Side by Side Comparison of: Holmes

Had item shipped to my son's home when I went there to visit. Did a fantastic job around my son's three cats. I'm allergic to cats. Didn't get my usual reaction and was able to get by without an asthma attack. I will be getting another one to use at my house.

The Holmes HEPA Type Desktop Air Purifier works great. I have a black glass desk that would have a layer of dust a few hours after I clean it which was usually every day as it would build up that fast. With this air purifier the amount of dust residue left on my desk is virtually zero. Awesome product. I leave it on medium so it sounds like a basic stand up fan. Not loud but certainly not super quiet. It uses 2 included filters. First one is a HEPA filter that traps 99% of typical airborne particles. There is a filter change indicator to let you know when its time to change the hepa type filter. It's available on Amazon and is this exact one: Holmes AER1 HEPA Type Total Air Filter, HAPF30AT4-U4R. Holmes provides a color diagram on how dark the filter should be before changing it which is advised every 3-4 months. The second filter is an activated carbon filter which removes odors/dust. The exact black filter that I buy and cut to fit myself is this one: 'All-Filter CP-6005 Cut To Fit Carbon Pad for Air Purifiers' sold here on Amazon. (I've reviewed that product as well if interested.) The carbon filter is placed right in the front near the vents and can be cleaned to remove the thick dust that gets pulled in. I remove it by opening the front vent cover, wash with soap and water. let dry, then replace. Very easy. I do replace it after washing it once or twice.

Allergies haven't been giving me trouble since I bought this. They had me up every night with an itching and stuffy nose, coughing, etc. No more waking up in the middle of the night...I can sleep peacefully again. It's not too loud at night, gives white noise off that personally helps me sleep better. Set it on a night stand so it's not too big either. I just move the unit where I need it. So convenient as some air purifiers are bulky and too heavy to move frequently like I do. Definitely would recommend this to anyone who wants to clean their air, for allergies sufferers, dust buildup issues, or has limited space but doesn't want to spend a ton of money on an air purifier. At approximately $30 you can't go wrong!

We bought this for my daughters room to run at night. It seems it helps with some congestion she would wake up with, and the room also seems "fresher" if that's possible. We are happy with this purchase and would recommend this for a small room.

I live in a very small pre-war Manhattan apartment, my bedroom is about 2 feet larger than my Full size Bed. This purifier somehow manages to negate the sound, smell and debris from the Satanic year-round-radiator. It keeps the air moving in the room which helps to cool it, I think. The whitenoise is very soothing compared to the NYC siren symphony. It's small and can sit either on the (small) window sill or on a shelf above my bed- so about the size of a wide shoe box. I don't use the ionizer much but that's purely based on the amazon reviews noting extra electricity usage. I guess I'll update this after the first month's electric bill.

The air in my room feels cleaner and crisper when this purifier is on so I'd recommend this to anyone with a small, stuffy room.

Compact, efficient, and cheap, this air purifer does a good job at cleaning the air for a small room. For the price, you really can't go wrong. It is one of the most highly rated air purifers at this price for a reason.

It does a very good job at cleaning the air for my 12 x 10 room. It always smells fresh when I walk in and it feels like I can breathe easier when I walk in.

My only complaint is that it is a little loud on medium, and quite loud on high. Low is very quiet, and medium is tolerable, but high is very loud, and would be unaccpetable to be in the same room for a long time with it. Most people wouldnt use this on high anyway though, as placing this on high also reduces its efficiency.

Overall I would recommend this to a friend, but don't forget you're going to have to pay for replacement filters down the road too.

I am very happy with this product. I received the delivery in two days. It is light light weight and portable. It has three speeds for the fan use and it has a button for the for the filter use for on or off. It does what its suppose to do at my office desk filter smoke and dust. It runs smoothly and the noise is at a minimum when on. I use it just about every day. I been using it for over a month. The filter will be ready for change sometime in February. I definitely would recommend this product to others.

My sons tag-teamed to break their Dohm sound machine, and as I was looking on Amazon for a replacement I came across this one. Several people complained about how loud it was, and at least one review said they use it as a sound machine in their kid's room, so I thought it would be great to get a sound machine and air purifier in one... and for much less than getting a new Dohm machine.

First, this was much bigger than I'd expected! That's my fault for not reading the description more closely, but still I was surprised. We take the kids' sound machines with us whenever we travel, and this is much less convenient to throw in a bag than the Dohm ones.

As an air purifier, I'm quite happy with it so far. The boys' room used to smell like... well like a boys' room. And it isn't well-ventilated so it was also always stuffy in there, but after having this in their room for a week and only running it during nap time and at night, the room smells noticeably fresher.

As a noise machine, I'm a tiny bit disappointed. Even on the highest setting, it isn't nearly as loud as the Dohm. All in all, though, I'm pretty happy with it.

We have had this air purifier for 2 years and it is still going strong. It started to make a rattling sound about 1.5 years after being used all day every day. I took the air purifier outside and used a compressed gas electronics duster (canned air) in all of the crevices. This eliminated the noise and it has been gone ever since!
There is a noticeable difference in our allergies at night. I used to wake up with an itchy throat and runny nose, but this purifier has helped significantly reduce that.
It is nice that you can wash and reuse the pre filter and the replacement filters are less than $13 with Amazon subscribe and save! [Holmes AER1 HEPA Type Total Air Filter, HAPF30AT4-U4R]
That comes out to about $4 a month is you replace the filter ever 3 months. Great deal for a purifier that works and lasts!

The unit has worked well so far, and seems to keep the air in my office of about 75sq ft. clean. It has a box-type HEPA filter with charcoal, as well as a pre-filter directly behind the grey grille on the front of the unit. The ionizer can be turned off or on, and used independently of the fan, and the unit has three fan settings. The "high" fan setting is somewhat loud, but the directions say it's only for short duration use if the room is very dusty. I use it on this setting all the time, however, as I don't mind the noise much. The medium and low settings are very quite.

I am fairly new to seasonal allergies; I've developed reactions to pollen, dust, mold, and certain grasses over the last couple of years and have been searching for non-medicinal ways to alleviate my symptoms. I also have been suffering noise-related sleeplessness due to living in a close-quarters apartment complex. I bought this Holmes air purifier for use in my bedroom overnight as both an air filter and as white noise to cover the neighbors' blasting TV. On the high setting, it works better than any fan I have tried for white noise; it has a nice, even sound without sleep-disturbing hitches, ticks, or rattles. The high setting is loud but I'm happy with that because so are my neighbors. For when I want less noise, the medium and low settings are disproportionately quiet compared with the loud high setting. They, too, have a nice even sound and the low setting is barely a whisper.

As an air filter... we don't use it to its full capacity so our results are not the best they could be. Instead of running all day and all night as recommended, we put it on an hour or two before bedtime and leave it on all night with the door closed. We also choose not to use the ion technology since it produces ozone, a proven lung irritant even in small amounts (the fact that the ion feature was able to be turned on or off was actually a selling point for us). In the manner in which we use the machine, I have noticed a decrease in sinus congestion in the morning and my fiancé says its easier for him to clear out his congestion when he blows his nose. I think if we ran the machine constantly day and night, we'd notice more of a difference.

The unit itself is compact and lightweight and made of acceptable but not exceptional materials. The slide-style on-off-select-speed switch is potentially problematic; there is no click or groove to indicate each setting and you just have to listen to the fan to determine if you're on the setting you were aiming for. The front "grille" pops off and there is a flexible pre-filter just sort of sitting there in front of the HEPA style main filter, which has a spot it fits into. You have to tip the unit up on end to get the pre-filter to stay lined up properly while popping the face plate back on but that's no biggie. Especially since the machine is designed to either lay down as pictured or stand up so that it's grille is pointing upward. The overall design is simplistic and modest and won't take over your whole room.

In our situation, this air purifier has been worth the money just for the white noise alone... I can finally sleep at night! The fact that we get some allergy relief is a bonus. I recommend it for nighttime relieve of mild allergies and as effective white noise.

It is louder than I expected and though the filter looks like a carbon filter, it absolutely does not perform like one but what do you expect from a filter produced in China. Does nothing at all for odors.

I ordered a generic replacement filter made in the USA from Nextron Products (available on Amazon and eBay) that is supposed to have 6-8 times more carbon than the brand name filters (made in China). I think with the generic filter from Nextron Products, the only remaining negative would be that the unit is not very quiet. I'll update my review once I've installed the replacement filter.

So this is loud. Not white noise. Not a hum. It's just loud. That said it also works. Maybe a girl can't have it all but I value it's efficiency over the noise. It's compact and great for bookshelf or desk setup. At this price, I win.

I bought this for my spare bedroom where I have my cats litter box and his food. I keep it about 2ft away from the litterbox. It does help with the stale air but doesn't do much for eliminating odors. I leave it running 24/7 on medium speed. I've notice a slight difference but not enough for me to buy this model again. Another thing is the bland egg shell color. I'm sure if you left it in sunlight it would turn yellow. It does move the air and helps freshen up the empty room. For the price I paid I can't really complain.

very good quiet one, it is work very good here in Alaska.....but sometimes I have no idea if it is the motor that gets hot after 24 hours usage , so I have to turn it off due that smells very little bit of the little fan motor in it that gets hot I guess....who know's how long will last the filter that came with it.?

Pretty loud (on low) for a small room that purifiers the air. But I have nothing to compare it too, as I've never had one. There is no way I would be in my office and have this thing on high speed. It would drown out everything else. The fan switch is difficult to slide back and forth. But otherwise, it seems to work ok.

I tried giving this a shot and I am honestly very unsatisfied. I do not notice a difference even after leaving the product on on high for a few hours in a small room. Maybe I has hoping for more than I should have

CAUTION! We bought 2 of these and at first liked them. After using one in the bedroom and one in the computer room, my wife developed severe eye allergies to the baking soda and whatever else is used in the filters. Her eyes became red, itchy, and were inflamed and 'gritty' feeling. After three very expensive trips to the eye Dr., over several weeks, and getting no relief for her eyes, she was asked if she had introduced anything different into the home. We remembered that her eye problems started after we bought the Holmes HEPA Desktop Air Purifiers. I immediately put them both in the basement tied up in a plastic bag. After 24 hours of not using these Holmes air purifiers, her eyes were clear and all eye allergy symptoms were gone. This product may work great for some people, but I issue this as a warning for people who are extremely sensitive to chemicals or additives. Baking soda is a strong alkali and can cause burning and irritation in some people. Our older air purifiers that don't have baking soda in the filters don't affect her eyes. UNFORTUNATELY, IT TOOK US SO LONG TO DISCOVER THAT MY WIFE WAS ALLERGIC TO THE HOLMES FILTERS, THAT WE WERE PAST THE DATE WHEN WE COULD
RETURN THEM TO AMAZON.

The unit seems to operate fine, thogh I have no way to tell how effective it is. It's made for a small room, i.e. bedroom or office, however, it makes a rattling noise at the lowest fan setting that is very distracting. The medium and high settings are simply too loud to use if you intend on trying to sleep or work. Thus, I will be giving this one away to goodwill once the filter is exhausted.

Noisy, even on low speed, still see a dust in the air after weeks of running all day with little collected on the filters. now that's winter my place is sealed all up. Maybe more is better in this case.

This Holmes Hepa Desktop Air Purifier HAP242-UC, was purchased by me to get rid of the dust accumulating in my bedroom. But it not help me solve my problem - not a bit. I really wasted my money on it. So, be ware.

I purchased this unit about 3 months ago. Somewhat disappointed as I have not seen a change in the amount of dust that accumulates. My recommendation is to go with a higher priced item.

This device is terrible. I leave it running all day and it doesn't collect a single amount of dust in my STUDIO. Buy something else.

Motor has already burned out. Barely 30 days old and far less use.

UPDATE 08/10/15- so I bought another one because 1 of of 3 was great. I exchanged one, kept the other (I have 2 now) even though the replacement still didn't work right. Just bought another one thinking I would maybe get one like the first one- ONE THAT WORKS AND IS NEW??- instead I got an obvious return by another customer, it smelled and looked used so I have sent it back for a refund. Will not buy these again.

Love this machine! Buy with the good filter and you will be amazed! I have 2 in my room, no smells, no sneezes, awesome! I gave it 4 stars because one was faulty, sent back and got sent another one that the fan still makes a noise like it's not working right. The first one was made right and doesn't make hardly any noise. The other 2 fans sound like they will burn out quicker and I can't leave the 2nd one on at night but all in all for the price, good buy! Although I am disappointed with the 2nd and 3rd, works so good I am still getting another one...hopefully I won't have to return it!

Bought this and am sadly sending it back. Cheap buttons feel like they are going to break off when changing speeds.
Unit is VERY loud compared to a small Kenmore one I was replacing. Purchased it to put near our cats favorite window and litter box can't stand the hair and dust. Did not work as I had hoped not enough air flow in the unit to keep the dust away sitting less than 2 feet away on high. Needless to say I have owned many air cleaners over the years 8 actually guess I'm sticking with the small Kenmore 83244 model with the hard to find expensive filters for that room.