Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty review

Today, I am reviewing one of the most popular air purifiers in the world: the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty.

Why is it so popular, you ask?

Well, the AP-1522HH has been crowned the best air purifier by the NY Times’  Wirecutter team for many years in a row.

After some digging, I found that the original Wirecutter team first picked the Airmega AP-1512HH as #1 back in 2014, two years BEFORE the NY Times bought The Wirecutter: https://web.archive.org/web/20150314221945/http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-air-purifier/ 

10 years later, The Wirecutter still stands by this pick, featuring the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty as the best air purifier on the market today:

I am keen to show you what our testing data says about this.

Before we start, here are a few housekeeping notes:

We bought it back in 2022 for £199, and it is available in the U.S. today for $229.99.

I will also compare the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH against the 90+ air purifiers we have tested at HouseFresh, collecting data on air cleaning performance, sound generation, energy efficiency, real-life user experience and long-term running costs. 

To find out more about how we test, please click the box above as I list in detail how we benchmark and test air purifiers here at housefresh.com

The lowdown on the Airmega AP-1512HH

We know that your time is precious, so here’s our Too Long; Didn’t Read pros and cons about the AP-1512HH Mighty air purifier.

The specifications

Before I review our testing data, let’s consider what other third-party tests have to say.

The Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty was CADR tested back in 2013, and you can find the results of the test on the EnergyStar website:

https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-room-air-cleaners/details/2359491

One paper it’s a solid machine.

It is designed to tackle contaminants in rooms around 361 sq. ft, which aren’t huge, but with that CFM, it should clear rooms pretty fast (keep reading to see our performance test results).

AHAM CADR Results – One paper it’s a solid machine

The CADR test shows that the AP-1512HH has a dust CADR of 247 CFM, which is a solid score for an air purifier sold for under $250. 

This is in the same power level we see in more modern devices like:

• The Levoit Vital 200S with a dust CADR of 263 cfm: https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-room-air-cleaners/details/2405381

• And the Winix 5500-2 with a dust CADR of 243 cfm: https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-room-air-cleaners/details/2358387

Two things that stood out to me when comparing the CADR certificates:

• The Coway AP-1512HH draws much more power with a dust-clean per watt of 3.14 vs. 5.7 for the Vital 200S or 4.86 for the 5500-2.
  
• The Coway AP-1512HH emits 9ppb of Ozone, which is still well under the 50ppb limit set by the California Air Resources Board but higher than the 0ppb you see in the 5500-2 certificate, even though that Winix device also comes with an ionizer function. This would suggest that it uses a higher level of ionization, but when I left it running for 3 hours, I didn’t detect increases in ozone. 

So, I will monitor our energy consumption and compare performance with and without the ionization function to measure the level of ionization, as well as using an ozone detector.

Please feel free to check out the full ENERGY STAR report.

Alexa, play the Imperial March

Unique black design and a straightforward control panel

Let’s look at the design for the Coway AP-1512HH. 

I will start by saying I like it, but my wife hates it. So, after we finished our user experience tests around the house, our Coway AP-1512HH made its way back into the basement.

I like that it resembles Darth Vader from Star Wars, but you can also get it in white if you prefer a more Stormtrooper style.

I agree with Gisele that the shiny plastic can easily pick up smudges from sticky fingers.

You can also get it in white if you prefer more Stormtrooper style.

There’s no visible grill on the front like you see with other air purifiers. Instead, there’s a glossy sphere, which is like looking into the bottom of a spoon when you look into it. The control panel sits on top for easy access with the grill, meaning you can put this unit back against the wall, and it won’t affect the airflow.

I sat the AP-1512HH next to our Winix 5300-2 to see how it looked compared to a unit with similar specifications. With its glossy finish and rounded corners, the Coway would fit better into a modern home. It doesn’t look like a conventional air purifier, which is one of the things I love about this unit.

There’s nothing worse than getting a new product and having no clue how to work it. Luckily, Coway has always had the customers in mind when operating their air purifiers, and the AP-1512HH is no different.

The control panel at the top is simple and easy to use. It has 3 fan speeds, an auto mode, and an eco mode. 

The ionizer can easily be disabled by pressing the button, although when it switches off, it will default back to a mode without an ionizer. It also has a timer with 3 time options and a button for resetting the filter timer. 

One common missing feature is the child lock (another reason Gisele doesn’t like it), and it also lacks app support.

On/Off	Pretty self-explanatory: it allows you to turn the device on and off.
Fan Speed	This will allow you to change through the three fan speeds and also select eco and auto modes. Eco Mode turns the fan speed to its lowest to save energy. If your environment is clean after 30 mins, it will turn the fan off.
Auto Mode	It uses the unit’s in-built air quality monitor and adjusts the fan speed according to its readings. If the air is bad, it will turn the fan up without you needing to press any buttons.
Ionizer	This button engages the ionizer function if you wish to use it. To turn it off, simply press the button again.
Timer	Select from 1hr, 4hr, and 8hr countdowns. After the time selected has depleted the air purifier will automatically turn off.
Filter Reset	When your filters need replacing, an indicator light will show up on the control panel. Once you’ve replaced the filter(s) hit this button, so the unit knows it has fresh ones installed.

The Coway AP-1512HH has a sensor that automatically adjusts the fan speed depending on the pollutants it detects. A light at the far right changes color, but you need to be above the air purifier to see it.

The air quality indicator in the Airmega AP-1512HH will show you one of three colors:

🔴 Red indicates that your air is heavily polluted

🟣 Purple shows the room is medium polluted

🔵 Blue indicates your air is currently clean

Looking at the sensor, it is a particle sensor which means you need to clean it regularly every 2 months use a Q-tip/Cotton swap to clean inside.

Powerful 4-stage filtration

Everything you need to tackle air pollutants in your home

When looking for an air purifier for your home, we recommend you only look at units that use HEPA filters as they are scientifically proven to be the most efficient method of removing airborne contaminants from your home.

When opening up the panel of the AP-1512HH, I was pleased to find a comprehensive filtration system that included the all-important HEPA filter.

Once you remove the front cover, you can access the filters. The first one is a removable pre-filter.

If you’ve watched any of my previous air purifier reviews, you will know that I am a big fan of removable pre-filters as they are easier to clean. 

• Pre-filter – This acts as the first line of defense against airborne contaminants. It works by trapping larger pollutants in its material, thus, prolonging the life of your HEPA. This pre-filter can also be cleaned, so you won’t need to replace it when it gets dirty.

• HEPA filter – The AP-1512HH houses a True HEPA filter that traps 99.97% of tiny harmful particles like dust, pollen, mold, and smoke.

• Activated carbon – Coway refers to this as their “Deodorization filter,” which is basically what it does. This sheet of bonded carbon uses a process called adsorption to trap odors and other VOCs, removing them from the air in your room. The carbon is impregnated fabric, which is cheaper and less effective than the pelleted style we see in other air purifier models. When we had this unit in our kitchen, we found it was less able to deal with odors than the Winix 5500-2 with its pelleted carbon filter.

You may have noticed it says “4-stage filtration” in the title, and I’ve only mentioned three. This is because the fourth is an Ionizer. For those unfamiliar with this technology, it means the air purifier creates an electrochemical reaction in the air, which attracts additional airborne pollutants.

As with most air purifiers, they become less effective when the filters become full of pollutants. That’s why you need to change them after some time. The HEPA and activated carbon filters need changing around every six months, but don’t worry about adding it to your calendar; the Airmega will indicate when they need replacing.

This video will show you each step clearly:

The Airmega AP-1512HH cleared our room in 26 minutes

Okay, here’s the science and probably why you’re looking into this air purifier: its performance.

Unlike some other air purifier review sites, we don’t rely on the manufacturer’s performance testing results because they most likely conducted those tests in a lab environment. You probably don’t have a lab, and neither do we, so we do our own tests in our 728 cubic ft home lab.

Here comes the fun part…

We first fill our room full of pollution to simulate the worst-case scenario using a concentration of incense smoke. Once the room is fully contaminated, we switched the Coway onto its highest fan speed and measured how long it took for the unit to clear the room of the pollutants.

We measured our results using a Zen sensor from Purpleair, which provides us with constant updates on PM1.0ug/m3, PM2.5ug/m3, and PM10.0ug/m3 (pollution).

Here is what we found:

As you can see from the results graph, the AP-1512HH cleared our room of contaminants in 26 minutes. This shows that its high-performance fan makes light work of heavy pollution. This goes to show that the years Coway has been making units has provided them with the technology and know-how to manufacture highly efficient air purifiers.

Air cleaning performance test results

If we compare this to other units we’ve tested, you’ll see just how well the AP-1512HH performed.

We can benchmark this against other similar-priced devices running at their top speed:

Air Purifier of	Cleaned our test room (Zen)	Cost (RRP)
AirFanta 3Pro	17 minutes	$159.99
Winix 5500-2	23 minutes	$249.99
Levoit Vital 200S	23 minutes	$189.99
CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7	23 minutes	$299.00
Smart Air SA600	24 minutes	$279.95
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty	26 minutes	$229.99
Levoit Core 400S	28 minutes	$219.99
Mila	38 minutes	$439.99

Looking at top speed performance, the Coway AP-1512HH doesn’t particularly stand out when compared to some of the best devices we recommend, but it is much better value than a device like the Mila, which is nearly double the price. 

As the Coway AP1512-HH uses an ionizer, and the fact that the CADR reports a much higher ozone level than what we see with other similar performing air purifiers, we wanted to see how much of an effect the ionizer had on air cleaning performance.

When testing with the ionizer disabled the AP-1512HH achieved PM1 zero in 29 minutes :

Without the ionizer, you are looking at 3 more minutes to clean our test room.

Noise levels test results

Another pro of this air purifier is the sound it makes. It can go from 38.9 dB (lowest fan speed) to 60.1 dB (high fan speed), which is right down the middle average for air purifiers.

If an air purifier is too loud, you are likely to turn it off, which is why it’s important to measure the sound generated at 3 feet away at different fan speeds.

Here are the results for the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty:

Speed	Sound at 3ft away
1	38.9 dBA
2	44.4 dBA
3	60.1 dBA

But noise can be subjective to have a listen for yourself to see what you think d-.-b

We can also compare the top fan speed results with other air purifiers we have tested:

Air Purifier	Cleaned our test room (Zen)	Sound level at top speed
AirFanta 3Pro	17 minutes	56.3 dBA
Winix 5500-2	23 minutes	58.9 dBA
Levoit Vital 200S	23 minutes	57.7 dBA
CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7	23 minutes	38.8 dBA
Smart Air SA600	24 minutes	56.7 dBA
Levoit Core 400S	28 minutes	53.5 dBA
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty	26 minutes	60.1 dBA
Mila	38 minutes	59.2 dBA

As the table shows, the Coway AP-1512HH runs louder than many of the other devices we have benchmarked, especially the new generation of PC fan-powered air purifiers.

One big benefit of choosing a large air purifier is that you can run it on a lower fan speed, which will be much quieter but still clean a lot of air.

That is why we re-tested the Coway AP-1512HH running at speed 2, which is under the 45 dBA recommended by Clean Air Stars for noisy offices and classrooms.

In our test, the AP-1522HH achieved PM1 zero in 51 minutes when running at sub 45 dBA:

We can compare these results with other air purifiers running at sub 45dBA:

Air Purifier	Max Sound levels at 3ft away	Cleaned our test room (Zen)
Clean Air Kits Luggable XL-7	38.8 dBA	24 minutes
Air Doctor 3000 – Speed 1	40.2 dBA	51 minutes
Winix Zero Pro – Top speed	41.1 dBA	45 minutes
Levoit Vital 200S – Speed 2	42.5 dBA	46 minutes
Taotronics AP-003 Speed 2	42.8 dBA	47 minutes
AirFanta 3Pro – 6.54V	43.3 dBA	28 minutes
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty – Speed 2	44.4 dBA	51 minutes
Smart Air Blast Mini – Speed 1	44.9 dBA	22 minutes

The CleanAirKits Luggable-7 and the AirFanta 3Pro show how effective the new PC fan-powered devices are compared with traditional HEPA retail designs.

Even though it was louder, it still lagged behind many of the HEPA retail air purifiers we recommend here at HouseFresh when looking at air cleaning performance at sub 45dBA.

The cost to run the Coway AP-1512HH: $195.79 per year

1. Electricity costs = $83.64

Based on the CADR report results, I was interested to see how much energy the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty pulled compared to other similar-performing units.

These are the results for the Coway AP15122-HH. We also included the energy usage with and without the ionizer.

	Without ionizer	With ionizer
Standby	0.3 watts	0.3 watts
Eco	3.5 watts	4.2 watts
1	3.7 watts	4.2 watts
2	8.7 watts	9.0 watts
3	75.3 watts	77.3 watts

The first thing that jumps out at me about these results is the big jump in energy consumption we see when going from speed 2 to speed 3. 

We usually see gradual increases, but this data suggests that the top speed runs many times faster than speed 2. 

If you were to run the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty at top speed all day, every day of the year, then the cost would be $83.64.

We can also compare top-speed energy costs with similar-performing air purifiers:

Air Purifier of	Cleaned our test room (Zen)	Yearly energy usage at top speed
AirFanta 3Pro	17 minutes	$47.76
Winix 5500-2	23 minutes	$59.38
Levoit Vital 200S	23 minutes	$49.48
CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7	23 minutes	$11.66
Smart Air SA600	24 minutes	$59.76
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH	26 minutes	$83.64
Levoit Core 400S	28 minutes	$27.44
Mila	38 minutes	$42.56

The Coway AP-1512HH is the most power-hungry air purifier on the market, costing much more to run in the long term than other similarly priced models.

2. Filter costs = $80.94 per year

But it’s not just energy costs that add to the running costs for an air purifier, the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty will also need the filters replacing eventually.

According to Coway, you will need to replace the carbon filters in the AP-1512HH every 6 months so twice a year and the particle filter every 12 months.

Coway offers a pack where you can buy both HEPA and two activated carbon filters together, saving you time and money in making several purchases. This pack retails at $57.49 from their site, but there are always deals on Amazon.

We can compare this with other similar performing air purifiers and get a yearly running cost comparison:

We can compare this with other similar performing air purifiers and get a yearly running cost comparison:

Air Purifier of	Annual Energy Cost	Annual Filter Cost	Total Annual Cost
AirFanta 3Pro	$47.76	$78.67	$126.43
Winix 5500-2	$59.38	$79.99	$139.37
Levoit Vital 200S	$49.48	$49.99	$99.47
CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7	$11.66	$43.64	$55.30
Smart Air SA600	$59.76	$271.35	$331.11
Levoit Core 400S	$27.44	$99.98	$127.42
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty	$83.64	$39.99	$123.63
Mila	$42.56	$168.00	$210.56

The Coway AP-1512HH has some of the lowest filter costs we have seen for OEM HEPA retail devices, and this is great because these lower filter replacement costs help balance the higher energy consumption costs.

This makes it one of the cheapest air purifiers to run in the long term. It still lags behind the newer Levoit Vital 200S and the PC-fan-powered CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7 but is ahead of everyone else on the list.

If you want to trim the costs even further, you can use generic filters, which can cost as little as $15-20 per filter. However, you must be aware that generic filters will likely impact air cleaning performance.

I bought the Pureburg filters to compare performance and found that they had the same speed in our test room. When using the ionizer, they achieved PM1 zero in 26 minutes.

As the price difference between generics and OEM filters is so small, I don’t see a significant reason why you would go down the generic route with the Coway AP-1512HH.

Bottom line

The Coway Airmega AP-1512HH is a solid air purifier with good air cleaning performance for the money. 

Also, due to their popularity, OEM filters are some of the cheapest we have seen outside of IKEA. 

As I said at the beginning, the AP-1512HH is the most popular air purifier in the world. Not only does The Wirecutter recommend it, but every other newspaper and magazine on the web does, too.

However, after testing over 90 air purifiers, it is now a little dated.

In 2025, there are air purifiers on the market that will offer better value than the AP-1512HH:

• The AirFanta 3Pro costs $70 less and will offer nearly double air cleaning performance.
  
• The Levoit Vital 200S costs $50 less and comes with app support, a child lock and lower running costs due to a more efficient fan motor.
  
• The CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7 costs around the same price if you go for a DIY kit and will give you more powerful air cleaning at a whisper-quiet operation.
  
• The Winix 5500-2 usually costs $190 and comes with a much better-activated carbon filter that uses pelleted carbon instead of the impregnated fabric carbon you get with the AP-1512HH.

If you have an AP-1512HH at home, you 100% have a great device and should keep using it for as long as it runs.

But for those buying an air purifier for the first time, there are better options for performance, value, energy efficiency, sound generated and odor removal. 

As always, please let me know if you have any specific questions about the Airmega AP-1512HH in the comments below. This is how we received the idea to test generic filters.