Honeywell 17000 HEPA QuietCare Air Cleaner
by Honeywell
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell 17000 HEPA QuietCare Air Cleaner
Customer Review: Awesome quality, and good white noise.
Summary: 5 Stars
My 10 month-old daughter has had a humidifier in her room during the winter months, and with summer coming up, I was worried about her being able to sleep without some similar white noise. Initially, I thought I'd get some sort of electronic "nature sounds" type of device, but I figured I should spend a little more and get an item that actually *does* something other than make noise.
Keep in mind, my goal wasn't to find something that was whisper quiet. And in my past experiences with other air purifiers, the quiet ones don't seem to accomplish much anyway.
After reading the reviews here, I decided to give the Honeywell 17000 a shot. I'm definitely glad I did! On the Medium setting, it's almost exactly as loud as the Holmes 2-gallon evaporative wick humidifier that we've been using. It also moves a LOT of air, even at the Low setting.
One of the things I really liked about this particular model, is that the HEPA filter is a semi-permanent low-maintenance type, with a wraparound prefilter that gets replaced. Unlike most of the tower and EnviraCare air purifiers, the replacement prefilter is really cheap and easy to find.
Also, compared to other air purifiers in this price range, the Honeywell 17000 is built like a tank.
A minor additional note: This item may be eligible for FSA reimbursement, if you have allergies and participate in an FSA program. Because it's portable, you don't have to do a cap-ex worksheet for reimbursement.
July 2010 UPDATE: Having owned this for two years, and running it almost 24/7 (exceptions being power outages and filter maintenance), this air purifier is still going strong. The motor hasn't made any unusual noises, and air circulation seems to be every bit as good as it was when I first took it out of the box.
Over the course of two years, replacement pre-filters have been cheap, easy to find (though I typically buy them here) and easy to replace. This is the first purifier I've used that hasn't turned in to worthless junk in months, or been too expensive to maintain.
Customer Review: Fast, Great Results
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually I don't write reviews for products I've only had for 45 minutes. I don't know how well this HEPA purifier will hold up, but it's working right now and it's a life-saver (almost literally). I have mild-moderate asthma, and live in Seattle which has been having serious air quality problems over the past week. The result being that my lung capacity while literally not going outside was 90% according to my peak flow meter, and immediately after a short, non-strenuous trip (to buy an air purifier) was 80% - shakey & light-headed.
The air started feeling (and tasting) fresher within a few minutes of turning it on, and after 45 minutes of this purifier on the "high" setting, my lungs are up to 95% of their capacity!
I overpaid for it at $150 at my local Bartell's, but it was totally worth it to get such fast results. It's pretty loud on high, but the low setting is perfect for use as a noise blocker at night in a fairly quiet big city neighborhood. It's never whisper quiet. I love it anyhow!
PS: In the 15 minutes while writing this, lungs improved to 100%, 60 minutes after plugging it in.
UPDATE: 14 December 2009
I've had it for a year and still love it. I run it every night, all night, and it seems to help versus when I stay at my parents' house without it for a few days. It also helped a LOT over the summer when there was a house fire down the street and smoke and all sorts of nasty smells drifted into our house. After I started having problems, I locked myself in my room with it and things got better pretty quickly.
Customer Review: Honeywell HEPA 17000 Air Cleaner
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought three of these units to place in our home. I have one in our bedroom, one in my office and one in the family room. These units do a very good job of cleaning the air. The secondary carbon filter really shows up how much dirt is being taken out of the air (dust really shows up agains a black carbon filter). I clean the carbon filter one a month and replace them (the carbon pre filters) every three months.
The one negative I have for these units is that they are NOT all that quiet due to a less than well balanced fan unit. On low the wabble in the fan is not enough to make too much additional noise, but on high it is really noticable.
The noise can be quite irritable on the low setting and even after 5 months of running one in our bedroom, I still have not gotten to the point where I can ignore it. The sound level (on low) is about the same as a tower type of computer running. On high, the unit sounds like a small hair dryer. If you can sleep with a computer running in your room, this unit will not be a problem if you run it on low. If not, then you might want to consider something else.
Overall, the units do clean the air very well and you have to expect a certain amount of noise due to air movement.
Customer Review: Working well so far.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had the Honeywell 17000 Air Purifier for a little over a month now. I put it in my bedroom and I have noticed a difference. I have allergies and spring seems to be the worst for them. Before I got the airpurifier I would wake up in the morning with my nose all stuffed up and my eyes all goopy. After getting the purifier I noticed a difference in both those things with in a week. I still wake up a little stuffed up, but nowhere near what it was before. My eyes have also improved and they aren't so runny when I wake up in the morning. During the day I run the purifier on Medium and at night while I'm sleeping I run it on low. I'm sure as the trees start to bloom I'll be turning that up to High during the day. On low it sounds like a small fan blowing in the room, it's not very loud at all. Medium is a bit louder and High is like having the sound of an airconditioner going. I like noise when I sleep so none of these bother me at all. I think I've been sleeping better because of the white noise of the airpurifier. If you need it perfectly quiet in your room to sleep, this is not the purifier for you. So far I've been very happy with the performance on the purifier and am thinking of buying another one for another room in my house.Customer Review: Only problem = TOO LOUD
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this air purifier. It's very effective and very reliable. I have allergies, and this has been a life saver. All of my air-borne related allergies have been noticably reduced. If fact, I recently bought a second one. There's no substitute for a true HEPA filter, and this one is a dandy. And, unlike many purifiers, this filter is PERMANENT. The carbon pre-filter needs replacing every few months, but they're inexpensive. This purifier is virtually maintenance free, and it has a 5-yr warranty.
But be warned: when placed on the "high" setting, this purifier is as loud as a freight train during a tornado storm. So the term "QuietCare" is highly misleading. The noise is tolerable on low and medium, but the high setting is anything but "quiet."
When I'm sleeping, I like a background fan noise, so it works out fine for me. But if you're trying to watch TV or listen to your stereo, you'll need to turn this off or move it to another room. I have a second one in my basement that runs 24/7, so the noise level is irrelevant for that purpose. This would garner 5 stars if it weren't for the loudness on the high setting.