When we retired to the woods, after a lifetime in smoggy metro air, we couldn't seem to stop talking about the pleasures of clean air. We thought there couldn't be finer smelling air than what we had, but that was while we were living in a cabin heated by fireboxes we constantly stoked with logs. Once we installed a propane heater, and no longer needed to burn oak, cedar and all those other great-smelling woods, we were stuck with the usual household odors, mostly from cooking things like chicken, tacos, brussels sprouts and the like.

We wouldn't have bought an air purifier, but when our son gifted us with one for Christmas last year, we thought we'd as well give it a try, especially since it promised to have ultraviolet magic to kill nasty disease-causing viri and bacteria. (Old folks worry ALOT about catching bugs!)

We could have plugged it in anywhere, including a hall that is central to all the bedrooms, but a 30 inch tall 10 inch wide unit doesn't exactly fade into the woodwork. So we put it in a corner of the master bedroom where it would be out of the way and wouldn't really impact my recent decorating job. The unit itself is not ugly....it's matte black except for a small patch of tortoise shell on the top....but it's clearly an appliance, about the footprint of a space heater.

I confess I was a cynic, since there's no real way to test how many bad things are in the air before the air purifier does its thing. How would I know whether it's working or not?

But it had only been on a few hours before the bedroom started smelling like a very weak solution of clorox . To me, Clorox means "clean", but another Reviewer claims the smell is Ozone. Whatever it is, I like the idea that guests walk into the house and it always smells clean. And the Ionic Breeze is absolutely silent, even when it's dirty.

When it's on, a small blue light on the top stays on. You can push a button that does a short "extra clean" and turns on a larger blue light, I guess in case Uncle Dudley lights an extra smelly cigar in the room. When the grids inside have collected a fine film of dirt, the blue lights change to red, signifying that the grids need cleaning. In our house, this happens about once every three weeks.

The grids, a unit of four metal 4-inch wide parallel slats, easily lift out of the top. I found them super-simple to clean just by running a paper towel along each slat. Sometimes I've put dish soap on the towel, if the grids didn't come clean with one wipe. Curiously the dirt was like fine black soot in the house where we began using the Ionic Breeze. Now we've moved to another house and the dirt is white-grey dust.

We've used this unit continuously for fourteen months and nothing has changed. The air in the bedroom is wonderful, and the unit is absolutely silent. In fact, it's running less than 8 feet from the head of our bed, it's so silent.

AND there's a bonus: We live in the woods, in Redneck Country, where strange folks sometimes stray, so I rather like the Ionic Breeze with its blue lights on, sitting just inside the glass door that leads from our bedroom out to the back yard. I doubt the kind of strangers that roam here would have ANY idea that blue light is anything but a security system. ( Scaredy cats like me probably ought to move back to the City!)

Bottomline, if I had the money, I would have an Ionic Breeze in every room and in our cars. In fact, if I were an architect designing a house with an unlimited budget, one of the first things I'd do is figure out where in each room I could install an Ionic Breeze so that it wouldn't be in the way or negatively impact the decorating.

Update 2/09/05:
Having researched everything you always wanted to know about the Clorox/Ozone scent in the air, the best advice I can give you is to send you to Google where you should type in "ozone air purifier" and read miles of advice, "fair and balanced". They report, you decide. My own decision is to keep using this appliance because the hazards in our environment are legion and none of us will get out of here alive anyway.

This particular unit complies with U.S. Safety requirements for low ozone emission (less than 50 parts per billion) as tested by Underwriter's Laboratories, under their standard for Consumer Products. It is approved by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and a similar foundation in Britain. Not that ANY agency is fool-proof, where medical advice is concerned. (Are eggs okay to eat this month, or will they kill my Cholesterol numbers and/or infect me with Salmonella?)

Another thing I found out about this unit is that the newest models have Zenion Effect Technology which moves air LIKE a fan does but moves it silently. Purportedly, Sharper Image has a monopoly on that technology. And indeed, my 14 month old unit is ENTIRELY silent. I only know it's working because the air smells clean and because, when I put my hand over the vents in the front, I can feel a breeze coming out. It's not enough of a breeze to move the air so you would feel it and be annoyed, but it does move the air of course.

I'm still hyped on this unit, but want you to know there IS a controversy SIMILAR to, but not the same as, the controversy over whether or not it's safe to use electric blankets.

Pick your poison, I always say...we're not getting out of here alive! Meantime, my hayfever disappeared after I plugged in the air purifier, but you can read articles that say that happened because I EXPECTED it to happen. "Life's grand" means ignorance is bliss? I enjoyed this machine more BEFORE I looked up all the information to see that, yet again, the environment is going to kill me.

Recommended: Yes