Should you buy a VAX or a Philips air purifier?

One of the most popular questions we have been asked recently is 'Why don't you sell more branded air purifiers like those from VAX or Philips on your website?'.

The simple answer is that so far none of the ones we have tested or analysed from these manufacturers necessarily provide improved performance or better value than units that are already readily available.
It is by no means a poor reflection on the brands in question, in fact it is actually a great thing that these companies are now throwing their weight behind the issue of clean air. However, from what we have found so far, it pays to look a little deeper than just the brand name when you are choosing which air purifier will work best for you.

I have heard of Philips, Vax and Dyson, but I've never heard of some of the brands that you sell, why is that?
Well known companies like those above often manufacture everything from hoovers, to toasters to televisions and beyond. It is logical that those brand names are on your radar because you see their products everywhere all the time. When they bring out a totally new product like an air purifier, they naturally push their advertising heavily to bring it to your attention. If you do happen to be thinking about buying an air purifier you will understandably see those heavily advertised brands first, and perhaps even assume they are the best option for you just because you recognise the name.

The fact is, some of the best air purifiers in the world are manufactured by companies you may never have heard of.
There are companies out there who's name you may never have heard of before, but who have been designing, manufacturing and refining specialist air purifiers for decades. Of course that alone does not necessarily guarantee their air purifiers are better than some of the new ones now coming onto the market, however their established, in depth understanding of the mechanics of air filtration do put them in pole position to provide the most outstanding machines. Brands like Airfree or Blueair for instance have been manufacturing some of the world's finest air purifiers for over twenty years.

Some branded air purifiers may not be as powerful as they first seem.
We already have numerous articles on the website about how to choose a good air purifier that will suit your purpose well ( see links at the bottom of this article ) but if we were to pick up on just one main reason why most of these new branded air purifiers may not offer such great value for money as you think, then it would probably be the issue of effective room size. You see for an air purifier to do its job effectively as advertised ( removing up to 99.9% of airborne contaminants etc ) , it needs to be able to recirculate all of the air in your room through the filter around five times an hour. Basically, if you put a small air purifier in a large room it may only actually recirculate all of the air in that room through the filter once an hour or even less. New airborne pollutants are arriving faster than your purifier is able to reach them and as a result it may not provide you with the level of protection the manufacturers claim.

Don't be misled by performance exaggeration.
Some manufacturers grossly exaggerate the room sizes that their equipment will operate effectively in. It is common to see purifiers advertised on the internet and in High Street stores which claim to be suitable for fairly substantial room sizes. However, the reality is that many of these units could only ever be remotely effective in rooms which are much, much smaller.

Take for example the VAX range. Their small entry level AP01 (£99.00) air purifier is rated on their own website as being for rooms up to 61m2 - however a quick look at its official airflow ratings prove that in order for it to provide you with effective purification of around 5 air changes an hour it would need to be operated in a room no larger than 7m2. Their other models like the AP03 (£259.99) and Pure Air 300 (£299.00) could be misleading in quoting 103m2 and 120m2 respectively, when in actual fact their effective application would be in rooms no bigger than 17m2 and 30m2.

This then begs the question are these units actually offering value for money?
Taking into account that the machines above are actually more suited to much smaller rooms of 7m2, 17m2 or 30m2 are they still worth the prices of £99, £259.00 and £299?
For instance you can buy an air purifier with virtually the same room capacity as the VAX AP01 for as little £55.00, similarly, why pay £259.00 for VAX AP03 when just £40 more could buy you an excellent air purifier from Swiss experts Stadler Form. The Stadler Form Roger Little is about 25% more powerful, quieter, a medical grade hepa filter inside, a three year warranty and a pedigree in the air filtration industry spanning more than 20 years.

Another example could be the Philips AC2356 air purifier which clearly states that it is designed for rooms up to 95m2 - however if you take its official fan capacity (367m3/hr) and work out which size of room it would actually be effective in, the fact is its optimum room size is only about 29m2. The Philips AC2356 costs a hefty £380.00, and although it has some nice additional features - you could actually buy a Leitz Trusens Z3000 at £349.00 with all these features and more for less outlay. The Leitz also comes with a stand alone air quality monitor which plugs in on the other side of the room and sends the readings back to the air purifier - thus providing a much more accurate reading of the overall air quality across the whole room, as opposed just monitoring the air closest to the air purifier itself.

Hopefully this article will give you food for thought and help you to feel comfortable about choosing your next air purifier. By all means feel free to give us a call if you would like to discuss your requirements with a friendly advisor, we do love to talk to our customers.

For links to some other helpful air purifier articles and advice on how to choose the best one for you CLICK HERE.