I have owned a number of air cleaners over the years. Most recently, I placed two Hoover Air Purifier with TiO2 Technology WH10600 in the rooms of my children to combat an unusually bad allergy season. Prior, I also owned two Winix PlasmaWave 5300 Air Cleaner Model, sold by Sears and marketed as Kenmore Plasma Air cleaners (made by same company). I rate the Hoover Air Purifier with TiO2 Technology WH10600 a better air cleaner. It's also about $100 cheaper than the Oreck as of the date of this review.The Oreck AirInstinct is clearly targeting the advanced air cleaner market. This market is typically differentiated primarily through price and certain functions. This air cleaner offers true HEPA performance and many functional (operationally) options. However, it is seemingly missing proven technology such as UV filters incorporated in many other products and at a lesser price. Where the Oreck shines is in it's near silent operation, style, form (can fit up against a wall), various modes, sleep function, and 3 year HEPA filter, and 3 year odor filter. The value of the 3 year filters equates to anywhere from $125$400 depending on the comparison air cleaner (i.e. Plasma Replacement filters can be very expensive). The replacement filters for the Hoover Air Purifier with TiO2 Technology WH10600 will run about $85 over the course of 3 years of average household use. I did not mention the so called "mood light" because who really cares?
The unit is quality built and does not feel cheap in any manner. Operationally, the Oreck runs and looks great. It's very quiet and cleaned the air in our entire Master Bedroom pretty quickly. The filter system is comprised of three filters. The HEPA, odor, and pre-filter. In my opinion, the odor filter did nothing to remove odors (another reviewer noted this as well). My wife's perfume for example, was still evident even two hours later with the air cleaner running the entire time. The automatic operation features of the product makes it "plug and play." This includes the auto sleep feature that reduces the airflow of the unit when it senses the lights have been out for about three minutes. When the lights come back on, after a few minutes, the air flow is increased automatically. I like these features as they are more advanced than the 3 power stage and auto features associated with most of the units on the market today. But the sleep feature can be a problem if you intend the unit to run at full power regardless of the time of day.
It is important to note that when purchasing air cleaner units, they are rated for room size. In the case of this product, it is rated for a room not to exceed 248 square feet (Hoover is rated at 79 square feet). At this price point, I expect better performance in terms of room size that would let me use the unit in larger rooms. I would gladly give up the mood light and sleep function as a trade off. Also, as I previously mentioned, this product does not have any UV light to kill germs. While many people laugh at such a feature, I can tell you first hand it works when properly applied by room size. Typically, you will either use the UV light with a Titanium Dioxide coated screen or a Plasma generator, which is the functional equivalent of an air ionizer.
The bottom line is that the Oreck is a heavy duty, quality built, HEPA air cleaner without germ killing capabilitythat will save you the expense of replacing filters at least every year, if not more often. As of the date of this review, there has been a significant price fluctuation downward from the MSRP, previous Amazon price, and current price. I believe this reflects the fact that it does not have germ killing capability and people are opting for the cheaper units with such a capability. (Don't let the out of stock warning fool you, they only had 8 units when it first went online). I gave this unit 4 stars because it does what it says it does and does so quietly.
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