Customer Reviews

Honeywell 17400 Enviracare QuietCare HEPA Air Cleaner

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As someone who is highly allergic to cigarette smoke and other air pollutants and irritants, I purchased a round Honeywell HEPA air filter when it first came on the market several years ago. It still works well in the living room, but it is quite noisy even on its lowest setting.

Recently, I decided to purchase another air cleaner with a HEPA filter for my bedroom because I had contacted bacterial pneumonia last year and wanted to make sure I did not get it again.

This air cleaner really works! This winter I have not had a cold or flu. Also, this Honeywell Air Cleaner with HEPA filter is whisper soft, and I have had no problem sleeping when it is running on the low and medium settings. I leave it on all the time, and I've found that it works best when the door is closed.

It has a convenient handle on the top, so I can move it to another room quite easily. The prefilters last about 3-6 months, (and they can be vacuumed if you have pets who shed). I change my HEPA filter every year, but you can wait 3 years to do so. These filters are easy to change.

Highly recommended for anyone who has pets, who lives with or entertains people who smoke, and who is allergic to dust, molds, or pollens.

I'm allergic to just about everything. Let's put it this way, when I got my tests back from the Allergist I *wasn't* allergic to feathers. That was it, everything else came back positive. I'm allergic to dust, mold, grass, trees, pet dander, ... the list could go on, but I think you get the point.

I bought this product for use in the master bedroom ( roughly 17' x 20' in size), to clean out the allergens. Since it was going in the bedroom, I was very concerned about the noise. This has not been an issue. It runs continuously on the low setting and it really is quite. Most people don't even notice it.

Again, running continuously on the low setting, I've found the pre-filters need changing about every 2 to 3 months and the HEPA filter is just now indicating it needs changing after about 15 months. I think this seems a reasonable amount of time for the filters to last.

Changing the filters, however, is my one and only complaint. Did I mention I was allergic to dust? Opening the cleaner to change filters -- especially changing the pre-filter -- is not easy to do without getting dust all over yourself and in the air. Even though I change the filters as soon as the light indicates, there is a lot of dust not firmly trapped in the filter. When you remove the velcro straps holding the pre-filter in place, the dust gets airborne and gets on you..

That being said, it does seem to have made my bedroom a much more pleasant place to live. I've noticed that during the spring and fall pollen seasons that I'm sleeping better at night. I attribute that to the good job the air filter is doing. There may be cheaper air cleaners on the market, but why settle for a substitute? After a year of using it, I'm convinced it was worth every cent I paid for it.

Amidst a construction at the moment, I purchased this for the common space within my office. People had been complaining of dust and allergen levels due to the construction.

The Honeywell 17400 has done a tremendous job for us. There has been a noticeable and welcome improvement in air quality. My colleagues and I recommend this product. It is quiet and effective.

The pre-filters only last a few months dependent upon use while the HEPA filters last about a year. We have had the machine running on high 24-7 for quite a while now and have never had a problem.

I live in an apartment in downtown Seattle. We had terrible problems with dust and road grime making its way onto our shelves and counters -- I had to dust thoroughly every weekend. So I was very excited to get this air filter. It is pretty loud on the highest level, but obviously that is not a problem when you aren't at home. At its lowest level it isn't any louder than the hum of a quiet refrigerator. And it kicks out really clean, cool fresh air. It's about the size of a large hat box, and it is very light weight and has a convenient handle at the top for easy carrying. I carry it from my living room to my bedroom every night. Only one problem--the air it produces, while very clean, is also very dry and when I slept with it on in my bedroom all night, I woke up with dried out, painful sinuses. However, this air cleaner has made a noticeable difference in the quality of the air in my home and I would recommend it.

I researched air purifiers for almost 2 months before finally buying this air purifier. I couldn't seem to decide what would be a good because reviews seemed to always go both ways on everything I looked at. I really think it just has a lot to do with what reason you are wanting your air purifier to work as to how happy you are going to be with it, and as to what type you need to buy. I mainly wanted one for my allergies. I am allergic to dust, dust mites and mold spores. There is no smokers in my house or anything so the air is clean from that.
I mainly chose this filter because I found a really good price for it somewhere else, and I decided to give it a try. I have to say, for what I need it to do, it does a great job. The air definitely feels fresher and my eyes do not burn and I do not sneeze near as much since getting this machine. I like that you only have to replace the HEPA filter every 1-2 years, where most HEPA filters I researched in other machines required every 6 months or so. They are not too expensive for lasting that long.
I have only run my machine 8 days and I took out the filter to see what it looked like, and there was a bunch of dust and stuff already collected on it. So I can tell it is getting a lot out of the air. I saw several people wrote that the machine is way too loud even on low, but I tested several machines out, and this is definitely the quiestest of the HEPA models I tried. At night in my room I have it on low and it is perfectly fine, about the same noise as a fan would be. Even on medium I can watch TV without problems. So if you are looking for a air purifier for your allergies at least, and have around 1,000 Sq. feet place or so your living it, it works great. Highly recommend.

My apartment no longer smells like the musty old house in which it resides. I doubt that my landlord has ever had the ducting cleaned, and I question whether he changes the furnace filter. My box fan gets black mung all over the blades in the winter, so I bought this unit to keep that stuff out of my lungs. I may be a college student but I can still afford comfortable breathing. Technically this isn't any worse than what they charge for a year's supply of prescription antihistamine. All I can think is that I should have bought one of these years ago. I prolly wouldn't have had to dust so much heh

My only complaint is that the high setting exhibits motor noise. It isn't any louder than my box fan when running on high, but it wasn't what I expected from a product marketed under the name 'QuietCare.' However, this is my first HEPA filter so I have no base for comparison. It really seems like an efficient design, you can't go wrong with a squirrel cage motor. They push the same CFM with half the noise. My music drowns it out and I usually run it on medium anyhow. It's still quieter than my AC and refrigerator!

The medium setting actually has a pleasant 'white noise' sound to it. I'm *very* sensitive to sound, I even insulate my PC case with acoustical dampening foam. This product passes my standards for environmental noise. Someday when I buy another for my bedroom, it will probably be of the SilentComfort product line.

Sure I could survive without one... but why? Yeah, technology baby!

I was initially reluctant to spend the money on this air cleaner. However, I've had a succession of air cleaners that were much less expensive that didn't do a thing to improve my allergies and sinus infections. I took the plunge and boy am I grateful. This is the best air cleaner I have ever owned. I bought a new one initially. But then I saw an old one at a garage sale and bought that too. It took some cleaning up. (So now I have one in my bedroom and one in my living room, both set on low and left on 24/7.) The quality of this air cleaner is superior. If you buy a new one it will last for a very long time. If you buy a used one you may have some serious cleaning to do to it like I did, but you will still have a solid air cleaner. The hepa filters may seem pricey but if you are dealing with a lot of dog or cat fur/hair then you should vacuum the pre-filters at least once a week and that will extend the life of both the pre-filter and the hepa filter. I wish I had initially bought this air cleaner years ago because I spent more than the price of this air cleaner on crappy smaller, less well built units that I ended up throwing out. I hate to sound like an infomercial, but this air cleaner has changed my life!

I have been very happy with my Honeywell air cleaner. We purchased it after we turned on our central heater for the first time in the winter and were experiencing allergies with dust. It also helps relieve my husband's pet allergies. It indicates when the filters need to be changed, which is very handy.

I have had honeywell hepa filters for years, and I think i just got used to the noise, as when I plugged this in... I was suprised at how quiet it is. This is great for a nursery or a bedroom.

Not sold on filter based systems? I just dont care for the electronic ones as I find they dont remove dust from the filters quite as good as these units do.

Use this for a one month and open the unit and look at the filter and you will be amazed at the .... you are breating in without a good filter.

If you have asthma, this is a must.

I have a 100 year old house - by that I mean I have lots and lots of dust problems. I also have 3 cats, 3 hamsters and a guinea pig (as well as fish!) And I smoke, way too much. I got this air cleaner a week ago and the setup was terribly simple.

I leave it on the low setting because I found medium and high to be too loud, but low is working just fine in my 17x16 open room. (There's an open stairwell in the room.) This thing sucks my smoke towards it from 10 feet away, and I dusted the day I got it and haven't had to since, which is truly amazing for my house. I'm breathing better as well!

I highly recommend this product to everyone. In fact, I'm going to buy a couple of smaller Honeywell's for my bedroom and bathroom (cat litterbox in there.)