Blueair AirPod air purifier: First Look

This compact model is quiet, but is it effective?

Name of product: Blueair AirPod

Price we paid: $100

Date of Consumer Reports full report: December 2007

What it is. This HEPA-filter-equipped air purifier, which sort of resembles an oversized iPod, stands a compact 13 inches high x 6.3 inches wide x 4.3 inches deep. The manufacturer claims this air purifier can clean the air in a 5x6-foot space. Keeping with the iPod motif, the cardboard casing of the filter slides into a so-called “docking station” that includes a small electric fan.

This air purifier comes in a number of patterns and colors, including “waves” (shown), “trees,” and “paisley,” so you can match it to a room décor. When you buy a unit in pink, Blueair will donate 5 percent of the proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

What we liked. In our preliminary tests, the AirPod was quiet even when running on high and used the least energy of all the portable models we tested.

What we didn’t like. The manufacturer’s claim that it can clean a 5x6-foot space is, in our judgment, a significant limitation since most rooms are bigger than that. We’ve been testing the AirPod in our standard 12x18-foot chamber, and it has not done a good job removing dust and smoke.

Our initial take. The AirPod is quiet and stylish, but its air-cleaning performance so far has struck a bad chord.

Look for our full report on room and whole-house air purifiers, with Ratings of 60 different models, in the December 2007 issue of Consumer Reports.

Comments

[Kerri]

I totally agree. It didn't do anything, but take $100 out of my bank account.

This is obviously a poor product banking on the pain & agony of sufferers.

I just read your December 2007 magazine and see it was DEAD LAST in the rankings.

Mine has been relegated to our basement closet and after that...to the landfill.

Kerri

[Martin Cassidy]

Thanks for the reviews. Haven't bought the product, but it does seem to me that if they say it has a 5x6 foot capacity, it is clearly intended as a desktop or bedside device that when positioned correctly, will blow clean air directly at and around you, and as such, may fill the bill. To me, the idea being sold is that if you work or sleep in a cone of directed clean air, it won't matter how dirty the air is in the rest of the room. Has any testing of the product been undertaken that measures the air quality in the airstream itself at it's epicenter of flow?

[Bob]

We all have allergies and my Wife and Son have Asthma (both of them have been helped dramatically by switching to Organic foods, but that's different story).

I can't comment on the AirPod's effectiveness, but I have six other BlueAir units (501, 402 and 301 models) which have worked fine for nearly 10 years now (yes, it's expensive to replace the filters every 6 months, but it was expensive and less pleasant to periodically visit the Emergency Room for several hours in the middle of the night for acute asthma attacks).

The only thing I would comment on this review is, the AirPod is designed to condition a small personal space and that is clearly indicated by the manufacturer. Using any product outside the range it was designed for is questionable and will not likely work well. Any one who bought the AirPod and expects it to work well in a larger area than it was designed for made a poor decision and has no one to blame but themselves.

I have no problem with making consumers aware it won't work in as large an area as most other air purifiers (including all of BlueAir's other products), but it's performance should be measured under the conditions it was intended for.

It's like giving a "Fail" mark to a rechargeable electric lawn mower because it ran out of power trying to mow a 900 sq.ft. lawn, even though it did a great job mowing a 400 sq. ft. lawn.

[James]

I totally agree with you...!