The Pura 4 Smart Diffuser Answers the Question: “Why Would Anyone Need a Smart Diffuser?”

Not long ago I thought the concept of a smart diffuser was like giving a fish a bicycle. Why should a diffuser be smart? Well, after trying the Pura 4 smart diffuser , now I know. (But if you’re reading this review and still prefer your scents “dumb”, go ahead and buy a candle.)

The Pura 4 turned out to be quite a useful gadget and a lot of fun. The basic features are what you’d expect from any plug-in diffuser: you start with an aroma cartridge and a power plug, which is larger than a drugstore plug but still quite compact. The difference is that when it’s plugged in, it only emits a scent when you activate it through the app. Like other smart apps, you can keep it on indefinitely or set a schedule for an hour every morning or four hours at sunset.

The device and app interface use Bluetooth and work with both Google Home and Alexa, so you can ask the air to fill with lavender on command. There is a night light that can be turned on according to a schedule at night. You can rotate the plug 90 degrees so that it is always upright, regardless of the orientation of the outlet.

There are other features in the app that I didn’t know I was missing from regular diffusers. Most importantly, you have detailed control over the amount of scent released on a scale of one to ten. For me, leaving it on one turned out to be the perfect amount; Every time the fan blew through the room, I felt a pleasant breeze with notes of citrus and cedar. As with any diffuser, where you place it will largely determine how much you’ll get out of it. Pura recommends placing them in the kitchen, hallway, living room or, you guessed it, the bathroom.

At $49.99, it’s priced in the middle of the diffuser market, but the base is really just the start, as you’ll need to keep it stocked with scents. There is a subscription service that you can join with flexible terms allowing you to deliver from monthly to every three months, you get a discount and can earn points towards free products. Otherwise, most flavors cost around $15 per capsule. While the lifespan of a single capsule depends entirely on your use, thanks to what they call Puralast™, Pura claims the scents should last around 120 hours.

Order directly from Pura and sign up to save 20% on fragrances, or buy on Amazon:

• Pura 4 and two scents direct from Pura $80.
• Pura 4 Smart Diffuser at Amazon (diffuser only) $50.

I have few complaints, although to be fair it’s hard to mess up a diffuser. I’d really like to be able to turn it on and off throughout the day, which isn’t easy to do at the moment – I can schedule it to turn on for an hour at 9am, but I can’t ask it to turn on for any length of time. a few minutes every two hours.

These scents seem expensive to me, but as a former Brooklyn Candle subscriber, I can attest that you get more scents for less money by using a diffuser instead of a candle, so the price makes sense.

For me, the main benefit is the ability to turn the diffuser on and off from the comfort of my desk across the room. In the end, I was won over by the benefits of a smart diffuser.