Test Bench 1.0.2  

Changelog

What's Changed?

Particle Filtration Rate

Test Bench 1.0.2 represents a minor update to our existing test bench methodology. To summarize, it adjusts the code used to calculate a given air purifier's Particle Filtration Rate. Previous iterations of our test bench overinflated the capacity of smaller air purifiers to provide comparable results to high-capacity units, to the point where the filtration efficiency of smaller units exceeded 100%. This is partially caused by the unexpected non-exponential decay of liquid aerosols from the smoke machine we used for testing, which naturally dropped due to ambient conditions inside our testing room.

We've fixed this error by revising the code used to calculate this parameter, with the most important change being the shortening of the window of observation for particle filtration: prior iterations of the test bench took into account 5:00 to 30:00 minutes from the start of the test, while version 1.0.2 of our methodology accounts for 5:00 to 10:00 minutes. This abbreviated testing window measures a much shallower drop in particle quantities, but it also paints a far more representative picture of the actual impact of an air purifier, as opposed to the natural drop in particle levels driven by ambient conditions. Of course, our scoring spline has also been adjusted to be based on these much lower values. The air purifiers most affected by the change in the observation window of the particle concentration curves and consequent scoring adjustments are as follows:

Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde HP09

Corsi-Rosenthal Box with Single Filter

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX HP302

Let Us Know What You Think

Your feedback is instrumental in helping us further improve our testing in every aspect. If you have comments, questions, criticisms, or suggestions about this update or any future updates, reach out to us below in the comments or email us at feedback@rtings.com.

26 Air Purifiers Updated

We have retested popular models. The test results for the following models have been converted to the new testing methodology. However, the text might be inconsistent with the new results.

• Corsi-Rosenthal Box
• Corsi-Rosenthal Box with Single Filter
• Coway Airmega 200M
• Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty
• Dyson HEPA Big+Quiet Formaldehyde BP06
• Dyson Pure Cool TP01
• Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link HP02
• Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde BP04
• Dyson Purifier Cool TP07
• Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde HP09
• Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool HP07
• Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Purifying Heating Fan HP4B
• Honeywell HPA300
• Levoit Core 200S
• Levoit Core 300
• Levoit Core 300S
• Levoit Core 400S
• Levoit Core 600S
• Levoit Vital 200S
• NuWave OxyPure
• Shark Air Purifier 4 HE402
• Shark Air Purifier HP102PET
• Shark Air Purifier MAX HP202
• Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX HP302
• Winix 5500-2
• Winix C545