Customer Reviews

JET 708620B AFS-1000B 550/702/1044 CFM 3-Speed Air Filtration System with Remote and Electrostatic Pre-Filter

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Like a lot of woodoworkers, I put off buying an air filtration system longer than I should have. It's one of those things that realy should be done BEFORE you begin to set up a shop area. Well, I finally did my research on available machines and decided to buy the Jet. I'm glad I did. It definitely does a terrific job, is relatively quiet, and it mounts easily to the ceiling. The filters are easy to change -- just flip four clips and pull out the filter. The machine is also fairly lightweight, making it easier to mount. The remote control is a great feature, allowing you to turn the machine on and off from a distance, set the "speed" (hi, medium, or low), and set the timer (it has settings for 2, 4, and 6 hours). The timer is a very useful feature, since you can set the machine to run for 2 hours as you're leaving the shop, and you don't have to remember to come back down to turn it off as you do with other machines.

My ultimate test was sanding a large maple table top. I'll describe what it was like doing this before and after I got the Jet system.

BEFORE: My shop measures 30' long by 20' wide. Before I had this machine (when I had no air filtration system at all) whenever I sanded a table top the shop got filled with dust really quickly. Even after I stopped sanding, the dust hung in the air for maybe half an hour. And the next day, I'd come into the shop and see a thin layer of dust settled on everything.

AFTER: Now that I use this machine, the air never gets as dusty as it used to (even in the middle of sanding). Also, within five minutes after I'm done sanding, the air is crystal clear. By leaving the machine on after I'm all done, whatever dust remains is taken care of. The next day, coming into the shop, there is no dust on anything.

* * * * * *

As a final note, I give it four stars because the remote does not allow 360-degree access. But this is a relatively small matter with such a great machine.

You know what they say - "Too soon old, too late smart". I've been woodworking and doing carpentry work for years. Until recently I've been guilty of not always using the proper protective gear for the task at hand. I now have a pretty well equipped workshop and this was one of the last major items that I purchased. It should have been one of the first.

I purchased the Jet AFS-1000 about a year ago and it has been among the best workshop investments I've ever made. The air in my shop has been crystal clear most of the time for the past year.

I bought this unit after reading numerous reviews - just like you are doing now - and decided on this one because of the features it offers. Two of the best features are the remote control and the timer.

As suggested in the instruction manual, I ceiling mounted the unit. The ceilings in my shop are 9'6" so it would have been impractical to use a control that was mounted on the unit proper. Some units offer a switch on the power cord, but that would entail letting the cord dangle so that you could reach the in-line switch. Jet solved this dilema by equipping this unit with an infra-red remote control. Yes, just like your television, you must have line-of-sight between the remote and the control panel on the filter, but I find this not to be a problem at all. With the remote, you are able to control all functions of the filter including, on & off, the 3 speeds, and the timer.

Speaking of the timer, most times when I am going to be producing sawdust, I just set the timer for 4 or 8 hours and forget it. When I'm finished for the day, I just walk away and let the unit continue to clean the air until it automatically shuts off. The next time I come into the shop, the air is clean and there is much less sawdust coating my machinery, etc.

If you do much woodworking at all, you need an air filtration system. Do yourself a favor and get this one, it's among the best available.

I have a dust collector, but there is still a lot of fine particles that get missed, especially when sanding. The AFS-1000 picks up where the dust collector leaves off.

The low speed is very quiet, and it starts gently, which is really nice for a unit that hangs from the ceiling. You can mount it on a wall too. It comes with hardware for both types of mounting, but no chains. Not only are batteries included, Jet even includes two pieces of velcro to stick the remote somewhere!

Having a remote makes this a piece of cake to turn on/off. The LED's on the unit are large, so it is easy to see what settings are on (Speed: low, medium, high and Time: 2, 4, 8 hours).

I received my JET AFS-1000 air cleaner with a few minor dents in the case indicating that the packaging could be a tad better. There was very little clearance between the case and the box which meant that even moderate rough handling during shipping might ding your brand new air cleaner.

I hung it from my shop ceiling with no problem except that the power cord was a measly 6 feet long and exits the case at the bottom. So, 1 foot to the top of the case, another to the ceiling and you can see there's not much power cord left. A few extra feet on the cord would have cost JET pennies and make it much easier on the installer.

The next problem I encountered was that the marvelous little remote only works when it can "see" the back of the air cleaner, where the manual control panel is located. So in order to turn my air cleaner on I have to get my remote in hand and walk the length of my shop to stand in back of the unit (where I could easily reach up and turn it on manually). JET should have made sure that the antenna pattern was as close to 360 degrees as they could get, or included a jack on the control panel for the user to add their own antenna. This oversight makes the remote's value questionable.

In some of the previous reviews I read that the filters are standard size but there is no discovering this by reading the manual that came with the unit!

Overall, I'm glad I bought this unit and would recommend it to anyone. Your lungs will definitely thank you!

I received my Jet Air cleaner in excellent condition. Unit is very quiet and has many advantages over other brands. It has a variety of mounting options (suspended from ceiling, tight against ceiling, or portable with the built in handles.) Three speed motor with remote control is nice when unit is mounted to the ceiling. timer feature is great when I want the unit to turn off automatically 2, 4, or 8 hours after I leave the shop. Standard sized filter means I don't have to pay inflated prices for replacement filters. Overall, a great product with lots of nice features and a great price. An air cleaner is an air cleaner. Don't settle for an over priced featureless model that forces you to keep buying their filters.

I wasn't sure...whether toorder the Jet air filtration system AFS-1000.... However it seemed like a unit witha lot of nice features...and I had ordered other Jet equipment and had a good experience with the brand, so I took the plunge. I have not been disappointed. The unit arrived in good shape. The unit is physically large but doesn't really weigh a lot, so it's not too difficult to hang it from a ceiling or place atop a high shelf. I like the three speeds because sometimes you need a lot of flow and other times you need it quiet. I usually just leave it on the lowest speed. The middle speed is tolerable as far as noise, but the highest can get a little hard on the ears after a while. The timer, (2/4/8 hours) is a nice feature because you can set it and forget it; it will turn itself off. The remote is especially handy because in my crowded shop it's sometimes difficult to physically get to the filter. The remote controls three functions, on-off, speed and timer. There are manual buttons on the unit as well. (From what I can tell, you need the remote to control the timer though.) All in all I think it is a very well-designed and carefully-thought-out machine. The biggest benefit, though, is having crystal clean air rather than a shop full of dust. My shop is 30' by 20' and it seems to do a good job of keeping the air clean, even on the lowest speed. This is the only air filter I could find that had all the features I wanted already included.

(This is a corrected review, Amazon left out the best part 1st time) I've noticed for a long time how much dust my machines would kick up during my moments of inspired creativity. It was fascinating to watch this pixie dust slowly floating through the air, gently landing everywhere like winter's first snowfall. I never thought about these benignly appearing particles, settling on every horizontal surface, were also finding their niche in my nose and lungs. While on a medical site I found an article on nasal tumors and a startling statistic that approx. 50% of patients were past or present woodworkers! Granted these tumors are not common, but the fact that nearly half were woodworkers caught my attention! The lungs yet another matter. (Light bulb turns on!) Hmmmm...maybe air filtration should soon be in the budget?

**My Jet was purchased two years ago and comparisons are to machines then. My conclusion for best choices then under $$$ were the Delta ShopMaster Model AP200, Jet AFS-1000B or JDS 750JER.

NOTE: There is a lot of science behind the field of air filtration and this review in no way covers it all. I am attempting to provide some important basics only, in a confusing (often misleading?) business.

Air filters have an interesting marketing style. Performance is often measured in CFM or Cubic Feet per Minute. These numbers are often not as useful as you might think. There are at least two different CFM measurements used in determining performance, without filters and with (there's also clean/dirty filter CFM, see below). Aptly named unrestricted and restricted, savvy (or deliberately misleading?) companies give high CFMs and fail to give restricted numbers with filters attached. Would you really use your air filtration without its filters?? If you see a company touting 1000+CFM in this class, I'll bet you one of my routers that it's the motor/fan only. Yes, it's cheap marketing but even some of the "big boys" advertise this way. Do your homework carefully! Expect 400-700 CFMs of restricted air with these machines. It's difficult to find comprehensive specs and the following with "??" are areas I could not find corresponding numbers.

CFM: Jet (3 speeds) has unrestricted CFMs of 1044, 702, 556 utilizing a 1/5 hp motor (Reference: manual, date 5/01). Restricted CFMs are approx. 650, 550, 450. The Delta (single speed) gives "Maximum" (unrestricted?) CFM of 850 and restricted CFM of ??, with a 1/8 hp motor. The JDS (3 speeds) has unrestricted CFMs of 1050, ??, ??, with restricted CFMs of 750, ??, 200 utilizing a 1/4 hp motor. American Woodworker, October 2003, pgs 76-83, tried to perform "real world" tests by introducing 80 grams (100micron to less than 1micron size) of particles at 16 gram increment loads (six loads total). Results of clean/dirty filter CFMs: Jet=674/383, Delta=582/402 and JDS=664/514. The second number is a "fully loaded" filter. Average CFMs (mean value of all six loads) were Jet=528, Delta=498, and JDS=589.

Convenience: These units should be hung from the ceiling for maximum efficiency. Jet and JDS come with remote controls and it is VERY convenient if in doubt (The newer Delta 50-875 now has one. Hmmmm...wonder why?). Multi speeds are also nice and again only in the Jet and JDS.

Filter Options: 1. Carbon filter: This feature to me is more hype than useful. It is designed primarily to control odors (and not chemical vapors as some companies might claim) and it does that marginally. Maybe in commercial size units it's useful but our "little machines" are for particulate capture and not much else. Why? For a carbon filter to be truly useful requires a large amount of carbon filtrate. It is measured in lbs, yes that's pounds in the filter industry. To be truly effective you would need a good 10 lbs or more of activated carbon and must be changed every few years regardless of use. No optional filters come close to this weight. If you find one, good luck strapping it to the front of your machine! 2. HEPA filters: Another often misleading point, aimed at allergy sufferers. HEPA, standing for High Efficiency Particulate Air, is a standard for capturing sub-micron particles down to 0.3 micron in size with 99.97% efficiency or greater, but only in a "True HEPA" filter. Anything else including "HEPA filter" carries no guarantee. It must state "True HEPA". 3. Electrostatic filters: I'm not familiar with this type of option, but in higher CFM machines with a lot of air flow I have doubts that a small electrical charge will have as much impact as simply having a high quality filter to begin with.

I bought my unit two years ago, Delta has since produced the 50-875, which I might consider but is priced near the JDS. The five star rating I give the Jet is due to it's being the best value at time of purchase.

Pros:

**Good "restricted" overall performance (fully loaded: poor)
**Three speeds (Reasonably quiet: High at 69dB)
**Timer (2,4 and 8hr)
**Remote (Speed Control, Off/On and Timer)
**Price (approx. a Jackson more than Delta, nearly a Franklin less than JDS!!)
**Solid construction

Cons:

**Small remote, easy to lose (I have magnetic tape on mine. Stick it anywhere!)
**Relatively expensive filter replacements (most brands)
**Heavy and bulky (most brands)
**JDS is made in America with lifetime warranty, unfortunately not so for Jet (or Delta if I'm correct).

Summary: There are better machines under three Franklins now, but for $$ the Jet is STILL a contender. Breathe easier knowing ANY filter machine is better than none, unless you like coughing up wood dough. Birch sandwich anyone?

I have a shop that measures 24'x32' with 10' ceilings. In this shop are a lot of dust-makers. A 15in. planer, an 8in. jointer, a 3hp. shaper, 2 stationary router table set-ups, and my pride and joy, a Delta 10in.,5hp. Unisaw. For years I have put off the purchase of an air filtration unit because none I found seemed worth the price. The Jet unit is definitely worth the price. The unit arrived in perfect condition. No dents, dings, or missing parts. It is light enough for installation to be handled by one person. However, the mounting brackets should be spaced to accomodate standard 16in. framing member spacing. The remote control unit is a dream! I can control the unit from anywhere in the shop. The unit operates very quietly even at the highest speed. But most importantly, the unit does a superb job of cleaning the air. The timer feature is just icing on the cake. This is a very good unit at a VERY good price when compared to Delta and JDS. I'd be surprised if the Delta or JDS units do a better job of cleaning the air. If you are considering the purchase of the Jet unit, go ahead and do it. You won't be sorry.

When I received my air filtration system it was in perfect working order. The box looked as though it had been thrown around in shipping quite a bit but you know some of those shipping companies. I hooked it up and hung it from the ceiling with ease.

There is no better air filtration system for the simple fact of the remote control. I have taller ceilings than most modern homes and to pull a chain like you get on all other systems could have been difficult for me. I absolutely love the remote. I keep it near the shop door and turn the machine on when I walk in and do not turn it off till I leave. If I have been sanding a lot I usually run the timer as I leave.

The 650 CFM is plenty for my shop. It measures about 25' x 20'. I have recommended this system to many of my woodworking buddied and they have had absolutely no problems with it either.

I have one friend with the Delta and she is thinking about getting the JET becasue of the extra features it offers over all other systems.

Just received the Jet Air Filtration system today. Delivery was faster than I expected. When I unpacked the unit all parts were present. I was very pleased with the unit. It did not mention in the writeup that it was 3 speed and had an auto timer built in for 2,4 or 8 hours plus solid on. Also it was much quieter than I expected. I feel it is a great addition to my shop.