IQAir NEW EDITION HealthPro Compact Review

Many allergy and asthma sufferers may already be familiar with IQAir’s HealthPro room air purifier.  And they should be.  IQAir has developed almost mythic status in the air purifier industry.  Their air purifiers may be among the largest, but they also do something that makes them stand far apart from their competitors – they make air purifiers that actually work.  If you suffer from severe allergies and asthma there is really only one thing you want from a room air purifier.  You want the air purifier that will give you the cleanest air possible, and this is what IQAir air purifiers do best.  But if you live in a small home or apartment, the larger size of IQAir’s HealthPro might be a bit of a problem.  To help solve this, IQAir designed the HealthPro Compact.  It may be smaller than its big brother, but it delivered 100% of the same ultra high air cleaning performance.  Recently, IQAir announced it would be releasing several new models of room air purifiers to be called the “New Edition” – among these would be the New Edition HealthPro Compact.  And IQAir said the New Edition HealthPro Compact wouldn’t be just a little better than the original HealthPro Compact – it would be a lot better.  That’s a pretty bold statement from an air purifier manufacturer whose products are already widely regarded as #1.  So our first question to IQAir was what kind of improvements consumers would be getting with the New Edition HealthPro Compact.  Their answer:

• Up to 25% more clean air averaged across all 6 fan speeds
• Up to 38% longer filter life
• Up to 32% less perceived noise levels – making the New Edition HealthPro Compact the quietest high performance air purifier in the world

What does up to 25% more clean air really mean?  It means “The IQAir Difference.”

A claim of up to 25% more clean air can’t go unchallenged.  It is such a significant improvement in an air cleaner’s performance that by itself it raises the bar for the entire air purifier industry.  Add to this that IQAir’s HyperHEPA filters are the only air purifier filters capable of capturing airborne particles 0.003 microns and smaller with a guaranteed minimum efficiency of over 99.95% and you have an overall system improvement that is nothing short of astounding.  To understand this it must be noted that in comparison most ordinary air purifiers only filter large dust particles, those 0.3 microns and larger, but 90% of all airborne particles are smaller than 0.3 microns.  This means that ordinary air purifiers are literally designed to miss 90% of the airborne particles they are supposed to be filtering.  (Are you starting to catch on to why most air purifiers seem to do so little to clean the air?)  Add to this that the majority of air purifiers sold to consumers make label claims of filtering airborne particles “0.3 microns and larger with 99.97% efficiency.”  That “99.97%” isn’t the actual total system efficiency of the air purifier.  It is based on the theoretical efficiency of the air purifier’s filters.  (This is the point where I get to say “Liar, liar pants on fire!”)  Making label claims based on theoretical performance versus actual performance is one thing and one thing only – fraudulent advertising.  This is why IQAir developed such an outstanding reputation in the first place.  They are the only air purifier manufacturer that individually tests and certifies each air purifier that comes off their assembly line for total system efficiency.  And they are the only air purifiers to pass EN 1822 – the most stringent standard for HEPA filtration.  By being tested and certified as the only room air purifiers to filter down to 0.003 microns at over 99.95% efficiency – IQAir is giving allergy and asthma sufferers what they really need – high level filtration of ultrafine particles.  The EPA and the American Heart Association have issued numerous warnings that it is the ultrafine particle range that is the most dangerous to our health.  They increase arterial plaques, increase the incidence of heart attacks and strokes, and for allergy and asthma sufferers they make up the smallest fragments of pollen and asthma triggering irritants that inflame lung tissue.

If you are looking for the very best in air cleaning – we just found it.To test the increased airflow from the New Edition HealthPro Compact we used an airflow hood to compare CFM to the original HealthPro Compact. The New Edition HealthPro Compact genuinely does produce more clean air – and not just a little more, a whole lot more.  Best of all the New Edition HealthPro Compact achieves this with “the IQAir Difference.”  That clean air isn’t just filtered for large dust particles – it’s filtered for the very smallest of ultrafine particles that only IQAir can catch.

Up to 32% less perceived sound – the quietest high performance air purifier in the world

Noise levels are actually one of the most important considerations when buying an air purifier.  In fact, just a few years ago the air purifier industry itself was almost derailed by the “silent” air purifier fad – until it was exposed that these ‘silent” air purifiers did nothing to clean the air (and worse, most emitted the lung irritating gas ozone.)  So when the New Edition claimed to now be the “quietest high performance air purifier in the world” – we put the claim to the test.  Using a decibel meter held three feet away from several top selling air purifiers AND the IQAir New Edition models, we tested sound levels.  To best duplicate a home environment we used a carpeted room.

The decibel meter actually did better than our ears.  We felt the New Edition Compact was virtually silent until level 4 – so perceived sound is different from measurable sound.  Even on the highest settings the new Edition was pleasant enough for a good night’s sleep.  And IQAir made the quietest high performance air purifiers we have ever experienced.

Other features of the New Edition HealthPro Compact 

There are many more features to IQAir’s New Edition HealthPro Compact.  In truth, there are too many to adequately cover in a product review, but to make sure we don’t leave out the most important, we wanted to quickly list some of our favorites:

• Covers up to 900 sq. ft with 2 air changes an hour (300 sq. ft 6 air changes an hour)
• Filters all types of particulates including ultrafine particles up to 100 times smaller than those ordinary air purifiers filter
• The PreMax prefilter captures 90% of all airborne particulate – saving filter life of the main HyperHEPA filter
• Only residential air purifier to pass EN 1822 – the highest standard of HEPA filtration
• Certified ozone free by IAACM
• Comes with remote control
• Programable LCD display (four languages: English, German, French and Spanish)
• Filter life monitor tells you when filters need replacing
• Each air purifier is individually tested and comes with a signed certificate of performance from IQAir’s Swiss factory

Summary

The New Edition HealthPro Compact lives up to its claims.  With an up to 38% longer filter life, 25% more clean air and an almost one third reduction in sound – what’s not to love about this little air cleaning powerhouse.  The New Edition Compact is ideal for people who live in small houses or apartments and don’t want the full size of the Compact’s big brother, the HealthPro Plus.  At $799 the New Edition HealthPro Compact is the same price as the original model, but with all these improvements it gives allergy and asthma sufferers a much improved overall value.  Even filter replacements now offer almost twice the filter life for the same price as the original model.  Reviewboard is all about one thing – helping people find the products they might really want to buy.  This is why we are very proud to award the New Edition HealthPro Compact Reviewboard’s “Best Buy” award.  If you are looking for the very best in air cleaning – we just found it.