Customer Reviews

Hoover Air Purifier with TiO2 Technology - WH10600

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The other reviews are very thorough. Just want to add a note that they are accurate.

We've had ours for a week now and it works great. Leaving it on low does a nice job of keeping our bedroom pure... well, the air at least...

Like someone else mentioned, the lights are rather bright on the control panel. We cover the top of the unit with the user manual at night to block the light.

One note for those comparing this one with the WH10400 model... the lower model does not have the auto-mode for the fan speed, does not have the fancy display, and it also does not have a remote. I almost bought the lesser model... but the auto mode pushed me over to buying this one. Its also interesting to see the display change color if the air quality is not great.

If you are looking to buy an air purifier, I would highly recommend this one.

UPDATE July 1, 2011 - purifier still works great... I've rinsed the foam dust filter on the back several times, that is the only maintenance so far.

The auto mode is great... if the air is clear the display is blue and the fan runs on low (very quiet). If we are doing something that stirs up dust (vacuuming, dusting, etc) then it will kick up to the yellow-orange color and the fan goes to setting 2. If you are really stirring up dirty air (like when I come in from mowing and take off my dusty shirt) then it turns red and the fan kicks to high (3).

It gets somewhat loud at settings 2 and 3, we usually keep at it 1 during the night. Sometimes if a neighbor (or a bat in our attic) is making noise we put it on level 2 just to create some white noise.

I'd recommend this as a great air purifier.

I've been wanting another air purifier for a while now. I had several Sharper Image purifiers and one Rabbit Air. I still like the Rabbit Air but always wished it had a UV bulb inside. But my Sharper Image purifiers have been collecting dust and sitting unused ever since they started acting up -- crackling, popping and making all sorts of annoying noises that no amount of cleaning can seem to remedy. Well, thanks to this Hoover, I finally got to toss out that old Sharper Image junk! I'm still using the Rabbit Air, but do consider this Hoover to be the better of the two.


Things that make you go DUH!

It wasn't until I got this home that I realized this Hoover Purifier is the same brand as the vacuum people -- DUH! Well, that little insight made me even happier about getting this unit. It's only natural that the people who make some of the best vacuums are now making one of the best air purifiers I've tried. I guess now they're in the business of vacuuming the air too!

I've done A LOT of research into air purifiers over the years. I have chronic respiratory problems including COPD, asthma and bronchitis. I use oxygen too, both at home and on the go, so breathing clean air is not only important to me, but critical to my well-being. And living in Los Angeles, I'm very aware of "good" air quality days and "bad." It effects me constantly and I couldn't get by without my air purifiers. And with my Sharper Image Purifiers acting up, this new Hoover arrived at just the right time for me!


Auto Feature - Set It & Forget It

One of the things I like best about this Hoover is the Auto Feature. The unit automatically detects the air quality, and adjusts the fan's speed, accordingly. My Rabbit Air has this feature too, but doesn't seem to be anywhere near as sensitive as this Hoover. I could be in the bathroom spraying on my deodorant, and the Hoover will detect the "pollution" from the next room and kick into high gear to clean the air. Cool! And even though I have respiratory problems, I do occasionally like to use smudge sticks and incense for cleansing purposes. Usually, I turn off my air purifiers when smudging, but as an experiment, I decided to leave the Hoover on and lit a smudge. It literally took no more than 15 seconds for it detect the "air pollution" and kick into high gear -- and I watched as it literally sucked the smoke out of the air and got rid of it all in about 30 seconds! So all told, from lighting the smudge, back to clean air, was less than 1 minute. This Hoover REALLY SUCKS! And I mean that in the Best possible way!


Does NOT Create Ozone

Unlike the old Sharper Image purifiers, this Hoover does NOT create Ozone of any kind. Actually, even my Sharper Image purifiers were modified (by me with a pert provided by Sharper Image) to eliminate all ozone output. Those old reports by Consumer Reports are just that -- old and out of date. The whole ozone/purifier issue has long since been addressed and remedied, with this Hoover being the latest product to offer ozone free ionization.


Additional Features

This Hoover also has an ionizer and something called a UV/TiO2 feature which is basically a UV bulb that kills airborne viruses and germs. Hospitals have been using UV bulbs for years, and they are highly effective at killing airborne contaminants. As I said, it's a feature that is sorely lacking from my Rabbit Air, so I'm quite happy to have it on this Hoover.


LCD Control Panel

The display panel shows 3 different colors, depending on the air quality. Blue = Good; Yellow = Fair and Red = Poor. This color scheme is very easy to see from across the room, and gives a quick and easy to see visual gauge of the air quality. I think my only complaint is I'm not fond of the big, bright curved light that indicates if the UV bulb is on or off. It's just a little too bright in a dark or dimly lit room. It's no big deal; it's just a personal pet peeve of mine. it seems every new piece of technology or electronics I get has a personality complex and wants its own big bright twinkling, blinking or glowing light on it to assert its own self-worth and importance. If we're supposed to be more eco-friendly, then how about a few less bulbs on everything I buy??


Remote

I like the remote control because I can easily up the fan speed if I feel the need. Though honestly, the auto feature works so well, I may not use the remote much.


Bottom Line -- this Hoover air purifier is a state of the art piece of equipment, and from a brand I know and trust. Some people might not think an air purifier is necessary, but use this for 1 month and then take a look at all the crap collected on the filter, and I bet you'll think differently! This is the best air purifier I've personally tried and I think it's a really high quality unit. Go for it!

This thing is amazing, and I'm a huge fan. I have it in my office at work, and every time a co-worker comes in, they make mention of how fresh the air in my office smells. It's a dramatic and noticeable difference from the air in the rest of the building.

Great things:
- Very quiet, and really only audible when the fan is on its highest setting.
- The design is attractive and unobtrusive.
- The timer feature is a plus, especially in my case; it makes it easy to set the purifier to turn off when I leave for the day.
- I'm a big fan of the internal UV light that kills germs. I haven't taken an air sample yet to make sure this is working, but I have faith. :)
- The remote keeps me from having to get up and walk to the purifier to change a setting - I can do it right from my desk.

Things that could be better:
- Being able to turn off the display at night would be great - the light on it is pretty bright in the dark.
- Being able to turn off the beeping sound when changing a setting.
- The price is a bit steep for an air purifier.

I'm not entirely sure why previous reviews were complaining about the ionizing feature, because you can turn that off if you're concerned about an old report Consumer Reports published. If anything, it should get a *higher* rating for including that feature.

Either way, I really like the unit, and I'll be purchasing one for my bedroom as well.

I am asthmatic and this product has all the great makings of a wonderful product to keep air clean and organism free. The UV light is what really makes this a fantastic product along with the automatic setting which detects the air quality in the area you want to filter and adjusts fan intake speeds accordingly.

UPDATE: This is not a regular ionizing purifier that produces ozone. Upgrade to five stars

I am giving this item four stars for putting the Ionizing feature on the machine along with UV and HEPA - technology overkill. The UV and HEPA filter and charcoal pre-filter are plenty enough to do the work of filtration without exposing those with respiratory problems to dangerous ozone levels. If you recall the great Sharper Image "Ionic Breeze" units that boasted filtration without the hassle of filters for around $400, then you may also recall studies that emerged in 2005 stating that actual ozone levels being released by ionic cleaners were dangerous. The good thing is, this cleaner has the option of turning off the Ionic setting with the simple click of your remote or via a button on the unit itself. Just to quote from a Consumer Reports study:

"Consumer Reports tested a number of popular air-cleaning machines. It found that most did more harm than good, producing potentially harmful ozone while doing a poor job of removing dust, smoke and pollen. In normal people, exposure to ozone levels of 100 parts per billion causes injuries to the airways," says Dean Sheppard, director of the Lung Biology Researcher Center at the University of California-San Francisco. "It also produces an effect in the airways of normal people that's like what you see in people with asthma: shortness of breath and wheezing." To be perfectly clear, I am talking only about the Ionizing feature on the Hoover Air Purifier. The other two methods are fantastic and work well.

Take away the ionizing feature and keep the HEPA and UV lightbulb and Hoover makes a perfect machine that responds well, is intuitive to ambient air quality and is easy to use.

The manual is straight forward but I would have liked a little more in the tech specifications area to try to understand the Ozone output in parts-per-billion (ppb). Is it 50 ppb or 300 ppb? Any ozone is too much and will have the opposite effect for an asthmatic or anyone with respiratory issues or even normal lungs. The last thing a person wants is their air cleaner causing lung problems. Ionization is not good (it may help with air odors but the released ozone is an irritant).

This purifier is nice to look at, easy to use and very adjustable. I turned off the Ionizer, turned on the U/V and set the unit to run on "Automatic" (there are 3 fan speeds and it will choose the best according to your air quality readings). This is a visual machine too -- if the LED readout reads a certain color, the air quality is indicated by that color: BLUE = good, AMBER = fair, RED = poor. There are visual indicators that tell you when to change the filter and also a timer you can set. The unit boasts that it can filter a 12x12' room 7X in 3 hours! Pretty darn good. It has a rinsable pre-filter and a replaceable filter made with "HEPA media"-- as of this writing, I cannot find the replacement filter or replacement UV/TIO lightbulb but think they can probably be ordered via Hoover direct:

- Hoover Part Number - AH60015 (filter) - $24.99 off of Hoover's Website with a 1 year warranty
- Hoover Part Number - 440001064 (bulb) - unable to find on Hoover's site as of this writing.

I have no idea how long the filter or bulb will last - time will tell. So far the unit is beautiful, quiet and intuitive.

We have 6 furry felines, so this unit is getting put to the ultimate test!

8/10/11 - Update - this ionizer DOES NOT produce ozone according to other reviews I have read on other sites. I have upgraded my review to 5 stars and turned on the Ionizer. If I feel it causes any asthma distress, I will update my review accordingly.

Air purifiers are something you want to get good value for. You don't want to pay too little and have something that is essentially just for looks. You want something that is effective and depending upon the use does not produce too much noise. You also have to consider operating costs; how much energy it uses, how many of the filters are washable, how expensive and often you need to replace the HEPA filter.

This air purifier, from my one month plus of use, does very well on all of these criteria. The unit is an attractive tower design with a nice looking and very easy to read LCD display. It has a remote that controls all the features. It is very easy to set the unit to automatic or one of 3 intensities, to set the Ion and UV/titanium dioxide feature on and off, and to set a timer in one hour increments up to 7 hours.

We have been using the purifier mostly on automatic mode. The unit does go up and down in intensity depending, one hopes, on the air quality and dust levels in the room. On level 1 the unit is virtually silent, 2 and especially 3, produce a bit of noise but the noise is comparable to other units I have used in the past. The manual states that the unit uses 50 watts which is a pretty good figure. It does not state if that usage changes depending on the level. Many lower cost units use more energy though, making for a more expensive product over time.

We are using this in our TV room and we do have to up the TV volume when it is on level 3, but it is not that big a disruption. We seem to have less dust so I am pleased with the unit. I like that there is a rinsable pre-filter. This is big because HEPA filters do need to be replaced and this can extend the life of the HEPA filter. This unit also comes with a UV bulb and the above mentioned titanium dioxide coating. Hoover claims that over 99.9% of germs that pass through the UV light. I don't know if this is true, but if so it just adds to this being a solid buy. My one big unknown is not knowing how frequently I will need to replace the HEPA filter. I did some research here on Amazon and also on Google and it seems the filter with shipping is roughly $25 to $35 which is a pretty good price compared to other air purifiers I have used.

So I do like this product but my favorite air purifiers are still Rabbit Air BioGS (model 421A - covers 600 sq. ft.) High Quality Ultra-Quiet Air Purifier - Low Maintenance - Washable Filters!, Pearl White. These units can cover up to 600 feet, have almost completely washable filters except for the HEPA filter that we replace once every 14 to 16 months, and are extremely energy efficient and low noise (highest level like the Hoover does produce noticeable noise). We have noticeably lower dust levels and better smells (3 cats, 1 dog) in the areas where we have our 2 Rabbit Airs. Especially if you want to cover a larger area I highly recommend the Rabbit Air. But for a smaller TV room, kitchen, or bed room the Hoover is an obviously well designed and thought out product, easy to use, with only one filter to buy and replace, and with good energy consumption. Recommended.

I recently became interested in indoor air filtration when faced with a sick infant and a neighbor who burns a lot of wood very nearby. I also use our air purifier for a friend who stays over with cat allergies. My main interest, therefore, is reduction of fine particulate matter. I don't care about germs.

For my uses (allergies and wood smoke), this hoover unit is not necessarily the best choice: For the the same amount of money and electricity (or less), I could get more capable HEPA filtration from something like the HAP756-U. (I own both units, actually).

That said, this unit by hoover is pretty nice.

What I like:

- Very small footprint. Takes 1/2 or 1/3 the floor space of the HAP756-U purifier I also have.
- Good looks. Very sleek and unobtrusive.
- Fairly quiet.
- Decent energy consumption (see below).
- Ionizing and UV can be turned off if you just want to run the HEPA filter.

What I didn't like:
- For the price, you can get more HEPA filtration with a CADR-rated unit like the Holmes model I mention above.
- UV: I don't really care about germs in the air. At least it can be turned off.
- No CADR (clean air delivery rate) rating makes comparison hard.
- Bright blue lighting and noisy button beeping make operation at night (w/ sleeping spouse) problematic. (Blue light interferes with sleep, you'll need to cover this unit at night).


Energy consumption:

- Idle: 0 watts
- Low, HEPA only: 26-27 watts
- Medium, HEPA only: 31 watts
- High, HEPA only: 33 watts
- High + UV: 39 watts
- High + Ion + UV: 40

By comparison, the larger, energy star Holmes unit I mentioned does probably twice the HEPA filtration at about the same energy usage. It just has more filter surface area.

We bought this because of my wife's allergies. It is a very nice design and it looks great. She reports of having better quality of air in the house. Now I don't know if that is a placebo effect or really her allergies are better. Either way even if the placebo effect is helping I would do anything for her. One thing that I should -

REVISE: The ionizers on these certain products emit noise frequency wavelengths that affects our pets' hearings. I really think everyone should know this. I tell you why. Through an audiogram I can prove that these low frequency noises that are emitted from ionizers, certain microwaves and other household stuff affects your pets hearing and therefore behavior. I noticed this since we have a little kittie. She is always fun and happy go lucky. For the past few days since we have turned on the Hoover she was droopy, kind of avoiding every body and not like herself. It was mild enough to go unnoticable but we being anomal lovers notice everything about our pet. After doing some research my wife and I tried to find out why she is acting like that. We have not changed anything we thought, then tonight at 3 am when I got up to turn the Hoover off I saw this button "ionizer" on top of it. Half sleep I said to myself I know the reason the cat was acting funny. This had happened once before with another equipment that emitted noise that we couldn't hear but she could. I did a test right at that time. The Hoover with its ionizer on emits a low frequency tone of 50 hz, but at an intensity of 59 db. That is really horrible. Now; research has shown that dogs frequently are affected by this decible than cats are. We all must remember that our pets hear noises that we don't hear. Yes yes I know What do you do if you have to turn on your microwave or changing channels on remote control or etc... I agree but you have to remember those noises emitting from our microwave ovens and remote controls are intermittent meaning they are not on at all times the Hoover was. How do you like hearing a high pitch noise 24 / 7 in your ear like our pets do and then we wonder why they act weird or withdrawn sometimes. So if you have pets becareful with ionizers and kitchen equipment that emit low frequency sounds.

I read the reviews here before buying this Hoover and many complained about the fan noise of it and the back light when it s on. None of that really bothered us. The back light for its control panel is not that bright at least for us unless you are extremely sensitive to any light. The noise of it is fine too. Let me compare the noise to you more accurately. When the highest level is on which is level 3 the noise of it is double than a laptop computer fan. At level 1 the Hoover sounds just like as the fan of a laptop computer sounds. Why did I give it a 4 stars instead of 5 the price. It is really fine even if you shut down its ionizing button it still works well. Hope I helped some little kittie or a little pooch out there.

Until now, till I got this Air purifier - I did not realize that I need an air purifier - was under the impression that my apartment vent filters would do the job. The vent filters get changed routinely (once in 6 months). I used to get stuffy nose in the mornings and did not realize that this was a result of the quality of the air.

But after getting this Air purifier - I have seen a noticeable difference in the Air quality in my apartment, hardly feel the stuffy nose, feel more fresh and able to breath good quality air.

I am happy with the Hoover Air Purifier. It is made to trap dust, pollen, germs, and odors. It's ready to plug in right out of the box with no assembly needed. I like the design and the dark color. It's not bulky and blends in well with our room decor. The unit has an Ionizer for odors which can be easily turned on and off. We currently have the unit in the kitchen and I can tell a difference in the kitchen odors.

We had planned to place it in a bedroom, but when the fan turns on, the air coming out is cool. It might help more with sinus/allergy problems in a bedroom, but right now in the winter, we don't want cool air blowing into the room while sleeping.

The purifier comes with a remote control, but we have been using the "Auto Mode". The color of the display on the top of the unit tells you the current air quality in the room. The purifier monitors the air quality and turns on when needed. Even when the fan is on, it is fairly quiet. If you don't want to use the auto mode, there are three Air Cleaning Power settings from which to choose and then you can set a timer to determine when you want it to operate.

We have not had to do this yet, but there is a "pre-filter" that should be rinsed with water or cleaned with a vacuum once a month. An LED indicate will let you know when it's time to replace the actual HEPA filter.

Bought this air purifier a couple of months ago due to its high rating, reasonable price and it's made by a trusted company. However, after using it for a while, I started having doubts about its effectiveness.

I don't have pets in house, so can't verify whether it can help alleviate or eliminate odor as others experienced, but I put it to the test in my kitchen while my wife was cooking and can hardly feel any reduction in smell. The intellisense seems to sense motion than sense odor/smell.

The room where I put the purifier is still dusty as before. I also check the air filter weekly and hardly find any dust on it. Is this really working? I don't really know.