Honeywell PetCleanAir Air Purifier HHT-082-TGT

I currently have a number of small birds and four cats. If you've ever had birds, you know how much dust they can produce. Mine is the sort of household where even high-end furnace filters have to be changed monthly. What's more, I also suffer from allergies. Since I am unwilling to give up my pets, I have adopted several strategies to make my allergies more manageable. One of them involved purchasing this air purifier.

I'll be honest, I chose this air purifier because it had a picture of a dog on the box, and I had a dog at the time of purchase (she has since passed away), although I do not think there is a lot differentiating the PetCleanAir purifier from other tower-style air purifiers. It takes two HEPA filter cartridges, and although there are a variety out there, most seem to be a standard size (you should be able to use the Holmes ones in here for sure, in addition to Honeywell-branded ones). There is an additional pre-filter which fits inside the removable back panel.

This unit is fairly effective, even when overwhelmed in an environment like my condo! When I open the back, there is a ton of dust/dander/junk that it has removed from circulation. While I am generally quite happy with this air purifier, there are a couple of reasons I knocked off a star. None of them is a huge deal, but they are things you may want to consider before making a purchase:

1) There is a light on the top which comes on when it is time to change the filter. This does not appear to be correlated to the dirtiness of the filter, but instead to the amount of time the unit has been on. For homes with fewer animals, this might be sufficient, but when I see the light come on, it's WAY past time to change the filter. (It's hard for me to remember to do this in the absence of the light...)

2) On full blast, the unit is a little noisy.

3) The air purifier (probably because of the pre-filter) is advertised as removing odors, but it really doesn't -at least not in high-odor homes. (A Rottweiler with an intestinal gas problem may have over-taxed it, though. Also, I do a lot of cooking from scratch with garlic and onions, and sometimes cooking odors can linger overnight.)

That being said, I'm inclined to go easy on this air purifier, because I know my particular living situation is probably at the extreme end of usage. It does definitely remove junk from the air, and is relatively quiet on a low setting. I have not noticed a significant increase in my electric bill (I usually run it when I am at home only, and don't leave it on all the time), so it's not drawing a lot of power. Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase and would recommend this air purifier.

Save 8% Off