With each passing allergy season, major wildfire, and the latest EPA report on pollution, concern for air quality has and will continue to be a major factor in our health and wellness reporting. Based on former in-depth conversations with associate professor of otolaryngology at Stanford University Zara M. Patel and a respiratory therapist and member of the American Association for Respiratory Care Joyce Baker, air purifiers (and most importantly, the right air purifier) are one of the greatest defenses we have against poor indoor air quality, which “can be two to five times more polluted than outdoors because of the lack of fresh air, circulation and ventilation,” according to Baker (who cited an assessment from the Environmental Protection Agency).
The decision to award BlueAir’s blissfully quiet and top-performing 411i Max air purifier a HuffPick was the result of combined guidance from Baker and Patel and our very own personal experience.
“[The] BlueAir 411 is remarkable because it just works — as soon as it’s on, you can feel the difference in the air, leaving air crisper and fresher,” former HuffPost shopping writer Haley Zovickian previously said. It should be worth mentioning that, like myself, Zovickian lives in smog-filled Los Angeles, a city that was recently ravaged by one of the worst wildfires in recent history.
“I no longer sneeze and itch from dust, pollen and who knows what, and my close friends with cat allergies are able to comfortably relax in my cat hair-filled room as long as the air purifier is on,” Zovickian said.
Aside from its sleek Scandinavian-inspired design, Zovickian points to BlueAir’s excellent filtration system that uses a dual HEPA filter, a washable fabric pre-filter and an active carbon filter to trap both large and tiny airborne particles like bacteria, viruses, dust, potentially harmful chemicals, and those responsible for odor.
The purifier featured here is offers a slight upgrade from Zovickian’s preferred model with its Wifi capability, which makes it easier to keep track of air quality and trends over time using the accompanying app, plus do things like schedule run times remotely and use voice commands. It also comes in three sizes, depending on the square footage of the space.