Honeywell True HEPA Air Purifier, Airborne Allergen Reducer for Large Rooms (390 sq ft), White - Wildfire/Smoke, Pollen, Pet Dander, and Dust Air Purifier, 50250-S

*** Update! ***We've now had this air purifier for more than 2 years and it's still going strong. It's on a timer to run from midnight to 7am every day. We run it at night because it does get a bit loud in the living room while watching TV now that we don't have ceiling fans and the air conditioner running (winter time!). Most importantly... The purifier still doesn't make any weird noises, no wobbling, no vibration.I vacuum the outer filter (the black carbon filter) probably once a month now and it is still perfectly fine and in good shape. The inner HEPA filter is still perfect! Maintaining the outer filter keeps anything from really getting to the inner filter which is great.***UPDATE***So we've had this air purifier for about 2 weeks now. Still loving it! The amount of dust in our house has been greatly reduced. Still no wobbling, buzzing, or irritating noises. The suction is still going strong. I have noticed that with the air purifier on, I don't need to turn on the ceiling fan; the purifier moves the air enough that the ceiling fan just isn't needed.I love this unit so much that I recently purchased one for my mom! I'll update again with her opinion of the purifier after she's had it for a while.I did notice that a couple days after buying my mom's, the price jumped up to $187. For whatever reason, the price on this air purifier changes from $127 to $187 then back to $127 frequently. If it's $187 when you're looking at it, give it a week and the price will probably drop again.Thanks!***Original post:We've only had this purifier for one day so far but here are my observations thus far:Super easy to set up. Remove the unit from the box, unscrew the bottom handle, lift the cover from the unit, wrap pre-filter around HEPA filter, replace cover, put screw back on. Plug in unit, turn on. Done.Yes, this unit is loud, but not intolerable. With it on low, I can hear the TV just fine without having to turn up the volume. However, on high, the sound is fairly close to that of a hair dryer.I'm usually very sensitive to noises, but this sounds like a fan (which... it basically is, the vents blow air straight up from the top of the unit). I'm one of those people who simply cannot sleep without a fan on so, this fits right into my comfort zone as far as noises go. There are no odd whirring, buzzing, rattling or humming sounds.As an added bonus, with the unit on low, the white noise effect blocks out a lot of our random outside noises (vehicles, neighborhood pets) that usually drive my Shih Tzus crazy. Their random barking has decreased significantly!The suction is great. If I place a piece of paper near the side of the unit while it's on high, it'll suck the paper right to it. With the unit on low, it doesn't pull the paper to it, but will hold the paper in place if the paper is touched to the side.I read reviews where people complained about the blue light. It's no brighter than an average alarm clock or the time display on a microwave. This is a non-issue for me personally.I also read that people had issues with the purifier wobbling or being unsteady. I have mine sitting on top of a side table that sits on top of carpet. Zero wobbling, no vibrations.It is also worth noting that my house is very open planned; the main living areas (living room, dining room, kitchen and utility room are together/separated by arches) and the area the purifier is working in right now is well over the 350 sq. ft recommended for this unit.After 24 hours, the air in our home seems much cleaner. We have major dust issues due to living on a non-paved road, having tons of carpeting \and heavy curtains throughout the house, and cotton fields all around us.Generally, after I dust, there is a fine layer of dust on all surfaces again by the next day. I dusted yesterday right after turning this purifier on. Today there is a minimal amount of dust to be seen on my tables. Huge improvement!!So yes, after one day, I'm pretty happy with this purifier. Here's hoping this unit lasts a long, long time! =)

The first thing you must understand when reading reviews for the Honeywell 50250-S Air Purifier is that there is no consistency on which models the reviews are written about and many of the reviews are more than three years old (presumably even before this model was released). I just purchased this product (delivered June 2012) and have had a full day of experience running it and here are some preliminary thoughts: 1. While it is true that this does not have a "permanent" HEPA filter, it is represented to last 3-5 years depending upon your specific useage. I don't know about you, but I am ok with replacing the filter every 3-5 years that is so important to the quality of my life indoors. The cost of replacement is currently about $47 for the HEPA filter. The pre-filters are sold by Honeywell for between $11.95 to $16.95 depending upon whether you want the extra odor filtering and these are really three filters for the large round air purifiers (perforated sheet that makes three of the required size). 2. Noise: From the reviews, I was expecting a jet engine sound at the higher fan setting. That is overstating the case. There is no question you can hear the unit at work from other rooms in the house when it is set on high, but the reason you have it set on high is to move large volumes of air through the unit. On the first day of use, I found that running the air purifier on high cleaned the air in three hours or less in large rooms. You can then set the unit back to the much quieter medium or low settings to maintain the air freshness once you have done the inital cleaning. My wife agrees that the medium setting is a nice white noise background for sleeping, so I don't agree with many of the reviews. 3. I read many reviews about vibration of the unit and "wobbling". I don't have that with my new 50250-S. It runs very smoothly and even at the high fan setting, I don't see any evidence of movement or vibration. 4. Smell - Some reported strong odors the first day or so of use. I was all prepared for that and even warned my wife, but we had a pleasant surprise. No odors other than the smell of fresh air! Why are there so many differences in my experiences versus many of the reviews? I think some of that is due to personal differences, but I think a major difference is that not all of the reviews are talking about the same model. Many of the reviewers apparently were turned off on the 502250-S because it didn't have a "permanent" HEPA filter.I have some old ionic type tower air purifiers, and they just don't handle the air volume that this unit does. I have a number of large rooms in my home and the Honeywell 50250-S is perfectly suited for my needs. It may not work for everyone, but I plan on buying a second unit. If you do get this unit, go on the Kaz.com website to get a owner's manual. It has some addtional information over what is provided in the material included in the package. The additional info on cleaning is particularly helpful. It shows you how to vacuum the HEPA filter to help extend the useful life, but it points out that you should not try to clean the pre-filter. Good Luck!June 15, 2012 Update: I have owned the Honeywell 50250-S Air Purifier for a week now and it has performed beyond my expectations. It took a few days to totally freshen the house and remove excess dust in the air, but the air has a noticeably different smell and feel when you enter the house. However, I was getting tired of hauling the one unit from room to room and I decided to buy a second. I considered buying the smaller HEPA towers for the smaller rooms, but the current price of the 50250-S offered by Amazon is about the same as a small tower and it is far more powerful. I found by experimenting that running the unit on high (turbo) in the smaller rooms (less than 15' by 15')for about an hour and then on medium for an hour or two did a great job of cleaning the air. I prefer that to having a permanent small tower that takes a lot longer to clean the air. There were two other comments that I noted in some of the product reviews. Some complained about the blue light that shines when the unit is on (particularly a problem at night). One person talked about putting tape on the light. I found that just taking a dark sock and folding it in half over the light worked great. Just be careful not to place it over the circular air channel on top so not to block the air flow. The other issue was that running the air purfifier for an extended period can cause the room to become warmer. I notice that a little, but it is mainly when I run the unit on high for an extended period. It is less noticeable when I have the unit on medium or low speed. As I mentioned earlier in my review, I don't run the unit on high for more than a few hours and that seems to work fine so you can manage the noise and heat by experiementing with what does the job for your home or apartment.June 22, 2012 Update: The air purifiers (I now have two) continue to run great, however I need to correct a misconception that I had about the pre-filters (HRF-AP1). After reading all of the reviews about concerns about "non-Honeywell pre-filters", I decided to pay a little extra and order my pre-filters direct from Honeywell (Honeywell.com). The description on their web site leads you to believe that there is enough filter material in the box (you have to cut to size) to get 2-3 filters. For the 50250-S, that is not the case and when you receive it, the box clearly says that for that model, you will only get one filter (and a little left over that is too small to do anything with). I paid $11.95 for a "Honeywell" filter which when placed side by side with the original equipment filter is much less dense. You can literally see through it so I don't know how it is going to trap small dust and pollen particles. The same Kaz filter (in the identical Honeywell box) sells by Amazon for $9.94. Then there are other sellers as low as $7.30 for generic 38002 pre-filters. Although this doesn't change my opinion about the quality of the air purifier itself, I now must be prepared to spend more in pre-filters than I had taken into account initially. If anyone else has come across a better quality filter at a good price, I would like to hear about it. Since Honeywell does not appear to produce these filters themselves, and what they sell under their name is of questionable quality, I will be looking for options at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.April 2013 Update: Prior to purchasing my two Honeywell 50250-S Pure Hepa Round Air Purifiers, I had read a couple of reviews that mentioned having problems with the switch. Since it was only mentioned a few times out of hundreds of reviews, I didn't think much of it at the time. However I am now having problems with the switch on one of my units after owning it less than a year. If you put the unit on the high speed setting, it turns off sometimes for no apparent reason. When you are cycling from medium to high speed, sometimes it shuts off before you even get to the off setting. There appears to be a problem with contact points. Kaz, Incorporated handles all of the warranty work for Honeywell on these units. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with someone I had not even heard of prior, but the experience turned out to be much better than I had anticipated. I boxed up the air purifier and sent it to Kaz ($36 postage via UPS), Kaz sent me a new unit in less than a week and Amazon credited me for the amount of my postage. This gives me a whole new sense of confidence in dealing with third parties for Amazon sourced purchases.July 2014 Update: My second Honeywell Air Purifier has started to have switch problems after two years. Although we run the unit a lot, as mentioned in my April 2013 update, it appears to happen not too infrequently with this model. What happens is that over time, the switch will not stop in a unique spot (high, medium, low) so it sort of drifts between the contact points for those settings. Recently this drift caused the circuit breaker for this outlet to trip so I need to either get it fixed or replace it. My wife and I love how this unit cleans the air, so I guess we will just accept that a two year life on something that costs a couple of hundred dollars and that is essential to your quality of life indoors is acceptable. I just hope that Honeywell reads these reviews and picks up on this flaw to improve in future models.