Levoit Vital 200S review — excellent value for money

Levoit is probably the best-selling air purifier brand in the United States. That fact will not surprise you if you, like me, have used Levoit air purifiers in your home.

Their product range includes top-end devices like the Levoit EverestAir, which is one of the fastest air purifiers we have tested, reaching PM1 zero in a swift 16 minutes. Levoit also produces budget-friendly air purifiers like the trusted Core 300, which managed to clean our room in 54 minutes.

So, we were excited to finally get a chance to test and review the Levoit Vital 200S. It has a more traditional look than the EverestAir or the Core series, and is aimed at medium-sized rooms up to 400 square feet.

We bought the Vital 200S with our own money so we could test it following the same methodology we have used to test over 100 air purifiers since 2020. In this review, I will share the results of our tests and my experience after having this device at home for well over two years now.

The lowdown on the Levoit Vital 200S

Modern sleek design with simple controls

A rectangular design that houses a powerful fan, a bonded filter and an air quality sensor.

Rather than use the cylindrical design we see with the Levoit Core series, the Vital 200S is a standard rectangle that pulls air from the front and pushes it out of the top. 

Compared to the Levoit air purifier range, it shares a closer resemblance to the premium Levoit EverestAir, although I have to say I prefer the look of the pricier EverestAir — do you blame me? Have a look at it:

Something I’m not a huge fan of is the fact that you will need to clean the dust sensor on the Levoit Vital 200S every two months to ensure it is performing to its top efficiency. This seems to me like a design flaw, perhaps the positioning of the sensor is not the best.

When it comes down to using the Vital 200S, you will notice that the control panel is similar to other Levoit models and uses the same icons for each feature and button.

From right to left: The first button is to engage the auto-mode, then a night mode, followed by the button with 4 different fan speed options. The main power button is right in the middle of the control panel, surrounded by lights that change color depending on indoor air quality. 

From left to right: The Vital 200S comes with a button to switch the lights on the control panel on and off, a handy child lock and a timer.

One nice feature is that when you set up the air purifier to work how you want, it automatically switches to this mode even when you unplug the air purifier. 

The app uses Vesync, which is the app used by a range of Levoit gadgets and is well-rated across Android and Apple ecosystems. 

I tested the Apple app, and it was easy to install and add the Vital 200S quickly. You can adjust the air purifier’s settings via the app and also see what the current indoor air quality rating is in the room where it’s set.

The main app screen has internal ads for different Levoit products, which I would prefer it didn’t, but once you go into the air purifier, there are no ads shown. 

One feature that I haven’t seen in other Levoit air purifiers is a light detection mode that allows the device to switch off the display and run extra quiet when low light is detected. This is a great feature for those wanting to use it in a bedroom. 

An all-in-one particle filter and an activated carbon filter

The particle and gas filters are connected together, so you need to replace both filters even if only one of them needs replacing.

Levoit initially stated that the Levoit Vital 200S uses HEPA H13, which is medical grade and can remove 99.97% of particles measuring 0.3 microns. But as you know, Dyson’s challenges Levoit’s claims through the BBB National Programs National Advertising Division (NAD) and as a result, Levoit removed all mentions of ‘HEPA’ from their marketing materials.

That said, the Vital 200S comes with a bonded particle and activated carbon filter that performed incredibly well in our particle removal test.

You can see in the photo below the large surface of the particle filter:

And below you will find a photo of the activated carbon filter, which uses pellet-style charcoal that is much better than the impregnated fabric we see with some manufacturers. 

The pre-filter can be removed and washed separately. This is much better than the pre-filter in the Levoit Core 300/300S, which requires you to vacuum the surface without allowing you to remove it.

Remember that most air purifier filters will arrive in a plastic bag, so be sure to remove the filter from the bag before you switch it on; otherwise, it will make your air quality worse!

When the time comes to change the filter in your Levoit Vital 200S, you’ll find that the process is simple and straightforward.

The Vital 200S cleared our test room in 23 minutes

The real-world performance of the Levoit Vital 200S matches reported CADR scores.

Most air purifier reviews just republish CADR scores and don’t test how well the device can clean the air in a home environment but that’s not us.

Here at HouseFresh, we have tested 110+ different air purifier models since 2020, recording how long each device takes to remove PM1 particles from our 728 cubic ft. test room. We use the indoor sensor from Purpleair to track data in real-time on particulate levels (PM1.0ug/m3, PM2.5ug/m3 and PM10.0 ug/m3) and VOC levels (thanks to the additional BM680 upgrade).

First, we tested the Vital 200S running at top speed:

Running at full speed, the Vital 200S brought the levels of PM1ug/m3 to zero in 23 minutes. That makes the Levoit Vital 200S one of the fastest units we have tested under $200.

The Levoit Vital 200S was able to complete our particle removal test faster than the popular Winix 5510 but without any use of an ionizer function.

As the table shows, the AirFanta 3Pro offered a higher clean air delivery rate for a cheaper price. This goes to show the power of PC fans compared to retail HEPA air purifiers.

Quieter than than most Coway and Winix devices we tested

In our testing, the sound levels of the Vital 200S ranged from 38.3 to 57.7 dBA

As I always say, air purifiers that are too loud, get turned off eventually.

That is why we used a sound meter to measure how much sound the Levoit Vital 200S generates from three feet away. We did this across all four fan speeds:

FAN SPEED	SOUND LEVEL
Speed 1	38.3 dB
Speed 2	41.9 dB
Speed 3	53.8 dB
Speed 4	57.7 dB

But sound can be very subjective, so we recorded a video of the air purifier running at different fan speeds:

We can now compare the air cleaning performance and sound level at top speed against data from other air purifiers in the same price range:

As you can see from the table, the sound generated by the Vital 200S at top speed is quieter than that of most other air purifiers with a similar clean air delivery rate.

Running at the Vital 200S at speed 2 generates 42.5 dBA of sound, which is below the 45 dB(A) limit we have set for our quiet performance tests.

So I repeated the particle removal test in our 728 cubic feet test room with the 200S running at speed 2, and it managed to reach PM1 zero in 46 minutes.

As you can see from the table, the Vital 200S offers more powerful air cleaning performance at sub-45 dBA fan speeds than popular devices such as the Winix 5510 and the Coway Airmega 250S.

However, it is still no match to PC fan-powered air purifiers such as the Luggable XL-7 from CleanAirKits and the AirFanta 3Pro.

The cost to run a Levoit Vital 200S: $99.47 per year

1. Electricity costs = $49.48 per year

Using our energy meter, we recorded a maximum of 44.55 watts consumed by the Vital 200S when running at full speed. This equates to $49.48 per year if you were to keep it running 24 hours per day at its highest speed. 

Here are the full results for each fan speed:

MODE	ENERGY USAGE
Standby	0.97 watts
Sleep mode	3.21 watts
Speed 1	5.71 watts
Speed two	8.01 watts
Speed 3	31.96 watts
Top Speed	44.55 watts

This tells me that the Levoit Vital 200S has a very efficient fan that can move a lot of air without excessive energy usage. It’s great to see that newer models of air purifiers can perform well AND be energy efficient.

This compares well with other devices we have tested:

2. Filter costs = $49.99 per year

All particle filters will eventually need to be replaced because all the particles they remove are trapped in their fibers, turning the filter into a particle-riddled mess.

In the case of the Vital 200S, Levoit recommended that you change the air purifiers every 12 months — bear in mind that most air purifiers require filters to be replaced every 6 months, so 12 months is a great improvement.

Regarding the filters themselves, you have four options: the original filter, one aimed at those looking to deal with pet allergies, a smoke remover filter and one that includes toxin absorbers. The price of these filters ranges from $49 to $65 dollars, so they are not cheap but they are also not super expensive.

When we combine the estimated electricity costs with the filter replacement costs, you can see that the Vital 200S offers great value in the long term as well:

If you want to reduce yearly running costs further, you will be happy to hear that there are many generic filters available for half the price of the genuine filters from Levoit – it’s worth mentioning that performance will vary:

Bottom line: Is the Levoit Vital 200S worth it?

With a list price of $189.99, the Vital 200S offers excellent value for the money, with air cleaning performance that matches units that cost twice the price.

If you want to get the best air cleaning for $ ratio and want to avoid ionizer technology, the Levoit Vital 200S is definitely worthy of consideration.

It includes many smart features that are normally only found on more expensive models but still manages to clean the air as effectively as we’ve seen from units like the iconic Winix 5500-2 but without the use of an ionizer.

Those with larger spaces will want to look at bigger units like the Levoit Core 600S ($299.99), but for those with a space between 400-500 square feet, the Vital 200S is a great choice as it will be able to keep your air clean for an affordable price. 

Noise levels associated to the Vital 200S are lower than the average and it comes with a sleep mode and the possibility of turning off the lights of the display (not to disturb your sleep), making it a very good option for a medium-sized bedroom.

Due to the lack of a True HEPA H13 filter, I don’t recommend this device for medical settings. However, as our in-house test showed, the Vital 200S can clean all tiny particles of 1 micron in 23 minutes. Air cleaning performance nearly three times as fast as the Levoit Core 300 ($99) and is only one minute slower than the larger Levoit Core 600S ($300).

For those who want to keep a medium-sized room clean of tiny particles and don’t want to spend more than $190, then the Levoit Vital 200S is well worth checking out. And if money is tighter, do check out the PC fan-powered AirFanta 3Pro.