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We just purchased the 30441 version of this model at Target. The 30441 model shares the same manual with the 30890 model. Don't know the differences, if any.
Here is my 3 day assessment:
1) First six hours of unit operation produced an unusual smell. After 24 hours, could not longer detect. I've worked with HEPA filters in clean rooms before, and the smell seems like that of a new HEPA replacement. There may have also been a bit of `electrical' type odor, but I no longer notice that.
2) On all three speed settings, the unit is louder than I would like. We located it far from our bed, so can run overnight on the number 1 setting. Since I have tinnitus, the white noise seems to help a bit with sleeping, but I still think it seems a bit louder than desirable on the lowest setting.
3) We have never used an air purifier before. We finally realized we needed this when I experienced a prolonged allergy attack lasting months which seriously affected my health. After only 12 hours, this unit had a noticeable effect on my breathing. We turned it off one night, and by the morning, I was having difficulty with breathing. The unit really helped me.
4) For comparison, we also purchased the Holmes HAP9726 (I'll review that unit separately) at Walmart. So far running about six hours in our living room, and seems to be working, but need to turn off for a day to test this.
Bottom line: The Hunter seems to be working for us. Like magic for me. I suffered for months, and when home, I can now breathe again.
Update after seven days:
I at first though the odor had disapared after about six hours, but after seven days, when entering the room where the unit is operating, I can still detect a very slight odor. (No odor at all from the Holmes model which is working well.). In terms of performance, the Hunter model still seems to be filtering well.
Update after about 20 days:
The odor from the Hunter unit is slowly going away, though I can't say for sure it has completely vanished. It appears some sort of volatile has been warmed off the unit, but is declining to the point that it may not be a problem. However, after comparing the performance of this unit against the Holmes, which we bought at about the same time, I would say the Holmes, while somewhat more noisy on its lowest setting, may be more effective at cleaning the air then the Hunter. We plan on purchasing another unit, and based on our experience with the these two, we will purchase a new Holmes unit. In less than an hour, the Holmes unit seems to very effectively reduce allergens to make the air breathable.
After about 30 days,
in the Hunter unit I may be hearing an infrequent arcing pop sound as reported by other reviewers. Only have heard this at night when the room is otherwise quiet. The Hunter unit is otherwise performing well, though it is still not certain to me that the odor has disappered. It may now have no odor, but not sure. The Holmes unit is still behaving well, and we still prefer it. Keep in mind it is slightly noisier than the Hunter unit.
Update after about 4 months:
Both the Hunter and Holmes units are working well. The apparent odor from the Hunter unit has completely disappearred. We smell nothing now from the unit. For a period, the Hunter unit began the arcing noise that annoyed other buyers. However, this only seems to be problematic on the high setting, and over night we leave the unit on the low setting, which doesn't create this sound, or is much more minor. We still think the Holmes unit is superior. After nearly continuous operation of both units in a very dusty locale, we still have no indication of the need to replace filters. The two units did improve our air quality. I have had no serious sinus problems since we got these.
Six month update:
We finally replaced the filter on the Hunter unit ($25+tax at Target). I am not sure we had to, but we were beginning to experience increasing light arcing sounds overnight. When we replaced it, my wife used a Swiffer® dust cloth to clean around where the filter had been, The filter is easy to replace. There is no odor from the new filter, so the original odor of the Hunter came from the Hunter unit itself. Note that this odor is now completely gone, so if you can wait 3-4 weeks after purchase, the odor that others complained about will disappear. The Holmes unit is not yet ready for a new filter as we use that in our living/dining room, mostly only in the evening. One does have to turn up the TV volume when the Holmes unit is operating.
I neglected to add earlier that within our home we have central air/heat and we use the 3M Filtrete (UA03DC-6) FPR 10 air filter on our central air/heat. I also recommend this. It alone doesn't completely keep a local room clean like the Hunter or Holmes unit as it is not HEPA rated, but it is otherwise very effective, and good to use with HEPA type units like the Hunter and Holmes. For instance, during all of the fires in the west, we have occasionally been hit with heavy smoke now and then, and the 3M filter seemed to be very effective at taking this out of the air. After a month of on and off smoke, I looked at the filter and it was completely black. Evidently, it has a strong attraction for smoke particles. I want to emphasize, however, that my severe allergy attack which prompted us to buy the Hunter and Holmes happened while we were using this 3M filter, so, it alone, apparently doesn't take out all allergens. A HEPA type unit is more effective.
Update after seven months:
The new filter in the Hunter unit began the clicking noise from electrical arcing within about 10 days of use, and has become quite prominent, sometimes like a slow machine-gun repetition. I can deal with it, but it has annoyed my wife enough that we shifted the Hunter unit to out dining/living room, and moved the Holmes unit (HAP9726) to our bedroom. The Holmes HAP9726 is not quite as quiet as the Hunter, but it is a continuous din, not with spark-crackle-pop like the Hunter right now.
Apparently, Hunter filters do vary in their propensity to do this arcing, and in the case of my wife this sound would keep her awake, even when the normal fan sound did not. I would say the Hunter unit would be much more desirable if one could turn off the electrostatic portion of the filtering. Since the filters do seem to vary, some users may not immediately experience this problem, but may experience later when they replace the filter.
Note that the Holmes HAP9726 does have electrostatic action, but unlike the Hunter, one can turn it off, and you can have simple filtration, which alone is quite helpful.
Note that both the Hunter and Holmes HAP9726 have quiet controls, and one can make quiet adjustments while your partner is sleeping.
For the office, I purchased the Holmes HAP633-U unit from Walmart for about $60. This unit does not have quiet controls. It has a louder chunky click when changing settings and also, strangely, starts on a very noisy high and you have to adjust low. It is also quite a bit more noisy than the larger Holmes HAP9726 we have at home. There is actually a mild rattling of the fan mechanism, and it as well cyclically bellows mildly louder and softer. Even than though it a smaller unit, it is more noisy. I don't recommend the Holmes HAP633-U. I use it, but I often have to turn it off when anyone enters my office. If one compares the HAP633-U to the better HAP9726, it almost seems like they are designed on completely different principles of efficacy.
I want to make an observation on the air purifier use. My really sensitive allergy window is late August through early November. Our Hunter and Holmes HAP9726 units at home did help alleviate my condition, but did not eliminate it. Probably because I can't remain at home continuously. However, I also feel that these two purifiers (Hunter and Holmes HAP9726) on their own were not enough to fully clean the house. Next year, we plan on purchasing at least one more unit for the home, and starting next August, we have all run on maximum to see if they might help me better.
So, far, given all of our experience, I would most recommend the Holmes HAP9726. The Hunter might be better if one could turn off the electrostatic action, but one can't. Stay away from the Holmes HAP633-U; it is cheaper, but you can find better which will make you happier.
Update after eight months:
Just after seven months the Holmes HAP9726 unit seemed to be laboring with its fan action. I opened the case, and the filters were packed with dust. Evidently, the unit had filtered so much that it was now having difficulty drawing air. I replaced the HEPA and carbon filters with new ones, and the unit is now performing fine.
A note on the carbon filters for the Holmes HAP9726. I know something about how these are supposed to work to remove organic vapors, and I was extremely skeptical of their capability since it takes a lot of carbon to be effective, but originally (8 months ago) I installed anyway. When I recently opened the box to replace all of the filters, evidently the carbon filters mechanically trapped an enormous amount of dust on their own, and may have prolonged the life of the HEPA filters, so I recommend using the carbon filters for the HAP9726.
One other observation on the Holmes HAP9726: It takes air in from the side and blows filtered air upward. The Hunter takes air in from the side and blows filtered air sideways. The Holmes HAP9726 seems to do a better job of air circulation while filtering because of this side and up action.
Finally, when I looked at the dust trapped on the HAP9726 filters, it was extremely fine. It is my perception that the HAP9726 is filtering out much finer particles than I see trapped on our 3M filter for our air conditioning system. Our 3M filter is in the ceiling, and the Holmes (and Hunter) are on the floor. Evidently, the smaller particles remain closer to the floor, or are not being taken out as well by the 3M filter for our air conditioner.
I now have enough experience and observation to advise you to take your money to Wal-Mart and purchase the Holmes HAP9726 if you can't find it on Amazon. It is cheaper than the Hunter unit we purchased, and overall is better.
I'll update this review in the future if anything changes, but this might be the final review update.
Update May 26. 2013:
Our Holmes HAP9726 unit is still working fine, We use it every night while my wife and I sleep. I have only had to replace the filters three times in the last year. I definitely recommend using the carbon filters along with the HEPA filters as the carbon filters do seem to prolong the life of the HEPA filters.
I am updating to alert you that we switched our AC/heating system filter from the 3M Filtrete 1900 MPR to the 3M Filtrete 2400 MPR. The 2400 MPR filter has had a marked impact on our breathing. Both my wife and I noticed the difference within a few days. We have been using the 2400 MPR filter for about two months, and it really has helped us. Note that while Amazon offers the 3M 2200 MPR filter (which is highly rated), I don't think they offer the 2400 MPR filter. We obtained our 2400 MPR filters from Loews Hardware. We haven't tried the 2200 MPR filter (it isn't available locally), but I do recommend the 3M 2400 MPR filter.
Between using the Holmes HAP9726 and the 3M 2400 MPR filter, it has made a huge difference in our quality of life throughout Spring allergy season. So far, I have needed no antihistamines, at all, this year. The real test will be in September when I am most hard hit, but this Spring has been much better than normal for me, so I am looking forward to a happier Fall allergy season. I will update once we make it through the Fall.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program *** Update Sept 22 2011 ***Smell is completely gone. Still a slight ozone smell when running but the harsh plastic odor is gone!
First off this thing operates very quietly and appears efficiently. The major concern I have with the unit is that as soon as I opened the box I smelled a strange plastic odor. During operation that odor mixed with a smell of ozone. The operating manual is lacking in that it tells of the basic operation but does not cover much in the way of troubleshooting. I understand that this unit draws air in through a HEPA filtration system and then ionizes the air to kill bacteria. While operating this for a couple of days in a 20x10 room the odor was strong enough to notice.
Pros:
+ Quiet operation
+ Easily adjustable by touch button on top of unit
+ Filter change is easy
+ Efficient & quiet
Cons:
New unit has strange plastic odor that has yet to have dissipated (nearly a week)
Summary:
Overall the unit appears to operate within specifications. My son has some allergies and has ceased to cough in the mornings since installing this in his room. This makes it well worth dealing with the strange smell.
Thank you for reading my review.
Best Deals for Hunter 30890 Total Air Sanitizer, Gunmetal
I bought this to get rid of the stale odor and allergens in the room I was staying in. It seemed to work pretty well, as the smell in the room went away and my allergies improved.I did not have an issue with the smell of the device that other reviewers have mentioned. However, after turning the machine on for a day or two (sometimes on the highest setting), it started making a "zapping"/"popping" electric sound. The instructions tell you that to fix this, you should turn off the machine for a minute and turn it back on, or reposition the filter, or replace the filter. The first two options didn't work, but replacing the filter did work and it no longer makes the sound.
Comparing the bad filter to the good filter, the vertical folds in the filter had been warped, so the conductive material on it was getting close to touching--this is likely why the machine was "zapping". I'm guessing this happened from putting it on the highest setting, which moves air through it very quickly, so I recommend setting it only on the low setting to avoid the zapping problem.
Overall, it works, but if you don't want to buy a new filter every few days ($40 each...), keep it on the low setting.
Honest reviews on Hunter 30890 Total Air Sanitizer, Gunmetal
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I've been using air purifiers, ionizers, and whatnot with mixed results over the past two decades. While I've had my share of disappointments among trying different units, I can say that the Hunter Total Air Sanitizer easily took top place in noticeable effectiveness. It is a large unit, it stands as tall as my floor speakers for my stereo system, but only half as wide. It pulls air in the front, and pushes it out the back, which you will want to take note of when placing this unit in your room.PROS:
The Hunter Total Air Sanitizer makes a lot of noise on high, is still slightly noisier than my home's ambient noise level during the day on medium (the recommended setting for normal use), but is barely louder than a whisper on low speed.
This unit does a wonderful job of keeping the air in my living room virtually odorless. I can no longer smell cooking smells shortly after cooking in the kitchen one room over. It also does a great job with pet odors. I have a large dog, a parrot, and three cats in my home. After a day of the house being closed up, the odor of pets being in the house is usually quite noticeable, but not so with the Hunter Total Air Sanitizer. Now I can leave the house for a day and come back home to a living area that doesn't reek of pets. This is a huge plus in my house!
What else has it accomplished? Well, it helps keep the dust levels down. I've noticed I only have to dust in room the unit is placed in only half as often. It effectively pulls a lot of dust out of the air and traps in the filter that the filter on the whole-house air handler can't filter seem to filter.
CONS:
The unit does not automatically turn back on after a short power outage; when the power goes out the unit stays off after electrical service is restored. You have to manually turn the unit back on after each power outage. This is moderate annoyance factor where I live, since the electrical co-op that supplies power to this area is not very good at providing stable service. We have an average of 2 or 3 10-second or less outages per day here, with twice as many brownouts thrown in to the mix too. That means I have to turn the unit back on manually several times a day.
The touch-sensitive control on the top of the unit would have been better placed on a vertical surface. The button that controls the unit is not a push-button, but responds to just the faintest touch. When cats are running around, all one has to do is barely touch the control surface on top of the unit and it will correspondingly change speeds or turn off accordingly.
Overall, the effectiveness of this unit far outweighs the minor annoyances, and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase additional units for other rooms in my home.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have asthma of an intensity that makes me something of a canary in a mine shaft, so I figured I was a great choice to review this product.My asthma is the sort caused by chemical sensitivity. Cleaning products, glues and paints, and cigarette smoke are major triggers, but dogs and cats and flowers are not.
As soon as I opened the box, I noticed the same heavy chemical smell I always notice when I step into a Home Depot or a Lowe's -vaguely insecticidal, a combination of plastic and wood preservative with some detergent thrown in -which always makes my throat close up. Not a propitious start. But I was pleased to find that the unit was already put together, packaged in recycled materials, and had a handy four-point "quick start guide" attached to the top. So, my very first impression was mixed.
The first point on the quick-start guide said to "Press inward on the Hunter logo on door and remove door." Easier said than done. It took more than 10 tries to open the door, and by that point I was trying to figure out what sort of tool to use and how to use it before it finally clicked open. After I checked to see that the filter was properly seated, I had a hard time getting the door to click closed. The third point on the quick-start guide seems to anticipate the difficulty, however, saying to "Replace the door and push the Hunter logo until the door snaps into place." Again, an exercise in frustration.
Finally, after opening and closing the unit several times for the purposes of this review, I discovered there is a "sweet spot" directly between the upright bars of the capital H in Hunter. You have to press right there -and only there, and with some pretty intense pressure -for the latch to work. (Of course, the sweet spot may be in a slightly different spot on a different individual unit, but you should be aware there is one.)
Fussy latch aside, the unit is extremely easy to set up and put into use right out of the box -moreso than the other air cleaners I have used. It is also very quiet at the lowest setting -again, moreso that other air cleaners I have used. (At the medium setting it's like a white-noise generator, and at the highest like a loud air conditioner fan.)
Now, after almost three weeks, the odor has become somewhat localized, but it remains quite pronounced and causes my throat to constrict if I came within 6 feet of the unit when it is on.
I put it in my bathroom to alleviate an unpleasant moldy odor in there, but the smell of the plastic was worse than the smell of the mold, especially in a confined space.
I have asthma, which is why I wanted this, but I cannot stay for long in the same room with it without feeling as if I am being choked -an ironic situation for an air cleaner!! Interestingly, the odor -and the effect -is worse when the unit is turned on.
Shouldn't a good air cleaner be able to clean its own scent out of the air?
But why should it have to? I have an old Honeywell Enviracaire (a model that's no longer being made), and it never smelled bad or aggravated my asthma (although it is harder to change its filters, and it is noisier). In fact, I got it when I lived in an apartment with neighbors who smoked so heavily you could smell it in my bedroom, and that old Honeywell worked like a charm to clear the air so I could sleep without coughing all night.
If you research the plastic scent problem -even just by Googling the keywords "plastic smell health" -you learn that the most odiferous plastics are generally the most toxic ones, releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. VOCs have been linked to cancer, infertility, and brain damage. The type of plastic used in this unit is not specified, but its lingering odor is cause for concern.
The description of this unit says it eliminates "germs, viruses, bacteria and molds." Maybe that's all it works on, but shouldn't a good air cleaner (especially a $200 one) remove plastic allergens and things like secondhand-smoke toxins, too? (Or maybe it only works on living organisms, and maybe the plastic smell is part of what it uses to kill them. The problem is, I'm a living organism, too!)
I really wanted to like this unit. I do like how quiet it is, but I think the plastic is of a very poor quality, making it both fussy to open and close, and releasing nasty chemicals in the air at the same time that it is ostensibly removing nasty chemicals from the air.
Overall, it's not very pleaseant to consider that something I ordered to improve my health may actually be harming it.
