Review

We have central air conditioning and forced hot air for temperature control, so air is constantly circulating throughout the entire house. After getting enough catalogs and mailers about the Ionic Breeze, I decided to give them a try to see the if claims for clean air and less dust were true. I bought 2 from Sharper Image about 6 months ago during one of their promotions where if you buy 1, you get another at 50%. These things cost more than other purifiers, but keep in mind the fact that you don't have to buy replacement filters for it. Note that when I ordered from the Sharper Image web site, I was a first time buyer and able to get 15% off of my first order.

I put one in our 10' x 15' living room in the hopes that smells would not linger about - considering that the kitchen is right next to it. For the most part, if you are within 5 feet of the Ionic Breeze while someone is in the kitchen cooking, you smell clean air. About 15-20 minutes after the cooking is finished, the whole room has a clean smell.

The other one was put in our 12' x 18' bedroom in the hopes that dust which constantly appeared on our hardwood furniture would be reduced or even better, go away. I can safely say that the same amount of dust appears as when we didn't have the Ionic Breeze. What amazed me was that there was dust around the Ionic Breeze bases, even though they were running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! I will say that the bedroom does smell clean, but we never had a problem with smells there to begin with.

My wife and I don't have allergies, so I can't comment on the effectiveness of the Ionic Breeze for allergy sufferers. I have to believe though, that the lack of dust control would be an indication as to the effectiveness for allergy control.

The Ionic Breeze runs silently when clean, but gets dirty within 7-10 days and begins to make annoying static electric popping noises. Cleaning the Ionic Breeze involves removing the 3 pound multi-bladed cartridge that is as long as the Ionic Breeze, wiping each of the blades with a damp cloth or sponge and letting the cartridge air dry. It is also recommended that you take the Ionic Breeze stand and turn it upside down 3 times, holding it upside down for 5 seconds at a time. All in all, the cleaning is pretty easy and takes less than 5 minutes to do.

There are 4 settings for the Ionic Breeze controlled by a single button on top of the unit: Off, Low, Medium and High. Personally I can't see why anyone would want to use Low or Medium unless they place the Ionic Breeze in a small room - in which case I would recommend getting the smaller version of the Quadra to save money.

The unit is pretty solid, easy to operate and produces clean air - I just wish it controlled dust like the magazines and mailers said it would.

Links

Sharper Image - http://www.sharperimage.com

Ionic Breeze Quadra - http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?pid=175300&pcatid=1&catid=101

Ionic Breeze Quadra cartridges - http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?pid=18581700&childitemflag=true


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 300.00
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: Almost noiseless