Blueair experiment worked
Pros:
High quality, low noise, and works.
Cons:
Big in size and filters can be expensive.
The Bottom Line:
If you have bad allergies and can afford the unit, I'd recommend it.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I live in northern California and this year (2006) we got a lot of rain which made the allergy season pretty bad. Tired of waking up sneezing and having itchy watery eyes on most mornings, I started the search for an air purifier. I checked out a lot of brands and read a lot of reviews - probably over 20 units in total.
After the consumer magazine article on the Friedrich 90-B, was was about to purchase it until I came across the Blueair 501. I checked out the 401 at a local Bed, Bath and Beyond and saw the quality of the units over the other competitors. I got the Blueair for the same price as the Friedrich over the Internet without tax ($425) and free shipping so it was a pretty good deal.
When I got the unit, I did an experiment - being the sceptic I am. We closed up the master bedroom and turned the unit on high for 4 hours to let it scrub the air. Then we left it on low to semi-low (2nd lowest setting) for several days. After using the Blueair for a few days, I noticed my allergies decreased in the mornings and I stopped sneezing and didn't have the itchy eyes any more.
After about 3 weeks, I decided to turn it off and go back to life without it. The next two days, the allergies returned and I started sneezing again. I turned the unit back on 3 - 4 hours before bed time and let the unit run over night and the allergies stopped again.
As for the fan noise, it's definitely very quiet on the lowest setting and didn't bother me while sleeping on the first two lowest settings. On high, it will make a lot of noise, but you'll probably never leave it there for more than a few hours initially.
With that said, it definitely works for me. Now as spring is coming to an end and summer is approaching, we generally like to have the windows open to get some fresh air in the house. As good as the Blueair is, I highly doubt it would be effective with the windows open. I searched the Internet for window screens to screen out alergens and came across the MicroairScreen product.
I decided to try two of these filters in the bedroom windows along with the Blueair. I can tell you that we're not getting the fresh air without the dust and pollen that we normally experience. With the MicroairScreens in place, we definitely dust a lot less as it blocks out most of the pollutants and dust from coming in. The Blueair does the rest and I bet I'll have to change the filters a lot less than the recommended cycle as there's less dust coming into the house.
The MicroairScreens do block out a lot of the breeze and probably only lets about 10% of the original air in. But it does work and they're made of pretty good quality material and is robust and not flimsy.
Overall, we're happy with our purchase and experience with the Blueair 501.
