Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
by Honeywell
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Customer Review: Loved Honeywell in the past, but very disappointed with this one
Summary: 1 Stars
I've owned various Honeywell Hepa Enviracaire air purifiers over the years. I have cats, seasonal allergies, and chemical sensitivities, and I need the air cleaner to help me breathe at night (without one, I toss and turn and wake up frequently due to itchy, runny, stuffy nose and congestion). Honeywell Hepa units have always made a huge difference in how well I sleep, breathe, and feel.
When my most recent older Honeywell's began to fail last year, I bought a 50250. I like that the new ones have "permanent" filters and now use universal prefilters. I like that they have the little light to tell you when it's time to replace the filters. I even like the "white noise" they generate--for me, the more the better, to drown out barking dogs, the roar of traffic, and other neighborhood ruckus that disturbs me, being a very light sleeper. I can't sleep without the noise of an air cleaner and would never get a silent one.
What I don't like about this new Honeywell is that the motor seemed rather weak from the beginning. If I turned it on to low, it could take a long time before it began blowing, so I'd start it on high and wait a couple of minutes, then turn it down (it's a hassle having to wait, and having to worry that the fan seemed to be weak from the beginning). --Sure enough, the thing got weaker and weaker, and began emitting noxious (motor grease?) odors after less than 3 months of use! Maybe I got a faulty one, but I've read reviews on other sites about how these units have died in about 2 years (I WISH I'd gotten 2 years instead of 3 months!). I have had to replace my past Honeywell's about every 2 years, so that is a reasonable "life span" in my mind.
The other thing I don't like about this unit, and the other models like this, is the brightness of the lights: I prefer a really dark room to sleep, with no lights at all. On this unit, the indented shape around the on/off switch makes it impossible to just put some electric tape or something over it to block the light. And even if you can figure out how to put something over the light, the entire plastic top panel glows to some extent. I went to great lengths to get inside the top of this unit to remove that light (leaving the filter-replacement notification light working). Unfortunately, after all that effort and resolving the light issue, the motor began to stink, and I threw it out in less than 3 months.
Customer Review: I recommend this air cleaner
Summary: 4 Stars
I have suffered from allergies all of my life, but especially the last few years, they have gotten progressively worse. Last year, I lived in an apartment over two chain smokers and was constantly congested. I started researching air purifiers because my medications weren't helping enough on their own. I ended up deciding on this unit for my living room/dining area, a Hamilton Beach 04163 for my bedroom, and another Hamilton Beach 04163 to go on the other side of my living room as well since the living room/dining area/kitchen was all together and not separated by doors and was too large an area for only one cleaner to handle efficiently. I have been very satisfied with this unit. I got it in December 2004 and it has not given me any problems. I have had to change the pre-filters a few times (you usually have to change them every three months or so) but have not yet had to change the HEPA filter. I like the way this system has what it calls Intellicheck which lets you know when it is time for the filters to be changed, as well as the way that it has the 360 degree technology. The unit looks kind of like a barrel so that the clean air flows out of the top all around it. I don't notice a cleaner air smell like I have heard people talk about, but I can definitely tell a difference in my allergy symptoms when I am running my air cleaners or not. And when I put my Hamilton Beach air cleaner in the living room which has an auto setting that detects the air quality, it had the air rated as being good from the beginning, which I believe is due to the Honeywell 50250 which had been running 24/7 a few days prior to that since the Hamilton Beach air cleaner in my room had the air quality as poor when I turned it on the auto setting. I still have to take my allergy medications that I was prescribed, but there is a definite difference between when I just take the medication and when I take the medication and use the air cleaners.
I hope this review helps. I also like the fact that it has a carrying handle at the top, and I don't find it very noisy. It has a white noise to it, but I have not experienced any problems not hearing the television or not being able to nap in the living room while it is on.
The replacement pre-filters are easy to find for this unit. The HEPA filter seems a little harder to find in retail stores, but it does not have to be replaced as often so it is not too bad.
Customer Review: loud, but good
Summary: 5 Stars
I live an apartment complex where the odour of cigarette smoke constantly seeps into my suite. Also, I am one of those cat owners that is allergic to her cat. After doing some extensive online research on the units available, I decided to purchase this unit based on the price, type of filter, the size of the room it cleans, and the positive reviews.
I like:
- Lifetime HEPA filter (no buying a replacement HEPA filter, no ozone from an ionizer)
- Charcoal prefilter for odours (it really does work immediately to get rid of cigarette smoke odours)
- Reduces allergens (if my nose is running from my various allergies and i turn this on, i notice a reduction in symptoms within 20 minutes)
- Price. I thought it was rather pricey to begin with, then I found out what the high end purifiers cost, and this unit started looking pretty good. (Note, I paid about $300 CAD. I could have ordered online through an American retailer, but after considering taxes, duty, shipping, and potential return hassles, I decided to buy locally)
Not so thrilled:
- Believe the reviews; this unit is loud, even on the lowest setting. I have to turn up my music and speak more loudly when i have it running on low. When I'm home, I find it difficult to run it all the time because I find it so noisy. Yes, it's white noise, but I find it a relief to my ears when I turn it off. Note that I am fairly sensitive to noise, though.
- It's big. In a small apartment, it overwhelms the room. Especially since, to be most effective, you are supposed to place it 3 feet away from any walls and furniture. It's not much of a centrepiece, aesthetically.
- It makes me cold. It does involve a giant fan, after all, to suck the air through the sides of the unit and then vent it back out through the top. Since it is winter, this means I end up putting on an extra sweater or cranking the heat a bit when I'm in the same room as the purifier. I assume that any purifier that needs to circulate so much air several times an hour would have the same issue, though. Could be considered a pro in the summer.
I've had this unit for 5 months now, and I decided to keep it despite the noise and size, as I would have paid a lot more for a quieter unit that purified the same square footage. I would still recommend it. Just get ready for the noise.
Customer Review: Honeywell 50250 1, Pepé Le Pew 0
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently had a skunk problem. A dog chased it into the crawl space under my house. And so the nightmare began. The entire house smelled and the room over where the skunk let loose was uninhabitable. I opened windows, burned incense, sprayed air freshener, used a ventilation fan from the fire department, and spent as much time as possible outdoors. I pitched a tent in the yard and slept in it for 2 days. After a week the odor became less noxious. At least my eyes didn't water when I entered the most affected room. It was still so bad that I was debating whether to call a contractor, a hazmat team, or take an emergency vacation. I stumbled upon these HEPA air purifiers in my search for a solution. I decided to buy this one because it's one of the most powerful portable models to see if it would improve the situation. I figured if it helped, a professionally installed HEPA system would eliminate the problem. I was resigned to having to spend a lot of money to get this resolved. As soon as it arrived I put it in the worst room and turned it on turbo. The skunk odor was totally gone in 20 minutes! I'll probably have to leave it running for 1-2 months until the scent breaks down naturally. I haven't had it long enough to comment on how well it removes dust, but this has been a lifesaver for me. I'm sure this will prove very useful when I use the wood stove in the winter and when I do painting. It made quick work of one of the most difficult odors to eliminate. That other stuff should be child's play.
Edit 8/31/10 - I'm pleased to announce that the combat air purifier has been withdrawn from the living room and the battle of Le Pew was won decisively. The unit has been redeployed to my upstairs bedroom where it's being used for it's intended purpose. It can be redeployed at a moments notice so insurgent skunks beware! It's really noticeable how well it cleans the air. The shelves are no longer dusty and I don't wake up full of phlegm. When I turn it on I can see the dust particles in the sun ray's disappear. The air smells like after a spring rain. The major drawback is the noise. It sounds like a jet idling on the runway unless used at its lowest setting. Fortunately in a smaller room it can be on low and still do a good job. I don't run it 24/7. I turn it on Turbo mode for 20 minutes before bed then switch it to low.
Customer Review: Excellent Value, but do not underestimate the noise
Summary: 5 Stars
By no means am I an expert at the exact cleaning abilities of this air purifier or the exact terms used when comparing the specifications of it to other models. Thankfully, you can find those in other reviews. I will describe my impressions and what I have found to be true with this air purifier, both negative and positive.
First, some have commented on the smell the unit emits. The manual itself describes that you might notice a smell in the first few hours of usage, but it is nothing horrible. It says it comes from the carbon prefilter and the odor did disappear after the first night of usage. That was not a huge deal to me and it likely occurs in many air purifiers.
Second, I have noticed a difference in the air. Some noticeable smells have been dramatically reduced and it certainly helped with allergies. While we were looking to improve the air condition for allergies, we also wanted an air purifier to help with odor (specifically from a wood burning fireplace). This purifier helped in both areas.
Third, do not underestimated the noise this unit generates. I noticed a few people commenting on it, but I thought that surely it couldn't be that loud. I was wrong. There is no way you could leave it on its highest setting (unless you were not at home). We leave the unit on the lowest speed at all times and admittedly the noise it produces is within reason. We do turn it off at times (while watching a movie, etc). The noise produced on the lowest speed is okay and I did not see a reason for returning it based on sound alone. However, I think they could have lowered the noise by dissipating the air flow a little bit more. It's not really the machine making so much noise as much as it is the air flow being generated.
Speaking of airflow, this unit is very powerful! I was impressed by its power. I use it in a fairly large space and it handles it just fine. I was also impressed by the easy access to filters. Most units do not make it that easy to access the filter for cleaning/replacement, but it is super simple on the 50250. Overall, I really like this unit. It does make some noise, but it also gets the job done and that's what is most important. For the price to quality ratio, this unit would be hard to beat!