WINIX AM90 Air Purifier for Home Large Room Up to 1740 Ft² in 1 Hr With Air Quality Monitor, True HEPA, Carbon Filter and Auto Mode, Captures Pet Allergies, Smoke, Dust

Best Air Purifier we’ve come across
We liked this air purifier so much that we ended up buying three. The biggest deciding factor was cost of ownership—replacement filters for brands like GermGuardian can cost nearly twice as much. The Winix 5500-2 includes washable pre-filters that can be vacuumed, which helps extend the life of the main filters. We also prefer using this larger unit at lower speeds: it’s quieter, uses less energy, and should help the motor last longer compared to running smaller units on turbo. Excellent value and performance.

Best option for price and filter replacement cost
I’ve been looking for a whole room air filter for a while, and Winix was the brand that I’d focused on due to the features, price, and filter replacement cost. That said, I finally committed to purchasing this model, and so far it has met or exceeded my expectations. For reference, this is for my 17×20 master bedroom (340 sq feet) and the unit is specced for 360sq feet. I have berber carpet in my bedroom and it’s always given off a ‘carpety smell’, which I think is the backing oxidizing and crumbling with age. It’s very noticeable to me but has never been obnoxious, just an annoyance, but finally wanted to do something about it.First off, this unit is about the size of a common room dehumidifier, so it’s not small, and not huge. It doesn’t weigh much either. The modes work fine, but I’m not sure exactly how it uses the sensor on it to detect air quality. Mine mostly stays blue, but flips to amber and red occasionally. There’s very little distinction between the amber and red color also as it’s either “Yup, that’s red.”, or “That sort of looks red.” All the air quality mode does is change the fan speed to a faster setting.Within a day or two of using this on the auto setting, the above mentioned ‘carpety smell’ is all but gone. I keep it on all the time on auto mode, and it mostly has the blue air quality light on all the time, and runs on the low fan setting. At that setting the sounds is barely audible. I’m hypersensitive to smell, sound, and light, so that was very important it checked all the boxes for me to be something I could keep. It definitely does it’s job filter the air/smells, the noise is barely noticeable (it does get louder on the higher setting, but that’s clearly to be expected), and the lights on the unit are not that distracting.What sealed the deal for me in keeping this unit was the night mode. When it detects low light levels, it flips the unit to a slower fan speed than the lowest setting speed, and turns off all the lights on the unit except the small white ‘Sleep/zzz’ one. As mentioned, I’m hypersensitive to a lot of things and need total blackout in my room to sleep, and this light is barely noticeable, and the sound can barely be heard on the ‘sleep’ fan speed. I have this at the foot of my bed, faced away from my bed, so I don’t have direct line of sight to the front of the unit.The ‘official’ Winix replacement filters cost about $50, which to me is a bit high. There are different types of aftermarket replacements, and I cannot attest to those here, but there are a few that appear to be exactly the same as the OEM one. The filter set has a large paper element filter, and a black carbon one that looks like a 1/2″ thick plastic rectangle with tons of little honeycomb chambers and granulated activated charcoal pellets. That’s what removes the smells and they definitely work. I will be trying aftermarket filters in my unit after using the provided OEM ones once I know how long they work, how well they work, and how long they last. Overall though, this is the best room air filter unit I’ve seen and I would recommend it.***Update*** 01/30/24As an addendum to my original review, the air filter that came with this unit lasted about a year of continuous use before the ‘check filter’ light came on. When I took the old filter out, it definitely had worked because I could feel and see fine white dust on the main filter, like what you’d see if you cleaned a vacuum air filter. Also not sure how the “Smart Sensor” in this thing works, but it WORKS. If you spray an air freshener in a room away, it picks it up and ramps up the fan. Walk by it after gargling with mouth wash, fan ramps up. Make a toot near it, it definitely ramps up. Nice to have a product that works how it should!

Fantastic Machine, Automatic, Very Quiet, Great looking
** 3-week update **After a few weeks a clicking noise developed in the fan when running on the sleep (lowest) speed. Looking at the fan it appears there maybe an imbalance that over the weeks developed into a motor shaft tapping. Make sure to inspect your unit for a balanced fan. I just issued a replacement on the 5500-2 so we’ll see what happens.** Original **I spent weeks comparing units on Amazon and elsewhere. I didn’t want to spent > 200 on an overbuilt fan, or be stuck buying overpriced filters. I ended up buying the Winix 5500-2 and Renpho AP002 and first impressions with the two units are that they both appear well built, quiet, and have the automatic mode I really wanted.TL;DR;Winix 5300-2 – Quieter w/Smarter hands off Automatic technology & Ionizer – Set and Forget!Winix 5500-2 – Identical in Black w/Remote & washable carbon filterRenpho AP001 – Incredible unit, Amazing filters, Low cost ownership!Renpho AP002 – Almost identical, slightly more air volumeFILTERSThe Renpho filter has a price and feature advantage over the Winix. Both units have H13 Hepa filters, both have the honeycomb active carbon filters (for capturing VOC), and both have a washable pre-filters for catching large particles. The Renpho however has 2 bonus layers, a microbial coating on the Hepa filter, and an additional charcoal filter sitting before the carbon filter to collect larger particles. The Winix does claim the active carbon filter is washable – Renpho does not make this claim, however both appear similar so it maybe purely marketing. The Renpho filter is shorter and fatter – if you ran the numbers they both likely have similar surface area, thought the Winix is CADR rated for 360 sqr/ft while the Renpho is 330 sqr/ft. They are close.Renpho OEM filters sell for $25 for a full replacement. Winix OEM filters sell for $50 for a full replacement. Renpo claims the filter should be changed every 6 months, Winix claims every 12. I assume this is reflected in their price strategy, however since the filters are so similar, I doubt both claims can be true – and this all depends on how dirty your air is! So cost of ownership is likely less with the Renpho.AIR IONIZATIONThe Winix comes with an Ionizer (called Plasmawave) and Renpho does NOT. The Ionizer charges any particles passing through the unit so they are heavier and will float to the ground and out of air. If you’re concerned about Ozone gasses, then this is a feature you can disable and is not a feature on the Renpho.SOUNDThis is a real issue for me – I am sensitive to sound and like the home quiet at night. Deciding on a unit for my children makes this even more important, and I don’t want to force them into a white machine for air filtration. In Sleep mode the Winix is significantly more quiet at (advertised) 26dB where the Renpho is at 35dB. With the Winix 10ft from the bed I can just barely hear it. The Renpho is noticable but not “loud”. The Winix appears to have 5 speed modes, Sleep, Low, Med, High, and Turbo. The Renpho has just 3 modes, Low, Med, High, with Sleep mode being the Low mode with lights off. Here’s the rub however – outside of Sleep mode, the Winix sounds “louder” having a higher pitched whine while the Renpho is more of a hum. If I was going to just set this on High in a corner and forget it, then Renpho is the winner. For a quiet bedroom the Winix appears the winner.AUTOMATIC MODEThis was a huge feature for me and the Winix is a much “smarter” unit. Both units have a similar Automatic feature, sensing the air, bringing the fan speed up or down according to the readings. Both have light(s) indicating the current air quality reading. The Winix however had a light sensor that, when the unit is in Automatic mode, will place the unit in Sleep mode when the lights go out (for more than 1 min). In the morning the unit goes back into Automatic mode. This is huge if you appreciate how quiet the unit is. You can set the Winix to Automatic mode and not touch it until your next filter cleaning. If you wish to use the Sleep mode on the Renpho you will need to push the Speed button to cycle through the speed options back to Sleep – and then again in the morning cycle back to Auto. In reality you maybe better covering the lights with black tape and leaving it in Auto or just leave it in Sleep mode permanently.REMOTEWinix has one, Renpho not – for my needs this is a non-issue.CHILD LOCKRenpho has one, Winix does not – this is a great feature if young kids are around!APPEARANCEPersonally I think the Winix looks clean, modern, and the black color blends well into a corner near furniture. The Renpho AP002 like the Renpho AP001 have their signature funky look which is fine but not as refined. It’s an air purifier, so who cares, but it is also a visible piece of equipment in your home.For us the Winix seems more appropriate for a bedroom, the Renpho for a living room. Winix higher cost of ownership justified by the features and sound levels, Renpho for lower ownership cost.If the Renpho unit was QUIETER (ahem – hint hint Renpho) then I would just go that route – save on upfront and ownership cost.SIMILAR MODELSThe Winix 5300-2 and Winix 5500-2 are the exact same physical unit in different colors with different filters. The 5300 is gray, the 5500 is black. Only the 5500 has a remote. The 5500 has their “advanced” AOC Washable Active Carbon filter, while the 5300 has a disposable active carbon. The 5300 Hepa filter is slightly thicker (good) and you get 4 disposable filters with each replacement. If you buy the 5500 and don’t like the washable filter it comes with you can buy the 5300 replacement pack and use them instead. For $23 more we went with the Winix 5500-2 to test the AOC filter, and for the black aesthetic. Currently you can get the 5300-2 for $129 (Amazon) and when I purchased the Winix 5500-2 for $152 (now listed at $159 on Amazon).The Renpho AP001 (often found as RP-AP001 or AP-001) and Renpho AP002 are very similar products, both using the exact same filters, having different aesthetic designs, and with the AP002 having more airflow (for supposedly the same sound levels) and covering 30 sqr/ft more space. The AP001 has a dedicated Sleep button while the AP002 Sleep mode is the first option on the Speed cycle button – more daily button work for you. Currently the AP001 sells for $99 (Renpho direct) while the AP002 for $137 (Amazon). I bought the AP002 thinking the newer model maybe more quiet than advertised. If we get another Renpho it will be the AP001 for $37 bucks less.

The seller is lying; this is advertised to come with a remote control, which is why I chose it, and there is no remote control included, and it cannot be connected to an app. BEWARE – Do not recommend buying this if you require remote operation.

Muy recomendable!!! Notas rapidísimo el cambio en el aire del ambiente o lugar donde lo pongas, no hace casi nada de ruido !!