TLDRL The Idylis range were sold in Lowes in back in the early 2010’s but is no longer on sale but you can still buy the filters online. If you are an owner of one of these units, then be sure to check out my original review from 2010. It’s a good unit certainly for the time but if you have a large room you may want to look at upgrading to a modern unit. I added my suggestions to the end of this review of the Idylis air purifier.
This unique brand new collection of air purifiers offered by Lowe’s were created to assist you breathe much better, live more healthy and supply cleaner air flow in your house. Every device contains HEPA filtration systems which eliminate as much as 99.97% of air based contaminants which worsen delicate allergy symptoms. 2 Idylis™ versions feature UV-C technologies that focuses on airborne cold virus and flu-causing bacteria and they are also Power STAR® ranked to assist saving electricity and cash also.
Idylis items look good along with their smooth flat front panel, offer an simple to clean layout that mixes effortlessly with any kind of house’s décor.
Update as of 2021: If you are someone who is looking to get something that performs similar to an Idylis unit, then I would generally recommend checking out some of the best air purifier/humidifier combos as these are great for fairly large spaces that can be open to mold which was one of the main reasons for going with the Idylis air purifier range.
I know there were a number of people who used this particular unit to keep air clean for birds, if this of interested then be sure to check out our list of the best air purifiers for bird owners as of 2022.
PRICE = $299 (Lowes.com – Idylis 280) (Discountinued)
The History Of Idylis Appliances
The Idylis 280 and also the Idylis 200 air cleaners are Korean exports constructed by the Coway Company. Looking at the business in 1989, Coway had surfaced as a force within the Korean household market. In Korea, Coway retains more than 50 % share of the market for drinking water purification products, and 40 % of the actual household air purifier industry. This kind of substantial installed base facilitates the corporation’s bid to look worldwide.
Heading worldwide means infiltrating the overbuilt United States air-purifying marketplace. Coway identifies that items bought from the U.S. will require a different style from those targeted at Southeast Asian countries. Therefore when the organization introduced stateside in Los Angeles throughout 2007, it went for a 2 tiered strategy. Coway’s Idylis-branded 2nd collection items were sold and promoted solely by the large US merchant Lowe’s.
Idylis made an appearance on Lowe’s shelves throughout April, ’09, following a major problem with Hunter Permalife filter. It seems that Lowes has made a good buying decision this time!
UPDATE APRIL 2020: The most recent Idylis air purifier is the Idyliss AC-2123 which has a CADR rating of 150 so is primarily a small room device. This is the current product URL on the Lowes site: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Idylis-3-Speed-232-sq-ft-HEPA-Air-Purifier/50274753
CADR Ratings
The main Idylis purifiers are the following:
- Idylis 100 – costing $89,
- Idylis 125 – costing $128,
- Idylis 150 – costing $167,
- Idylis 200 – costing $246,
- Idylis 280 – costing $299.
These purifiers seem to have been created for CADR-marketing. Which means powerful fans and also free fitted filter systems – decreased effectiveness, particularly wherever very small sub-micron measured contaminants are involved.
CADR rankings for the Idylis “280” happen to be;
- Airborne dirt and dust – 290
- Cigarette Smoke – 280
- Plant pollen – 285
AHAM suggests the Idylis 280 for use in a 434 sq ft . space. As normal, this really is over-stated. If the claimed sound specs cited below confirm accurate, the large Idylis may have the ability to operate on increased rates of speed and earn a space size bigger than it’s CADR rating.
Till much more information come to light, I am would recommend the 280 for room spaces up to a utmost of 320 square foot.
CADR rankings for the Idylis “200” are;
- Airborne dirt and dust – 215,
- Cigarette Smoke – 200,
- Plant pollen – 215.
AHAM recommends the Idylis 200 for use in a 310 sq feet space – I suggest this purifier for a room with a maximum size of 230 square ft.
The CADR scores for both these purifier are very high, the normal CADRs are usually from 100 (very weak) to a highest of 450 (unusual).
Filter Replacement and Costs
The cost of filters is something you need to be careful about when buying mid range and cheap air purifiers. With the Idylis range – the replacement purifiers cost the following:
- The filter replacements for the Idylis 280 cost $70 for both filters.
- The filter replacement cost for the Idylis 200 costs $50 for both required filters.
The costs of filters is very reasonable for such a cheap purifier.
How Loud Is This Purifier?
Another issue with mid and low priced purifier is the sound they make. Often cheaper purifiers can be so loud that you can’t not run them for long amounts of time on their highest setting. The marketing material that comes with the range of Idylis air purifiers states the following:
High speed sound = 42.5 dB which is 290 CADR rating for less than 42 d(B)A sound level! This sound to cleaning rate is one of the highest we have come across in the mid range priced purifiers.
Most silent air purifier are only found in the $700+ range such as the Airgle 750.
FINAL REVIEW:
The Idylis range of air purifiers are well rounded purifiers that offer great value for money. If you can pick one up at Lowes then we recommend that you go for the Idylis 280 to get the most cleaning per $. We give the Idylis air purifiers a score of 5 stars and will be providing a video review in the next few days.
Air-Purifier-Power – Recently gave this purifier a score of 83 out of 100 – “Not bad for a “department store air cleaner.”” – URL
Sadly the idylis air purifier range has been discontinued and no longer available for sale.
If you are interested in finding out the best air purifier available to buy in 2020 then be sure to check out our list of the best available at the moment:
If you are interested in finding the best air purifier in 2020 then be sure to check out my current recommendations:
Table setup not completed.Last update on 2023-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
I have the model 280 that seems to have a problem. The “Dirty” indicator light is always on, regardless of the other operating selections. For example, if the #1 “Clean” indicator is on then the “Dirty” indicator is also “ON”. This is a conflict between the two status indicators. I tried unplugging the power for at least ten minutes, tried operating the machine in each of the different modes but the “Dirty” indicator stays on at all times. I called the toll-free service number but the service technician said the erroneous indications are normal. I also own the Model 200 which has the same indicator panel but displays the “Dirty” indication only when dirty air is sensed.
Lowes has no more Model 280s in stock so I cannot compare to another machine.
What is the real story here?
Fred
I loved my Idylis model 280 so much, that I purchased a second unit for my upstairs. This is when I noticed that the “dirty” indicator light too was lit up on my old unit, however not on the brand new model. I called Lowes and the technician told me this indicated that the older unit, purchased last year was functioning properly however because the “dirty” indicator was not light up on the new unit that I should return it to my nearest Lowes store for an exchange. I cleaned all filters, carbon filters and the particle sensor on both units however this made no difference in the descripency between the 2 exact units. I tested new model by blowing into the partical sensor and of course that is only time I saw the indicator light up, once it cleared the air this is when the light went off.
I honestly think they both are working properly, but too had the same question and concern.
Fred,
This seems to be a common experience of Idylis 280 owners. Let me do some more research and try and recreate this problem.
Am i right in assuming that the purifiers still work ok apart from the light problem?
Admin and Fred,
Both of my Idylis 280 units seem to be functioning properly, the brand new one and the other that is nearly a year old. The unit that is nearly a year old, has the conflicting red “dirty” light and the blue #1 light on the control panel lit when the night light is on. I know it works as I have had to vacuum the carbon filter many times and change the HEPA filter already. It is just my inital assumption that it has to be some sort of programming glitch. I had become concerned when I compared the new unit and the old unit and noticed this difference.
I am interested to learn what your research might turn up.
Thanks,
Chris
I purchased the Idylis Model 200 to help purify the air in my new apartment. I have to say this is an outstanding product. I first had terrible allergies in my new place due to dog hair/dander left in the carpet and air duct system from the last owner. I could hardly sleep a night I was coughing so much. After the first day of running my Idylis 200 the air was noticeably much cleaner and I was already feeling better. The dirty air indicator is very helpful as well. The machine is nearly completely quite on “low” mode and very loud on “high” mode. In my opinion this is a great thing. I can have it running 24/7 and never hear a thing. When you run it on high it kicks-up pretty loud, which to me is a good thing. Because that shows it’s working on full power.
Now after owning my Idylis 200 for over 4 weeks. I’m 100% better, no sneezing, coughing or stale air. Totally changed my new apartment’s air quality for the better.
I also experienced the constant red light until I did an experiment. Am learning through very hard experiences my body is overloaded with the chemicals of the world and am weaning myself off all cleansers, anything perfumed, room fresheners, etc. If you have your house loaded up with chemicals and chemical smells–especially artificially scented room fresheners, detergents and dryer chemicals you wash your clothese and sheets in, it is about impossible for a poor little air cleaner to do such a massive job on such much toxic air. I have carpet that is in great condition and looks very clean but is about 10+ years old and must be off-gassing. Experiment was I ran the air cleaner with the “clean or dirty” readout (model #?) for two hours in a small, closed up bedroom; no results, still red light “dirty”. Then I brought in two, additional Idylis air cleaners and ran all three on high for another two hours. No change. At this point I had enough air cleaning potential to clean a massive room. I switched gears, turned them all off and just opened the window. In 10 minutes when I checked again by switching on the air cleaner, the mode had gone to blue. Don’t get my wrong, I love my Idylis air cleaners and now use them in every room of the house and my office. But, my main focus is to first test the air and see if I need to air out offgassing first. Pretty much I treat my air cleaners most of the time like treasured canarys in a mine. (You know, how they used to send canarys down mine shafts of see if the air was pure enough for the miners.) At the office, I use my air cleaner when someone comes in after smoking or with strong perfume on. At home, I test for air cleanliness when I get home. If the air is cleaner outside and the weather compatible, I air the house out and, I leave my windows open a crack overnight. During the day I leave them open wider. I live in vineyard country so it is a toss daily if my air is safer inside or outside–depending on when they are spraying the local vineyards. This newfound information has been a godsend on my health and we are making immediate plans to permanently get rid of carpeting and to also buy an organic mattress and to eventually get rid of other furniture that is offgassing. Of course, I plan to use my Idylis air cleaners throughout this process and most especially during the dirty job of pulling up carpet.
Great filter. But a royal pain to get filters for. The Heppa filters are only available at Lowes. And Lowes has the worst e-commerce site I have every seen. I have literally been on their site trying to purchase my filters 6 times and each time I give up due to frustration. And I do web-tech for a living! A couple of months ago the site was so slow (for all three days I tried) that I couldn’t do anything. And now that the site is barely fast enough, you actually have to pick a store to purchase from instead of picking the product and they deliver it. So one filter is available from one store and I have to randomly pick stores until I find one that actually has the filter I want, ( haven’t found it yet). ARRRGH! Beware the “Exclusively Sold At Lowes” label!
Yeah i found the LOWE site as annoying as hell. Will email them and tell them to sell through Amazon to save us the pain.
Bought the smallest unit over a year ago – love it! Gets rid of 100% cigarette odors from the apartment next door. Wish I’d bought it sooner.
On my unit, there was a “Reset” feature (a tiny round hole) just below where the “Dirty” light is. Similar to many computer-based devices, all I had to do was un-bend a paper clip and insert the end into the hole to trip the Reset switch. Easy, and the light went right off.
Hope this Reset information can help others,
– old aggie
I NEED FILTERS FOR IDYIIS AIR CLEANER .
FILTERS ARE IAF-H-100C.
LOWES DOES NOT HAVE THEM.WHERE DO I FIND THEM.
THANKS ROSIE
i need filter for idylis air purifier . can not find any.
replacement filter 1af-h-100c.
rosie
Okay, after reading all the other reviews and checking things out on my Idylis 280, which I installed last night, I have other concerns. Yes, my dirty light is on, but the reset button is only for when the hepa or carbon filters light comes on and you have changed the filter. It really has nothing to do with the dirty light.I can also understand that the display would light up on each end of the range, to show that this is where the air purity is at, one end clean and the other dirty. Annoying to look at, but as the range indicater inches up towards that direction, it’s just letting you know what already is obvious, your air is “DIRTY”. Simple. Here’s to my concern: On low, the fan is hardly turning, why waste the power if nothing is being sucked in. I’ve held a cigarette within 6 inches of where the air is pulled in and nothing. So I put it to an inch away, finally it pulled the smoke in. Tried this on medium, Again, almost the same result, it’s definitely not pulling the air in, in any great quantity. Seems to be only slightly more effective on high. Costly! Does anyone else notice this, or is my unit not running properly? Also does the same on auto. I had a drum style Honeywell for 10 years. Worked great but finally got old and noisy. I have a Cockatoo, they’re known as a “powder” bird of the parrot species. White dust everywhere, always! I’m wondering if I should return it, or just take a “wait and see” attitude. Any input would be appreciated.
I would take it back to the shop – you should not have dust everywhere…
I’m looking to replace filters. We regularly vacuum the carbon filters and can see that the unit is definitely helping with having a dog and two cats. I’m okay with purchasing the HEPA filters – but was wanting to know if I could use a different companies carbon filters since you cut them to size anyway. On the Lowes website I saw a Hunter brand carbon filter and it showed that it took out 98% particles whereas the Idylis one only says 40%. Just wanting to know before buying. Thanks. Tina
Beware of the filter replacement dilemma! You cannot get the replacement filters anywhere but Lowe’s and they are always out! I worried about this when I first purchased this unit. There were only a few replacement filters on the shelf and I scoped them all up. Sure enough, here it is time to replace again and they have none in stock. So unless you stock up on a lifetime supply of filters, the risk of this unit being worthless in 18 months when the hepa filter needs replacement is very high.
There is a particle sensor on the left side of the Idylis air filter (model 200) as you face it. You need to clean the air inlet and outlet using a soft brush or vacuum cleaner, being careful not to let dust fall inside the air purifier.
You also need to clean off the optic sensor. You can do that by opening the door on the side and wetting a cotton swab slightly. Then use it to clean the lens, dust inlet and dust outlet. Use a dry cotton swab to remove the moisture.
I too cannot get filters and now i can’t use it. Lowe’s is very negligent in keeping filters in stock and at my store not very concerned about it. They would rather sell machines instead of filters.