Honeywell Air Purifier Review India - Air Touch A5

Review of Honeywell Air Purifier: Sad as it is, we live in a country where air purifiers are becoming more and more of a necessity. While cities like Delhi feature most prominently in the press, the truth is that each and every city and small town in India is a victim of poor air quality due to a combination of factors: polluting vehicles and factories, unregulated construction, crop burning and lastly climactic conditions. This is our Dickensian industrial age — and sadly the government is just burrowing its head (in the sand stolen from our riverbeds by the sand mafia) and sleeping as we all sink deeper and deeper into the turgid mess.

Should I get an air purifier?

If you can afford to, I would definitely suggest you get an air purifier whichever city you live in – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata. While Delhi suffers most because of its geography, most of these other cities also produce equal amounts of polluting matter. I’m no expert in Air Quality Index or Particulate Matter — but the truth is that you deserve to breathe clean air at least indoors. And India, in its current state, fails miserably in providing you with this fundamental right.

Do air purifiers actually work? I think my body is stronger than the environment.

Yeah, you’re a hero. But your lungs are the same as my lungs — and neither were made to inhale the kind of carbon pollution our cities are producing. Air purifiers do work – try using one for a couple of weeks and you’ll see the gunk that’s caught on the filters. That gunk could be caught in your lungs.

Honeywell Air Touch Purifier Review

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Honeywell is the latest kid on the block providing Indians with clean, breathable air. Till last year, they produced only higher spec purifiers, but over the last few months they have started producing a wider range — fitting a wide variety of budgets and room sizes.

After the recent envelope of smog over Delhi, I decided to order the Honeywell Air Touch A5 — the starting range for air purifiers by Honeywell. With its solid industrial background, it seemed to be a strong company to survive the harshness of Indian conditions.

Also available on Flipkart: Honeywell Air Purifier A5 – Flipkart

Honeywell Air Touch A5 – Positives

Build – the build is very, very sturdy. It is larger than most Phillips purifiers in the same range and seems to be more powerful. The air is sucked in from the sides, purified, and then tossed out from the top. Opening the filter area was super easy. Very well designed.
Air quality indicators – You get a quick preview of the quality of the air from red (worst) to yellow (better) to blue (finally clean!) on the screen itself
Coverage area – Seems larger than most purifiers in the same budget
Three stage filter – you can open the filter and see it! HEPA and activated carbon filter that removes microscoping pollutatings and allergans including PM 2.5
Pre-filter – small mesh that you can remove and wash (especially good for the larger dust particles, etc)
Ozone free – yippee!

Honeywell Air Purifier – Negatives

Replacement filters – seem quite pricey at the moment. The HEPA filter costs Rs 3500 at the moment (needs to be replaced on an annual basis). The other 2 filters also probably need to be replaced – not sure how often or how much they cost! Most likely Honeywell will offer replacement filters specifically for the A5 in the next 6 months or so.
Smell? – I don’t know if I’m imagining this or not, but sometimes (not always) the purifier releases a distinct smell. Not good or bad. But something you sense when you walk into the room after a while. I think its got something to do with the activated charcoal filter, but not certain?

My air purifier is always red. Does it work?

Make sure you’ve taken out the plastic wrap off of the filters before you start using the filters. In my experience, the first time I used the filter, it began at red and then after about an hour changed to yellow. It turned to blue about an hour after that (my room size is exceptionally large).

Honeywell vs Philips Air Purifiers

I have also used the Philips air purifier (AC 4025). I think Honeywell will win hands down – the build is much stronger and the fan seems more powerful. After a year of use, the Phillips purifier is giving off a strange burning smell. I’ve also used the Philips 1000 Series AC1215, which is also less powerful than Honeywell, but a worthy competitor. This one has an indicator, which works as well as the Honeywell purifier.

At a higher price range, I’ve heard good things about the Philips Aerasense Purifier, which will probably a worthy competitor to the higher spec Honeywell Air Purifier – i8.