Dear Steemit Friends,
Having just moved back to Texas from the Philippines, I have recently been the subject of attack for a number of different allergies. On top of this, we were just hit with the coldest winter that we ever experienced. I know our cold may not be cold compared to other locations, but 3 instances of snow is unheard of here in Texas.
Compared to most cities in the United States and probably even other countries, Texas is a notorious hot spot for allergies. When it comes to allergies, we suffer more here than in many other locations. Austin, where I live, is among the four cities that rank worse than the majority of the country when it comes to allergies. The other 4 cities are San Antonio, Dallas, and Waco - All of which are in Texas. The reason for this is due to the temperate climate. Plants in Texas only suffer from occasional periods of freezing, if any. This allows plants to pollinate all times of the year – even winter.
With the recent winter, almost everyone at one point or another caught the flu, and this year it was reported that it was the worst cases with some people even dying from it as it evolved to pneumonia. I myself caught the flu twice - the second time only 2 weeks after I recovered from the first instance. With the increased exposure to flu-related bacteria and an onslaught of impending allergies, I decided to buy an air purifier.
As you can see from the unboxing video below, the unit is not small. It is about 1/3 the size of me and weighs roughly 18 lbs.
It is built for the home environment and will capture dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke, mold spores, VOC (volatile organic compounds) and household odors covering around 360 sq ft. Good enough for 1 room. I decided to buy this unit and test it out before committing to buying more for my other rooms. I purchased this particular unit from Amazon
where it was cheapest - priced at about $159.99 USD. What drove me to this unit was the number of positive reviews that it recieved. I was also thinking about getting the GermGuardian
but I'll probably purchase and review that another time.
Packaged with the unit is 4 replacement filters which should be replaced at intervals specified in the diagram below
There are 3 types of filters in this unit giving it 3-stages of cleaning to ensure that it captures 99.97% of airborne pollutants. As mentioned before, it filters out dust mites, pet dander, pollen and other allergens as small as 0.3 microns. It also cleans and removes odor from the air such as cigarette smoke, chemical vapors, and other foul smelling odors leaving a clean neutral smell.
It has built-in smart sensors to measure the air quality and amount of pollutants in the air - when set on auto, it automatically adjusts the fan speeds to make sure it is cleaning efficiently and completely to remove all bacteria and allergens out of the air.
When I first turned the unit on, it went through its startup process. This took about 5-minutes, and when complete, it started to measure the quality of the air in the room I placed it in. Unsurprised with the results given that we are currently still experiencing the second wave of the flu, the indicator on the air purifier turned a bright red - meaning there were a number of bacteria, allergens, or odors in the air. Although it doesn't specify which kind, it quickly adjusted the fan speed higher and turned on the PlasmaWave to begin cleaning the air.
After about an hour, the indicator on the air purifier turned blue and the fan speed automatically adjusted down to slow.
I admit that it is hard to tell if the air purifier did anything but I did notice that I was sniffling a little less. I assume results won't be instantaneous and I'll probably have to keep it running for a couple of days to really feel a difference.
The good thing about the Winix is that it is quiet. When on the lowest fan setting, you can hardly hear it. When it moves up to the highest speed, it's still fairly unnoticeable and all you hear is a slight humming sound which is easily ignored. It comes in a variety of colors - black, grey, and white and is easy to take apart to replace the filters.
Winix has been in business for over 40 years, established in 1973, so if your fear is running out of filters because the company goes out of business, you can rest assured that you are safe. They also have a large number of 3rd party suppliers which you can get replacement filters and parts from. Because they have been in business for so many years, I also expect that they have almost mastered their trade and can build a quality machine - I'm going to put that to the test over the next few days.
Below is a graphic from the Winix website describing all the features and functions of the 5300-2.
For additional features not listed above or in my review, you can check out their website.
So far after using it for a few hours, I can say that I like the machine. I can't, however, say it is doing a great job since it will take more time to reap the benefits that it offers. So far it seems to be doing what it is supposed to and it isn't leaving any foul metallic odors that I have read about in reviews for other air purifiers, so for now, I'm happy with the product. Feel free to check back with me in a few days to see if I have an update. If I do encounter any issues, or change my opinion about the product, you can expect me to update my post.
I hope you enjoyed my unboxing and review of the Winix 5300-2 Air Purifier with True HEPA, PlasmaWave and Odor Reducing Carbon Filter. For now, I would recommend that you consider purchasing one and If you do have any questions, inputs, or feedback, please feel free to post a comment below. I would also appreciate support in the form of Upvoting, Following, and Re-steeming my post if you found it informative.
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