Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
by Honeywell
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List Price: Our Price: $164.89 You Save: $46.10 (22%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $125.00 (click here) Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Customer Review: Haven't gotten sick this season
Summary: 5 Stars
I generally don't believe in air filters ever since reading about an Italian study where they saw that children who grew up in homes with purified air were more likely to be asthmatic and have other health issues. It makes sense--if you train your lungs to be accustomed only to the purest of air, then you are too fragile to handle the polluted air outside.
Nonetheless, I purchased this air filter for its HEPA filter when we renovated our master bedroom and I was still freaked out about the possibility of lead paint dust in the air. Even after the renovations were complete, we continued to run the air filter in our bedroom simply because we saw that it was an effective white noise machine for our toddler (who still sleeps with us and who still needs the noise machine to keep her from waking at every sound). The machine makes a nice, low hum on its lowest setting, which is less intrusive than the noise machines we'd been previously using.
After 6 months of use, I suddenly realized that none of us have gotten sick this season yet (knock on wood). My daughter is enrolled in 3 different school programs (don't ask) and each of her many classmates and 4 of her 5 teachers/asst. teachers have been out with flu, H1N1, colds or something or other. My husband had 3 major colds and flu before the end of December last year. And yet, none of us have gotten sick yet this year. I cannot definitively trace it to the air purifier, but I think that it has contributed to it.
Moreover, I've noticed that in the living room, when the morning sun streams through the window, you can see all the dust dancing in the rays. In the master bedroom with the air purifier, directly above the living room, the same rays produce almost zero dust floating in the sunlight.
I've been so pleased with this product and I think using it on the low setting and at night only has been great for our family.
My only complaint is the same as others--the blue light is pretty bright at night and there's no easy way to shut it off without dismantling the item. We usually just take a pair of my daughter's sweat pants to throw over the switch to dim the light.
If you found this review helpful, please let me know!
Customer Review: Effective and Powerful Air Purifier for minimal price. Noise not a problem on low.
Summary: 5 Stars
CON
A lot of reviewers whine about the noise. For me, low isn't loud, because it can barely be heard over the A/C, stove fan, or TV. Perhaps these reviewers received a defective purifier, it got damaged during shipping, or they may have overlooked pre-installing the pre-filter mistaking it as extra. The noise hasn't been too bad on low. On medium or high, it's loud; but when I use those, I'm more concerned about getting the air cleaned than noise. The noise is also a matter of preference. I saw that it helped some people sleep by creating white noise while others had to turn it off.
If you're a grouchy old man who yells at kids for playing kickball in their frontyard, this isn't for you. It might be too loud. Also, if you would complain about having to cash a winning lottery ticket, you'll probably complain about the noise if you bought this. It's not for you, mmmkay :)
PRO
Now you know the con or that it's not whisper queit, on with the pro. It's effective and powerful, yet still under $200. This is a steal considering high-end purifiers cost $100s or even above $1000. If you're easily bothered by noise, you still might want to consider adapting to a little noise instead of coughing up $1000 for high-end system or ending up with something that's only quiet from being weak and ineffective.
Many purifiers flow one direction while this flows 360°. When you really mean business, put this in the center on med/high. You could leave for 30 min to do grocery shopping or whatever, then come back to a refreshed room. This is what I do after vacumming since I'm allergic to dust mites and everything else. Usually though, you can just set to the side on low.
I bought this to reduce allergies, but it can help eliminate household odors too.
Rather you buy this model or not, be sure to research the cost of filters. There's could be both main filters and pre-filters to change and cost more money in the long-run. The pre-filters for this model is reasonably priced and the main filter is permanent which only needs vacuumed from time to time.
If you suffer from allergies, note that the pure HEPA Honeywell products are supposed to be better than their HEPA-type products
Customer Review: Not sure about dust, but great at odor control.
Summary: 5 Stars
Honeywell claims, "With proper maintenance, your Honeywell air cleaner is designed to provide years of high efficiency air cleaning." It's rare to find a product that actually does what it claims, but this one does. I have had this Honeywell 50250 Round Air Purifier for about five years now. I had a similar one previously and after I moved I bought another one. The reason? Well, I had lived in a small room in a boarding house and I had two cats and with this purifier running no one ever remarked on the smell of the cats or their litter pan. I figured if it could keep the smell of my cats out of a small room then it was worth the purchase.
I'm not sure how well it does on keeping the dust out of the air because I'm always having to vacuum a lot to keep the dust down, but it does an awesome job at keeping the odors out of a room. The HEPA filter lasts a long time and in fact my first one is still going strong. The charcoal pre-filter lasts a long time as well. Periodically, I unscrew the bottom nut and pull out the assembly and vacuum off the pre-filter. I find this prolongs the life of the charcoal filter. One pre-filter will last me several months.
I have found that the filter-clean monitor does a pretty good job of letting you know when each filter needs to be replaced. You simply press one of the buttons (for the pre-filer or HEPA) and gauge the condition of either filter by watching how many times the red light flashes. One flash is up to 1/3 expected life used, two flashes is between 1/3 and 2/3 expected life used, and so on (this is all mentioned in the user manual). When the filter monitor light remains on it is time to replace the filter. I have not had to do this with the HEPA filter yet, but I have had to replace a couple pre-filters. As I said these do an excellent job at keeping the odors out of my room and with proper maintenance can last a long time.
Keep in mind that this purifier is AHAM certified for cleaning the air in rooms up to 400 square feet so naturally it's going to be loud on the "high" setting. However, if you're like me and accustomed to having white noise in the background then this can be an added plus.
Customer Review: Works but is quite loud
Summary: 3 Stars
First off, while I do not believe this is being sold directly by Amazon any more, when I got this unit from Amazon, it came with a previous customer's receipt in the box which said "left unit on overnight. Loud, WHINY hum. Please refund. Do not replace." I did not notice this problem, however little shards of broken plastic (three or four pieces) did fall out of the unit when I turned it over.
Anyhow, I returned this machine because, quite frankly, folks, it is too noisy. Even on the low setting, it sounds like a big whooshing floor box fan on at least medium if not high. It is white-noise-ish but it still interfered with TV watching to an annoying degree. On the other hand, if you WANT white noise, by all means go for this unit.
As soon as I packed this thing up to send back, I ordered the Sharp Plasmacluster FP-N60CX unit and could not be happier. With the rebate available, I was able to get it for a final bill of two hundred thirty eight. Sweet!
The Sharp unit is not only more advanced (kills bacteria with the plasmacluster feature, has separate pollen and dust sensors which will kick the unit on and off depending on environmental pollution, has a remote control that I can program into my learning remote, etc.)
This unit, on the other hand, simply has a low, medium and high setting you have to set manually, no automatic adjustment, no smart sensors, etc.
Also, a big deal was this (pay attention): The replacement charcoal filters for this unit run about $11 online, and you must replace every three months for the odor removal to keep working. That is $44 per year.
On the other hand, the Sharp unit's charcoal filter is WASHABLE and lasts 5 years. This is a consumables savings of $220! If the price difference is LESS than this $220, and you want to retain the smell removal, the Sharp is CLEARLY the better choice!
The increase in price of one hundred dollars final after rebates was well worth it for the Sharp unit.
All that said, this thing did give that "fresh moutaintop air" feel to the air in my house. The Sharp just does it even better, though.
Customer Review: Works great, but loud and bright
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading reviews on Amazon, I bought mine at home depot, where it cost a few dollars more, but knowing in advance from other reviews that I might not be able to tolerate the noise, I opted for a local store where return would be easier. I'm considering buying a few more for other rooms now, and would go with Amazon for lower price and free shipping.
The hepa filter works great. I use it in my bedroom, usually running it only on the lowest speed and only at night, but it works well enough even at that use level to ensure I have no allergy, dust, or pollen problems while sleeping. The unit is quite loud, even on the lowest setting. I wear disposable foam earplugs to bed at night anyway, which is sufficient to block out the sound, and I actually sleep better with that bit of white noise in the background. What I could not tolerate was the very bright blue led ring around the control dial. At first I carefully put black electrical tape all around the ring, which helped but some light still got past and kept me up. I ended up taking the control panel apart and removing the led. If you want to try it yourself (make sure you unplug the electric cord first!) pop off the gray part of the control panel but just prying up at the bottom of it, then there is an inner white cover over the circuit board. Remove the 3 screws and you will see a single LED in there. Just snip off the 2 leads to the led, cover with a piece of electrical tape so it wont short out, and the problem is solved. The LED really does not serve any useful purpose other than to indicate the unit is on, which is obvious by the fan noise.
The hepa filter is also easy to clean, I just take it outside and shake it out in the trash can for the bigger bits like dog hair, run the shop vac over it, and then blow it out from the inside with the air compressor to get the finer dust.
I've tried using this machine in other rooms, but it was just too loud. It is difficult to hear a tv or radio over the noise of the fan, I would really only use it in a bedroom if you can sleep through the noise or wear ear plugs to block it out.