Our Final Verdict
We give Austin Air HealthMate a rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Quality: 5/5
Efficacy: 5/5
Design: 4.9/5
Ease Of Use: 5/5
Construction: 4.9/5
With allergy season in full swing, my dog and I have been suffering the impact of it like crazy. Between my sneezing and stuffy nose and her dripping snoot and watering eyes, we needed to do something about this. I had considered air purifiers but never really took the plunge on before, but with the irritants being up a tremendous amount this year… it was certainly time.
In comes the HealthMate from Austin Air, touted as a powerful air purifier in a rather sleek and compact package. Considering most of my time is spent in Los Angeles, where the air quality is full of pollutants, it isn’t a bad idea to dive right into the HealthMate, even outside of allergy season. Tucked neatly away next to my workspace, I let the purifier run.
About Austin Air
Austin Air has long prided itself on improving the health of everyone—from people to their animals—for over thirty years. The timeline on the Austin Air website itself is impressive, having begun in the 1990s and continuing to this day!
The company’s late founder’s wife, Joyce, suffered from respiratory issues, and her husband Richard’s goal was to ease her pain. Developing the products of Austin Air helped Joyce sleep soundly through the night, and that meant the world to Richard.
There are a lot of air purifiers on the market… but Austin Air finds a way to stand out from the sea. From the touching story of its founding, you can immediately feel how much the company cares. What sets products like the HealthMate apart from the rest is that these purifiers were frequently used in vital clinical studies at prestigious hospitals and universities, proving that these products work tremendously. The filter composites are unlike others and are highly effective at removing contaminants from the air.
HealthMate Overview
The HealthMate from Austin Air is one of the best air purifier options, and this overview shows you exactly why.
Appearance and Build Quality
The HealthMate comes in four different colors to help match a variety of home decor:
- Black
- Midnight blue
- White
- Sandstone
The HealthMate is 14.5″L x 14.5″W x 23″H and weighs about 47 lbs, which is a decent size but still very maneuverable. It has wheels that move easily.
The construction is very durable and is fully made in the USA with strict quality control. The outer shell is made of a very durable metal, with a single knob that adjusts the fan speeds. Very difficult to damage and only one small component (the knob), so messing that up would be a task in and of itself.
However, the powder coating on the outer shell metal shows fingerprints a lot, so any grabbing or touching is pretty clearly visible. This is easy to wipe off, however!
Efficacy
With the ability to remove 99% of airborne viruses that are 0.1 microns and larger, a wide range of airborne pollutants and allergens, and even to filter bacteria… I would consider the HealthMate highly effective.
Even in the independent reviews I found online, the efficacy levels were mentioned to be through the roof. In my own experience, the filter did the trick almost immediately.
Ease of Use
The HealthMate is a plug-and-play machine that requires no technical knowledge to use. There is one dial with three settings (four technically because the fourth is the “off” position), and that’s it. These settings are:
- Mode I: Low speed for maintaining the purified air
- Mode II: Medium speed, for moderate results
- Mode III: High speed for quick and immediate results
However, there are no “smart” or automated settings, so all adjustments are to be made manually.
I started with the high-speed mode to purify the room and then maintained it at a lower speed.
The Filter
The HealthMate’s filter is a clever mix of carbon and zeolite rather than just carbon like other air purifiers. Zeolite bonds with formaldehyde and can remove it from the air. Because of this addition, the HealthMate removes even more contaminants from the air than other types of air purifiers.
The filter itself works in four key stages, which are:
- Stage 1: Removes visible particles from the air (such as all those floating little dusties you see when the light hits just right). These are seen as large particles.
- Stage 2: Removes mold, spores, and pollen (which are known as medium-sized particles)
- Stage 3: Removes chemicals, gasses, and odors.
- Stage 4: This stage is medical-grade HEPA, which removes 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 microns and 99% of all particles larger than 0.1 microns. This is what hospitals tend to use.
The filter has a five-year warranty, promising that you won’t need to change it for that amount of time. Changing the filter is relatively easy, and Austin Air often has specials on new filters for their units.
Pricing
Priced at $715.00, many would find this price to be rather hefty. However, the HealthMates quality, efficacy, and unique filter blend that helps remove chemicals in the air as well make it very well worth it. The price becomes a lot more justified by the ability of this air purifier.
Filters last five years with intended 24/7 use, which is a tremendous amount of time!
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Removes 99% of all airborne contaminants as small as 0.1 microns
- Very stylish, with multiple colors available
- Payment plan is available (via Klarna)
- 5-year life expectance for the filter
- Easy to change the filter
- Ultra simple to use, just a dial with three settings
- Extremely durable
- Quiet to operate
Cons
- On the more expensive side
- No auto-mode that adjusts fan speed
Key Features
Various Colors Available
Four colors are available to choose from: black, midnight blue, white, and sandstone. The powder coating makes the air purifier more matte with its colors, which is quite beautiful.
Three Key Settings
The three settings for the fan speed include high speed, medium speed, and low speed. Just one knob switches between these three settings and the off-position.
Stylish and Durable
The aesthetic is very modern and sleek, fitting into any home decor. The build quality is exceptional, providing a durable and difficult-to-damage air purifier.
High-Quality Filter
The filter is very high-quality and made of carbon and zeolite. There is a five-year life span on each filter, and it is intended to be run 24/7. The filter removes visible particles from the air, mold, spores, pollen, formaldehyde, chemicals, gasses, odors, 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 microns, and 99% of all particles larger than 0.1 microns
Thoroughly Tested
This air purifier was selected to be used in a clinical trial at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, in which it showed that hospital visits were reduced by 20% by running one of the units in the children’s bedrooms while they slept.
Austin Air purifiers were also used at Johns Hopkins, the University of Washington, and Olin College of Engineering, all with favorable results that can be read on the Austin Air website.
Quiet
The HealthMate operation is quiet and not very noticeable. The high-speed setting makes a mild sound, but it quickly drowns out and stops being something you hear.
Is the Austin Air HealthMate a Good Value?
The investment feels scary at first – nearly $800? That sounds like a lot of money to drop all at one time. Plus replacement filters?
But that isn’t the case. The HealthMate is designed to work for many, many, many years, with the replacement filter not needing to be touched for five years of 24/7 use. If you divide the cost of the purifier by the number of years it is sure to last you, it isn’t as expensive of an investment.
I find that the mix of incredible quality, effective results, and clinical studies makes the Austin Air HealthMate not just a good value but an excellent one. Health should always be number one!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much do the replacement filters cost?
The replacement filter for the HealthMate costs $290. Divided by its five years of use, that’s $58 per year.
What is the warranty on the HealthMate?
There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, as Austin Air is very confident in the quality of its air purifiers. There is also a 5-year mechanical warranty that covers any defects in material and workmanship. There is equally a 5-year warranty on the filter itself, as it is guaranteed to work for five years under normal residential use.
Our Experience With The Austin Air HealthMate
My little 10lb dog Lorelei and I suffer from terrible allergies, especially right now in the Springtime. My allergies to pollen and dust have been terrible since I was a small child, and they include swollen sinuses, itchy red eyes, and a lot of sneezing.
I joke that my dog is clearly my child because she also suffers from allergies (to the same thing!), and her symptoms are very similar to my own. I also have a Senegal parrot named Rickie, and parrots are extremely sensitive to pollutants in the air, so this was a vital component of his health.
When the HealthMate arrived, I was eager to try it and find some relief for myself and my pets. Shipping was quick and simple. The box was a significant size, but I was able to pull it in without trouble. I’m not a particularly strong person, but I was equally able to lift the HealthMate out of the box with a little issue (47 lbs isn’t too terrible).
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the size, but it helps fit the purifier easily in any room of my home. It’s large enough to work fast and effectively but not so huge that it becomes the elephant in the room.
I contemplated where to put the HealthMate, and then read in the instruction manual, which has clear and concise directions, that bedrooms are the best spot. I set it in a space in my room right next to the dog kennel (as my dog sleeps in the room with me) and near my computer desk, where I spend most of my time. The design, size, and shape helped it fit in so easily!
I’m not really a tech-savvy person when it comes to this kind of stuff, so the fact that the HealthMate just has one dial and three settings made it ultra easy to use. Because my room hadn’t been filtered, I set it to the highest setting to start and let that run for about 24 hours. I could definitely hear the fan working, but it quickly drowned out into a nothing sound.
The powder coating did show my fingerprints significantly, however, but this isn’t a big deal to me—it might be to my parents, though, who tend to notice this kind of stuff. It was quite easy to wipe off though.
I could immediately feel and even smell the difference in my room. I didn’t see dust particles floating around anymore, and my room stopped smelling so much like a dog. I then set the unit to medium speed for another 24 hours, settling with low speed on the third day to maintain the purification. The low setting is so quiet I wondered if it was working at first!
In three days, I could feel a significant improvement in both my allergies and my dog’s; both of us were sleeping through the night. My sinus swelling went down and my eye itching stopped very quickly! By today, day four of the consistent running of the unit, my allergies are nearly nonexistent. My dog’s symptoms approved as well – her eyes cleared up, and she no longer snores at night because her nose is no longer stuffy.
Consider us both so pleased (and relieved)!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I should have invested in the Austin Air HealthMate a lot sooner for my pup and myself. We are both feeling tremendously better, and the results were pretty immediate—only a few days in, and the difference is massive! A+, without a doubt!
