Customer Reviews

Bionaire BAP825-U Air Cleaner

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

 

 

I got this unit from Best buy yesterday, so don't look at this as a long-term usage review. It seems like a nice enough unit, but I chose it over the others at best Buy because I read on the box that "advanced motor and fan blade design provide for quiet operation on any speed". Um, they must have hearing impaired people testing these out in the factory, because I can't get truly "quiet operation" on any speed other than low.

I was amazed when I turned it on and could no longer hear the sound on the videogame I was playing at the time. It was on the high setting, so I switched it to the lowest setting. It was much better, but then it's also doing less for me. When on the ghigh setting, this thing sounds like you're running five microwaves at once. I expected nearly SILENT operation...perhaps even "on any speed"? This unit did not deliver what it advertised.

Overall, it's a good product, but they should not advertise "quiet operation on any speed". That's a flat-out lie!

~Mike

My 4 yr old son has terrible dust mite allergies. He was ssooo congested every night and could not sleep well (he slept w/ his mouth open & snored). We tried everything suggested by the allergist: I dusted, I vacuumed, I washed bed sheets/blankets, took out the stuffed animals, used the right pillow covers and mattress covers. We tried OTC allergy medications and prescription medications. THEN we purchased this air filter for his room. Amazing ... he sleeps through the night peacefully, nasal passages clear. I'd give this air cleaner 5 stars except for the fact that there is a slight odor in his room from it (probably just because its new ... its that kind of smell) and it does tend to warm his room up slightly w/ it running all night long, so I keep our a/c turned down a bit more at night now. But for the price, I'd recommend it to anyone suffering from allergies to give it a try.

The unit significantly reduced dust and dander in the room. The first filter lasted about three months, which is good considering the amount of crud that it had to filter from the air. The noise level is acceptable. It's not silent, but it's not like a hair dryer either. I keep it on a medium setting with the oscillator on, and the noise level is comparable to a desk fan. Overall, I wish I had bought it sooner, as my husbands allergies are greatly improved while he sleeps at night, thanks to this air cleaner.

Also, one thing to remember with the ionizing units like Sharper Image or Oreck, is that they create ozone as a byproduct of ionization. Ozone buildup in a room can be toxic. Additionally, they are silent because there is no fan. Having no fan means the air doesn't get circulated, so the air immediately surrounding the unit is clean, but the rest of the room is not.

I share an older apartment with a somewhat hygienically challenged roomate that smokes and six healthy, but kind of smelly gerbils. We bought this air purifier over Christmas for our apartment. The machine works wonders: dust, dander, pet odour, smoke--everything that's been killing my allergies is eliminated with this little box. The sound's kinda obvious, but I don't mind it considering how effective the machine is.

However, IT IS IMPERATIVE that you remove the factory tape on the back vent and take the shrink wrap from around the filters. I noticed that several of the previous reviews reported the inevitable problem of not releasing the filters from their plastic cage. I imagine that the motors would wear away over time with the resistance the shrink wrap made; also, the air would not be able to pass except through the right and left chambers. In short, it would be a ghastly mess.

To be completely truthful, i must mention that this one my FIRST purchase of an air purifier.

Reading about it online and the low price inclined me to buy a BAP825, it only lasted one day at my house because of the number of flaws i saw in the product. (doing countless # of readings about air purifiers paid off)
1. Even though it's a nice looking product with a stylish look, its looks are deceiving. Why?...first off look at the unit's front grill that suppose to blow all the clean air out. That long yet not so wide grill looks good enough to do an efficient job of air flow right? But what if the unit only blew air out from the far left side of grill. The unit i received had no air blowing from the center, or the right hand side(top to bottom). I called bionaire to complain and they replied "no...ALL of the units of this model are like that..even tho the grill is a nice size...only about 30% of it is actually used..having air blown out from a far corner is normal" Now try placing this unit in an angle all the time to have it blow straight.
2. Filter seems reasonably price?...wrong. Heres why. Bionair says to change the Hepa filter every 12-18 months and charcoal filter every 6 months. The problem with this unit is the hepa filter is combined with the charcoal filter (not separate)! Thus, for this unit u change the filter every 6-9 month instead, MAKING U BUY FILTERS TWICE AS MUCH AS OTHER UNITS. That mean in 18 month period u might have to change the filter for this unit 3 times ($40 x 3 =$120)!!!.
Misleading and awkward grill..but more importantly twice the filter cost made me return this unit and get the model BAP1175 instead...here's why:
Lets compare the cost of both units for 18 month.
BAP825
*cost = $99
*filter = $80 (giving them benefit of the doubt...changing only twice instead of 3 times)
*CADR =110 (clean air delivery rate, see www.cadr.org)
*suggested room size = 180 squared feet
TOTAL COST FOR 18 MONTHS = 179
BAP1175
*cost = $130
*filter = $44
*CADR = 140
*Suggested Room size = 217 squared feet
TOTAL COST FOR 18 MONTHS = $174
Lets see, you have a model (1175) that clean alot better (higher CADR), can handle a bigger room, and costs less at the end of the 18 months. Not to mention this better model will continue to cost half in future since BAP825 makes you replace filters twice as fast. THEN WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD U BUY AN INFERIOR PRODUCT JUST TO PAY MORE? Do yourself a favor...don't purchase this BAP825...go get yourself a 1175. BAP1175 is better, more powerful, and the initial unit's price difference is made up in the first six month when everyone who owns a 825 will be purchasing something you won't (a $40 filter).

I bought an 825U, for my home office. (I also own two of the BAP-1175 units, which I LOVE.) The 825 looks very sleek, and fits perfectly where I need it to go. But here's my concern with it: the room air is drawn in the back, and clean air is blown out the front -- which seems to me that the unit would be blowing the room air away from itself, effectively keeping most of the room air from being drawn into the filter. (??) The natural spot for this tower design is in a corner, or next to a desk or bookshelf. This puts the intake against the wall, where it doesn't seem to me that it could do very much intaking. Especially if the fans are blowing all the air away from the unit. I called Bionaire, and while they are consistently friendly and helpful, the only suggestion they could give was to place the unit more toward the center of a room. Obviously, that's rarely an option for most people. Maybe I'm thinking too much about all this, but it's something I'd love to get more information on. For now, I returned the 825, and got a second 1175. It takes up more space than the tower, but is a more effective purifying unit in my consumer-level opinion.

If anyone has thoughts or knowledge on this, please post!

This air cleaner works great as long as you read and follow the instructions when initially setting it up (as in, make sure you remove the plastic from the air filters before trying to use it).

I have terrible allergies. I've had to go to the ER more than once because of them. I was breathing much easier the very day my Bionaire came, though. My only issue is that it isn't quite as quiet as I was led to believe, but it isn't too noisy on the low setting. Besides, I'd rather have a little extra white noise in the background than keep wheezing.

For the price, I think this unit would be hard to beat.

This filter claims to be one of the best as far as cleaning out the dust, pet dander, allergens, pollen and simply cleaning the air. It does do all of that, however, the replacement filters are $25.00 a pair and they need to be replaced quite frequently depending on how dirty your room is. I should have spent the $400 plus dollars on a Sharper Image machine instead.

Bionaire is the worst company to buy a filter from. If they don't do it right away, then you're lucky, but eventually they will begin to buzz at almost any speed. They also seem to do nothing about the dust or smell in the air.

Customer service is the worst part about Bionaire products. They have two centers and if you talk to one one day chances are you will not get the same one the next. So if you fax in a copy of a receipt and call for confirmation, then you have to hope to get the same service center otherwise you will have to try calling again because they cannot transfer you or tell you anything about what is going on in the other center. Slow horrible service.

It's noisy when it oscillates, and the fan stopped blowing after less than 2 years of use (it still has power, still turns and ionizes, but...)
Much too expensive for this poor quality.