Expensive to Buy but Inexpensive to Own
Written: Sep 13 '02 (Updated Mar 06 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Effectiveness: |
|
|
|
Pros: Silent, very efficient, sleek. Filters you can clean and reuse.
Cons: High initial purchase price.
The Bottom Line: The Quadra Ionic Breeze is a sleek, powerful, highly efficient and silent air purifier that is expensive to buy but inexpensive to own.
|
|
|
| mithril's Full Review: Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra SI637 Air Purifi... |
I love these air filters and have been using them for over a year. I now have five Ionic Breeze devices in my manhattan apartment. Two full size Ionic Breeze Quadra air purifiers (one each in the living and dining room) and three of the small 'bathroom' size Ionic Breeze devices (one in each of two bedrooms and one in the kitchen.) The air in the apartment has never been cleaner.
Manhattan is notorious for soot and air pollution. If you leave your windows open it is normal to get black dust on everything. While these units don't eliminate the need to dust regularly (they won't clean your house for you) they do significantly reduce the amount of dust that accumulates between cleanings.
I am very allergic (hayfever, cats, mold, etc.) to the point of requiring allergy injections so I like to keep my house clean and as dust-free as possible. The Quadra does that well. You will not believe the soot and dirt that comes off of these filters when you wash them.
More importantly, it has helped me contain cigarette, pipe, and cigar smoke. I hated being the kind of person that refused to allow friends to smoke while visiting. But I also hated the way the apartment smelled after they left and resented the exposure to secondary smoke.
The Ionic Breeze air purifiers turned out to be a great compromise. The Quadras literally remove the smell of cigarette, pipe, and cigar smoke completely within a few hours. And when people are smoking, the air is drawn toward the units so that the room doesn't become unbearably full of smoke. A party of smokers will overwhelm the units though they eventually catch up (by next morning or so.)
I was very skeptical when I purchased my first Ionic Breeze but tried it anyway since I admired the slim design, silent operation, and washable filters. I had owned an old HEPA room filter before and I dreaded taking up valuable NYC floorspace, having to hear constant fan noise, and losing closet space to replacement filter storage.
The Ionic Breeze has not disappointed. It works. It is expensive to purchase but costs pretty much nothing to keep and run.
Here is my list of pros and cons:
Pro:
-Silent
-Slim and attractive
-Disappears into corners or behind/next to furniture
-Uses Wash/Wipe metal filters instead of expensive replacements that need to be stored somewhere
-No moving parts to break
-Entire device wipes clean easily
-Uses very little electricity, costs almost nothing to use.
-Units illuminate a light and/or make static and humming noises when the filter becomes dirty - - lets you know it is time to clean.
-Produces rain shower smelling ozone so it neutralizes odors
Con:
-Cleaning a filter isn't as easy as dumping an old one and replacing it with a new one
-In NYC I have to clean the filters at least once a week.
-High initial expense
-Ozone output in high concentrations is not recommended for asthmatics so consult your doctor before using this right next to your bed.
Some important things to know:
-The units attract and process a great deal of air and dust. Therefore I really really recommend getting the BLACK Quadra if you live in NYC like I do. Over time, the lighter colored plastics become permanently stained from the black soot in the air. If you live places where the dust tends toward white or gray, you should avoid the black Quadra.
-The dirtier your air, the more frequently you will have to clean the filters. After a smoker visits, the filter will be full of the tar from their smoke (better there than in your lungs!) A dirty filter can't clean the air properly.
-When cleaning the metal filter, only use a cloth or towel you don't care about as the soot on the filter is concentrated and may stain the rag you are using to clean the filter.
If you are looking for a powerful yet completely non-intrusive way to keep your household air clean, give the Sharper Image's Quadra Ionic Breeze a try. But don't skimp and be sure to buy enough of the full size Quadra Ionic Breeze units to process the air in the volume of space you are trying to clean. The miniature ones they give away as gifts (the $69 ones) are pretty much useless in a large space but work well enough in small closet-size areas.
Overall: Highly recommended.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 325
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: Almost noiseless
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
mithril
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: Hollywood, FL USA
Reviews written: 39
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
I was raised a 20th century American consumer.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.