Customer Reviews

Alen T100 Desktop Air Cleaner

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This little purifier looks good, has three fan speeds, and a "ion" mode that can be turned off. The HEPA filter gets changed every 6 months and costs $20. To get the "lifetime warranty" you need to sign up for a filter delivery program. This may not be too bad if you use the unit all the time, but it is not too clear how to stop the program once initiated. My first unit was noisy, so I requested a replacement. The replacement arrived promptly, and works well. On low fan setting, it is very quiet. Higher settings circulate a LOT of air, and should be good if you have a serious problem.

I received my first unit from Alen and it was slightly defective. The power switch worked, but the speed and Ion setting were flakey. After running the unit (stuck on low and no ion) the unit suddenly started working. I emailed Alen Product Support and they shipped me out another unit within 24 hours. I emailed them back to say it was working fine, but they insisted I get the 2nd unit anyway.

The 2nd unit worked as described and didn't have any problems out of the box. I am giving this product 5-stars based on its overall performance and the excellent Alen customer service.

I would also point out that this is not a "small" unit. At first, I thought it was meant for a desk or small stand, but this is 18" and a sleek 4-5" in width. The unit weighs next to nothing (and there's a smart cubby-handle) if you need to move it around often.

Removing the filters is a cinch and anyone can do this. However, Alen does recommend using gloves when changing out the filter every 6 months (if the unit is used continuously.)

The fan speed/noise factor is very good. The low setting is just quiet enough that one can easily sleep thru it (if placed in a bedroom.) The medium to high settings are probably going to be a bit too noisy if sleeping. It really depends on placement. At 10ft or so, you'll barely hear it running (on the low setting.)

The controls are well-designed and are easily managed. (The lights from the controls may light up a dark room, so that might be another reason to leave it off at night.)

One last note: the base of the unit does have a swivel. So the base stays one direction, and you can rotate the unit about 25 deg in each direction.

Okay, several months ago I decided to see if an air purifier would do one tenth of what companies claim they do and today I'm scratching my head. Is it working? Are the odors in my home reduced? Is my environment cleaner and healthier? Beats the heck out me. I asked several people if they could tell a difference, and only one person said they could (all stated that my home odors were not objectionable to begin with, but hey, what are they going to say? My house stinks?). This product is placed mainly in one fairly small room (about 100 sq ft) and my only purpose was to have this room (where I keep my computers) clean and fresh. The following will list some of my doubts, some of the things I don't like, and some of the things I do like.

Doubts:

1. I'm not sure I've seen much improvement, and can't say for certain that the improvement I have seen (or felt or smelled) occurred because of this air purifier or me changing my furnace filters to MERV 8 rated filters. Personally, I feel the claims from all air purifier (and filter) manufacturers are pretty much bogus to begin with.

2. Air Purifiers America's wonderful endorsement of Alen air purifiers (5 of Alen's products are in their top 10 rated air purifiers) is no doubt due more to the fact they are financially tied to this company rather than from Alen's actual performance. Matter-of-fact, it's difficult to find many top-ten lists with Alen in any of them. Then again, I've found top 10 lists that list the ratings on only those models that they sell. Yeah, that's the ticket. Pretty easy to rate things one sells highly. Furthermore, it seems these air filter and purifier companies are not under much government scrutiny (can anyone say Oreck and Ionic Breeze?). It would be great if consumer reports would be of any help, but they are not only unhelpful, they also have been severely criticized (and rightly so) for their testing methods and rankings (they have ranked absolute garbage very highly, and some of those manufacturers are out of business). In this industry, one cannot trust any company, or for that matter, air purifier review sites, nor the trusted CR, so the consumer is shooting in the dark here. I will say that the brands that came out highly rated on several "top" lists that I read were the IQAir, Austin Air and Blueair models (whether they are nearly as good as claimed is anyone's guess, but I seriously doubt they are).

3. In order to take advantage of Alen's "lifetime" warrantee, one must register to a filter replacement program. I feel this is a great way for a company to keep a steady income flowing in from unsuspecting customers (many other companies use this scheme as well). Personally, I don't want filters automatically shipped and charged to me on a regular basis. Besides, I already ordered extra charcoal filters when I bought this product. The company says nothing about how they would recognize this fact. They just want to sign me up.

What I don't like:

1. While this product seems nice and quiet on the low settings, I can't say the same thing about medium and high settings. It's just too loud and I hear quite a bit of vibration noise, so I simply keep it on the low setting 24/7.

2. Because I use the low setting, I doubt I'm changing the air enough times or reducing the amount of contaminants enough for this device to be considered useful.

What I like:

1. It's small (about 14-1/2" H x 5-1/2" W x 9" D), light, fairly attractive and easy to take from room to room if one wants to do so.

2. The filters are relatively inexpensive and a snap to install. I also like the fact that these filters are the same for their T300 series (one just doubles the number of filters for the larger unit). So if one likes the T100 and decides to go to the larger T300 model for other rooms, the filters are the same. I like this approach, but it only applies to the "T" series.

Well, those are my opinions and I'm sticking with them. Granted, I'm only using this air purifier in one room, but before I decide I may want to purchase additional units or a larger unit, or another brand, I have to be confident I'm not throwing money out of the proverbial window. Nothing I've seen, smelled or heard leaves me with any confidence that this product (or any other for that matter) will do half of what is claimed.

So how do I rate it? Good question, and I've been asking that myself, but I'll throw caution to the wind and rate this product 6 out of 10, or a 3-star rating. If I was able to use this on higher fan settings without being annoyed with the noise, I might get more of an idea of what this product is capable of. But since that isn't going to happen, 3 stars is all it gets and it is lucky to get that (and mainly because it is relatively inexpensive to buy, operate and maintain).

EDIT: I have found an air purifier review and rating website that goes into far more detail than any I have seen to date. I wish I had read this website before buying. Amazon won't allow URLs in the review section, so I'll just tell you to look for Air Purifier Power on your own. You'll find detailed explanations and what appears to be excellent evaluation parameters, although I do not understand some of the rating numbers this gentleman applies (an 8 is above average and a 6 or 7 is poor?) and the details of the reviews do vary. Reading this website does indeed impart knowledge to the consumer in a field that is filled with smoke and mirrors and outright lies.

Recently got a cat and purchased this air cleaner to put in a small bathroom where the litter box is located. It has done a nice job in removing litter odors and in "freshing" the air. I've also been pleasantly surprised on how quiet the unit runs; especially on its lowest fan setting. I'd recommend this air cleaner for any small room.

I have Alen T300. It is whisper quiet unit with good performance. I wanted to buy smaller unit for bedroom and ordered T100 expecting it to be similar to T300. Only similarity between these two units though is design and HEPA filter - T300 uses two TF30 filters and T100 only one. T100 has also lower power consumption - 13Wt at low speed compared with 20Wt for T300. But it is louder - 39 db vs 36 db. Those 3 db make all the difference (3 db doubles audible sound level). When I sleep with T300 on in low speed I virtually do not hear it running when it is 5 feet away. But T100 sounds like air conditioner when running under same circumstances. And it additionally moves twice less air. Sound of motor and pitch of moving air in case of T100 is less pleasant than in T300. It all sums up to the fact that T100 is not for bedroom use. And even when I use it for other purposes its sound irritates if there is no other source of sound (like TV or PC).

I looked into interior of both units and discovered that motor-fan combo in T300 is higher quality than in T100. E.g. in T300 electric motor is open and seems traditional while in T300 it is closed design with closed bearings which reduces noise.

T100 pros are - it is small and portable, you can carry it with you anywhere you want. It does a good air cleaning - according to [...] it cleans air much better than typical value oriented purifier. Another plus is attractive design and ease of use. So I am thinking about buying another T300 to run in my bedroom while using T100 as portable air purifier.

I ordered this unit last week and received it yesterday.
I must say, I am impressed and I knew I would be. This is such a great purchase. It has three speeds, the lowest is very quiet. I usually have it on 2nd speed because it is no louder than a small desk fan. The highest speed is about a loud as the AC on high, although I slept with it on high last night and didn't notice and I think I'm a light sleeper.

Overall, this product is great. The "ion" mode says it uses ions to make the room smell clean, but that is hard to tell. I will say, this unit makes my room smell a lot fresher and the air is better. The peace of mind with this unit is great.

The manual says it removes the common "pollutants" of Bacteria, Mold Spores, Pollen, Dust Mites and Viruses. Pollen and mold spores are 10-20 microns and a human hair has a diameter of 100 microns for comparison. So this unit traps very small, invisible particles that you would otherwise be breathing.

Must buy!

After having our kids test positively for air allergies, we wanted an air purifier for the kids bedroom. I was mostly concerned with the amount of particles filtered and the noise of the purifier fan. I was very price sensitive. I was treating this smaller unit as a test- if successful, we would buy a larger, more expensive unit for the entire house. All of the Alen products rated well in online reviews and consumer feedback. This unit uses the same filter as the larger 300 model and I would guess is a similar unit for a small room.
Because I cannot see the air particles, I am not 100% sure it works. But the kids seam happier and better rested. With the ionizer on, there is a pleasant 'spring-ish' smell to the air.
We are happy with this air purifier and will get a larger unit for the house. I will strongly consider another Alen model.

It is expensive, but this is a very well made smooth unit that is very quiet. On medium it's still more quiet then the cheap fan in my computer. It does move a little bit of air, which can be cold if your sitting in front of it. So I moved it sideways, and now it does not blow air on me. The filter looks to be good with more cubic inches of actual filtration compared to the cheaper quacker box filtration units.

i put this in my bedroom for the following reasons:
-i would wake up during the night and in the morning feeling slightly sick and groggy
-my room (in an old brick building) smelled weird

the day i plugged this unit in i noticed a difference in my bedroom. i don't wake up with a stuffy head and the air quality is noticeably better. in the end, i feel better about spending time in my bedroom and worry less about the air quality there.

i don't know what the ionizing function does and have not turned it on. only used the air intake filter.

i'm considering getting the t300 for my parents' living room. they have a wood stove that they love but burning wood leaves a grimy film on the windows and walls, not to mention what it must be doing for my parents' lungs.

i would highly recommend this unit for a small room.

I bought this air purifier for the sole purpose of making my dorm room less dusty. It has done a fairly good job at that and gets rid of the smell from food (fast food pizza etc.). There is nothing amazing about this though I still have some allergies in the morning and there is still dust around my room. It is small and quite. If you take the filter out and put it back in you may notice a light whistle but if you simply take it out and put it back in, the whistle will go away. I have noticed no difference with the Ionizer. It does act like a fan and will cool down a room an insignificant amount.