Following his in-depth tests on the best pollution masks last year, Beijing-based physician, blogger, and obsessive air filtration tester Dr Richard St Cyr has recently been on the hunt for budget air filters to help us Beijingers fight off the filth that regularly assaults our breathing passages.
Today he posts his results from rigorous home testing on his blog My Health Beijing, demonstrating that at least in enclosed environments smaller than 40 square meters (such as his office and bedroom, where he conducted tests), low-priced machines can do as well as the top-of-the-line models.
His criteria for choice were:
– Priced under RMB 1,000
– Preference for qell-known international brand names over Chinese models
– HEPA-rated filter (or close to it)
– Fan strength
– Rated for at least 21 cubic meters
He tested the following:
- Smartair Classic: RMB 200; covers 11-20 square meter rooms
- Air-O-Swiss P320: RMB 699; covers 16 square meter rooms
- Panasonic F-30C3PD-D: RMB 599; covers 30 square meter rooms
- Philips AC4025: RMB 699; covers 25 square meter rooms
- Midea KJ20FE-NH3: RMB 750; covers 20 square meter rooms
- Xiaomi: RMB 899 (or RMB 1,000-1,200 on reseller sites); covers 48 square meter rooms
Long story short? He appears to like the Xiaomi and the Midea models the best. Read Dr St Cyr’s full results on his blog here.
So whether you’re after the top-of-the-line products or budget-conscious choices, there’s really no excuse for you to not have one of these in at least your bedroom, where you can give your lungs eight hours of respite from the smog.
And if you’re still unconvinced of the damage such particulates can cause to your health and wellbeing then you might want to watch this.
Photo: Xiaomi