AirDoctor AD3000 review 

AirDoctor is a brand launched in 2016 by Peter Spiegel. It is part of Ideal Living, which has been in business since 1999 and has 146 employees, according to Linkedin. 

AirDoctor air purifiers are designed in the USA and made in China, which is a common combo followed by many other manufacturers, such as Alen and Honeywell.

The unique selling point of the AD3000 is the use of UltraHEPA, which AirDoctor says performs 100 times better than standard HEPA:

The website mentions that this statistic was based on a study by LMS Technologies that showed the AirDoctor 3000 model removed particles as small as 0.003 microns. If true, this would mean that these UltraHEPA are similar in filter grade to the HyperHEPA used by IQAir. 

As always, we bought the AirDoctor AD3000 with our own money and performed a series of tests to find out how effective their UltraHEPA is, how loud this unit can get and how much electricity it pulls. 

If this air purifier sucks, I will tell you. If it’s great, I will tell you. I have no connection with AirDoctor, so I can be completely honest. 

Right, let’s get to it.

The lowdown on the AirDoctor AD3000

If you don’t have time to read my full review, here is everything you need to know about the AirDoctor AD3000:

The specs

At the time of writing this review, the AD3000 is being sold for $519 and based on its CADR, this is a powerful device on par with the $500 Levoit EverestAir and the Blueair Blue Pure  211+.

Simple design that doesn’t take up too much space

The AD3000 has none of the bells and whistles other manufacturers add to make their units stand out

The design of the AirDoctor 3000 is definitely what you expect when you think of an air purifier. It has its own look but sticks to the standard ‘household appliance aesthetic’ used in many other air purifier models.

Personally, I prefer the look of the EverestAir, with its high-end perforated front panel and the little wheels at the bottom to move the device from room to room.

But I do appreciate that the AirDoctor 3000 doesn’t take up a ton of floor space, considering how powerful the air performance is (more on that later). 

Another thing I really like about the AD3000 is the positioning of the LED light that displays air quality readings as it can be seen from anywhere, without the need to walk to the unit to look from above.

The LED light will show three distinctive colors depending on the quality of the air in the room:

🔵 Good air quality

🟠 Moderate air quality

🔴 Poor air quality

The control panel in the AD3000 is well-designed and clearly labeled, so you don’t really need to read through their manual to figure out how to operate the air purifier. That said, I always recommend reading the manual because many manufacturers add lots of useful tips to help increase the efficiency of their devices.

In the photo below, you can see what the AD3000 looks like from above:

From left to right, the control panel houses the on/off button, the fan speed control (low, medium, high, boost), the Auto mode button, the Dim mode button (to turn the LED lights off), a timer (each press adds one hour up to the total of 24 hours), and a button to turn the ionizer function on and off. 

To the far right of the panel, you will see two lights that will alert you when it’s time to replace the UltraHEPA and Activated Carbon filters. 

What’s the deal with UltraHEPA filtration?

AirDoctor states that their UltraHEPA captures particles 100 times smaller than standard HEPA

On their homepage, AirDoctor states that their UltraHEPA filter has been third-party lab tested, with the tests showing the AD3000 removed particles down to 0.003 microns. This is why they make the claim that their UltraHEPA filter is capable of capturing particles a hundred times smaller than standard HEPA filters. In reality, any type of HEPA will still remove these small particles, although it might require multiple air passes.

It would have been good to see the lab report, but AirDoctor at least mentions the company behind the tests: LMS Technologies. After doing some digging, I learned that LMS Technologies do, in fact, provide this type of testing as a service, so I assume their findings are correct.

The UltraHEPA filter is a good size, and I appreciate that they have kept the carbon filter separate, as this will require changing more often in most home situations.

One thing I particularly liked about the design of AirDoctor’s UltraHEPA filter is the use of rubber around the edges. This added bit of rubber creates a seal that will make the performance of the filter more efficient as it will prevent air from moving around the filter.

But it’s not just a HyperHEPA filter, the AD 3000 comes with an activated carbon filter too, which allows the unit to deal with gases and odors.

I was glad to see pelleted activated carbon in the AD3000 filter. You can see in the photo below that you do get a sizable amount of carbon:

That said, it’s not comparable to the 5 lbs you see with the IQAir Healthpro Plus or the 15 lbs you get with the AustinAir Healthmate.

When the time comes to replace the filter, the AirDoctor 3000 will flash the lights on the control panel. Replacing the filter is easy: you just need to remove the front case and you will get direct access to the pre-filter, the carbon filter and the UltraHEPA filter. 

To reset the filter replacement indicator, you just need to press the Auto and Dim buttons together for three seconds.

The AirDoctor AD3000 cleared our test room in 14 minutes

Impressive particle removal performance that matched its CADR report

At HouseFresh, we know we can’t blindly trust what air purifier manufacturers tell us. We have seen too many situations of bold marketing claims that don’t match up to real-world performance. That is why we run our own performance tests to see how well an air purifier can remove tiny particles from the air. 

We use one of the most accurate sensors on the market from PurpleAir, which continually tracks PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 levels. To test a device, we first fill our test room of 728 cubic feet with smoke from incense sticks and then track how long it takes to bring the level of PM1 down to zero. 

Because we test all our air purifiers in the same room doing the same test, we can then compare models and brands with each other even when there is no reported CADR. 

Air cleaning performance test results

We first tested the AirDoctor AD3000 running at its highest speed with the ionizer function enabled. Within 14 minutes, the air in our test room had reached a count of zero for PM1.0 and PM2.5 particles. As always, I ran this test twice in order to double-check these results, and in the second test, I recorded 14 minutes for the AD3000 to remove all PM1 particles.

This result was one full minute quicker than the Levoit Core 600S and three minutes quicker than the massive AlorAir CleanShield HEPA 550 Air Scrubber that is used for construction sites.

The first mode we tested was using the AirDoctor AD3000 at its highest fan speed along with its ionizer function enabled. While ionizers have a bad rep due to their problematic use in older devices (I’m looking at you, Sharper Image), most modern use of ionization technology does not release ozone. I used our ozone detector to track ozone levels while running the AirDoctor 3000 all day and they oscillated between 0PPM to o.1PPM with the ionizer function running for many hours.

However, I know some people can be very sensitive to ozone, so I appreciate that AirDoctor allows you to run the device without this feature. When I repeated the test with the ionizer off, the AirDoctor 3000 performed slightly slower, taking 16 minutes to remove all PM1 particles. 

I also wanted to see how well this device performed when running at its lowest fan speed, which is much quieter (45.2 dB), so it is perfect for those wanting to use the purifier at night or while they work. I was pleased to see that even at its lowest fan speed, the AirDoctor AD3000 still managed to clean our test room in 35 minutes, which is similar to the Mila air purifier running at its highest speed:

Another thing I liked about this device was how powerful it runs at fan speed its lowest fan speed. This means that when the auto-mode doesn’t detect any pollutants, it still can provide a decent level of continuous air cleaning and yet can still move higher if it detects any issues.

Air cleaning performance compared

The AirDoctor AD3000 was one minute slower than the Levoit EverestAir, which managed the same test in 13 minutes without ionization. That said, this still is one of the fastest results we have ever recorded, earning the AD3000 the title of the second-fastest device we have tested.

Not bad at all.

Noise levels test results

As we do with all our reviews, we used a sound meter standing 3ft away from the device to record how much sound was emitted by the AD3000 at each fan speed:

• Fan speed one: 45.2 dB
• Fan speed two: 50.5 dB
• Fan speed three: 58.2 dB
• Fan speed four: 66 dB

You can check the table below to see how this compares to other air purifiers we have tested:

At its highest speed, the AD3000 is noisier than larger devices like the Smart Blast Mini (49dB) but a little quieter than the IQAir Healthpro Plus (69 dB). I was glad to see a good range of sound variance for each fan speed, so you can adjust it to match your preference. 

We know that sound can be very subjective, so we made sure to record the AirDoctor 3000 running at each fan speed so you can listen for yourself:

The cost to run an AirDoctor AD3000: $236.43 per year

As well as initial purchase price, it’s always wise to understand what you might pay in the long run

1. Electricity costs = $111.43 per year

We used an energy meter to track energy consumption. At its highest speed, the AirDoctor 300 pulled a maximum of 105.5 watts, which equates to $111.43 a year if you ran it at this speed every day of the year all the time. 

While this is much higher than what we see with smaller devices, you get much more air-cleaning power. Compared with similarly powered devices, it was a little higher than the 80.5 watts we saw with the EverestAir but less than the Smart Blast Mini (133.9 watts) and Healthpro Plus (215 watts).

2. Filter costs = $125 per year

All HEPA and activated charcoal filters need replacing as they become full of particles and gasses that they remove from your home’s indoor air. 

The carbon filters and prefilter for the AirDoctor 3000 need replacing every 6 months, and the UltraHEPA has a lifespan of 12 months.  

I like that AirDoctor provides a set that lasts you one year, and it costs $125 per year. This is higher than the Levoit Everest Air, which costs $99 but has less activated carbon. It’s still a lot less expensive than the $367 per year for the IQAir Healthpro Plus, but this also comes with much more activated carbon.

Overall, it’s not a bad price for genuine filters, and when you look at generic filters which there are many, the price comes down to around $40 per year. 

Bottom line

The AD3000 is a powerful air purifier that is capable of keeping large rooms free of ultra-fine particles

I didn’t expect to like this product as I was a little put off by the term “AirDoctor” and their claims about their UltraHEPA filter being able to capture particles 100 times smaller than the standard HEPA. I’ve seen my fair share of gaslighting from manufacturers, so I went into this review wary and ready to uncover the truth.

However, after running multiple tests and living with the AD3000 in my own home for a few months, I can confidently say that this is an excellent air purifier for medium to large spaces of up to 500 sq. ft.

I remain impressed by this air purifier’s performance and its overall build quality. While filter costs are slightly higher than those you see with budget brands like Levoit, AirDoctor’s filters are HEPA-certified and hold more activated carbon. And while it’s still a much smaller carbon filter than we see with a device like the IQAir Healthpro Plus, its running costs and initial price are also lower.

It was great to see that even when running at its lowest fan speed, the AirDoctor AD3000 was able to remove all PM1 particles in our test room in just 35 minutes, so it has an effective CADR of around 240 CFM even when left in Auto Mode. 

This air purifier competes with the Alen BreatheSmart 75i, Blueair Blue Pure 211+ and Levoit EverestAir. I’d say that the AD3000 is a better option for cases where space is an issue as it is smaller than the 75i and the 211+, and it also offers a better filter design than the integrated filter of the EverestAir.

Be aware that there is now a new model called Air Doctor 3500, which, according to its CADR lab report, has the same level of air cleaning performance and features as the AD3000 however, it is unable to use older generic filters due to a change they made in the design. To ensure you can access the cheapest possible filters, I recommend choosing the AD3000 as this model can use any generic filter, so it has a lower running cost as you are not forced to choose only genuine filters from Air Doctor.

Last update on 2024-04-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API