Blueair - Blue Pure 311i Max 387 Sq. Ft Smart HEPASilent Air Purifier - White/Seabed

Ever since I found out as an adult that I have severe allergies, I’ve made it a point to make sure my house is treated for allergens, and that includes the use of air filters. I now have several different brands and types of air filters in my house, and while I have no objective evidence - like test data - of better air quality, I can say that anecdotally my allergies and the quality of my sleep has never been better. When I focus on features, ease of use and design, I’m comparing it to Dyson products, 3M and Molekule (which I all own). SETUP AND EASE OF USE In terms of setup and simplicity, the Blueair is easily one of the best. I had issues connecting my Molekule to my Wi-Fi network, the 3M doesn’t have any smart features, and the Dyson was easy to setup. (Granted, Wi-Fi app access is not necessary). I plugged it in, the lights on the display came on, and after downloading the app, the app immediately found it and immediately connected to my phone. It comes with a manual which is an easy read and simple to understand, but it’s somewhat unnecessary. At least when it comes to the controls, it’s very intuitive. There’s two buttons, one to turn it on and off and the other to switch between fan speeds. There’s 3 fan settings with the 4th putting it in automatic mode and the 5th being night mode which sets the fan speed at the lowest settings and sets the brightness of the display to the lowest. Bottomline is setup and ease of use is an A+. DESIGN With air filters, especially larger ones, are meant to be focal points in your rooms. They are supposed to be placed away from walls so it’s difficult to keep them hidden or otherwise have them blend it. Bottomline is that the design of the air filter does matter (at least to me, and presumably most people). You have the Molekule which to me is a sophisticated looking filter, to me it’s the filter Apple might design. At the bottom you have the 3M which is definitely function over design (it’s a large ugly black box). Obviously design is subjective, but I find the Blueair filter to be very attractive. It starts with the fabric filter cover that filters large air particles on the outside. If you don’t like the color, there are other colors that fit your look. The interface blends into the top of the filter and is not distracting (vs. Molekule which has a small OLED screen), but basic. To me it almost looks like a round laundry hamper, but to me, it’s handsome and I don’t mind having it on display in the middle of my room. AIR QUALITY AND SOUND As I said before, I really don’t have a way to test the filtration quality. I rely on the app, which I admittedly had to educate myself on, and anecdotal evidence. As I said, my quality of sleep has improved and my allergies are better. From my perspective, it works well. The app tells you the air quality based on particle pollution, or PM. It also measures AQI or air quality index. The AQI index appears to be based on your location, so the app is pulling that information from external sources. So you’ll notice that the AQI is listed as outdoor. For indoor, it simply tells you whether the air quality is “Excellent” or otherwise (i.e. Good, moderate, polluted, etc.). The filter can apparently capture PM of 2.5 which includes fine dust, animal dander and bacteria. I don’t think it actually tells you what it’s filtering (again, I’m ignorant on some of the science - I have to take this at face value). The other big thing is sound. The Molekule air filter can sound like a jet engine, as does the 3M model. The Dyson does too when it’s on full blast. The Blueair is quite the opposite and is very quiet, even on the loudest settings. It apparently has a “noise reducer” on the inside. Now, some people may like the low hum of an air filter as white noise when they sleep - something to consider when choosing an air filter - while others might think it’s distracting. The Blueair is extremely silent; on automatic settings I can barely hear it even at night. It’s quite impressive. MAINTENANCE I think a major factor in deciding on an air filter is maintenance costs. First there’s the hurdle of initial costs, but if you don’t think you’ll need to change the air filters - you probably do - you’ll soon realize they’ll need to be changed. Just look at one of your filters after several months and you’ll want to change it. Then comes the frequency of having to change any filter or filters and the cost. Molekule and Dyson brands fall on the expensive end, with a suggested replacement time of every 6 months. It’s about $60-70 to replace Molekule filters (in my model, there are two filters). The 3M filters are cheaper, about $13 each, but they require more frequent replacement. This particular model recommends filter replacement every 6 months, and the costs if you opt for a subscription (which I recommend so you don’t have to remember to order them, and you get a few dollar discount) is about $44. This gets you a replacement filter, but you still have to perform some maintenance on the outer fabric cover. The manual recommends vacuuming the outside (if you see dust on it) with a brush vacuum attachment. Or you can opt to wash it and air dry it. When taking into account the Molekule, which requires the purchase of two filters, I certainly don’t mind washing the outer fabric every so often to prevent my from paying for a second filter, so that’s another bonus of this model. CONCLUSION This is a great looking, quiet, air filter that has relatively low maintenance costs. Yes, it is a little ont he expensive side compared to some other options, but taking everything into consideration, it’s a great option. Especially when you take into account that it’s intended to cover a large area like a large bedroom or even a living room. I can comfortably say tha the use of air filters (this model specifically, but also just the use of air filters in general) has increased my quality of life at home; especially living in an area where my allergies can be difficult to manage.

Amazing. I have a dog and a cat and my allergies were killing me. This is so far one of the best air purifier I ever purchased. Also my sleep quality has improved after I got it.

Pretty, quiet, easy to use. Big fan of this line and the latest versions have the ability to child lock the controls on top — great to stop toddlers from messing with it :)

I have had a lot fo air purifiers in my home over the years. This is my second BlueAir air filter unit. This model is much better than the first generation. It is super quiet and the fabric sleeve can easily be washed. The fabric sleeve is the first layer of filtration and prolongs the lift of the unit’s HEPA filter. The unit has an okay mobile app thst connects to the filter and provides data on air quality and run time. Id say the best feature is the quietness of the unit and the washable sock.

Finally crisp and clean air in New York. This is my third air purifier and my favorite . Reasonably priced with an aesthetically beautiful exterior . I love the intuitive app as well.

I am very happy with this air purifier, though when I plugged it in for the first time it registered blue. This surprised me since it meant excellent air quality and I was purchasing it because I thought my home’s air quality wasn’t as good as it could be. But one day I sprayed a fragrance mist near the device and the indicator light turned green! I also noticed it turning green when I was folding a blanket that needed laundering, so it is definitely reacting to pollutants and cleaning them up quickly.

It’s worked out great in my small apartment. Its set and forget with an auto feature that kicks on when I’m cooking or something else pollutes the air. It never gets too loud and it’s got a decent look to it. The app is also nice for changing settings and monitoring air quality in my home.

This is a great tool to add to the home or office space. The design is modern and fits into any space without standing out. The best part about using the product is the app and the ability to control the unit from anywhere. To save on cost it has an auto feature that will run based on the quality of the air. Another cost saving feature is the ability for the unit to turn on and off based on your location via cell. depending on the fan speed it can be very quiet to somewhat noisy. If ran on Auto and the fan is at full power, it doesn't stay noisy for long periods of time depending on the situation at the moment. The sensor is able to pick up very quickly to smoke, aerosol fragrance sprays, oil diffusers, you name it, it can sense it and act accordingly.

Wow i am super impressed. So i had a air purifier in my Livingroom that was a bit smaller than this one but not by much. When i received the box from UPS it was big but i was very surprised how lightweight it was. Now my old one has been running for almost a year and its way louder even on the lower setting its still pretty loud. This Blueair is so so quiet i did not even think it was running after a few hours when it had literally cleaned the air in my house. They have a few different models as small as one to clean the air in like a smaller bedroom and all the way up to one size bigger than the one i got. This one cleans a room about 928 square feet in about 30 minutes then it's sensors can tell the air quality and it will adjust the speed of the air purifier to a slower speed. Like i said mine has gone through the initial cleaning and now it's whisper quiet. I had to put my ear rite up to it to hear if it was even running,It is super quiet. As you can see in one of my screen shots of the app running on my phone where i initially turned it on and the air quality was not very good and that was with my other air purifier running constantly at a way higher speed for almost a year. So turning the blueair on and seeing that my old one was not even remotely doing the job was kind of disheartening because i feel like i have been running my old one and all it was doing is wasting my electricity and humming in the background and not doing what i paid over $130 for it to do. Another nice feature is the outer material comes in an assortment of colors, so you can match your paint or furniture so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. It was super easy to set up with the app and i had it out of the box and up and running in about 3 minutes. As you can see from the screen shot on the app the air quality in my house whent from bad even with my old air purifier running constantly for almost a year to very clean in under and hour. This is one of the best investments i have made in a long time and i can tell by the amount of dust in the air and it smells so much better in my house that this was a great purchase and its doing a great job. Like i said also if you have a smaller area to clean the air in they make several models that are less expensive so you can adjust your budget and save some money or you can buy the bigger ones put them in the smaller are and clean the air so much faster. All in all this was a great purchase and well worth every penny.