Blueair Pro XL

I already had a Blueair Pro XL that I have been using for over 6 months downstairs which has saved me from dusting every week. I could see dust in the air when I would walk down the stairs in the morning but that is gone now.
So I needed more upstairs so I bought 2 more large for the upstairs, one at each end because I live in an extremely dusty area then the winds start blowing in the fall.
The problem with the Blueair Pro L is that it doesn’t have the “automatic air intelligence feature” which I found out after receiving the unit. This additional component means that the units goes into different modes by itself which I loved on the XL downstairs. The price for the “Air Intelligence Module” to insert into the air Blueair Pro L is about $90.00 with shipping. That means this unit is over $1000.00 but you can’t put a price on your health. I hope it holds up for a good 10 years. Remember you have to buy filters and they are about $60.00 a piece and the Pro L takes 2 filters every 6 months. So all in all it is not a cheap unit to run but I was sick of housekeepers coming in every 2 weeks to dust and break things. I am happier with the Blueair.

The last Blue Air I owned lasted more tha 15 years and was running almost constantly.

I got this about a week ago as a result of being in yet another California wildfire season. I live in an urban loft that’s basically one big room with a lot of air volume, and I rely on opening windows to control the temperature, so dealing with smoke has been a constant battle. Typical $100 room-sized HEPA filters barely have an impact in my place.

At low and medium speeds this unit is unobtrusively quiet. High is a bit noisier but it’s still not bad considering how much air the unit moves. The unit arrived on a fairly bad air day, and the PM2.5 level in my loft was around 40 ug/m^3. I unboxed it, plugged it in, and set it to high. A couple of hours later the PM2.5 level was down to 2 ug/m^3 and it’s remained very low except for the times when I opened the windows and blew a ton of outside air in. The filter took care of that pretty quickly after I closed the windows again.

The unit is sleek and unobtrusive, and it seems overall very well-designed. The filters are easy to remove and install, the controls are simple, and the whole thing just works the way it should.

I am highly interested in the proper filtration of air and water, as these are of the most important elements for our physical existence, yet we can liver much longer without water than without air. We take in a new breath of air every few seconds, which then gets filtered out by the lungs.

First I will say that most air filter companies out there don’t really provide much scientific detail or testing on the way their system works, beyond just basic description of the stages and all are pretty much the same thing in a different wrapper, not much research has gone into proper air flow, powerful silent motors, scientifically correct placement and amount/quality of filtration media, proper insulation so no dirty air channels through holes and cracks in the frame, etc.

After much in-depth research, I ended up with a choice between AirIQ and Blueair. After contacting AirIQ with some scientific questions, first impression was that their support reps are overworked and rush through your questions, second, AirIQ mails their filter media cartridges exposed to air, which is not good. It’s a fact that carbon and other filtration media will readily absorb contaminants from the atmosphere unless properly sealed before it gets to you, thereby, shortening the capacity/life of the filter media prematurely. Furthermore, their technical department had no idea how to answer my questions, and did not return phone calls. I was totally turned off by their energy and lack of knowledge.

Now, after calling Blueair support team, it was like a breath of fresh air. The were patient, genuine, explained their system in detail, and pointed me to a scientific, yet easy to understand video on their website, which is what played the deciding factor in choosing them over AirIQ:

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I also used a laser particle counter from Dylos which measures down to 0.5 microns (beach sand is about 100 microns), which is quite accurate and nearly real-time analysis of particle much lower than the 2.5pm standard. Upon measuring the air in my bedroom, I found there were over 1000 particles smaller than 2.5pm, I closed the door and window and turned on this system on full speed. Within 10 minutes, the ultra-fine particle count went down to 200 and within 30 minutes it was in the 70s. Keep in mind, these are particles as small as bacteria and cannot be seen by the naked eye! This filter really works at removing ultrafine particles quickly!

Also, in addition to their HepaSilent technology, their use special coconut shell activated carbon (the best carbon for absorbing volatile chemicals) which is further enhanced by being impregnated with magnesium and copper in order to be much more effective at breaking down difficult chemicals. Most other filter’s I’ve seen just use regular activated carbon, and a very small amount of it.

Looking back, considering how much I have spent in the past on cheap and poorly thought-out filters, I should have just bought this, but then again, I had to go through that learning curve with inferior units to recognize the value of this product. They also offer a decent warranty of 5 years if you register your product with them. Would have been better if the unit was actually Made in Sweden instead of China, but nevertheless, the build quality and materials look and feel good, the warranty is reassuring, and the performance was verified by my particle counter.

Overall, very pleased with product quality, effectiveness, design and customer service. Top grade company with top grade products!

BlueAir, I Hope you continue in this direction, stay true to real scientific principles, and don’t become a publicly traded company (don’t sell out to investors for greater profits), stay true to your customers and you will be in business for generations!

Très satisfait