If you need to rid the air of dust, pollen, smoke, or other particulate matter: this is the purifier for you thanks to a large fan and true hepa filter.
If you need to rid the air of odors: you're going to need something else - preferably with 15-20lbs of activated charcoal in it. HEPA filters capture particles - not gasses.
After buying this thing, I found out that many air quality problems can be abated by deep cleaning and controlling humidity - if you've already done those things and still need to get rid of dust or don't regularly or seasonally have humidity indoors above 50% then this is a good move.
After a little bit of research I found that dust mites and mold flourish in humid environments both of these things are major causes for allergies. A HEPA is still a good idea because dust contains other toxic chemicals like flame retardants which are pretty bad for you. Lowering humidity kills dust mites and mold so they can't release allergens but HEPA filters will capture particles of that size if they're a problem - I just think humidity is more important than purifying.
On to the review:
The Winix 5300-2 is a little friend that comes in a box. When you plug it in he (or she) plays you a tune, samples your air, and cleans it up by sucking it through a true hepa filter.
This purifier is the Thor's hammer of air quality control. It moves a lot of air, it is almost silent, and it is adorable. I think this machine is the best value on Amazon for air purifiers and here's why:
It covers a relatively large area, it's well made, has a strong recommendation from Allergy Buyers Club, and one of the other reviewers measured its effectiveness with a Dylos air particle sensor and stated the results were excellent and far better than the Sharp Clustersomething.
So here's what you need to know: If you push air through a Hepa filter it will remove particles from the air. You can achieve an effective result by taping a 20" house fan filter to a box fan and get a 90% reduction of air particles - and perhaps more if you use a better filter. It's an ugly and kind of ratchet solution but it's something I'm still considering for my studio space.
This machine has a true hepa filter so it will work. The problem we run into in the design of these machines is size and noise. This machine is bigger and has a lot of surface area compared to smaller units and so the fan can be larger and draw more air in at a lower speed which means it's not as noisy - at least that's how I think science works. Either way the little guy is dead silent on sleep mode and is not a problem even at level 2 - after that it sounds like a little fan is on and if you put this sucker into turbo it sounds like a small aircraft - it's great for initial cleanup but not necessary to run it at that speed all day.
Now lets set some realistic expectations about what this thing can and cannot do. I saw one lady complain that she lived with 5 cats and she ran it for a week and still had cat hair everywhere and none in the machine.
There are dedicated machines for pet hair and they aren't cheap. I think they're also huge and they probably sound like a commercial air scrubber if you turn it on. This isn't going to replace vacuuming your house or brushing your cats - and having lived with one cat I can tell you that they're nasty creatures and 5 of them stuffed into an apartment is probably way too many cats for one person or 1 Winix air purifier to handle.
If you want to use this to clean up cat hair here's what you do:
Step 1: Obtain a gas powered leaf blower and some ear protection
Step 2: Turn on your Winix 5300-2 - set to Turbo
Step 3: Turn on your gas powered leaf blower
Step 4: In a circular orbit complete passes around the room making sure to get all of the cat hair airborn
Step 5: Repeat step four until all cat hair has been sucked into the Winix 5300-2
This machine was designed to remove fine particles from the air. It does that. Every time you turn on your vacuum, walk on your carpet, open doors or windows, sit on your dusty furniture, or turn on your air conditioner you kick up dust. That's what this is for.
Ok so Plasmawave: YES it creates ozone but only a little bit. So little that in the People's Republic of California I can still buy one. Ionizing air purifiers have been banned by order of the Government here - and so this is not that. Other things that create ozone? Your hairdryer and microwave. Also you can turn plasmawave off if you don't like it. I'm not exactly sure that it is useful but I leave it on while it's scrubbing the room on turbo and then I turn it off when I'm actually inhabiting the room.
So here is the bottom line: you breathe about 3000 gallons of air per day. How much water do you drink per day? Do you filter that? So now that we've decided you need one of these machines do you pick the 5300-2 or the 5500-2?
The 5500-2 has lower maintenance costs because it comes with washable filters. As far as I know - that's the only difference. I chose the 5300-2 because I want my air and house to be cleaner, I don't want to open up the chamber , pull out this dusty filter, drag it over to the sink and ring it out or whatever.
All in all you decide! But when you get one, I think this is the best one. I'll update it after a bit of more use.
**Update 1 week in**
Definitely loving this little guy, and have noticed that the air is definitely cleaner and I feel noticeably better. If you're going through the hassle of getting one of these, do yourself a solid and do a deep clean of your house. Wipe down the walls, vacuum under your furniture, change your air filter in your furnace or air conditioner, vacuum the drapes, wipe the mildew off of your windows.
Main complaint: It has a sleep mode and it's dead quiet, but I am comfortable with it blowing at level two while asleep. You can't run it out of sleep mode and still turn the blue air quality indicator light out. The light is super bright and illuminates a room to a disturbing level. Eventually I'm going to put one in my bedroom and just put tape over the light and leave it at two while I sleep.
Other than that, it cleans the air as advertised, no strange smells that I noticed, except the smell of a fresh air filter. It's well built, the buttons look and feel good, and I feel better after using it. So far it's still a highly recommended product. I'll update down the road.
Update 2/8/17
I think it's been about a month. No problems so far. Emailed Winix and found out that the air sensor measures gases and temperature - not particles. I've noticed of my wife paints her nails the air quality quickly goes to red, it will also do that if you burn something on the stove. It does have a carbon filter but that filter is not very good at removing smells - they make machines for that and they use 18lbs of activated charcoal. The best one I've seen is $700. Basically the air quality sensor is kind of useless because in auto mode it will only kick on if you do something smelly to your house and not if say your heater kicks on and blows out a lot of dust. Auto mode is pretty pointless just use the manual controls - takes 2 seconds. I will definitely be buying another unit from Winix - probably a 5300-2.
Update: 6/24/18
Still going just fine and while I’ve needed to clean the first screen every few weeks, the carbon filter only needed to be replaced once and the hepa still looks like it’s 65% of new. I’m tempted to replace it just because the manufacturer says to do it about once a year.
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From the manufacturer
We Care for Your Air in Real Time
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Air Quality IndicatorLED light changes in real-time based on air quality. |
Dual Smart Sensors + Auto ModeThe built-in air quality sensors measure and adjust the fan speed in real-time. |
Rest EasyWhen the room is darkened, the unit automatically activates Sleep Mode to ensure continuous, quiet and energy-efficient operation. It changes back to Auto Mode in the presence of light. |
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Customer Review: Quality. You can turn off plasmawave.
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Compare with similar items
This Item  Winix 5500-2 Air Purifier with True HEPA, PlasmaWave and Odor Reducing Washable AOC Carbon Filter Medium , Charcoal Gray |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | -36% $159.99 List: $249.99 | $260.99 | $249.99 | $189.99 | -22% $77.99 List: $99.99 | $219.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sleep mode | ||||||
| Noise level | ||||||
| Odor elimination | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| filter type | HEPA | HEPA | HEPA | 3-Stage Filter | HEPA | Activated Carbon |
| floor area | 360 square feet | 500 square feet | 410 square feet | 1800 square feet | — | 1980 square feet |
| control method | remote | touch | touch | application | touch | voice |
| power source | Corded Electric | ac | ac | AC | Corded Electric | AC |
| particle retention size | 0.3 micron | 0.3 micron | 0.01 micrometer | 0.3 micrometer | — | 0.3 micrometer |
| noise level | 27.8 decibels | 26.2 decibels | 23.8 decibels | 24 decibels | 36 decibels | 24 decibels |
| specification met | Energy Star Certified | AHAM Certified, CARB Certified, Energy Star Certified, UL Certified | UL Certified, FCC Certified, AHAM Certified, Energy Star Certified, CARB Certified | CARB Certified | AHAM Certified | Energy Star Certified, FCC Certified, ETL Certified |
Reviews with images
Best Bang For Your Buck
I've been looking for a new air purifier for almost a year now, doing research here and there trying to find a unit that meets all the requirments I'm looking for. I need a unit that's for a larger room, has an auto feature, has good priced replacement filters, and looks good to match my home decor. A recent 80,000 acre fire hastened my research due to the thick blanket of smoke that blanket the area (and still is) every morning. With all things considered, the Winix 5500-2 met all my requiements.The unit arrived promptly and unpackaging was an ease. I literally had it set up ans running in about 5 minutes. The body is a hard, matte black plastic that feels sturdy and durable. The front panel is easy to remove, and secures to the unit via a clever magnetic clasp that is secure, yet simple to remove to access your prefilter for bi weekly cleaning and hepa/carbon filter replacement. There are 3 filters in total, and they fit snugly inside the filter chamber, amd ate secured in with the prefilter that snaps firmly into place.The control panel at the top is intuituve and user friendly. The buttons are clearly marked and visual ques explain what each button does taking out any guesswork as to what they do. A stylish indicator light bar runs along the bottom of the control panel indicating the level of air cleanliness with a 3 color scheme...green for clean, orange for okay, and red for bad. You can manually run the machine on 4 fan settings, or choose auto mode and let the machine choose the settings based on the data colected from the sensor. This means hands off operation. There's a night mode that will set the fan to its lowest setting to cut down on noise, and also dim all lights on the panel. This night mode will set automatically if you have the auto mode set on the unit, a light sensor will detect (or not detect) any light in the room and go into night mode. A filter change indicator light also is on the control panel. According to what i've researched, the hepa filter should last approx 1 year. It also comes with a remote control with a battery preinstalled. I dont plan on using it, but if that's your thing, it's there.This is the quietest air purifier I've ever owned. On level 1, it's almost undetectable, and even on level 4 turbo mode, it's no louder than a standing floor fan on high. This was a very pleasant surprise.It cleans the air well. I'm currently using it in my 350 sq ft bedroom. I don't have the equipment to test it, but per their website I should be getting at least 4 air changes per hour which is the amount of air exchanges you need for allergies and serious air purification. I've had no smoke smell AT ALL in the bedroom when I run this with the door shut to the rest of the home and it was initially startling to walk from the bedroom into the rest of the home after the first night of using it.This unit has more than exceeded my expecations ans meets all the things I was looking for in an air purifier. I plan on purchasing 2 more of these when money permits for my combined kitchen/dining/living room area that totals 700 sq ft. I can place these at opposite sides of the area and get more than ample coverage. I would highly reccomend this unit. For the price and the feature list, this just can't be beat. The cost is low, the replacement filters don't cost an arm and a leg, it covers a large area, and you get a lot of features.09/28/20192 years later and this machine is STILL going strong. Besides the occasional vacuuming of the pre filter and the yearly filter changes, I've had this guy quietly working away in the house keeping my air clean. Can definitely say at this point that it's a durable machine!08/20/20203 years later and still working! I'm only posting this update because I find myself in ANOTHER horrible fire season for California, and I'm in a zone getting insane amounts of smoke. Besides regular cleanings on the pre filter, and my yearly change out of the hepa and carbon filter, not much else to report. I really hadnt expected this thing to last this long as I run it 24/7, often on its highest setting to get maximum results. I own 2 now, I bought another one last year to get more coverage throughout the house. I would highly recommend this until to anyone.01/03/2022I was buying a new filter today on here and remembered that I actually had a review for this product. I've owned this air purifier for 5 years now. I just added 2 more photos (should be the last 2 in my string of pictures) just to show that I STILL own this device. 5 years of literal CONSTANT USE. I've had it set on the 3rd setting, just 1 below it's highest setting, for nearly this entire time. I have absolute confidence stating that this is a solid piece of machinery. I'm actually shocked that this guy hasn't given up on me yet! If you're worried about durability, at least in my case, yes, this is a very durable air purifier. Winix created a home run product with this one. I think that this may be my FINAL update on the product (unless of course it survives for 10 years, in which case I may throw a party for the thing!)***I also want to add to those who say this device produces harmful amounts of ozone. That's simply not true. You can go to the California Air Resource Board, specifically to the section under California Certified Air Cleaning Devices. This will show you a list of air purifiers that have been tested by the state and produce under 0.050 ppm of ozone. This device, and all others from Winix, are on the list. That means that this device is at, or below, the levels indicated as safe. Make sure when reading reviews you guys do your own follow up research on an item. It's insane the amount of bad information that's out there! Dont take anyones word, look up what they claim!***
Top reviews from the United States
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