Smartmi P1 Air Purifier review

Air purifiers are, in general, not always the most aesthetically-pleasing home appliances—but the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier is here to change that. This air purifier is chic, effective, and great at making small spaces smell fresh and clean. It has a powerful fan, a HEPA filter, and a whisper-quiet sleep setting that’s perfect for light sleepers.

What’s in the box of the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier?

The Smartmi P1 Air Purifier comes with a manual, a pre-installed pollen-focused HEPA filter, a power adapter, and a charging cable. The product itself ships assembled and is black with a built-in brown real leather strap. 

What's in the box of the smartmi p1 air purifier

The features of the Smartmi P1 

Smartmi’s P1 is a sleek, modern-looking air purifier. It’s designed to quickly and efficiently clean the air in a small room. 

The P1 features True HEPA air filtration. It promises to remove 99.98% of particles 80 nanometres or larger from the air, plus 99.99% of smoke from the air within one hour. It can clean the air of a 320 square foot room within 20 minutes and is designed to work in 180 to 320 square foot rooms. In smaller rooms, the P1 completes its cycle even faster: Smartmi estimates just 6.5 minutes for the P1 Air Purifier to clean the air of a 100 square foot bedroom. 

What makes the Smartmi P1 different from most air purifiers is its smart home integration. You don’t need an app to use this product—in fact, it works great without one. Without the app, you can look to the P1’s digital screen for your air quality information and use the touchscreen buttons to control its timer and fan speed. But if you do hook your P1 up to your smart home or smartphone, you can get real-time feedback of your air quality level and particulate concentration, plus a historical graph of past air quality. Air quality monitors can get pricey on their own, so having one included in this air purifier is a really nice touch!

This device is smart home enabled and works with voice commands through Hey Google, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and the Smartmi Link app. There is no microphone on this device.

Smartmi p1 air purifier pollen filter

What is HEPA filtration? 

There are many different types of filters that an air purifier can use. The type, cost, and construction of these filters will vary. Air filters aren’t standardized, so they’re not interchangeable: Some products will have filters available in different filtration grades; most will not. (Make sure that you’re buying the right replacement filters for your products!) 

HEPA filters are a “High Efficiency Particulate Absorbing” filter. The term refers to an efficiency standard, not a brand or shape. If a filter is HEPA-rated, that means two things. First, the filter will remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles larger than 0.3 microns from the air as it passes through your air purifier. That particle size means that a HEPA filter, unlike some others, will catch particles like pollen, viruses, bacteria, pet allergens, and mould in addition to just dust. Second, a HEPA filter will be made from pleated glass, carbon, and/or plastic fibres rather than pressed paper, cotton, or polyester. These fine layers of meshed glass and carbon are more effective at catching particles than a standard filter, which is why HEPA air filtration is often recommended for allergy-sufferers. 

“True” HEPA filters, like the one used in the Smartmi P1, meet the standards set by the US Department of Energy for HEPA air filtration. So, you know you’re getting the real thing and you can expect a measurable decrease in air particles like dust and pollen post-filtration.

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Enhanced filtration with the P1 

Smartmi designed two cylindrical air filters that fit the P1. They’re both H13 True HEPA filters, but there’s a small difference between the two. The P1 can be used with a black pollen filter, optimized for catching larger, more plentiful atmospheric particles that come from pollution and plants. Or, it can be used with a grey pet filter, which integrates an inner carbon filter layer to adsorb pet smells and smoke. 

The Smartmi P1 ships with the pollen filter, but either can be used when it’s time to replace your filter. Twist from the base to release, clean, or swap your filters.

Smartmi pollen filter

Maintaining and cleaning your air purifier

Air purifiers like the Smartmi P1 are a great way to make your home feel (and smell) comfortable. While air purifiers on the whole are a low-maintenance device, they do need a bit of care to keep working well. You’ll need to clean and replace your filters on a regular basis.

This is easy: Just vacuum the surface of your air purifier weekly (especially in homes with pets) to remove large bits of debris blocking the filter. Then, keep an eye on the life of your filter so you know when to swap it out. For a deeper clean, the filter is built solidly and is easy to remove; you can vacuum it on its own, too. Filters won’t be able to keep trapping the same amount of particulates once they’re “full,” which is why it’s important to replace them on-schedule for optimal performance. If you’re just using your air purifier to eliminate smells, I find you can stretch your filters for longer, but for allergen elimination, staying on schedule really does help.

Some brands will tell you how many months one filter should last; others will keep a running usage total in the product’s app. This one has a label on the bottom where you can write in the installation date of each new filter, which is handy for keeping track of your replacement schedule.

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My experience with the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier 

Air purifiers can be really hard to select. They’re a finicky appliance, and honestly… they aren’t all cute. I find that that’s changing really quickly, but still, if you want a dark air purifier it’s often hard to find one. (The same thing applies to humidifiers: they’re getting more stylish over time, but are often available only in white!)

Smartmi has users covered on both design and features. Not only does the P1 offer effective (and powerful) air filtration, but it also looks really, really sleek. This is an air purifier that I’d be excited to add to a room. It looks and feels expensive, with product design and aesthetics at its forefront. Plus, the P1 gives you real-time feedback on air quality and pollen levels. The device’s air quality readings are accurate, too—I can easily correlate spikes in fine particle concentration to when I’ve opened my windows or started cooking.

Overall, I’m very happy with the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier. I think it works well, looks cute, and offers good value for your money. It performs well both with and without app integration, but I do think you get more out of it with the app. With the app, you can link the P1 to your smartphone and smart home setup, easily switching from auto, sleep, medium, and custom fan modes. You can take a peek at your home’s air quality graph whenever you want to check in on your home’s airborne particulate level. Plus, using a smart home setup, you can turn the Smartmi on and off based on a schedule, activate voice control through a home accessory, and change your fan level.

Smartmi P1 Air Purifier review 3

In conclusion

As I write this, it’s wildfire season in Alberta. It’s really hard on rural communities and we struggle with our air quality even in the cities. At the height of wildfire season, our skies are yellowed over and it can be hard to breathe. I always jokingly say that “the air is spicy,” but jokes aside, it can be tough to deal with. After a day or two, there’s just so much stuff in the air that I start feeling lethargic during the day—an effect that applies twofold (if not more) to kids, people with asthma, and older populations.

Having a powerful air purifier turned on all the time has helped a lot. The P1 has kept my indoor air quality at a very comfortable level, and even though a little smoke sneaks in every now and again through a door or window, it’s cleaned out of the air quickly. My one recommendation for this product is to pay attention to your room size when purchasing. This is a small, compact air purifier, and as such it’s best suited for small to medium rooms—think a home office or a bedroom, not an open floor plan kitchen-living room. If you’re looking to combat smoke, pollen, dander, or food smells in a larger home, you may want to buy multiple air purifiers or opt for a larger model.

Shop the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier online at Best Buy today.

Rae Chen
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.

316 COMMENTS

  1. I like the design of the air purifier, and being able to check the air quality from my phone is a cool feature.

  2. My favourite feature of the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier is the True HEPA air filtration, because I want to make sure I’m removing as many air pollutants as possible.

  3. The HEPA filtration seems to be the best feature, to me. Just seems to be the most important thing to look for in an air filter.

  4. The air quality monitor is my favourite feature, effective, and great at making small spaces smell fresh and clean. It has a powerful fan, a HEPA filter, and a whisper-quiet sleep setting that’s perfect for light sleepers.

  5. I like the HEPA air filtration that removes 99.98% of particles 80 nanometres or larger from the air. Would make me feel confident I’m breathing clean air.

  6. The air quality monitor is my favourite feature. I have an air purifier in my classroom but I never know if it’s doing anything! Having a built in monitor would let me see the changes I’m making.

  7. I love the feature that removes 99.99% of smoke from the air because I’m highly allergic and we live in a 4 season beach community that has smoke in the air year-round.

  8. being smart home enabled is fantastic – like that i can get real-time feedback of the air quality level and particulate concentration

  9. Like that it has a digital screen – can easily give info about air quality so you can see how it changes before/after use.

  10. The true HEPA filtration sounds terrific especially if it can purify half my apartment`s size in 20 minutes – perfect. I am also a huge fan of the whisper-quiet sleep setting which makes me want to run this air purifier during the night while I am catching ZZZs.

  11. My favorite feature is that the Smartmi P1 Air Purifier has True HEPA air filtration which promises to remove 99.98% of particles 80 nanometres or larger from the air, plus 99.99% of smoke from the air within one hour. This would be great for my home because my place is pretty dusty.

  12. My favourite feature is how fast it can clean the air. It can clean the air of a 320 square foot room within 20 minutes. We live in an old house and I’m always worried about the air quality.

  13. My favorite feature is the HEPA filters because they are a “High Efficiency Particulate Absorbing” filter.

  14. HEPA air filtration. It promises to remove 99.98% of particles 80 nanometres or larger from the air, plus 99.99% of smoke from the air within one hour.

  15. This feature is my top choice, – The P1 features True HEPA air filtration. It promises to remove 99.98% of particles 80 nanometres or larger from the air, plus 99.99% of smoke from the air within one hour. It can clean the air of a 320 square foot room within 20 minutes and is designed to work in 180 to 320 square foot rooms. In smaller rooms, the P1 completes its cycle even faster: Smartmi estimates just 6.5 minutes for the P1 Air Purifier to clean the air of a 100 square foot bedroom.
    I am already impressed with our Hepa vacuum, so having this sweet unit would make the most sense!

  16. The smart home integration without an app is my favourite feature because I love smart devices but I have too many apps as it is.

  17. The pollen-focused HEPA filter is my favourite feature of the Smartmi P1 air purifier because it is great for those who have allergies!

  18. I like the fact that you don’t have to use an app to make the unit work as I don’t like apps for everything

Comments are closed.