Customer Reviews

Holmes® HAP412N-U HEPA-Type Mini Tower Air Purifier

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been using this Holmes Air Purifier for several months and can give it my 5 STAR recommendation.

It has 3 speed settings for the fan and a separate switch that turns on the ionizer. At the mid or low setting the fan is nice and quiet. On high it's a bit loud but tolerable for daytime activites. I keep my unit running all the time on the medium setting and also keep the ionizer turned on.

Within a couple of hours of first setting up the unit, I noticed an immediate improvement in the air in my bedroom (12 x 14). It seemed "fresher" and easier to breathe. After a few days my dust allergies were virtually gone and breathing, while I was asleep, was much easier. Before buying it, I would wake up with a stuffy nose and a dry mouth because my nose was plugged and I was forced to breathe through my mouth. (Yuk!)

The black soot commented on by the other reviewer is due to the negatives ions which attach themselves to the smoke particles in the room and make them drop to floor. If you don't smoke it won't be much of a problem. Some minor residue will be found in and around the unit but this comes about because the negative ions make dust and other particulates fall to the floor. A quick wipe or vacuum easily eliminates this problem. Besides, I would rather have them on the floor than floating around in the air, wouldn't you?

The cost of the unit is fabulous (less than $50.00). That sure beats other ionic units that want more than $300.00! I have owned both and will never go back after trying this one. It's cheap, effective and actually works better than the more expensive, but well known, model.

This is the first air filter I've ever bought. After using it for 6 months, I can now testify on behalf of this product.

I've been using it in my bedroom (dimensions 16x12 ft) continuously on the middle setting. The noise level is minimal on the 2nd setting (sort of like a low hum... I don't even notice it anymore) and even quieter on the lowest setting. I have pretty severe dust allergies and even the first day, I noticed a difference. No more sneezing, stuffy nose, itchy throat, etc.

The recommendation that came with the manual said to change the HEPA-type filter every 3-4 months. After about 4 months, I opened up the unit to check on the filters. There's a washable carbon pre-filter and a replaceable HEPA-type filter. I cleaned the pre-filter. The HEPA-type filter looked pretty much like new, so I didn't buy a new filter. (there are pictures of how dirty the filter looks at various stages inside the panel after you open it up).

Last weekend, I had to go out of town to take an exam. I arranged to stay with a friend. He warned me that he had recently gotten some cats. I'm also highly allergic to cats. I loaded up on allergy medicines the weeks prior to the trip (nasal corticosteroid sprays, antihistamines) and thought that would keep me from reacting to the cats. As a last minute idea, I brought this little air filter with me as backup. And boy was I glad I did. After an hour at his apt, I started sneezing non-stop and feeling altogether miserable. I whipped out the air filter, and set it up in the bedroom. After retreating to the filtered room, my symptoms subsided and I woke up allergy-free.

I see some other reviewer complaining that there is a layer of black dust/sooty material that accumulates around the filter if you have the ionizer on. The accumulation is supposedly heavier if you smoke in the house. I'm not a smoker but I still notice a thin layer of black dust around the filter. It doesn't bother me at all. You can just wipe it away with a damp paper towel (if you are on hardwood) or vacuum it up (if you're on carpet). I'd much rather have the black dust particles on the floor rather than floating around in the air where I am breathing it in. Of course, if it bothers you, you can always turn off the ionizer function and just use it as a filter.

Lastly, I see some people complaining about the cost of the replacement filters. It comes out to be about $18 each if you buy from Amazon. That's not so bad ... I looked at some other brands and they're still in the teens or $20's. Some other reviewer suggested vacuuming the replacement filter so it lasts longer. This is what you would do with a permanent HEPA filter anyway, so it didn't sound like a bad idea. Today, I opened up the filter again and saw that the HEPA-type filter was covered with cat hair. :-( That was just with 2 days of continuous use at my friend's apt. So perhaps the filter would get dirty much quicker in a household with pets that shed a lot.
I went ahead and vacuumed the HEPA-type filter on this unit... it cleared the filter without sending much if any dust in the air. I figure I'll change the filter once a year at this rate.

I'm completely allergy free in my bedroom. However, I still sneeze in the dining room area. I'm now saving up to get an air filter for the dining room / living room area. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on bigger air filters.

In summary:
This little unit is affordable, portable, and effective. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to get a good starter air filter for his/her bedroom and doesn't want to spend over $100 for something bigger/fancier just yet.

Pretty good little unit for the bedroom. Quiet operation and reduces any oder that may be lingering. I'm a smoker and it usually clears the air pretty quickly.

I live in a small studio apartment (400 square feet) with two little kittens, and with no windows and sealed concrete floors, so needless to say the air quality can be quite awful. The combination of cooking smell, litter box, and cat hair made me crazy enough to splash down cash for this unit.

Un-boxing is very straight forward with really everything assembled straight from the factory. It comes with a charcoal-foam filter and a hepa filter (don't forget to take off the cover and remove the plastic wrap!) The unit sucks from the back (flat area) and exhausts the clean air via the front (round side). Simplistically, there are only two knobs that independently control the ionizer and fan speed. The speed settings are all quiet except for the fastest which sounds about as loud as a microwave. I recommend using the middle speed for everyday use.

Within the first hour, I noticed a much improved overall air quality, especially around my litterbox area. Now my apartment is much fresher and pleasant to live in. Its crazy to think that such a small investment makes such a huge impact on your daily health.

As far as the filters go, its about $15 for a replacement charcoal filter, and $20-25 for the hepa filter that you might replace every 3-4 months. For roughly $100 a year, its not too bad of an upkeep.

I guarantee you'll love yours, I know I want to buy one for every room I stay in now.

I have had this unit for a year and it works fine. I am a smoker and I use it all the time. It does a good job for the money. It is quiet and reliable.

My only gripe is with the electrostatic function. If you have it on this setting you will get black grime on the unit and anything around it. I am not sure why or how but it will cover everything within 3 feet of it.

Other than that, I say it is a good buy.

I've had this excellent purifier for a bit more than a year, and it has been mostly on for all that time in a non-smoking environment. It is being used in our 3 year old's medium sized bedroom to minimize room dust and other airborne allergens, and usually kept in the low or medium setting. It works very well, with the air in her bedroom NOT showing dust (when the sun is shining through the windows you can see airborne dust in the light beam), while in our other bedrooms with no purifier, dust is visible. We usually get 4 to 5 months out of a HEPA filter, but you CAN 're-use' the HEPA filters by doing the following: gently vacuum the filter on both sides, until the gray or dark dust covering the filter is gone. You have just succeeded in removing most of the particles captured by the filter, and saved yourself some money. The filter can now be re-used for a few more weeks, at least! You may want to perform the vaccuming function in an outside area or garage, with a surgical mask on, so that you don't inhale any of the captured particles on the filter. The whole process usually takes me only 5 minutes, including washing the pre-filter. This model also has an 'ionizer' switch, but my advise is not to use it for more than a few minutes at most. I have read conflicting claims about the safety of using ionizers long-term. The unit works very well with the ionization option in the off position. Buy with confidence.

I wish I had bought an air purifier earlier. This one is the first I have ever owned and I wish I had one in every room. I keep this one in my bedroom and I now sleep like a baby. It stays on 24/7 unless I am cleaning the pre-filter. It is because of the pre-filter I bought this one. Buy it.

I don't understand how anyone can give this anything than higher than 1 star. I bought this product over a year ago. Its doesnt do anything at all I have a cat and I looked in the filter after months of heavy use and the filter is complety clean.

Purchased one of these for the bedroom last year. It seemed to do a good job so purchased a second for the office. The office has a carpet that a former occupant managed to embed his odor into and this seems to do a good job of keeping it well under control until the funds and time are available to rip up the carpet and put something else down.

Both have really helped my allergies while in these rooms. I make sure to keep the doors closed so they are only working with the air in that room and not constantly circulating in new air. The manual recommends using the medium setting if it's to be left on constant which is the setting I use. Noise level is very good, you hear it if you're listening for it otherwise you won't notice it after a bit. I also leave the ionizer on constant.

Now for the bad . . . The newer one developed a shrill whining noise after leaving it on high while I was gone for a weekend trip (I figured turn all the air cleaners in the house to high since no one is around to get annoyed with the noise). Because of this it wasn't usable for a couple of weeks. I was going to call Holmes for warranty repair but generally these companies make you pay for shipping back and forth to get them to work on it (Not sure Holmes' policy but I'm assuming this is the case) so I decided to try to take it apart and see if I could figure out the issue.

The unit was relatively easy to take apart for me (I'm an A+ Certified PC Technician so this isn't a far stretch though I think grandma could do it as well) and what I found was a piece of plastic shaving (manufacturing defect) that wasn't a problem for several months managed to get itself positioned in such a way that it was rubbing against the fan. Broke off the sliver thin shaving and put it back together. It's back to a normal noise level.

All in all satisfied with the positive effect it's had on my allergies and the odor control in the office. Marking four stars due to the mentioned easily remedied manufacturing defect that was present on one of the machines.

We bought this product for my daughter when she was 3 and started showing signs of allergies, on top of her horrible asthma. This product kept the room cool in the summer, clean and crisp through the windy days, and even kept out the skunk spray that invade the closed up house. I am hoping to buy one for every room, now that I read the following review rgarding the black dust. We are non-smokers, and I am a germ, & dust freak. Following my daughters many doctor & hosiptal, I try and prevent allergy attacks and cold season with an arsenal at my finger tips :). To be very honest the dust over took the wall were the unit was and the things around it. And for the life of me I couldn't understand what that was or why it was happening, having replaced a clean filter with no luck! I felt defeated having to place a great product in the closet because of the black yuck, but it will be back tomorrow! It would be nice if Holmes products had coupons,rebates, etc. Please send word if anyone hears of any. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!