Customer Reviews

Austin Air Jr. HealthMate Air Purifier HM200

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Allergies, along with issues from the four pets, created a significant breathing problem. Someone suggested this purchase, and I was skeptical but was in desperate need of relief. An air purifier has made all the difference in my ability to breathe. I only have one for the bedroom, but will get one in the future for the downstairs, too. The company I used to order, Best Filters, was also quite accommodating. Austin sent the wrong color, but BF corrected the problem immediately (within two hours of my email) arranging for the correct color, and then easy pick up of the other unit. I would highly recommend both!

I'm entering my fifth year on my unit and the fan motor died.
Last year it was slowing down and would only operate on the highest speed.
I keep it running all the time.
I like the air quality it produces. The noise level is great.
But don't expect to have the motor live long enough to need a filter change after five years.
Its now a giant piece of landfill.
Summary: clean air in two rooms for $75 per year plus the cost of electricity.
This should be the comparison figure on all air filters.

I got the Austin Air Healthmate Junior air purifier when I moved into my new house. The previous owner was a smoker. Although I'd replaced the carpets, painted the walls, and cleaned the ducts, I still needed something to help cut down the residual smoke smell. After extensive research, I chose the Healthmate Junior.

It did the job. It's nice and quiet on the low setting. On the high setting it's a bit noisier, but I just set it in a corner and it's fine. (Not right up against the wall though, because you have to leave a few inches of space around it for it to work right.) I left it running for over a year. The smoke smell is gone from the house now. Even my mother, with her super-sensitive nose, can't smell anything when she comes to visit.

I did buy a new filter after about nine or ten months. The air coming out of the Healthmake Junior started to smell a bit acrid. I called Austin Air and asked about it, because I thought the filter should last longer. They said it depends on the quality of your air. That makes sense. They gave me a discount on the new filter because it had been such a short time.

I'm quite pleased with it. It looks nice, it's relatively light, it's simple to use, it's quiet, and it works.

I bought the Austin Healthmate Jr. about 2 years ago for a dusty area and have been happy with it. The three things I like best about it are that you don't have to buy filters very often because you can vacuum the outside of the filter and that it's relatively quiet. The other thing is that it takes air in on all four sides and blows the filtered air out through the top area. It seems to do a good job of filtering the air. It's more energy efficient than air purifiers I've used in the past and it has 3 speeds which is nice.

If you use it in really dusty conditions like mine, you can replace the pre-filter more often than the big filter. I've found this type of material that I could cut to fit at a local hardware store. You get a pre-filter with it. You have to take it apart to replace the pre-filter and filters, but it isn't difficult. You can turn off the machine and vacuum it from the outside and that seems to help the filters last longer. Of course, you'll want to use a vacuum cleaner with a hepa filter or you defeat the purpose. I replace mine about once a year, but I think the average person could go much longer.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I don't really have any way of measuring how good of a job it really does, only that it seems to do a good job in terms of allergies, odors, etc. There are so many air filters out there and so many claims, that it's hard to sort them out. But if I had to buy a filter for another room, I would buy this brand again.

This is a no frills HEPA air filter in terms of its aesthetic: it's an efficiently designed rectangle, and though it's not snazzy on the outside, it's not offensive or obtrusive either.

It sits in my home office, and does its thing quite well: cleansing the air, and overall improving the living conditions in a space in which I spend entirely too much time.

I ordered this unit because I had begun to develop dust allergies in my mid-thirties and was having trouble focusing and getting work done. I noticed an improvement in the way I was feeling shortly after the unit was put into operation.

The unit, though not cheap, is a particularly reliable model and is extremely cost-effective to operate over time. As any one who has done the research can tell you, the true expense with HEPA filters is not necessarily the up-front purchase cost, but the cost of replacement filters over the course of the years. Austin's design is one they stand behind with a 5 year warranty, and a filter rated at needing replacement once every 5 years... yes, you read that right. All you need do in order to achieve this longevity is to vacuum the pre-filter every few months. This is accomplished by running a bristled vacuum wand over the outer surface grating. It's simple. It really is: set a reminder in your calendar to run the vacuum over it and you're safe.

The unit doesn't take up a lot of room, though it does produce a fair bit of sound in 2 of its 3 settings. The base setting is actually pretty quiet, but the middle and upper settings are noisy - the trade off is that at these settings it moves A LOT of air, which is what you want if you're trying to quick cleanse a room. To give you an idea of what I'm trying to say, while you likely wouldn't have a hard time sleeping with setting 1, you might with setting 2, and you DEFINITELY would with setting 3. Of course, everyone's mileage varies and I'm using words to describe an audible volume, which is not the same as hearing it yourself. As I said earlier: it's in my office, not my bedroom, so I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER with its performance.

If you're looking for a bedroom model, you might look into an Alen A350 HEPA Air Purifier (wall mountable and quieter.)

I have used a number of air cleaners, but this is the best so far. I like that it has a Hepa filter, but is low maintenance and low cost. I bought it for someone who has asthma and this has seemed to make a difference as compared to other units,especially the electro-static type which seemed useless with dust and allergens. When I purchased this unit, it was not made with casters(wheels). I notice the more recent models seemed to now have casters(wheels) attached. Although Amazon does not offer the caster tray(which makes the unit portable to wheel around) it was and is available at other dealers online. I paid approximately $35 for the caster tray. The casters make the unit easier to move when cleaning or to relocate to another area. I intend to buy again for other rooms. I hope that Amazon will start to offer the unit which has the attached casters. I plan on having one in every bedroom. You can feel/breathe the difference it makes in a room. Worthwhile buy.

I have birds and I was looking for something that helped not only with cleaning the air, but with odors. I have to say, I used to love my Honeywell and was concerned after reading some of the reviews of the other Austin Air models, but I can honestly say I LOVE THIS LITTLE GUY! It's small and sits out of the way. On low it is not as noisey as the Honeywell was and it really gets the job done. I am very happy. The only drawback and why I hesitate on giving it 5 stars is because it pushes out cold air from the side vent, which wasn't talked about in anyone's reviews. It was quickly taken care of by putting a vent diverter, but for a few days I couldn't figure out where the cold draft was coming from. And with birds, one needs to be careful with that. Well worth the money.

I am pleased with it's function and not that much noise, I am an Artist working with oil and solvents.

I've had this air cleaner for more than a month and I'm loving it. I have two dogs and two smokers in the house, plus I have a musty smell in the basement that seems to seep upstairs, at times. I placed the air cleaner on the 1st floor in an area that's centrally located between my three, 1st floor rooms and the basement door. It's made an amazing difference. I usually keep it on "low", except when we have company that also smokes. Then, I crank it up to "high" and it does an exceptional job keeping the air clear. It's definitely better than I was expecting and as good as I was hoping for. I don't even notice any noise when it's on low, I forget it's even running. When I crank it up to high, it sounds like a vent fan for a bathroom or a kitchen stove, but maybe a little quieter than that.

I think the whole genre of these products are overpriced, but aside from my thoughts on the industry I do indeed breath better. bottom line.