Customer Reviews

Hamilton Beach 04162 HEPA Air Purifier with UV Germicidal Light

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was extremely skeptical about whether this thing would work. But I was tired of waking up stuffed up every morning and I had to believe I'd sleep better if I wasn't so stuffy. I have a cat who sleeps at the foot of my bed, and I figured he was a big part of the problem, so I bought it.

I saw drastic improvement after two nights. I was barely stuffed up at all. I set it up to circulate clean air over to me and suck in near the cat, and it worked well. Consumer reports says that you can get a lot of the same benefit from cleaning well and opening the windows, so I tried that the next night. I washed the bedspread, vacuumed, dusted, and opened the windows. I woke up completely cleared up. Better than with this unit.

Now, do I have the time to do all that cleaning every weekend? Nope. So I'm keeping the Hamilton Beach.

People complain about the noise, and it is loud. The "whisper quiet" setting is about as loud as a 19" box fan on medium, so it isn't at all silent. But the noise is pleasantly soothing and I got right to sleep the very first night and it never bothered me. I even thought the cat would be afraid of it, but the first night I set it up on medium and ran it for an hour before bedtime and when I went to look for the cat, he was sleeping in front of it.

I thought I needed the automatic model 4162, and if I was home all day, that's the one I'd get. I live alone and you'd be nuts to leave any appliance on all day unattended, so this one is off when I'm not here. I blast it on high for an hour before bedtime and then run it on low all night. I don't want to be woken by the speed change, so the automatic feature that turns up the fan when the air quality drops wouldn't ever get used around here.

Consumer Reports says the $600 models are great, but for this price point, it really does everything I want it to do, and the anti-mold UV light is just what us foggy San Franciscans need.

Pros:
- Picks up where your AC filter slacks. Our AC filter is located right outside our bedroom, and the purifier still manages to trap a large amount of airborne material that air flow from the ac doesn't pick up. This is a significant quality considering that we also use the highest rated AC filters available.
- My wife's allergies have significantly decreased. We both wake up now with the ability to breathe through our noses. It's only when she ventures to the far side of the house that she starts sneezing.
- It must cut down a lot on animal dander. We have three cats that spend a good deal of time in our bedroom (it's the coolest and darkest room in the house), and were probably the main cause of her allergies. Not so much anymore!
- The main filter only needs to be changed once a year (so says Hamilton Beach), and are reasonably priced at around $40.
- The carbon pre-filter, which should be changed every three months, costs around $8.
- Altogether about $72 a year in filters - not too shabby.
- Even on the whisper setting this bad boy spits out a large volume of air, so the claim that it can cover around 350 sq. ft. is probably accurate.
- Traps mold spores, which is great if you have an issue with that.
- Lightweight, can be easily moved to and fro.
- We have never gotten the "high pitched" noise that another reviewer mentioned - his may be defective.

Cons:
- Somewhat noisy (like a rush of air), though the whisper setting isn't so bad, and I actually like it while going to sleep. I would suggest using the higher settings an hour or so before you are going to spend time in a particular room - then switch to whisper.
- Not sure how affective the UV light is...seems kind of gimmicky. I have not been able to find any documentation on its affectiveness towards bacteria/viruses, and I'm surprised that Hamilton Beach doesn't provide any info.

Advise: Be sure to read the manual before you plug it in and power on! The carbon pre-filter will need to be removed from the plastic wrap and placed appropriately on the Hepa filter. Also, the UV light will need to be removed from its box and then plugged into its bracket. This is located inside the purifier - under the top vent. Do a visual inspection of the inside of the purifier to be sure no packing material has fallen into the path of the fan.

I certainly recommend this purifier, and would have give it a full five star rating if it weren't for the two cons above.

Update (08/01/04): Just replaced the carbon prefilter for the first time...I couldn't believe how much crud had accumulated on the surface of the filter. What was once black became completely beige with air debris/dander/pollen/dust/etc. This only solidified our satisfaction with this product.

After researching various asthma/allergy web-sites, we bought this product for our two year old, who suffers from allergies, mild asthma and other respiratory issues. Quite frankly, we were skeptical as to whether an air purifier would help, and therefore, we did not want to spend a fortune on the products recommended by consumer reports, costing hundreds more. The Hamilton Beach purifier had strong ratings and was reasonably priced, so we decided to give it a try. From night one, we have observed marked improvements in our child's breathing and congestion. Thus far this cold and flu season, she is doing great. The only negatives are the size (a bit bulky) and it is a little noisy ("white noise" similar to a fan). Overall, we are very pleased with this product and recommend it to anyone with allergies/asthma.

I am really pleased with this air filter. I have tiny apartment and two cats, and having it really makes a difference with my allergies in the mornings. I leave it on high during the day and on the middle (which is significantly quieter) at night. Amazon has the best price for this model.

We really like this air purifier. The HEPA filter works well and I have added comfort with the UV light. My allergy problems virtually dissapeared overnight.

Easy to put together. Easy to move in room. Can be placed flush against wall with out restricting air flow. Has been helpful with allergies.

First, I want to give Amazon two thumbs up. I bought this unit from Amazon before the Labor Day weekend the price went down for 10 bucks over the weekend. I emailed Amazon to just to ask if they have price warranty or anything like that, and within 2 hours, the reply came back saying that the price difference will be refunded to me. Great company!

I got a $60 air purifier unit from a local store first and found out that it did not work for me at all. I then read some reviews on Amazon and decided to give this one a try. It decreased my allergy symptom and improved my sleep a lot. Now I can sleep through the night without any problem caused by stuffy nose, and no more throat pain in the morning. All I am thinking is that I should have got this thing long time ago.

Pros:
- It WORKS.
- Size and weight. The size is fairly small and you don't have to set it far from the wall to use it. Any one can move it around.
- Power. The menu claims that it is recommended for rooms up to 350 square feet. So far I have used it in a room as big as 230 square feet, and it did a very good job. I would be confident to say that it can handle a room of 350 square feet.
- Cost. I bought a three pack carbon filter from Amazon is about $15 and the main filter is about $43, that translates the annual filter (4 carbon and 1 main filter) cost to lower $60s. I only have seasonal allergy so my actual running cost will be lower than that. I don't have much concern about the power consumption.

Cons:
- Noise. Although the noise from the lowest setting, Whisper Clean, actually helped me to go to sleep, some one might find it too loud. The middle setting is all I can stand if I am in the room and need to hear TV or other people talking. The high is even louder, enough to disturb me from doing other things.
- UV light. I am not a biologist and I am not sure how long it takes to kill germs and molds under the UV light. I believe that the germ and other stuff, if they can pass through the filters, will stay inside the unit for less than half second before they go through it next time. Don't know the half second will get them killed or not. If the light is for killing the germs trapped on the filter, it seems to be an odd location for the job.

Still, it deserves a five star rating from me.

Check and make sure the UV light bulb is there, because both of my order are missing.

I was so happy to have this work to relieve my son's alergy symptoms. It isn't the quietest, but on low speed, it is rather like a white noise machine, drowning out other environmental sounds. I was dismayed to find that the filters cost so much for only three monthes of use. Luckily our situation only calls for seasonal use rather than all year long.

I purchased this unit for my infant son's bedroom approximately a month ago and have been fairly happy with it to this point. He was diagnosed with asthma at 5 months old and has been controlled on medication. As we approached the fall and winter (when asthma is apparently more problematic), I wanted to try some preventative measures and thus, bought the air purifier. We leave it running on low speed at all times and try to keep his door shut. It is a bit noisier than I would have liked, but doesn't seem to disturb the baby. He seems to have had fewer incidents since we began using the air purifier, so it seems to have been a good investment.