Desktop Air Purifier

Hay fever hit me hard last August, and I went through another round of researching room air purifiers and re learned why I never bought one. The problem is that I have central air conditioning at home, and heating through forced hot air. In New England, I need both. So the room air purifier will always be fighting with my HVAC unit which is always blowing new air into the room. Closing the vents doesn't work since I need them to keep the air temperature in range. And at the office, a room air purifier isn't much help, as doors are open and I have to live with whatever distribution system they have there.

This Humanscale product solved those problems for me. Think of a really quiet, very low speed air mover sitting on your bedside table wafting purified air over your face while you sleep. You're not cleaning the room's air, just the air you're breathing. Same at the office with this thing sitting on your desk aimed in your direction. What are the important attributes of something designed for this purpose? It must be very very quiet, and able to have a really low speed fan so you don't notice it. This does that.

I have this on my bedside table, and use it often. It has a variable speed fan. On high speed setting, it's like a table fan on low setting though probably louder. I don't think it was designed with this in mind. However, it really shines when you adjust the fan to the lowest possible speed. What you get then is the slightest air movement, like a breeze, and a very quiet and peaceful sound of moving air.

I didn't actually buy this till September, when nights were cooling off, so I didn't really want much airflow. And the first hour or so of having it on that first night the airflow was noticeable. However, after that I adjusted to the extent I don't even know it's on, and I've used it on cold nights now too and don't notice the slight breeze. It's hard to explain how quiet it is, from a few feet away, I can hear it, but if it were left on in the lowest speed setting, from more than a few feet away it's very very hard to hear. I've walked out of the bedroom with it on because I just didn't hear it. It has a dim LED light that lets you know it's on, and I don't notice this light at night. You do have to play a little with the slide switch though to achieve the lowest setting, which is just before it clicks off.

Also, after getting it, I had a technical question and called their tech support. A really nice lady answered the phone, and called me back a few times over the course of the next few days till I had all my answers. A real person, in real English, OMG.

One suggestion to Humanscale: it would be nice to have an integrated carrying handle on the top of the unit. I'd like to move it back and forth to the office during the worst months. It's small enough to move, but it's clumsy to move without a handle.

If this fits what you're looking for, I highly recommend it.

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