Coway Airmega 400S(G) App-Enabled Smart Technology Compatible with Amazon Alexa True HEPA Air Purifier, Covers 1,560 sq. ft, Graphite

I love a lot about this air filter. I really like the smart features. I originally thought they would be gimmicky, but after living with it for a few weeks I have experienced the value. I love that it detects the airborne contaminants, and increases air circulation to clean the air. I’ve noticed that it increases air flow during high traffic and vacuuming, among other things. I like that I can check the app for air quality, and I can see past air quality as well. I like that the filter knows when it’s bedtime and decreases airflow, in order to keep noise pollution down, for quiet tearfulness.Now on to effectiveness. We have a nearly 3000 square foot new construction home. It’s about three years old. Most of our air contaminants likely come from area construction, as well as a year round growing season, with year round pollen and similar contaminants. My oldest child has had a persistent hack for the last couple of years. I would not really call it a cough, so much as a hack. Every few minutes he would do a throat and lunch clearing cough. It never seemed short of breath, just seemed to be clearing an irritant. We took him to doctors, who suggested everything from allergies to asthma. We sort of ruled out asthma because he is athletic, and has no issues out working other children, and displays no unacceptable shortness of breath, other than what you expect, and recovery times are quicker than normal. As a previous asthma sufferers myself, that does not resemble asthma to me. We opted to try daily allergy medications, and they seemed to help some, but did not eliminate that dreaded hack. Now I said all of that to say this. Since we added this filter, we hardly ever hear him clear his lungs. I’m actually surprised, because I assumed it would take much longer. I figured he had been doing it long enough that it was a habit by now. But after a few days of filtering, his symptoms diminished, and after a week or so, he almost never does it.Now our home is nearly double the size of the the filters rated coverage area. But the design of our home, I think, allows one unit to work. Our central air unit has only one air return, and it is at the blower unit. This is located centrally, upstairs, in a closet with a vented door. The area around that closet is sort of an open landing area, that opens to a large family room. I think what is happening is that the filter can clean large volumes of air, that then get circulated through the house. The dirty air is then pushed back up to that open area, and filtered by the unit. The unit can tell when air is clean or dirty, and increases, or decreases circulation, accordingly. Anecdotally this seems to be a successful test, eliminating our primary concern. The side benefit is the remainder of our family is now breathing cleaner, healthier air. It just took one sensitive member to illustrate the need. I wish I had known this would solve the problem, and I wish I had done it sooner. I expected to need to units to have a successful result, and I’m so pleased that one unit does the job. Not every home may have the same results. Some may actually need two units to do the job.Also, I opted to shop the amazon warehouse deals and save a bunch of money. I bought a used acceptable condition unit. It arrived in a generic box, but everything was still protected by the factory foam, and cling wrap. Everything appeared new, and worked perfectly. If you want to save s big percentage, I highly suggest checking out the warehouse deals. If your displeased with the condition, Amazon has a very generous return exchange policy. My filters in my unit looked brand new and unused. But if I were concerned, new filters are about $100, so you could still have significant savings, even if you opted to put brand new filters in it right away. At first I was put off by what seemed like a high filter cost. Then I recognized what I was spending on allergy medication each month, for one child. The filters provide clean, allergy free air for the whole family, at a fraction of the cost of allergy medications for one child. By reducing our allergy medication costs, we can replace filters as needed, an no added cost.I would have thought building a new home would prevent these issues, but the other new construction in the area, seems to exacerbate the issue.I also weighed the option of an Aprilair, or air bear system on our central air unit, but I was concerned about the designed air flow for our system, and any disruption could shorten the central air life, increase energy needs, and decrease overall home comfort. Those air filters work great for a system designed and tuned for their use. But for a system designed for a more or less open fiber filter, it could cause problems. So I decided a stand alone filter would be the better option. Also those air handler systems that go on your ariconditioner unit, are not usually helps rated. The AIRMEGA 400s is. And it is constantly monitoring, and cleaning the air. It also uses no harmful ozone. I’m an ozone fan, and I own an ozone generator. But I like to use it in specific situations, under controlled conditions, when all occupants can be out of the house. I don’t want ozone to be a part of my primary home air filtration system. Others may have different priorities, and I encourage you to research the benifits and precautions, and choose according to your needs and priorities.

So like many others in the Bay Area, we have been hit with unprecedented air levels during the Camp Fire disaster, and levels of particles in the air reached 263 on Friday which is “Hazardous” and all local schools were closed a few days ago. I had my 79-year old mother and a cousin with a 2-year old toddler coming to stay for the holidays, as well as two girls ages 9 and 11. We ended up telling the family with the toddler to stay clear of the area. My mom did fly in and we have masks we are wearing if we go outside.After researching for hours and hours and asking my friends for advice, I went ahead and purchased this air purifier. I have been using it for a few days now. It shipped 1-day from Amazon and I immediately put it to use. After an evening of use, my scratchy throat was better the next day. And the indoor air felt clean and refreshed. As if the window was opened. Here were my main considerations:• Size of Room• Effectiveness of Machine• Size and Look of Machine• Cost of Machine• Set up / Ease of Use• (Noise Level)SIZE OF ROOM: The first thing you need to identify is the actual size of the room you are trying to clear. My living room, dining room and kitchen are all in one open space so the cooking smells and airflow are an issue. Many of the air purifiers recommended only clear 300’ of space. My room is at least 700’ large. Ceiling height should also be a consideration. And ideally get one that handles a room much larger (within reason) so your purifier does not have to run on high the entire time.EFFECTIVENESS: I believe a dual filter system is the minimum for pure air cleaning. We already had the Dyson fan with HEPA filter. This is one level. Adding in an activated carbon filter for smells is another. One machine that was pricey (Molekule $799) has a third level of UV light to kill bacteria which is critical if you have mold. Maybe even if you have dogs. The UV light was overkill for my current needs and also more expensive so I opted for “no” this time around. Molecule also has 3, 6 or 9 month financing which was intriguing but they were out of same day delivery so I opted to go through Amazon. There are different filter consideration is based on air cleaning (HEPA), smell cleaning (CARBON), and bacteria/mold cleaning (UV / Ozone’s). There is an added consideration for pet dander.SIZE and LOOK: I almost bought the taller thinner machine that had customized fronts you could add — but it was too expensive to ship next day. So I did more research and decided on this model. It is LARGE. Like a small side table that unfortunately does not double as a side table because you need to keep the top clear. I personally like the way it looks and it was so easy to set up, plug in, and immediately went to work — it was a wonderful experience. It is clean looking, quality materials and the added lights and sounds really make it high end.COST: It was not cheap, but in the end was mid-level pricing compared to the other machines that cleared the same area. Over 1200 feet so I am covered.SET UP / EASE OF USE: I took this unit out of the box, took off the plastic wrap, and took the filters out of plastic bags one set on each side of the machine. Then I plugged it in and started working immediately. I loved the sound feedback when you push the buttons going up and down with the airspeed and also easy to set on auto. I also appreciate the fact that air is filtering from both sides of the unit. For this reason, when in use, It does need at least one and a half to 2 feet of open space on each side of the unit, so it does need to be pulled out when in heavy use.NOISE LEVEL: I did not really care about the noise level but it is quiet and on AUTO now and it feels cool and peaceful in the room.BONUS: The last reason I bought it is because it has an auto sensor that automatically kicks up the fan speed when there are more air particulates in the air. This is traditionally during cooking but in my case it was handy when doors would open and closed during this fire season. When I first plugged it in it was purple and took about 10 or 15 minutes to turn blue. This is after one week of no open doors or windows or airflow inside during the fires. I let my neighbor borrow it and it took about half an hour to clear his space which was read and then bright pink and purple and finally turned blue. I wondered if it just turned a different color when it was plugged in because when I brought it back into my unit it turned purple for about 15 minutes before turning blue again. Then, I made some popcorn in during the cooking of the popcorn the unit turned purple again and clean out the air for about half an hour. I found out after meeting the materials you can change the sensitivity level of the particular sensor, but now I believe it is accurate and helpful. I love having the color feedback to confirm the air is clear.I also bought a Levoit smaller fan for the bedroom at the same time and I have to say it does barely anything. And it feels cheap compared to the Conway. I am going to send it back. I am definitely keeping this Conway Airmega and highly recommend it to other people with the same considerations. I will continue to test the sensitivity level of the sensors and will post more updates if anything new arises.