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What are the best compact air purifiers?

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Aerus QuietPure Whisper Air vs Coway AP-1512HH Mighty vs Winix WAC 5500-2

Specs

Weight

-

Power consumption

-

Timer

-

Coverage

-

CADR (Dust, Pollen, Smoke)

-

Weight

12.3 lbs

Power consumption

77.8 W

Timer

1/4/8 hr

Coverage

361 sq-ft.

CADR (Dust, Pollen, Smoke)

246/240/233

Weight

15.4 lbs

Power consumption

120 W

Timer

1/2/4/8 hr

Coverage

360 sq-ft.

CADR (Dust, Pollen, Smoke)

243/246/232

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Perfect for use while sleeping

During the night, you can set this air purifier to sleep mode. This sets the purifier to work only in the lowest speed setting. Additionally, the indication light is dimmed to a level that it reassembles a gentle night light.
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Pro
 Multi-level filtering

Like most of the purifiers, this one has a HEPA filter for removing the smallest airborne particles and an activated carbon filtration system to remove odors and gases. It also has an ionizer that charges oxygen molecules, which helps to capture more dust particles in the next air pass-through.
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Pro
 Brings fragrance to your room

A standout feature for this purifier is the aromatherapy pod. You can fill it up and, when the purifier is working, it will not only clean the air, but also mix aroma in the air, helping you sleep or concentrate.
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Pro
 Adds vitamins to the air

Besides filtrating the air, the purifier also enriches it with Vitamin A. Aerus claims that this makes the skin softer and reduces stress.
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Con
 Can't be bought in California

Due to legal reasons, this product is currently unavailable in California.
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Con
 Replacement filters are hard to find

The replacement filters aren’t as easy to find and buy as those from competitor units.
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Pro
 Highly portable

The purifier is very lightweight (12 pounds) compared to regular-sized and even some other compact purifiers. Moreover, this device has a slim 9" profile, making it very handy to carry around.
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Pro
 Great performance while taking care of big rooms

It's meant for spaces up to 350 square feet, but does a quick and clean job for spaces twice as large.
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Pro
 Has a timer

You can set the purifier to switch off after 1, 4 or 8 hours. This can come in handy if you want to run the purifier while you're not at home.
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Pro
 Air sensor is easy to clean

To get the most accurate readings, you need to clean the air quality sensor occasionally. It is located on the side of the unit, behind a little latch, and it's very simple to reach without taking apart the whole device.
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Pro
 Filters air very well

This purifier uses a four-stage filtration process to clean room air very efficiently. First, the air goes through a washable pre-filter that captures large particles like hair. After that, the carbon filter removes odors and gases. Finally, the HEPA filter captures the smallest particles, like dust, fur, animal dandruff and other allergens.
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Pro
 Has eco and auto modes

The purifier can be set to an automatic or eco mode. Both modes are very similar and work with the particle sensor. The only difference is that while in eco mode, if the air pollution level is at its low for more than 30 minutes, the purifier disables the fan. While in auto mode, the fan will continue working on its lowest setting.
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Pro
 Can indicate air quality

The intuitive Air Quality Indicator uses particle sensor technology to monitor the indoor air quality and displays the status using a LED. It will be blue when the air is clean, purple when moderately polluted, and red when the air is heavily polluted.
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Pro
 Quite efficient

This model has a CADR of 246 for dust, 240 for pollen, and 233 for smoke. This is just below the average of 250 and means that the purifier will clean the air with ease if the situation isn’t extreme, like rooms where people are smoking heavily.
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Pro
 Costs little to maintain

Over 5 years, you should expect to spend around $600 on the purifier, including filters and electricity. Other models can be much more expensive overall.
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Pro
 Energy efficient

The unit uses a maximum of 77W of power, but only 7W on low setting with the ionizer off. That's less than a LED light bulb. There's also an ECO mode that turns off the fan and the ionizer if the air quality was good over the last 30 minutes.
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Pro
 Fan speed can be regulated according to your needs

The machine has three different fan speeds: there's a low, medium, and high setting, with low being a quiet whisper mode that puts out a light breeze, and high being noticeably louder, but circulating the air almost like a full-sized purifier.
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Pro
 360º air circulation

Unlike most air purifiers, this unit pushes clean air up towards the ceiling where it flows further down the walls, then over the floors and back towards the device, creating a 360º air current pushing dirty air and particles into the unit.
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Pro
 Intuitive controls

There are only five clearly labeled buttons used for controlling the purifier, all of them with LED indicator lights. This makes operating the device very easy.
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Con
 Only handles particulate matter

It does not remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) nor fragrances which would matter a lot for certain people with allergies or who live in environments with people who smoke or pets.
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Con
 Too sensitive air quality sensor

The air quality sensor is overly sensitive, so it shouldn't be left turned on in the bedroom during the night, since the unit can suddenly start to blow at full speed and become very noisy.
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Con
 Air quality indicator is too bright

The air indicator is very bright and can become very noticeable during the night, so much that it might even disturb your sleep.
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Con
 Doesn't have a sleep mode

The purifier doesn’t feature a sleep mode that dims the lights and disables the highest setting of the fan.
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Con
 Strange power proportions

The lowest and the second power levels are almost identical while the maximum level is deafening and strong. Because of this, the purifier can be running quietly in the automatic mode and then, suddenly become very loud, just to become quiet again after a while. This can be very disturbing, especially during the night.
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Con
 Can't be controlled remotely

This air purifier lacks a remote control.
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Pro
 Very portable

There's a great little carrying handle on the top of the unit and, despite its boxy shape, the device weighs only 15 pounds, so moving to from room to room is quite effortless.
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Pro
 Excellent value for money

The WAC 5500-2, with a price tag below $130, is an excellent product that offers great value. It's powerful enough to use in large rooms, it's quite portable, uses triple air filtering (to ensure the best air quality) and also has several interesting extra features, such as a timer and a remote control.
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Pro
 Automatically enters night mode

The auto dim feature senses the amount of ambient light in a room and dims the control panel and notification lights, so they don’t disturb your sleep.
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Pro
 Can be controlled remotely

It comes with a remote control, so you can conveniently use it to change the setting from a distance.
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Pro
 Has a built-in timer

The unit can be set to operate for a defined time period (of 1, 2, 4 or 8 hours) and then switch off automatically.
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Pro
 Alerts you when the filter needs changing

The control panel will display a LED alert when the filters is approaching the point when it will have to be changed.
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Pro
 Can do multiple stage filtering

This purifier uses a three-stage filtering process. The air starts by going through a pre-filtering process to capture large particles like hair and dust. After that, it goes though the carbon filter to remove odors. Finally, the HEPA filter captures the smallest particles (as small as 0.03 microns).
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Pro
 Capable of maintaining the air clean in large rooms

The CADR rating for this purifier is 250, enough to effectively keep the air clean on a large master bedroom or a living room.
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Pro
 Multiple fan speeds

The unit has four fan speeds: low, medium, high, and turbo. The turbo mode temporarily boosts the cleaning performance, but also makes the fan very loud.
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Pro
 Hassle-free filter changing

The filters are easy to swap: it takes around two minutes to peel off the plastic protective films and put everything back together.
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Pro
 Indicates quality of air

The unit has an air quality indicator that shifts from red informing that the air is very polluted to blue when everything is okay.
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Pro
 Capable of passing air through at least 4 times per hour

The fan is powerful enough to suck the air of a 300 square feet room through the purifier at least four times per hour.
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Con
 Power hungry

The unit can consume up to 120 W of electricity in its maximum speed. There are units with the same purification power that are much more economical, consuming almost twice as less.
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Con
 Only comes in black

The air purifier is only available in a dark charcoal finish, which may not fit the design of the room you want to place it in.
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Con
 Might not remove all the odors

The thin charcoal filter isn’t the best in eliminating odors. If that's one of your goals, you're better off looking elsewhere.
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