Airthings’ New Smart Air Purifier Is Worth Its $400 Price Tag
The past two years have seen an explosion of smart devices in the HVAC industry, from smart heaters to smart air conditioners, so it was only a matter of time before smart air purifiers became available. To begin with, we’ve seen recent offerings from IKEA, which has an entire line of air purifiers built into furniture that can be controlled via the IKEA TRÅDFRI gateway. Last year there were other new products, including the Coway AirMega line, BlueAir and others. But there are many reasons why the Airthings Renew is the smart air purifier I like best.
Unlike many air purifier companies, Airthings really only focuses on air quality, and not just the consumer market. Airthings also supplies products to businesses where there is some responsibility to ensure clean air, especially during the pandemic. The performance of these purifiers looks pretty great: they filter particles as small as 0.3 microns, which is the size of aerosolized SARS COV-2. It will purify the air in a room of up to 525 square feet in thirty minutes through a series of medical-grade HEPA and carbon filters that remove particulates, gases, viruses, and odors from the air.
The Renew is similar in size and shape to a desktop computer, but much more luxurious and costs $399. It may seem expensive, but it’s a fair price for air purifiers of this size and quality. A common financial drain on most air purifiers is replacing the filters – they’ll cost you $70. While the general rule is to replace the filters every six months, the main benefit of the smart app is that you will be notified exactly when it is time to replace the filters based on their usage. If you live in the land of fire, you may be able to pass through them more often, and if you live in an area with little pollution, you may be able to stretch it out longer.
I like the idea of a smart purifier with all the features of Renew: you can turn it on and off remotely and make it part of your home automation. Simply turning it on remotely will be a big help when you’re returning home from a trip or when your purifier monitor notifies you that the air quality has deteriorated. The app will also give you graphical statistics of what the purifier removes from the air, which is more interesting than helpful.