I live in an apartment and a few months ago I got new neighbors in the apartment below. They smoke constantly and often have parties with 8-10 people in a tiny apartment all smoking all night. The building is old, the smoke comes through not only the ventilation system, but directly through the floors and fills my apartment with the disgusting stench of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). This unit saved me from having to move. It's that good.
The HEGA filter is particularly good at removing gas molecules and thus odors and ETS. I have allergies, but they're manageable I bought this primarily for odor and ETS control and to that end, it works perfectly.
It's much quieter than I though possible for something that moves so much air. Even on the highest setting, I can easily sleep in the same room with it. Some may be more sensitive to noise, but it's much quieter than some IQAir models that I've heard. On the lowest setting, it's barely audible.
I keep the unit in a largish living room/dining room/kitchen area in my one bedroom apartment and it cleans the air effectively. When combined with the air circulation of my AC unit, it does a great job of filling the apartment with clean, smoke free air.
The filters are extremely effective and come with a five-year warranty. If you live in a particularly polluted environment and your filter doesn't last five years, Austin Air will give you a discount on a replacement filter proportional to the length of its life. The bonus is, it's for that AND every subsequent filter you purchase. The unit itself also comes with a five-year warranty. Austin Air seems really great about craftsmanship and customer service. They don't make a huge variety of products (like Honeywell or a lot of other electronics manufacturers that offer air cleaners), but what they do, they do right.
If you're suffering from annoying odors, ETS, or allergies, this is the machine for you. It's really made all the difference.
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I've tried cheaper air cleaners and they just don't keep my allergies clear like my Austin Air. The Austin Air does not require costly (and often difficult to find) filter replacements. Instead, you just vacuum off the surface and the machine's good to go for a couple of weeks. Think of it this way, if there's dust on top, you want to wipe out the vents.
We had one incident with a bearing problem in one of our machines and Austin Air replaced the machine under warranty with us only being out the cost of postage. They're great people to deal with--friendly, helpful, and they got my machine back FAST during cedar fever season.
Add to that, the white noise the machine generates is great to help you get to sleep. I'd highly recommend the Austin Air and will buy more as money and needs dictate.
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This is so good that a friend whose child suffers from severe asthma [and who has an Oreck air filter that cost about $800--which broke down as soon as the warranty expired], could actually sense how much cleaner the air was when she was in the vicinity of the Austin and asked me where she could buy one. She asked even though I have had this for nearly 10 years [one filter change so far, by the calendar, not because I sensed it stop working].
I can't recommend it strongly enough.
While it is a bit noisy, it's an even background noise, not at all irritating [and I am a real noise crank]; in fact when my neighbors have a party [their dining room wall is my bedroom wall], the hum actually is an added bonus and helps me to fall sleep.
I should mention that when the wind shifted one night after 9/11 here in NY I got a heavy dose of the smoke cloud and so could barely breath when I arrived home; I closed myself in the bedroom, turned on the Austin filter, and was fine.
Honest reviews on Austin Air Allergy Machine HM 405
It's been over a year since I bought this air purifier, so I figured I'd better hop back on here and review it. I never had a "good" air purifier before owning this one. This is a serious air purifier. I live in a small apartment with 3 cats and I pretty much run this air purifier 24/7 in my bedroom and sometimes push it out to the living room to clear the air out there. My allergy symptoms are much less magnified with this machine running. I sleep so much better at night, cause I can breath a lot better. I used to wake up in the morning with coughing or wheezing from allergies (probably from the cats) and I don't experience this anymore. On the lowest setting, I can hardly even hear it running in the corner of my bedroom. I crank it up to the highest setting when I'm not in the room, and it's pretty loud but cleans a lot of air.
I like to run this machine in a room after vacuuming and cleaning, it pulls the dust and other stuff that gets kicked up, it can clear a room fast on the highest setting. Sometimes I'll vacuum the floors and furniture (lots of cat hair to pick up of course) then push this machine into the room and crank it up to high, then leave and come back in a couple hours. Clean floors, furniture and air await me when I return.
I really like that this is a simple and straightforward machine. Plug it in and turn it to one of the speed settings and that is about it. No electronics to fail or wear out. Just need to replace the filter every few years. I like this machine a lot.
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I love this purifier! I noticed a big difference with my allergies and asthma... could breathe easier in the mornings and not as congested. I live in a dry and dusty climate, we have 2 cats, and i think there might be mold spores in our apartment... this unit definitely made a noticeable difference in a short amount of time. Low setting is quiet, medium is good during the day for heavier air flow, high is very loud... but don't feel like i need it unless doing some heavy 'cleaning' of the air for a short amount of time.
