Austin Air Healthmate Plus - Powerful Air Purifier with HEPA Medical-Grade Filtration System, Eliminate Harmful Airborne Contaminants, (Black)

Extremely loud. There’s no way any can realistically use this in a modern apartment.

I have a nice apartment, and my neighbor has a heavy pot smoking habit. This machine (cranked on high) will remove 90% + of pot smell leeching into my space. In my case, the smoke smell was seeping through the wall that divides our units. My neighbor does not share any ventilation ducts with me and is completely walled off. I tried (2) other Levoit air purifiers (300 and 400) before landing on this one. They were a joke and did not remove the smell. This unit, the Austin Healthmate Plus with 15lbs of activated carbon, actually works. I stuck it in the corner where the smell seeps in, and leave it on low or medium all the time. The unit is a bit loud on high, and the fan seems to "flutter" a bit on low/medium. If you are buying this, you care more about clean air than you do a very slight flutter in the acoustics. You are paying for the commercial quality air filter. This unit is powerful enough to clean all the air in my 1200 square foot space on medium. There is a noticeably neutral smell throughout the apartment if I leave it on high. When my neighbor is actively smoking and the machine is on medium, I can smell something slight. I then turn the machine on high and the smell goes away. If I turn the machine off I can start to smell it again within 5 minutes, so I know it works. I think this is the best tool to regain control of your air if you are struggling with a neighbor's smoke. Before I got this I was coughing/sneezing, and it was psychologically distressing since my bedroom is where the problem originates. Completely worth it in my opinion. Also, apparently the relative humidity in your space should not exceed 60%. Excess moisture will react with the potassium iodide impregnated carbon filter, and that will apparently reduce its life. Only the Healthmate PLUS has potassium iodide in the filter. I don't know how well this machine would handle direct smoke in the same space. Anyway, now I don't have to move, and I can think about something else besides what my neighbor is smoking.

Had it a year and it is awesome. We leave it on the highest setting in the moring come home no smells. Its cleaning 5 rooms. The highest fan speed its loud but use thay as a sound machine at night. Im not sure it will last 5 years. I think my sons fish cooking every week has killed the filter. How do you know when to change the filter

It’s a high quality and high priced unit. I bought it because they are painting with oil finishes in our house and there are a lot of rooms (historical home). I bought it for use in my office while they were working in other rooms. What works better, is to open a window just enough for a dual window fan and positively pressurize the room. This keeps vapors from seeping in through the bottom of the doors. I do leave the unit on overnight on its lowest setting (as I remove the window fan.). A friend of mine bought the same unit because of plastic smells. Worked for the first few days, then must have saturated the carbon. Is it a high quality item, yes. Would I buy it again, no.

I received the HM 450 about two and a half weeks ago, and I have not slept as well as I have in the past two and a half week in decades. I call it "the monolith," because it sets there in the dark a slightly blacker rectangle against the far wall than the blackness of the room. Makes me think of the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It hums away and converts air my airway reacts to into air my airway does not react to. I don't care how much noise it makes because I'm falling asleep within 5 to 10 minutes instead of spending several hours hacking and coughing and getting up and down to spray out my sinuses with saline or take another effing pill or whatever until finally I can sleep for a few minutes before I have to be up. I've been taking fewer pills to sleep. I've been requiring fewer interventions overall. For the first time in decades it feels like my overall health trajectory might hold off on its general decline for a minute. Maybe I'll even go in the other direction some.

Austin Air company CARES about people. purchase any 3 larger models healthmate/ plus/ or bedroom you can use any of the 3 filters interchangeably in 5 years you can upgraded without having to buy a new unit that is awesome because many companies change filter design to force you to get a new unit if you want an improved filter companies like this one are hands down owned by good people trying to help not