Crap or Not? #1 - Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers
Posted by Cap in Stop Buying Crap! on July 3, 2006 |Crap or Not? Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers
To the left, you’ll see Sharper Image’s famous Ionic Breeze Air Purifier—at a cool retail price of $350. You can grab it on eBay for around $170 shipped. Other knockoffs can be found for an even cheaper price.
The claims are rather skeptical, but you always have a friend’s uncle’s cousin who swears by it. The Wikipedia entry on air ionizer is under factual dispute, but according to Consumer Report, ionic air purifiers are judged to be “ineffective.”
A quick Google search reveals a review that’s far from favorable—the reviewer and his wife received severe headache as a side effect from using the ionic breeze. Other user reviews from Amazon are also mostly negative, with plenty more comments about health concerns when using the device.
So, crap or not? You can vote on the top right of the blog.
A real tough call, this one. Heh.
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20 Responses to “Crap or Not? #1 - Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers”
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July 3rd, 2006 at 6:35 am
I have friends who work at Reckitt-Benkeiser who did studies of the ionic breeze and found that it didn’t do a very good job filtering. They put a red powder on the intake side of the filter and put it in an entirely white room, they found the red powder was blown everywhere in the room. I don’t know what the size of the particles was but it was larger than what the ionic breeze claimed to filter.
So I don’t buy it.
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:50 am
I live in Downtown Los Angeles and have one of these in my bedroom. Even without ever opening the windows, you wouldn’t believe the amount of dust and other particles floating in the air. I never would have realized it until I bought one of these. It picks up so much junk that I’m definitely glad I got one knowing I won’t be breathing all that stuff in anymore. Not to mention, I no longer have black boogers. Hah!
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:08 am
I heard they don’t work.
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:49 am
I guess its value is dependant on how severe your allergies are. No matter, if you do buy one, the best way for this to not be crap is to check consumer reports and eopinions.com for info
July 3rd, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I really don’t know how much good a product like that could do. I have terrible allergies to dust and pollen and simply sitting on my couch or going to bed at night stirs up dust. It is in your furniture, rugs, your car and especially in your matresses and pillows. Simply opening your front doors and windows is going to let dust and pollen in! Maybe it would help if you actually turned the product on and set it in your lap or right next to you. :-)
July 3rd, 2006 at 2:57 pm
We’ve got a nice air filter that we bought at a local department store for a fraction of the one that the Sharper Image is selling. It works just fine. Adding scientific-sounding words like “ionizer” doesn’t make the thing work any better. I teach college science. I know what an ionizer is. I know what a deionizer is (the latter is used for water). Neither necessarily purifies anything. The important parts are the filter and the fan. Check the filter and if it’s getting gray, it’s pulling junk out of the air. The fan is what determines how much air it pulls in and processes.
Of course, when we open the windows in the summer, so much for air filtration. Works best in the winter when things are closed up.
July 4th, 2006 at 7:47 am
off topic, but did you get the Target flip book of coupons this time? The Charmin coupon made me think of you!
July 6th, 2006 at 7:27 am
no I didn’t… argh, I’ve been jibbed out of my coupons!
July 7th, 2006 at 3:32 am
Target has flip books?! I want on THAT mailing list!
July 7th, 2006 at 9:40 am
THe Sharper Image actually sued Consumer Reports for trashing this thing. Consumer Reports won.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:01 am
It is complete utter crap.
I bought two, brand new from Sharper Image, and even got a small bathroom one as a free gift.
I returned it all, including the free bathroom one that the store manager insisted that I keep.
The air? Doesn’t blow that hard.
Filtering? Terrible. Seriously, I was surprised that it did about as badly as my $50 Holmes unit.
Cost? Let’s not go there.
Consumer Reports not only found that the Ionice Breeze was ineffective, but they actually WARNED against them becuause it produced an unusually high amount of ozone! To the point where could be a health hazard.
That is why Sharper Image sued Consumer Reports… and lost! As a stop gap, have you seen those honeycomb ozone filters that they’re selling on *cough* their even more expensive units? Ever wonder why they didn’t advertise just why it was necessary?
By now, all the standard units should have them built in, but I’m not sure.
The point is, I was once mesmerized by the technology too. However, after knowing what I know now, NEVER AGAIN will I buy from Sharper Image period.
Articles on this can be found all over the net. If you still feel even the slightest urge to buy this unit, I recommend to read up on them first.
Thank you for letting me rant.
July 8th, 2006 at 10:21 am
I was having a conversation a few months ago with a physics professor of mine about how companies use scientific terms or false claims to sell their products. The best example he thought of was those ionizing air purifiers, hehe. They put a scientific sounding word like ionizing or ionic and people who don’t know what those terms mean will assume they are really effctive.
In reality, I would be willing to bet money it doesn’t do significantly better than any other cheap air filter. Honestly, I think the people who swear by them are simply reacting to a placebo effect. The same way they can give people sugar tablets in a scientific study, telling them its a form of aspirin, and the people say their headaches are better.
July 11th, 2006 at 10:35 am
It’s Craptastic!
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Most of you people surprise me. You get sucked into name brand buying more than researching the actual product itself and then making an informed decision. If you spend $350 at Sharper Image, good luck. Most of their products are cheaply made and you are buying the name so you can brag to your friends that it’s “Sharper Image”. What kind of “image” are you trying to project. Anyway, ionizers do work by attracting positive ions in the air and releasing negative ions. Stop getting sucked into pharmaceutical companies and what they sell that has so many side effects it’s worse than the benefit. Try researching and using more Naturalpathic remedies and you will live a longer better quality life. Herbs work, magnets work, ionizers work. Give me one prescription or OTC medication that doesn’t have one side effect and I’ll eat my hat.
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
This thing works great. I put it next to the litter box and no more stink.
March 18th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I agree with Daniel who says to pay attention and do some research. What I dont agree with is his statement about Naturalpathic remedies. The fact is,those remedies are almost allways useless. The ones that actually do something often have side effects. Take a look at Kava root. It causes liver failure. Not only do these remedies not have any requirements to be tested for effectivness,they have no requirements to be tested for safety. In fact, the FDA doenst have to power to regulate them at all unless they can prove,not that they are harmfull,but that they actually have killed people. Not even proving they are dangerous is enough,they actually have to have caused death. Yes,there are pharmecuticals with problems and side effects,which is why we require doctors to prescribe them. Yes,doctors sometimes dont do enough research. Still,I would rather avoid taking something that some snake oil salesman,who has no accountability to anyone except his wallet, says will cure 50 different unrelated diseases.
March 19th, 2007 at 4:33 am
For years, I have always told friends and family that the Ionic Breeze is a piece of crap. The device is an electromagnet precipitator, (ESP) but a very inefficient. The effective ESP units are fan powered and the sharper image ones are not. They also typically come with a pre-carbon filter or a HEPA after filter. The shaper image units are not fan powered so they can not provide the necessary air changes to filter the air in a room. The only particles it will capture are those that are near its surface. It is also essential to clean off the metal grids daily on the ionic breeze or else it will not work at all. Think of the metal grids as a sponge, as a sponge can only absorb so much water before you squeeze it out. The ionic breeze is the same way, if you do not wipe off the grids on a daily basis; they will not capture any more particulate as the grids are completely covered in dust. If you want an air cleaner, find one that is fan powered and size it accordingly to room you want to keep it in. Don’t waste your time and money on this piece of crap.
March 19th, 2007 at 4:34 am
correction, electrostatic precipitator. (ESP)
March 14th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I’m in the Indoor Air quality industry, and have seen the studies on these things. If you’re really in a panic over the dust, get yourself a not-so-pretty Air Scrubber– like the things they use for asbestos or mold remediation. They’re not as quiet, and your yuppie friends won’t think it’s cool, but it will get the job done much more effectively. Whatever you get, make sure it at least has a HEPA filter on it and CHANGE IT WHEN YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO!
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Here’s why people think they work: you take out the “collection blades” to clean them, and yes, they are covered with dust. However, the next time you clean them, take a look at how much dust has also “collected” on you bookshelves, TV, cieling fan, etc. The amount of dust in the ionic breeze will no longer seem so amazing.