Over the past several years, I have been on a search to find the best reasonably priced bedroom air purifier one that works but doesn't cost a small fortune. I will give you the basics on my experience with the Winix WAC9500 and then you can see how I rank it against other purifiers I have tried. I have tried the Winix WAC9500 for only one week before writing this review, however I will update this review as my experience with the purifier proceeds.A little background about the environment where the purifiers were used:
I have had a little more than 4-years of experience with four other purifiers besides the Winix WAC9500, all shown below. All of them were used in a medium-sized bedroom in a dusty environment. Except for the Whirlpool, which I used for 3 years in a downtown city-environment with a busy street outside my window, all of the others were used in dry, dusty, desert-environments with the grand title of having nearly the worst air in the country. Plus there is a cat living in the house (mostly the bedroom where the purifiers have been located). If a purifier can control my allergies (sneezing, very watery eyes, sometimes a sore throat) from the bad air and eliminate any odors made by the cat, I know it is working.
Winix WAC9500
*My overall grade: A
*Replacement filters: $$$
*Replacement needed: Annually
*Overall annual cost of filters: $$ (Update April 14, 2012: We got 322 days [46 weeks] of use before the change filter light came on. Based on the current replacement cost on Amazon.com of $98.00, the daily filter cost comes to around $0.30/day.)
*Effectiveness: A
*Deal breaker: Includes a remote, which is a really nice feature. The most effective, quietest, and cost-effective purifier I have found. Consumes only 15 watts on high. Filter and Plasmawave feature are very effective at cleaning the air and neutralizing odors.
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The Winix WAC9500 purifier is superior to almost any other air purifier I have tried. The closest comparison I can find is to the Surround Air XJ-3800 Intelli-Pro Air Purifier. Both of them have pretty good odor control, however I think I found that the Winix WAC9500 has superior odor and dust DETECTION. While both do pretty much the same with the odors once they are detected, the Winix WAC9500 was better at detecting odors and kicking up the fan speed in "auto mode" to eliminate them. I think I have found that the Winix may have the slight upper hand at eliminating the odors more quickly, but this advantage may come from the better and faster odor detection.
As for noise, I think the Winix is slightly better than the Surround Air XJ-3800. The "high" setting on the Winix, which is less powerful than the "turbo" mode available, is quieter than the highest setting on the Surround Air XJ-3800, yet it seems just as effective at cleaning the air. The Winix WAC9500 has better fan settings. For me, there is barely a noticeable difference between the "low" and "medium" settings.
One area where both the Winix and Surround Air purifiers lack is in the "auto" mode. In "auto" mode, the purifier detects dust and odors and adjusts the purifier to handle the smell or "contaminated" air. But there is inherently a defect in the way that this is designed. The purifiers automatically move to the lowest setting once the air cleaned. This by design reduces the amount of air that is moved. This affects how quickly the purifier can draw new "contaminated" air to determine that it needs to kick up the fan speed to handle the new "contaminated" air and clean. The result is dirty air in one part of the room until the purifier can draw enough of it over to the purifier to detect that it needs to increase fan speed. It takes a long time if the purifier moved to the "low" setting in "auto" mode. It would be a much better if they allowed you to set "auto" mode to the "medium" speed and it would kick up a notch or two when it senses dirty air. Because this is not possible, I have found that we tend to keep the purifiers on high, except for nights when peace and quiet is desired. Set this way, the purifiers are most effective at cleaning the air, but they consume more energy than the "auto" mode it's a trade off.
The energy efficiency of the Winix WAC9500 signficantly outperforms the Surround Air XJ-3800. The high setting on the Winix (which I believe is as efficient as the high setting on the Surround Air) uses only 15.5 watts versus 45 watts. These numbers came from a Belkin Conserve Insight F7C005q Energy-Use Monitor:
Setting/ Winix WAC 9500 / Surround Air XJ3800
Low/ 6 watts / 31 watts
Medium/ 10 watts / 35 watts
High/ 15.5 watts / 45 watts
Turbo/ 64.5 watts / 55 watts
Pretty amazing that the high on the Winix WAC9500 only draws slightly more than a 60-watt equivalent CFL.
If you consider that the WAC9500 uses ~15 watts on high, at $0.106/kwh, the cost to operate this purifier 24-hours a day is $13 for a year. Over 5 years (assuming that is an average lifespan for an air purifiers), the cost to operate on the high setting (which is not the highest) 24-hours a day is $65. However, if you look closely, many purifiers in this class use a minimum of 35-watts, some as much as 112 watts in turbo modes (like the Electrolux Oxygen Ultra Air Cleaner, EL500AZ). Over 5-years at 35-watts for 24-hours a day, that is $153, assuming the same electricity cost above. The difference between 15-watts and 35-watts over 5-years is $88.
There is an "auto sleep" feature on the Winix WAC9500 that I was never able to get to work correctly. Once activated, it is supposed to set the purifier on low mode when the room is dark and return to the previous settings once the room gets light again. However, every time I activated the "auto sleep" function, the purifier just went to the lowest setting regardless of how much light was in the room (I removed all of the plastic films from the front of the purifier). I think it may need a better light sensor for it to work as designed.
The shipping information on Amazon indicates that the purifier is over 50 lbs., however, the actual weight of the purifier is more like 20 lbs.
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Other notes about purifiers in the same category I have tried before the Winix WAC9500:
The first purifier I tried five years ago was this model based upon a Consumer Reports top pick:
Whirlpool AP45030K Whispure Air Purifier, HEPA Air Cleaner (used for 3 years)
*My overall grade: C
*Replacement filters: $$$ (you have to buy HEPA and pre-filters separate)
*Replacement needed: pre-filters every 3-4 months, HEPA every year
*Overall annual cost of filters: $$
*Effectiveness: C
*Deal breaker: No means to eliminate odors, while the Winix WAC9500 and Surround Air XJ-3800 have electronic odor control (which really work), and the filters became stale before the annual filter change. Required frequent vacuuming of the pre-filter. A lot of unsightly dust would accumulate on the grille, which the Winix WAC9500 and Surround Air XJ-3800 do not have.
Two Hunter 30067 Hepatech Air Purifier for Medium-Size Rooms (placed on opposite sides of the room) (used for 6 months)
*My overall grade: D
*Replacement filters: $$ (you have to buy HEPA and pre-filters separate)
*Replacement filters are cheap and thin.
*Replacement needed: after 3-4 months
I found that even though these purifiers have a pre-filter, the HEPA filter was filthy and the indicator indicated that they needed replacement after only 3 months of use. (This model does not have an automatic dirty-filter alert. You have to look to see how dark the filter is and compare it to a strip on the filter.)
*Overall annual cost of filters: $$$
*Effectiveness: C
*Deal breaker: Noisy because we had to run them on high to be effective. Medium-speed was better as far as noise, but not effective at cleaning the dust. One of the two started to make a terribly annoying whirling-sound not even 3 months after starting to use it. We had to keep that purifier on low. These purifiers also have no means to remove odors. Required frequent vacuuming of the pre-filter. Having to replace the HEPA filter and pre-filters every 3-months was excessive and costly. Dust would also accumulate on the front grille. Rather than deal with the warranty for the defective purifier, we changed to the 3M below (for worse).
3M Ultra Clean Bedroom Air Purifier FAP02-RC (used for 2 months)
*My overall grade: F
*Replacement filters: $$$ (only one filter to change; contains no other filters)
Replacement filters are cheap and thin.
*Replacement needed: after 3 months
Since there is no pre-filter, this purifier requires more frequent replacement of the HEPA.
*Overall annual cost of filters: $$$
Notes: The replacement filters were nearly impossible to find. I bought this purifier because others said they could find the filters at Target, but I couldn't. On Amazon, the filters are only available through third-party sellers. No effective means of odor elimination like the Winix WAC9500 or Surround Air XJ-3800. One single thin filter and that's it.
*Effectiveness: D
*Deal breaker: The single-filter design is so antiquated. The fact that dust, which would normally get trapped by a pre-filter ends up in the main HEPA filter, decreases the life of the HEPA significantly. Don't waste your time with this purifier...you'll just be purchasing countless filters.
Surround Air XJ-3800 Intelli-Pro Air Purifierr (used for 6 months)
*My overall grade: C(Initially B when writing this review, but downgraded to C-. See last update at bottom of review.)
*Replacement filters: $ (you only have to buy one filter the HEPA; all others are washable)
*Replacement needed: after one year
*Overall annual cost of filters: $
Notes: The lights on the front of the unit are terribly bright at night, unlike the Winix WAC9500, which dims in "sleep" mode. We ended up putting black electrical tape over the lights.
*Effectiveness: B
*Deal breaker: No remote. We continued to sneeze despite running this purifier 24-7 and cleaning the unit far more regularly than recommended. The cleanings can be time consuming but the overall annual cost is the lowest because it only requires the replacement of one reasonably priced HEPA filter.
After all of these air purifiers, the winner for me is the...Winix WAC9500. Even though it is not perfect, it is the best I have come across so far. The light sensor may not work correctly and the "auto" feature may lack, but I found that it is better than all of the other alternatives I have tried. It is quiet, the filters only have to be swapped annually and it's energy-star rated consuming only 15 watts on high. I would recommend this purifier.
Update August 27, 2011:
Everyday we are impressed more and more by this air purifier. It has honestly exceeded any expectations I had. And it still outperforms any air purifier we have tired before. The only maintenance we've had to perform is to vacuum the pre-filter occasionally. This purifier does miracles cleaning up after our smelly cat. And on days when the air quality has been in the unhealthy range, it has made such a difference in the room where its located. I still can't recommend this enough.
Update April 14, 2012:
Just two days ago, our change filter light came on. Based on my calculations, the filter lasted us 46 weeks. This has pleasantly surprised us and we have not noticed an negligible difference in air quality over the life the filter. We regularly vacuum the filters, however, we have never washed them even though I know it's possible to wash the carbon filter. When I last checked, Amazon.com is selling the replacement filter set for around $98, which makes the filter cost a little over $2 per week, or $0.30 per day.
Update November 28, 2012:
This purifier is still going strong. In fact, I am on here to buy another for the bedroom. I've been shopping around to see if there is any new, good competition, but I am going to stick with this one because it has been such a reliable workhorse over the past 18-months. The Surround Air XJ-3800 we have in the bedroom just doesn't cut it any more. I have noticed an improvement when I have moved the Winix WAC9500 into the bedroom. The Surround Air CJ-3800 doesn't do anything with the dust or cat hair. It's hard to believe the mess that accumulates in a week. In fact, I would downgrade the Surround Air XJ-3800 to Cif I were to write my review again today. It is not awful, but it is not nearly as effective as this Winix WAC9500, at twice the cost to operate. The Winix WAC9500 been such a pleasure to have. It might be overkill in size for the bedroom (175 square feet), but it will be perfect on the medium setting.
Update December 17, 2012:
I ordered a second unit a while ago and it's been running about for a little more than two weeks now. The second unit definitely has a slight sound when the Plasmawave feature is engaged. I now know what the other reviewers have mentioned. The original unit makes a much less noticeable sound. Now, since I have two units to compare, I notice a very, very slight sound too from the first (quieter) unit when I turn the Plasmawave off and on. The sound of the new unit is very slight and since it is not in the bedroom, it is not bothersome. I now have the quieter original unit in the bedroom.
Out of curiosity I called and asked the manufacturer in Chicago what they thought. They told me the sound is normal, but they did not have an answer why one unit would be louder than the other. They informed me that the sound is partly determined by the quality of the air. I do not believe that has been my experience. The second unit has been consistent in the sound that it produces, whether the air is clean or contaminated. I am sensitive to noises so I think the sound would bother me if the louder unit was in the bedroom and I was trying to sleep. However, we barely notice it in the living room. It seems the noise does not affect the performance of the units. They are both equally good with cleaning the air. If you are sensitive to noise (and I mean it is very, very slight), you might not want the Plasmawave feature on when you are trying to sleep. The feature can be turned on and off using the remote control (only).
Update January 28, 2013:
Now both units are quiet. Something changed with the newer unit that we received, but I am not sure what. Whatever happened has caused the noisier unit to quiet down. Maybe it just needed a "breaking-in" period? We love these purifiers. They are about as "green", earth-friendly, as you can find while being very effective. We don't notice any change in our electricity bill with the addition of another unit. We still get some dust, but not nearly as much. This will not magically solve all of your dust problems, but it helps tremendously.
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