Alen T100 Desktop Air Cleaner
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List Price: Our Price: $149.00 You Save: $81.00 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy 3rd Party: from $130.00 (click here) Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Alen T100 Desktop Air Cleaner
Customer Review: It was a present for my mom
Summary: 4 Stars
I can't give a complete product review because this was a present for my mother who is asthmatic. It got there in great time and so far it's only been a month but she loves it and has said that it's not loud or extremely big. So for the price and the other good reviews I feel that this was a good buy!Customer Review: Smoke and mirrors?
Summary: 3 Stars
Okay, several months ago I decided to see if an air purifier would do one tenth of what companies claim they do and today I'm scratching my head. Is it working? Are the odors in my home reduced? Is my environment cleaner and healthier? Beats the heck out me. I asked several people if they could tell a difference, and only one person said they could (all stated that my home odors were not objectionable to begin with, but hey, what are they going to say? My house stinks?). This product is placed mainly in one fairly small room (about 100 sq ft) and my only purpose was to have this room (where I keep my computers) clean and fresh. The following will list some of my doubts, some of the things I don't like, and some of the things I do like.
Doubts:
1. I'm not sure I've seen much improvement, and can't say for certain that the improvement I have seen (or felt or smelled) occurred because of this air purifier or me changing my furnace filters to MERV 8 rated filters. Personally, I feel the claims from all air purifier (and filter) manufacturers are pretty much bogus to begin with.
2. Air Purifiers America's wonderful endorsement of Alen air purifiers (5 of Alen's products are in their top 10 rated air purifiers) is no doubt due more to the fact they are financially tied to this company rather than from Alen's actual performance. Matter-of-fact, it's difficult to find many top-ten lists with Alen in any of them. Then again, I've found top 10 lists that list the ratings on only those models that they sell. Yeah, that's the ticket. Pretty easy to rate things one sells highly. Furthermore, it seems these air filter and purifier companies are not under much government scrutiny (can anyone say Oreck and Ionic Breeze?). It would be great if consumer reports would be of any help, but they are not only unhelpful, they also have been severely criticized (and rightly so) for their testing methods and rankings (they have ranked absolute garbage very highly, and some of those manufacturers are out of business). In this industry, one cannot trust any company, or for that matter, air purifier review sites, nor the trusted CR, so the consumer is shooting in the dark here. I will say that the brands that came out highly rated on several "top" lists that I read were the IQAir, Austin Air and Blueair models (whether they are nearly as good as claimed is anyone's guess, but I seriously doubt they are).
3. In order to take advantage of Alen's "lifetime" warrantee, one must register to a filter replacement program. I feel this is a great way for a company to keep a steady income flowing in from unsuspecting customers (many other companies use this scheme as well). Personally, I don't want filters automatically shipped and charged to me on a regular basis. Besides, I already ordered extra charcoal filters when I bought this product. The company says nothing about how they would recognize this fact. They just want to sign me up.
What I don't like:
1. While this product seems nice and quiet on the low settings, I can't say the same thing about medium and high settings. It's just too loud and I hear quite a bit of vibration noise, so I simply keep it on the low setting 24/7.
2. Because I use the low setting, I doubt I'm changing the air enough times or reducing the amount of contaminants enough for this device to be considered useful.
What I like:
1. It's small (about 14-1/2" H x 5-1/2" W x 9" D), light, fairly attractive and easy to take from room to room if one wants to do so.
2. The filters are relatively inexpensive and a snap to install. I also like the fact that these filters are the same for their T300 series (one just doubles the number of filters for the larger unit). So if one likes the T100 and decides to go to the larger T300 model for other rooms, the filters are the same. I like this approach, but it only applies to the "T" series.
Well, those are my opinions and I'm sticking with them. Granted, I'm only using this air purifier in one room, but before I decide I may want to purchase additional units or a larger unit, or another brand, I have to be confident I'm not throwing money out of the proverbial window. Nothing I've seen, smelled or heard leaves me with any confidence that this product (or any other for that matter) will do half of what is claimed.
So how do I rate it? Good question, and I've been asking that myself, but I'll throw caution to the wind and rate this product 6 out of 10, or a 3-star rating. If I was able to use this on higher fan settings without being annoyed with the noise, I might get more of an idea of what this product is capable of. But since that isn't going to happen, 3 stars is all it gets and it is lucky to get that (and mainly because it is relatively inexpensive to buy, operate and maintain).
EDIT: I have found an air purifier review and rating website that goes into far more detail than any I have seen to date. I wish I had read this website before buying. Amazon won't allow URLs in the review section, so I'll just tell you to look for Air Purifier Power on your own. You'll find detailed explanations and what appears to be excellent evaluation parameters, although I do not understand some of the rating numbers this gentleman applies (an 8 is above average and a 6 or 7 is poor?) and the details of the reviews do vary. Reading this website does indeed impart knowledge to the consumer in a field that is filled with smoke and mirrors and outright lies.
Customer Review: Good, nothing great
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this air purifier for the sole purpose of making my dorm room less dusty. It has done a fairly good job at that and gets rid of the smell from food (fast food pizza etc.). There is nothing amazing about this though I still have some allergies in the morning and there is still dust around my room. It is small and quite. If you take the filter out and put it back in you may notice a light whistle but if you simply take it out and put it back in, the whistle will go away. I have noticed no difference with the Ionizer. It does act like a fan and will cool down a room an insignificant amount.