Richard Taylor’s wife, Joyce, suffered from respiratory distress syndrome. He noticed that she only had relief when in a clean hospital room. So in 1990, he designed an air purifier that used True Medical HEPA and activated carbon to clean the air inside his home.
Within a week of using the first device, Joyce could sleep undisturbed for the first time in years. That was the start of Austin Air.
Now, it’s one of the world’s largest air cleaning manufacturers, has 30 employees, and has a revenue of $19.2 million. Austin Air purifiers use much more activated charcoal than what is typically used in consumer air purifiers, with around 15 lbs used in the HealthMate.
While this means that Austin Air purifiers are among the highest priced on the market, they are great at removing gasses, odors and VOCs that standard air purifiers find much harder to remove. Austin Air was tested by the U.S. Army and fulfilled the largest deployment of air purifiers in American history to support the air quality concerns in post-9/11 NYC.
TL;DR The Lowdown on the Austin Air HealthMate
What we really like
What we think could be better
The specifications
This air cleaner is worthy of consideration for those wanting to remove gasses from their environment. But, at over $700, this air purifier is considered high-end and you are not paying for extra features. The Austin is a powerful fan with a large, activated charcoal filter and true HEPA.
The most similar comparison we can make would be the IQAir Healthpro Plus. It’s $800 and has a smaller activated charcoal filter but improved performance when dealing with particle pollutants.
| HouseFresh rating: | ★★★★☆ |
| Time to clean our 728 cubic feet test room (with the device running at top speed): | 37 minutes |
| Air purifier technology: | Large particle pre-filter, medium particle pre-filter, HEPA filter and activated carbon filter |
| Recommended room size (estimated by HouseFresh to achieve 4.8 air changes per hour): | 234 sq. ft. |
| Clean air delivery rate (CADR): | Estimated: 150 CFM |
| Dimensions (in inches / in cm): | 23H x 14.5W x 14.5D inches (58.4H x 36.8W x 36.8D cm) |
| Weight (in pounds / in kg): | 20.41 lbs (9.26 kg) |
| Filter life: | 5 years |
| Noise level in decibels (measured from 3 ft. away with a sound level meter): | Speed 1: 42.5 dB Speed 2: 53.2 dB Speed 3: 61.5 dB |
| Electricity consumption in watts (recorded with an electricity usage monitor): | Standby mode: 0 watts Speed 1: 61.1 watts Speed 2: 85.05 watts Speed 3: 147.6 watts |
| Estimated running cost (electricity consumption + official filter replacement): | $283.03 per year |
| Cost per CADR cfm (based on dust CFM as reported by AHAM): | $4.80 |
| Manufacturer’s warranty: | 5 years |
| Country of manufacture: | U.S. (Buffalo, New York) |
Basic but stylish design with a functional control system
I like the basic look of this air purifier. It’s a curved rectangular unit that fits nicely in a modern room.
I could feel the weight of the activated carbon filters as soon as this unit arrived. At 47 lbs (21.3 kg), you might need someone to help when you receive it, but once you have got it out of the box, the included wheels help move it around.
I liked the black color, but you can also choose sandstone if you prefer that color scheme.
The Austin Air team didn’t reinvent the wheel with its control system. The HealthMate has a simple 3-function switch for switching the unit on and for changing the fan speed.
Considering that VOCs and gasses are tricky to detect with current sensor technology, I understand why they don’t use an auto-mode.
When compared side-by-side with the large IQAir Healthpro Plus, you can see that it has a similar floor footprint but is a much shorter unit.
While it might not look big compared to the IQAir, the HealthMate is still one of the largest air purifiers on the market based on weight and dimensions.
Functional design that does the job
The Austin HealthMate uses a True HEPA filter with 15 lbs of activated carbon and zeolite.
Zeolite helps improve how well the filter can remove VOCs. It works similarly to activated carbon, absorbing and trapping the gasses.
Most air purifiers use a HEPA-based filter with a small amount of activated carbon via impregnated fabric or small pellets. The reason that small amounts of carbon are used is down to price and can quickly increase costs for the initial unit and replacement filters.
As most home issues involve particle pollution, they don’t require much carbon to do their job well.
But in situations that generate a lot of VOCs or gasses, you will want to have the biggest amount of activated carbon available. The Austin Air HealthMate currently has the largest carbon-sized filter in the United States.
You can see just how big this filter is when comparing it side-by-side with the Levoit Core 300 – this thing is HUGE!
When HEPA-based filters are first delivered, they are often kept in a plastic bag, and this was the case with the Austin Air HealthMate — so I was sure to remove this bag before switching the unit on.
Replacing the filter is not as straightforward as other units. You will need a screwdriver:
Once you have detached the top of the unit from its body, you will be able to access the filter. Here is how it looks inside:
The Austin Air HealthMate Cleared our test room in 37 minutes
We test all the air purifiers we review here at HouseFresh in the same room of 728 cubic ft and use burning incense to simulate particle pollution. Using the indoor sensor from Purpleair we track the PM1.0ug/m3, PM2.5ug/m3 and PM10.0 ug/m3 and time how long it takes to get the level of PM1 down to 0.
Air cleaning performance test results
The Shark HP102 took a little longer than this unit, at 38 minutes, to clean our test room. The Mila air purifier was quicker at 35 minutes.
If this air purifier was designed only to remove particles, then the results could be seen as unimpressive, considering that it cleaned our test room at a similar rate to the Levoit Core 300S, which is available for $150. But you must consider that the Austin Air is designed to remove gasses and VOCs due to its larger-than-normal activated carbon and zeolite filter.
Luckily our upgraded Purple Air Indoor sensor has the latest BME68 sensor that allows us to also track the level of VOCs in the air.
Removing gasses takes much longer and even with the large filter of the Austin Air HealthMate, you can see that VOC levels are drastically reduced over the next few hours after we perform our particle test. By 2 p.m., we had reduced the level of VOC from 433.65ppm to 50.52ppm.
Noise levels test results
At the lowest fan speed, the Austin Air HealthMate has a comfortable 42 dB, maxing out at 61.5 dB. With this noise output the unit is not what you would call silent, bit it isn’t the loudest either when compared with other similar performing units.
The ability to remove VOCs will likely require a more substantial fan to push the air through the large filter, so more noise is expected. While it’s not painfully loud, it would be something you notice if you had to work in the same room.
That being said, I know that noise is subjective. Have a listen for yourself so you can assess whether the Austin Air HealthMate is too noisy for you.
The cost to run an Austin Air HealthMate: $283.03 per year
1. Electricity costs = $225.13 per year
At the highest speed, the Austin Air HealthMate pulls 147.6 watts, equating to $225.13 per year if you run it 24/7, 365 days per year. This is higher than we see with most consumer-grade air purifiers, but again makes sense when you consider the large, activated charcoal filter.
2. Filter costs = $57.90 per year
The replacement filters come with one filter that includes the HEPA, activated charcoal/zeolite and prefilter and comes in at a whopping price of $289.99. Still, luckily, you only need to replace the filter every five years, which is way more in line with the costs of other air purifiers on the market.
Considering the large amounts of activated carbon, the filter costs seem very fair, but it’s still going to be a bit of a shock when you first replace it after five years.
Several generic filters are a little less to purchase, which brings the total cost of filter replacements down to $149, equaling $30 per year in filter costs. Still, based on reviews, I was wary of the quality and recommend sticking with Austin Air genuine filters.
Bottom line
If you don’t have any issues with VOCs or gasses, choose a cheaper air purifier from Levoit, Blueair, Coway or Alen.
But if you have health concerns or significant issues with outdoor pollution gasses, you can’t get much better than the Austin Air HealthMate and its 15 lbs of activated carbon and zeolite.
It has much more activated carbon than the IQAir Healthpro Plus and comes in cheaper both to buy and run. Still, its performance for just particles is less than that of the IQAir unit. For those looking for the best air purifier for VOCs, the Austin Air HealthMate is one of the leading air purifiers.
SOURCES
We calculated yearly costs associated with running the Austin Air Health Mate 24 hours a day, 365 days per year utilizing the latest average energy prices as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of $0.174/kWh as of April 2024.
Last update on 2024-09-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
