness of the back plate. Low and medium speeds are pretty quite though. It has great dimensions as well making it possible to easily fit in to any small room without making the place look cluttered.

For the money I feel like I got everything I paid for. I gave 4 stars because of the occasional soft buzzing noise and the fact that the purifier is designed in such a way that it does not push as much air through as it could. Aside from those minor complaints, this filter is the way to go if you're looking for a cheap and effective solution to cleaner air.

*UPDATE - After about 6 months of using this thing all night almost nightly, it still works very well. I've only had to clean off the outer dust filter once or twice. I have noticed one thing that I found particularly annoying and that is that this filter emits some sort of magnetic field when turned on. I know it sounds like a stupid complaint, but when you have a smaller room and the only place you can put this is next to your television you'll see why that's bad thing. Lots of screen discoloration from the magnetic field, I'm just happy it wasn't there long enough to do permanent damage. However I'm not sure an LCD or plasma tv would be affected by this.

Honeywell HHT-081 Tower HEPA filter (2008-04-09)
Quiet as advertised. I use this next to my audio equipment to keep dust from DVD players and recorders. Small footprint perfect for this if turned sideways.

Not a HEPA filter (2007-07-16)
The description says HEPA filter, but the box said HEPA-type filter. I am not sure what this will mean for the life of the filter, as I have vaccumed it several times and it still looks dirty. However there seems to be less dust in the room and my son says he has less allergy issues at night, so - so far so good.

I origninally rated this 4 stars, but would downgrade to 2 stars.
I have owned this for almost a year now, the fan now makes an annoying rattling sound that lessens somewhat on the high setting. The 'clean filter' light has come on and stayed on even though I vacuum it weekly. For what I paid I am disappointed in the performance.