Customer Reviews

Honeywell 17005 QuietCare HEPA Air Purifier

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've had this unit for a week now, and I'm pleased with the results I have got out of it. My bedroom is only about 140sq feet, but since this is rated for larger rooms than mine, I am able to run it on Medium rather than High and still get some nice filtering from it. I run it on Low while I sleep, turn it off when I wake up, and run it on Medium or High for a couple of hours before I go to bed each night. I try to keep my door shut while it is on.

I'm an asthmatic and allergic to my two cats, and have been suffering for the last month (we have had them for a couple of years now). I haven't been able to figure out why I've suddenly begun having symptoms again, but it has been problematic to say the least, and I've had to use my inhaler daily, as I typically wake up with asthma symptoms. I decided that since I could not find the cause of my problems (we tried changing their litter type, brushing them daily, changing their food, and doing a thorough clean-up of my room), I would try to purify my bedroom's air while I sleep, since that is when I generally have problems. The first night I still woke with asthma symptoms, but since the second night I'm completely free and can breath much easier at night. I believe this has helped me sleep better, as I no longer struggle to breath each night.

The unit is quite loud in a room of my size, unless it is on Low (it's no louder than my room fan when it's on Low). My computer is in my bedroom, and I use headphones if I'm using it, so that I may run the purifier on Medium or High. Otherwise, after a day of getting used to it, I no longer notice that it's there. You would not want to put this in a medium or large bedroom, unless you purified during the day and turned it to Low or Off while you slept.

Honeywell claims that their HEPA filter is cleanable and only needs to be vacuumed every 6 months. The unit also requires an activated carbon prefilter to eliminate odors, and mine came with the initial prefilter and two additional free prefilters (yours may not have this, it appears to be a special offer). There is a small display on the unit where it displays your programmed settings (which I did not find as useful as I had hoped), and where it also reports how dirty your filters are. If the HEPA filter is truly cleanable, then this will be a very cheap air purifier to maintain, compared to other models which require you to purchase a $20-40 filter every few months.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention how convenient the remote is! I don't have to get up when I decide to take off my headphones or turn on my television, I can just hit a button on the remote and swap it to Low or Off. This is such a convenient feature that should not be overlooked, if you spend a lot of time in the room where you'll keep this unit.

Have to disagree with some of those who feel this unit is excessively noisy. I ended up buying one after having a store clerk plug in a demo model. It is quieter on slow speed but louder on high speed. I would say the noise levels are about the equivalent of a variable speed window unit air conditioner. If you're looking for dead silent operation, this unit won't do it, but if you can sleep through the background noise of an air conditioner, then this purifier shouldn't be any more intrusive. What sold me was the fact that the filters don't need to be replaced-simply vacuum every few months. On cheaper units, the replacement filters cost almost as much as the purifier.

While being quieter than most, it still does its job!

We use it in our family room where our quite active fireplace is. The three speeds are a definite plus, but we only really use the low and high speeds.

High speed definitely moves its share of air, but don't plan on watching TV while it's running unless you raise the volume quite a bit. With the amount of dust the fireplace puts out, the unit has definitely reduced the amount of dust around our home.

I bought this model because it said Ultra Quiet on the box and even bragged about how it achieved such a quiet motor. I'm rating this 2 stars because I feel Honeywell did not live up to what they advertised. On the lowest speed, this thing was still loud enough to hear over my t.v. set. On speeds 2 and 3 it vibrated my hardwood floor and was obnoxiously loud! I tried using it downstairs on the carpeting, but was still annoyed at the sound, so finally returned it. I checked out a larger Honeywell unit (round / appx. $239) and it was indeed very quiet on the lowest setting. I will probably spend the extra $$ on that one. Whatever you buy, try it out in the store first!

HEPA filters on consumer air purifiers pretty much all do the same level of filtering, and so the only real variables are how much noise a unit makes, how much air it moves, and the cost to maintain. The noise on this unit is reasonable, especially for the volume of air it moves and the relative small footprint. I can understand why people complain, as it does sound like a large window A/C unit when on high, but there's really no way to make something move a lot of air through a small space and keep it quiet. It's just aerodynamics. You get turbulence when you blow air through a small opening. If you want a quiet unit that can handle as large a room as this (my recollection is this can handle roughly 400 sq. ft.) you're going to have to get a much larger purifier.

The second variable, room size, is really a product choice. I assume if you're looking at this one it will do the trick for you.

The last variable, cost of maintenance, varies GREATLY among all brands. Some purifiers require you to buy a new HEPA filter one a year or so, and that filter usually costs about as much as the original unit. On the other hand, this HEPA filter in this purifier is designed to be vacuumed out twice a year and will last the lifetime of the device. Even better, the prefilters (which are usually what get you with these things) are surprisingly cheap. Since the 17005 is relatively small, you can get two replacement filters out of the Honeywell universal prefilter packs, which are only $10. Given that you only need to replace these about once every 3-6 months, you can operate this purifier for $10-$20 a year. This is by far the cheapest HEPA-based purifier I've ever seen. You might argue the electrostatic devices are cheaper, but they have the significant downside of requiring manual cleaning, they produce ozone, and--most importantly--they don't filter nearly as effectively.

The only downside to the 17000 series I've found is that they have a tendency to vibrate. I had to go through a couple returns before I got one where the fan was properly balanced. This seems about par for the course; everything is cheaply made these days and it shows. Of course, this is quite a value for the money if you get one that works well. This issue is why I can't give it five stars, however.

All in all, this is the first air purifier I've been happy with. It's small, does its job well, and does so with minimal operating costs.

I sleep with a fan on.
I always have. Even a small fan on low, enough to make some white noise, and make a gentle breeze. Been doing this since I was a wee tyke.
I've used many fans over the years, but the one thing they all had in common was they all got dust on the blades quite bad, and much sooner than you'd think, because they ran all night.

I had a honeywell 11520 purifier to help me with asthma and allergies.
It helped, but it wasn't a night and day difference.
Enter the 17005.
I have mine sitting on it's side, pointing at my pillow, on low 24/7.
A quiet gentle breeze of fresh air, no dust to clean off the blades, just replace the pre-filter when it gets dirty, and vacuum out the outside of the filter.
I sleep better, the dust is much reduced, I sleep in a 'bubble' of clean air.
If you use a fan when you sleep, try using this instead. You will throw your fan in the trash.
(Also, I wake up able to see clearly right away, no need to rub my eyes in order for them to focus right away.)
You will honestly feel better when you wake up and you don't need a big noisy unit, because you're running it on low speed, right where you need the fresh air.

Try it!

I've used the now-discontinued Honeywell 17440 for years. It's quiet on the low setting yet pushes the expelled air up and far away from the unit, allowing air to circulate around the room instead of just around the unit as with most diffusely expelling purifiers. I appreciate the prefilter, which slows the rate at which the expensive HEPA filter needs to be replaced.

I researched the market before I bought the 17005 and couldn't find a unit as large as the 17440 (they're all discontinued). I hoped that the low customer ratings on the 17005 due to noise were from people who were overly sensitive. I turned it on next to the old 17440 and the 17005 is MUCH louder than the old one on low settings (the higher setting are unusable when people are in the room). I packaged it up and returned it immediately--I'll gladly pay return shipping of about $15 to not have this in my life. Too bad Honeywell doesn't publish their noise specs allowing customers to make informed decisions.

We've just moved to a townhome previously owned by a smoker. Not being smokers ourselves, the smell started to make us a little nautious. My husband bought this and within 2 days the smell was greatly reduced. Runs a bit loud on the highest setting, but kind of reminds me of being in an airplane.

This product pretty much lived up to its description EXCEPT some reviews had said it has a lifetime filter. The owner's manual says the filter will need to be replaced every 1-3 years; so that's kind of a disappointment. And this product is not very quiet on high; but we sleep with a box fan on anyway at night to muffle noises, so that was fine with us. All-in-all, we were pleased. And the price was the best one I found online.

I bought this at Home Depot after reading the reviews. Several reviewers gave this a three star or less rating because it is "loud". But they never quantified what "loud" was so I decided to ignore them and see for myself. To me, running this on high sounds like being in your car with the A/C on high. Same with the medium setting. Low is a little quieter than the A/C in my apartment. I ran the unit on high for the first few days; at night I put it in the living room and I would switch it to my bedroom before I went to work. This past weekend I was not at home and I left it in my room on medium the entire time. Last night I slept with it in my room on the low setting. After almost a week the first bar has turned black. It does take up a bit of room since it needs to sit out pretty far from the wall - and furniture - but I bought two bamboo placemats and found a spot in each room for it.

The only "con" I can think of is it is a little difficult to set up the programs but I have time to figure all that out. The filters are not too expensive and I have NO problem throwing them out four times a year. It costs me $20-$30 every time I have to go to the doctor for my allergies, not including the Benadryl, prescriptions, and ointments I have to keep buying.

I may come back and update after further investigation (into whether or not this helps my contact dermatitis too) but so far so good!