The IQAir HealthPro Plus Family of Air PurifiersThe IQAir HealthPro Plus (also known as the IQAir Health Pro 250 outside of the US) is a highly effective portable air purification system for asthma sufferers. It isn’t the cheapest. It isn’t the prettiest. It isn’t the smallest. But, if you’re looking for a portable unit that will effectively clean the air inside your home, do yourself a favor & please consider this air purifier.
The rest of my article describes my selection process & also compares the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier to two other very highly regarded air purifiers: the Airgle PurePal Clean Room Air AG900 & the Blueair 650E Digital HEPASilent Air Purifier. I encourage you to read on to see how & why I reached my conclusion.
When I started, I was searching for an air purifier that didn’t sound like a jet engine, wouldn’t take up half a room, wouldn’t spew ozone & would clean the air in my home.
My criteria list included the following:
- Effectiveness (how small a particle would be filtered)
- Price (important up to a point)
- Room size (my main living area is a large open space which includes a living room, dining room & kitchen)
- Reputation (reviews & published test results)
- Noise (DO NOT want a jet engine)
- Replacement Filter Costs (important up to a point)
- Resale Value (not that important to me, but worth considering)
- Other Features (NO ozone (VERY important), UV (not important for me), Remote Control (not important for me))
As clean air is hard to come by these days, there seems to be hundreds of models of air purifiers from all over the world to choose from. Each of them promising me the cleanest air possible, in the quickest time possible, in near silence. How to choose?
I honestly didn’t know, so I went looking for folks that lived in one of the most polluted places on earth, Beijing, China. I wanted to find out what brands (if any?) they used to clean the air in their homes.
I ended up discovering two articles worth mentioning: one from the New York Times titled: “U.S. Embassy Stocks Up on Air Purifiers” & the other was from an English Doctor who’s lived in Beijing for over 7 years titled: “Air Purifier Reviews: Airgle versus IQAir and Blueair”. I weighed the article from the doctor higher because he’s been trying to protect his infant son’s lungs from the insane pollution in Beijing.
So there they were, three choices from a list of hundreds: IQAir, BlueAir & Airgle. I decided to focus on the three flagship models from the respective manufacturers’ lineups. I had some money put away for this purchase & I figured the top models would offer the most effective filtration, which after some quick research seemed to be the case.
Below are the three air purifiers I was comparing:
IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier
- Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.003 microns
- Price: $899 on IQAir.com
- Room size: 1,125 Sq. Ft.
- Reputation: Great Reviews
- Noise: 35 to 69 dB(A)
- Replacement Filter Costs ($544.93 Total):
- IQAir Cleanroom HyperHEPA Filter $289.95
- IQAir V5-Cell Gas & Odor Filter $139.99
- IQAir PreMax Pre-Filter $114.99
- Resale Value: Strong
- Other Features: NO Ozone
Airgle PurePal Clean Room Air AG900
- Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.1 microns
- Price: $1,299
- Room size: 698 Sq. Ft.
- Reputation: Great Reviews
- Noise: 33 to ?? dB(A)
- Replacement Filter Costs ($437 Total):
- Airgle (6lb) Gas and Odor Carbon $89.00
- Airgle cHEPA Filter $189.00
- Airgle Titanium Pro Module $159.00
- Resale Value: Strong
- Other Features: NO Ozone
Blueair 650E Digital HEPASilent Air Purifier
- Effectiveness: Filters Particles to 0.1 microns
- Price: $849
- Room size: 698 Sq. Ft.
- Reputation: Great Reviews
- Noise: 32 to 66 dB(A)
- Replacement Filter Costs ($338.95 Total):
- Blueair Smokestop Filter (Set of 3) $149.95
- Blueair Replacement Particle Filter (Set of 3) $189.00
- Resale Value: Strong
- Other Features: NO Ozone
Ultimately, I chose the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier based on three things:
- It’s priced in the middle of the three ($899)
- It claims to filter out the tiniest particles (.003 microns)
- It claims to effectively filter the largest room size (1,125 sq. ft.)
Although, to be fair, it isn’t the quietest of the three at 35 to 69 dB(A) & the replacement filters are the priciest at $544.93 to replace all three at once.
I encourage you to do your own research & decide on the best air purifying solution for you, your family & your home & I hope you have found some of the information in this article helpful to that end. Believe me, I know how daunting it can be!
