First off this filter is very large and the filters within it are huge in comparison to other competitors (Detailing Honeywell AirGenius 4 / 5 , Honeywell HEPA HPA300, and Molekule below). Check out the overall measurements of the unit before ordering it - 15" by 15" by 23" tall. First off, this purifier is BIG, and has TWO LARGE HEPA / Charcoal filters on each side. The HEPA will remove 99%+ of air contaminates and the Charcoal will scrub any smell. Do you have dogs or live in an area with bad air quality? Get this! The only downside is that the filters need to be replaced once a year and typically around $120 for the full set, you dispose the old ones. But when it comes to health . . . just do it. I had "Cleanable" filters in the past such as the Honeywell AirGenius 4 & 5 , let me say when you have to do it 4 times a year, I rather just pay $120 for the set. It typically takes 45 minutes each time to clean the AirGenius and about 4-5 hours to dry. The Coway Airmega 400s purifier also has a fine mesh pre-filter on each side of the unit (before the main HEPA / Charcoal). It is VERY fine, and is meant to capture hair and other items (heavy dust). These do not need to be replaced, instead they are cleaned manually, some say just clean them with water using a garden hose . I would be very careful using a hose since the fine mesh could tear. Instead I would recommend wiping them down by hand with a paper towel to remove the fine debris then fill up a bath tub and swirl them around a few times, then let them pat them dry with a towel and let them air dry. I first had the Honeywell AirGenius 4's and 5's for a few years but decided to move away from them because of health concerns related to the ozone producing electrostatic filter. I've heard of respiratory problems and other issues arising from the ozone they produce, even the EPA recently released some documentation on electrostatic filters, so I decided to move to a Honeywell HEPA equivalent. Next I moved to the Honeywell True Clean HEPA HPA300 ($250 each), this unit is also very big with 3 HEPA filters (much smaller filters than the Conway but it has 3 of them instead of 2, and a large replaceable charcoal filter in front of the HEPAs. Although a great unit, I wanted more coverage instead of buying more of these. Consumer reports rates this their top 3 filters on the market, if you have a smaller apartment / condo and want to save some money, this one is great and the replacement filters are half the price (but a little less than 60% of the coverage at around 465 square feet - i'll explain soon why the Coway Airmega 400s should only only be rated at 780 square feet). Lastly I moved the Molekule setup ($800 each) , although a very attractive unit the pre-filter is TINY and got clogged all the time. The pre-filters on this thing vs. the Molekule are maybe 6 times the surface area and there is TWO pre-filters in here, so around 12 times the pre-filter surface area. The HEPA filter in the Molekule feels like a toy compared to the giant ones in this unit. The only advantage the Molekule has is that it contains a light killing coating on the filter activated by a UV light within the unit. If Coway added a UV filter post stage they will own this market. In regards to color unit in all the pictures i've seen show it black, this is not true, its a very attractive gray on all side, and black on the top and feet. The power of this unit is amazing, if you turn it up all the way IT IS LOUD, but at the lowest setting I don't really notice the unit, other items in my room make more noise. There is a big leap in power output and sound from level 1 to level 2. Technically there is 5 settings, sleep, level 1, level 2, level 3, and smart which will just move the settings around using the smart sensor within the unit. Does it clean the air? That should be the most important question! The air smelled smelled noticeably cleaner after using this unit for a day and coming home. If I cooked something right away my house didn't smell of the food, those charcoal filters work great! How may do you need? The 1560 square feet is not accurate, that is for 2 full air scrubs per hour. Technically the rating is suppose to be 4 full square footage air scrubs an hour per the CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate standard). Then you need to think about if you sleep with your bedroom closed at night you won't get filtered air in there, or if you put the filter in your room the rest of the house will not get airflow. So really this should be rated for 765 square feet at 4 full air scrubs per hour, which is still better than anything on the market! Even the big HoneyWell unit is rated for 465 square feet, and the Molekule is rated for ~400 square feet when you normalize it. I'm going to put some recommendations below, but if you can only afford one unit, don't worry, even 2 full air scrubs an hour is AMAZING, better then most things out there. If you keep it running 24 hours a day your house will be VERY clean. My 2 cents in an IDEAL situation (if you have the extra money to spend): In single floor house I would get one for the master bedroom and one for a common area (living room, kitchen, dining room) as far away from the bedroom as possible. This will ensure while you are sleeping you get clean air and so does the rest of the house. If you have a two floor BIG house I would recommend getting 3 units with the 3rd unit being upstairs in a common area or in a kiddo rooms. 3 units should be good for 2300 - 4680 square feet if you take the full 4 full air scrubs into consideration or Conways 2 full air scrubs an hour. The only downside is the app setup, once working it is great on Apple. On Android it is a mess, I think they ported it over from Apple to Android and didn't finalize their QA. I was NOT successful adding this unit to my 5Ghz network. It doesn't let you select your wifi from a list, instead it grabs the last wifi you were connected to. So first thing, connect your iphone to your 2.4Ghz network. Then start the setup. One important thing I documented in my pictures is where the buttons are. They aren't the big round things on the left side needed to start the wifi paring, those are just indicators. You touch the screen printed area that i'm pointing at in the pictures in order to start the wifi pairing (Follow the app instructions). The unit is turned on by the big power button, but the level is controlled by the touch arc between the power button and the screen printed area of power level. You will probably get a API request timeout in the app the first time you set it up, just force kill the app (on your iphone X swipe up to pull up the app carousel, then swipe up again to force kill the app, on iphone 4 to 8 double touch your home bar to bring up the app carousel, then swipe up again to force kill the app). On the second reload everything will work great. Other then those small hangups on setup and getting the app working for the first time, it has been great. I think the app is pretty well laid out and informative. The app will tell you when to change your filters, what your air quality looks like over the last few hours / days / week, give you the ability to turn on and off the unit by a schedule, adjust the fan levels, order new filters, etc. If you don't use the app there is a lit up circle on the front of the unit that will tell you your current air quality and notify you if you need to clean or change your filters (clean pre filters or change once a year your HEPA / Charcoals). Coway if you want to own this market and steal the market share away from dyson, honeywell, and everyone else on the market, revise your app with better QA and a better UX, it is a little rough. Add a post UV filter. Add another step between fan level 1 and fan level 2. Get this in costco, best buy, or consumer reports. I highly recommend this unit. The prices now are currently amazing so there is no reason you shouldn't get this!Read
