Alen BreatheSmart Classic HEPA Air Purifier with VOC/Smoke Filter - Captures Pet Dander, Allergens,Dust,Mold,Germs, Smoke, Chemicals, Noxious Gas - Apartments & Large Bedrooms, up to 1100 sq. ft.

Feb. 15th 2019 PurchaseMay 15th 2019 ReviewOk so I’ve been waiting a while to review this product as I wanted to really test it out and see if it was not only worth the hype, but the money. Below are my lengthy comments.1. Living in Austin, TXAllergies are bad, like #26 worst city in the entire nation bad. Needless to say, we all suffer in this house. Between the dogs and just the location, we are on a first name basis with our ENT and have severe allergies that turn into sinus infections at least 6x a year. It’s that bad. Seriously. The ENT told me to move after my allergy test.2. The Unit ItselfThis thing is big, like very big. Roughly 3ft y’all and 2 feet wide and just a box body white (you can change the face cover) contraption. Is it pretty, no, does that matter if it works? To us, no, but just be aware that this is a little air purification unit you can just put in the corner and nobody will notice.3. Amount NeededMake sure you really buy the units based on your sq. footage. We ended up buying 4 units to place in the downstairs of our home alone so it does matter. I can’t speak on it we only had one if it would work, but the 4 are what we have strategically placed. Don’t forget to not butt them against the wall either. They need room to breathe and collect air.4. Simplicity of UseThese units are VERY easy to put together; all the lights are simple to understand and the instructions are straightforward. We have our 4 units running on high 24/7/365 and have not had one issue at all. The main light on the top indicates air quality; red =bad, yellow =OK, blue = good. It’s a great way to keep track of how the air quality is throughout the day.5. NoiseI wouldn’t say this is at all invasive when it comes to noise. Now, when we turn them off it seems very quiet in the house but when they are on and running there is not a noise you notice or that is bothersome. All in all they are incredibly quiet.6. UsesI want to preface that we bought our units for allergies, not air scent purification. We do have 5 dogs but I can’t say whether or not they helped with the “dog smell” - I would like to say our home doesn’t have a dog smell at all as they are all short coated dogs and we have a 3x a week housekeeper. I only say this as we bought these units to help with allergies and allergies only, not for smoking, bad smells etc so although our home always seems fresh and airy, I can’t speak to that here about the units.7. Do They Work?Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Wow - this is where I get excited. Since February until now, May when we all usually are at the ENT getting more meds and nose sprays we haven’t been once time this year. Now, does that mean we didn’t suffer from allergies? No, we still did, it has just been reduced measurably. We can breathe again, year round and living in Austin is truly much less miserable allergy wise. They aren’t cheap, and they may not be pretty to look at, but these units work, really well and we are so grateful for that because it sure beats the alternative of the doctor all the time. If you’re on the fence about them, pull the trigger. It’s worth it.

I reserve 5-star reviews for products that significantly surpass my realistic and context-specific expectations - to wit, this product isn't perfect and may not be similarly effective for everyone, but meets my criteria for 5-stars.I use this BreatheSmart Classic 1100sqft purifier with the mold-specific filter - I have owned and used this product for six months at the time of this review.GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:- The unit was eerily simple to set up. The front panel snaps onto the main body via magnets - you just have to approximate the magnets and it aligns itself into place. I have not noticed any off-putting (or any, really) smell in the unit or filter at any time during setup or operation.- We've run this filter almost non-stop for six months in our high-allergen home (an old, damp farmhouse with pervasive spring-fall mold growth, two cats and a dog, lots of dust/pollen, where the HVAC system is windows and a wood stove) on the automatic setting, only vacuuming the filter twice so far, without any noticeable change in efficacy and the filter light (which changes color when it is time to buy a new one and again when it is time to change the filter) has not yet changed.- The automatic setting has worked very well for us so far. The fan speed (as well as the detector light) changes in predictable ways - increasing when we light fires in the wood stove and smoke escapes, when we are doing heavy cooking, or during vacuuming/dusting. Typically it goes to the lowest setting at night and the detector light corresponds appropriately (turning blue during times of low activity, turning red during times of obvious particulate contamination).- We greatly appreciate the nighttime feature that allows you to turn the units lights off while it is still running.- The until is surprisingly lightweight and easy to move. There's a handle pocket in the top of the unit and I am able to carry it up and down steps and from room to room with relative ease for something that size.EFFICACY: I have allergy-induced reactive airway disease that ranges from mild-to severe depending on exposure and is particularly sensitive to mold and strong chemicals/fragrances. With prolonged exposure, my symptoms can become cumulative and I begin reacting to things I normally wouldn't, like cooking smells.The first spring-fall in our damp house was almost unlivable, I was using multiple inhalers and oral medications and frequently waking up gasping and needing to use my rescue inhaler during the night. Many nights I went entirely without sleep.The second year we scrubbed the inside of our home from ceilings to floors, with every cupboard, shelf, and cabinet in between (bleach and ammonia are out because they exacerbate the RAD - we had good luck with vinegar on unfinished wood as well as the product Micro Balance EC3 Mold Solution Concentrate on that and all other surfaces). This brought a ~15-20% reduction in symptoms.A couple months later we added two dehumidifier/AC floor-window units which helped significantly, but were loud, took up a good bit of space in our ~1000 sqft home, and tripled our electric bill (which was already quite small starting out with, but still). I still needed frequent anti-histamines which left me drowsy, cranky, and foggy-headed but was able to stop the daily maintenance inhaler and only occasionally needed to use my rescue inhaler. I also was still waking up unable to breathe from my nose, usually with a headache, and used a 3M respirator to do any house-cleaning to avoid an exacerbation.After ample research, we purchased the BreatheSmart and immediately put it to use. While spring-fall is the worst season for my particular allergies, the "off" months have still been challenging, just less so. We received the unit in November during a notably mild but wet winter, when the humidifier/ac units were off. I was still experiencing the morning stuffy nose, frequent headache, anti-histamine and inhaler use ~3-4 times/week, and needing to use a respirator to clean.I noticed improvement in the morning symptoms after the first night of having the unit in our room. Over the last six months, I now use anti-histamine or prescription oral asthma medication on average 2 times/month. I've used my rescue inhaler (while at home) twice. And I no longer require a mask to clean (though in some rooms working underneath or behind furniture I occasionally feel a mild attack - but these have not progressed to the chronic, unrelenting reactivity of years past). I have noticed a significant improvement in sleep, I wake up able to breathe out of my nose, and my number of headaches has substantially decreased.After a week out of town with the purifier turned off, we arrived home and within minutes of moving some items around in the living room, which is also the dampest part of the house, my old symptoms began returning with a vengeance. I moved the filter to the room and returned about 90 minutes later. I was able to stay and work in the room (after only using the rescue inhaler once) for several hours without exacerbation or recurrence of symptoms - until all symptomatic discomfort completely resolved.An unexpected benefit is that the cooking smells that used to filter up our small home's steps and lodge for hours in our bedroom have now virtually vanished. My clothes no longer smell like burned popcorn and cooking meat.COST/EFFICIENCY: The purchase price of the unit stung a little...but we'd done quite a bit of research, made price and rating comparisons among numerous products, and when you get into more validated and rigorous sources of consumer reviews this appeared consistently better rated than many far more expensive and popularly advertised products.- We've estimated the until utilizes roughly 100 kilowatt hours per month - this equates to an ~$7-10/month increase in our monthly electric bill. To put it in perspective, I could run this unit for almost a week before it cost as much as turning on the baseboard heater in our <50sqft bathroom for one hour. Our two 500sqft dehumidifier/ac floor-window units running concurrently (which we relied on previously with less effective results for 6-8 months of the year) up our monthly bill by $100-120/month.OPTIONAL IONIZER: The jury is still out on this one - I know I would not have purchased this model if the Ionizer feature wasn't optional (can turn on or off). Despite claims (as most air purifier products do) that it meets regulations limiting ozone emission to less than 0.05ppm, there's still spotty evidence suggesting the possibility that even ozone at this concentration level could have negative health impacts on humans. That said, I have used the feature a few times for brief periods when we were not home or in a room no people or animals were in to see if it made a noticeable difference. We have never been able to detect a difference in operation or efficacy of the unit when the ionizer is running vs not. So we opt for not. Like I said, evidence is equivocal - we'd rather err on the side of caution, but this comes down to personal preference. I encourage any potential purchaser or owner of any air filter with this feature to do their own research (via objective research such as that found on google scholar over that found on company websites).NOISE: For the truly hypersensitive, it could be problematic. I would characterize the noise level at highest speed on par with a commercial white-noise machine or small fan. We usually keep the unit in our bedroom and I've found it quite helpful at night because it buffers the noises of my husband's snoring and teeth grinding that used to wake me up several times a week (an unexpected bonus); I've actually missed it on the few nights it was in a different room or turned off. Compared to the dehumidifier/ac unit, it's a whisper. I'm not a particularly heavy sleeper and may have woken up once or twice in the first week of owning the unit when it switched from a lower to higher fan speed during the night, but that's it. At low speed, sound is minimal - during a particularly drizzly day (not a storm) I actually had to check that it was still on because the sound of the rain was louder.BOTTOM LINE: This unit by itself brought more measurable relief, and much more rapidly, than our powerhouse dehumidifier/ac units. As this wet spring progresses, we will see if we will need to add the dehumidifier/ac units into the mix as well for more complete mold prevention (we probably will, just in case), but the point remains that this purifier was a very worthwhile purchase that has significantly improved my quality of life. There isn't any expectation point (at this time) in which it has fallen short and has, in fact, surpassed nearly all my expectations. I would buy this product again and recommend without hesitation to anyone with similar issues and pricepoint.