Customer Reviews

Honeywell Long-Life Pure HEPA QuietCare Air Purifier, 17000

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

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.

This year I purchased another Honeywell air cleaner with a HEPA filter (Model 17400) for my bedroom because I had contacted bacterial pneumonia last year and wanted to make sure I did not get it again. Next, I purchased this Honeywell 17000 Air Cleaner (with HEPA filter) for use in a smaller bedroom which has been turned into a home office and library.

These air cleaners really work! 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 problems with sleeping, working, reading, watching tv, or listening to music when it is running on the low and medium settings. I leave it on all the time, and I've found that it cleans the air best when the door is closed.

It has a convenient handle on the top, so I can move it to another room quite easily. Also, it is light enough that I can take it with me in the car if I want to use it away from home.

The prefilters last about 3-6 months, (and they can be vacuumed often 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. The Model 17000 is for a smaller room, and the Model 17400 is for a larger space.

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

The Honeywell seems quite well made. The pre-filter and filter are easy to change. The carry handle on top is useful when you want to move it from room to room. The HEPA filter seems to work fine, as any other True HEPA model will, but my real concern is the noise level.

If all HEPA purifiers were like this, I would accept it, but I recently purchased the "Kenmore 295 CADR True HEPA Air Cleaner" from Sears. It is described as "America's quietest true HEPA high-efficiency air cleaner technology". The Kenmore is _quieter_ on its _highest_ setting, than the honeywell is on its _lowest_ setting, and if you put the Kenmore on its lowest setting, you can barely hear it. You'll have no problem sleeping or watching TV with it running. Note that even though the Kenmore is much quieter, it has a CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) twice that of the Honeywell, and it handles a room twice the size. I paid $199 for the Kenmore, so yes, a little more expensive than the honeywell, but absolutely worth it.

So, the honeywell is fine, but you won't want to run it continuously or run it while you sleep because of the noise. There are better models out there. Look into the Kenmore.

If you want a silent, useless air cleaner, go buy an overpriced oreck or sharper image unit. It will reduce things like smoke and tiny, tiny particles, but forget it getting rid of dust. I know, I had one. If you want a unit that actually "Filters" the air, buy this. Sure on Medium or High this unit will add background noise, but on low, it is hardly noticable if it's not right next to you. We noticed an immediate "crisp feel" to the air and huge reduction in dust in the air. My cough of 3 weeks is gone overnight. Coincidence.. I think not.

Don't read into the reviews that bash the noise.. Noise means it's working.

I have never had an air cleaner, so I have no basis for comparison. I also have not had it for too long, so i can't advise on it's long term performance. That being said I am very happy so far with it. I recently, and for no aparent reason, developed mild asthma and allergies. I have two cats and, while I am not a pathological neat-freak, don't have small messes around the home, and I vacuum frequently. Both my asthma and allergies have gone away. The air is remarkably more crisp, and my sleep, while it was good to begin with, is better.

As for my experience with the noise level, and with deference to other reviews, I have no problems with the cleaner. This thing has moving parts, i.e., the consequences of thermodynamics and mechanics hold sway: there will be heat, friction, viscous drag over surfaces, etc... it sounds like a fan. On the lowest setting, which still filters a large volume of air (per time), sleeping or reading is very comfy in the same room. While the two higher settings may be too much to relax in the same room with, it will be slightly audible in another (close proximity) room.

The filters are easily accessed. They are concentric with one HEPA and a carbon prefilter, and are, at first glance, sealed.

They call it QuietCare... It's not all that quiet. I mean, it's throwing out a serious amount of air, and like any fan, it makes noise. Don't expect this to be silent, because it's not. Otherwise though, I find it to be quite nice as an air cleaner. Ultimately, it is easy to replace the filter. You simply twist a knob, remove the filter, add the new one, and tighten the knob. Even my grandma could do it.

You can also program the unit to operate at different speeds at different times. Not exactly revolutionary, but it's nice to know that you can set the thing and leave it alone, and it'll shut off, or switch to low speed when you aren't at home.

Overall, if you want a decent HEPA air filter, this is pretty cherry. This isn't some cheap air filter with a weak fan. You could dry your hair to this thing. Safe around kids and pets, easy to move from room to room, and the set and forget system makes it worth the money. The only reason I'd of bought something else is if I had a bigger room and needed even more power.

I bought this unit to try and assist the whole house aircleaner that we have on our central air system. I was amazed at how much dirt that this unit removed from our bedroom. While it does the job it is supposed to do, it is still a bit on the loud side even when placed on the lowest setting. I am not sure that there is any way around this noise as it is caused by the amount of air that the unit moves through the filter.

In many respects, getting used to the noise level of this unit is like getting used to the sound of a Grandfather clock. At first it is extremely iritating, but with time it becomes less noticable. The important part is that it functions as advertised and it does remove a lot of material from the air. Since this is the function that I was after, it does what it was supposed to do. I can sleep again without all of the iritation that my allergies cause.

The secondary filter (carbon filter) really does need to be changed or vacuumed off every couple of months. This filter acts as a pre-filter for the main filter and will quickly fill with dust. As a suggestion, use a good vacuum with a hepa filter to clean it with or you will just be sending dust back into your room. The carbon filter pack that Amazon sells works well and each filter will actually give you two filters since you need to cut each one in half to fit this unit (there are perforations in the filter to allow you to do this easily).

I am happy enough with this unit that I have just ordered another one to place in my home office. Remember, that this filter will only do a medium size room and will not be effective for a large room or for a whole house application!

The reason that I gave this a 4 out of 5 rating is that while the unit claims to be very quiet, that would be a matter of opinion and I think it is a bit on the loud side. However, I can live with it and you become used to it after a bit of time.

This air purifier does a great job of filtering the air in our apartment. I am asthmatic. I bought two of these units, one for the bedroom, and one for the home office where my boyfriend smokes when the weather is too hot or too cold to go outdoors. He can smoke in his home office without triggering my asthma if he runs this purifier on the medium setting. Because I have asthma, I needed an air purifer without an ionizer, and I'm happy with this product. Ionizers produce ozone, which is harmful to the respiratory system, especially if you are asthmatic. A lot of popular air purifers are just ionizers that don't do a good job of filtering allergins, and many of the HEPA purifiers have an ionizer that works in conjunction with the HEPA. This unit does not contain an ionizer, and the HEPA is permanent so it can be cleaned. The pre-filter has to be replaced every 3-4 months, and the replacement is about ten dollars. This unit is quiet in comparison to its counterparts, but don't expect silence. It contains a motor with a fan to pull air through the filter, so it makes some noise. It's "white noise" and we were used to it after two days.

Just received Honeywell 17000N today. This is my 3rd air purifier in my house, the others are: Panasonic FP15HU, and Whirlpool Whispure AP250.

I will only talk about noise in this review, since I think most HEPA-type air purifier should almost equivalent to each other, in terms of cleaning the air.

At its lowest setting, the Honeywell 17000N is quite loud, although it does have higher air flow than my other two air purifiers at their lowest settings. The other review mentioned the noise level resemble hair dryer. I agree with this assessment, although more likely it sounds like hair dryer on its lowest setting.

Here is how noisy it is (at the lowest setting): I put it at about 4' from the door in a 11x11 size room. With the door closed, at 6' away I can still hear the whoosh sound of the air purifier.

I am still not sure whether to put this in my son's room, or just put it in a general area like the living room. Will see if he's able to tolerate the noise through the night.

UPDATE: I just used a power meter to check the power usage of my air purifiers. At the lowest setting, here's the power usage:
Honeywell 17000N - 58 watt
Panasonic FP15HU - 40 watt
Whirlpool AP250 - 26 watt

No wonder Honeywell is the loudest of the bunch, and it uses twice as much power as the Whirlpool AP250.

Here's the power usage at the highest setting:
Honeywell 17000N - 80 watt
Panasonic FP15HU - 96 watt
Whirlpool AP250 - 45 watt

The general consensus on Amazon is one I have to second: the 17000 is a steal for a cleanable, true HEPA-powered, multi-setting machine. Its low profile is likewise a terrific boon, allowing for easy placement in the smallest of corners.

On the flipside, however, other reviewers are right on the mark: this is -- quite frankly -- the noisiest air purifier I've ever encountered. (Picture a warm air humidifier minus the gurgling, that's about where the 17000 clocks in decibel-wise.)

As a very slight sleeper, I have considerable buyer's remorse on this unit. Purchased to keep allergens at bay in a master bedroom, it seems to do the trick (dust is noticeably less after using the 17000)...albeit with a constant audible reminder its doing so even on the lowest setting. Not an annoying sound per se, rather a constant hum sounding akin to what it is -- a constantly cycling, fan-powered unit.

Still, purifiers with comparitive features (eg pure HEPA) clocked in at nearly 2x-3x the cost. Perhaps consider the 17000 a nice option for a living, dining or guest bedroom.

TIP: Stock up on pre-filters. You'll quickly learn just how well this unit works in the need to change pre-filters once every month, on average (sans pets). The good news is - and due to the 17000's smaller footprint - each factory pre-filter replacement produces 2 filter changes.

I'm not going to address issues of whether this works or not because I'm not qualified to do so and I don't put a lot of value on other reviews claiming that an air cleaner can eliminate symptoms of asthma, allergies, etc etc. in one night. There are studies out there that dispute whether an air cleaner like this produce a measurable effect on air quality at all.

What I can speak to is the noise issue since that seems to be the hot topic here. Yes, it makes noise. No, it does not sound like a hair dryer on high.

To me, things that make noise are only irritating if the quality of noise that they produce is irritating. I don't know how better to describe it but this 17000N does not sound *cheap*, and so therefore the noise it makes isn't offensive.

Even on low, you're never going to forget it's there, but hey people - you've got a small fan moving a large volume of air through a restrictive filter. If you want one that's truly quiet, either buy a bigger one that's designed for silent operation, or spend the money on a high end product.