Good air quality is essential to our health and wellbeing, and that means breathing clean air both inside of the home and out. It’s especially important to take measures to clean the air for those who suffer from allergies, live with pets, and/or have young children. Air purifiers that help to clean the air come in all shapes and sizes. I have one in my home that helps since my son and I both suffer from seasonal allergies. So I was excited to try out the WYND Essential personal air purifier.
What is the WYND Essential Personal Air Purifier?
The WYND Essential Personal Air Purifier is a 6.7” tall cylindrical device that works to kill off 99% of the bacteria and viruses in the air as it passes through an advanced anti-microbial filter.
The portable unit operates using a rechargeable battery that can run for up to eight hours of normal use. Recharge it via USB Type-C, or keep it plugged in. Position it upright, or use the included kickstand to place it on an angle. It can purify a room that is 3 metres by 3 metres in size in about an hour.
Worried about the air quality in a hotel room or AirBnb, or want to use it both at home and the office? It’s small enough to throw in a backpack or carry-on and comes with a convenient microfibre case. There are also clever accessories like a stroller holder so you can clean the air your baby or toddler breathes in during your walk about the city, or inside the local shopping mall or other venues. The companion app offers some remote control functions of the device as well.
How the WYND Essential Personal Air Purifier Works
The first thing I noticed when I opened the box is that the WYND Essential looks like a portable Bluetooth speaker. In fact, it sort of resembles an Amazon Echo smart speaker in its design: alongside the sleek curves is a blue light ring at the top that illuminates when it’s being used.
Made of ABS Plastic, the purifier is finished in black and measures 3.5” wide by 6.7” high by 3.5” deep: small enough to bring from room-to-room, pop into the aforementioned carrying case to throw into an oversized purse, briefcase, backpack, or carry-on luggage, or clip to a stroller. The charge port is near the top of the unit, which means the cord will be positioned higher up if you keep it plugged in on a desk. This is likely because the filter is on the bottom. And with eight-hours of battery life, you probably won’t need to keep it plugged in anyway.
My unit was partially powered up right out of the box, so I plopped it by the window above the sink in the kitchen, and let it get to work. In the meantime, I downloaded the app. You can sign in via Facebook (WYND will receive your name, profile pic, and e-mail address), WeChat, or e-mail. It didn’t seem to work when I tried to log into Facebook, constantly looping back to the sign-in page. This might have been a bug at the time of my review, or maybe had to do with permissions settings on my new iPhone. Nevertheless, I just proceeded without logging in.
Choose the WYND device in the app, turn on the unit, and press and hold the Auto button for three seconds to put it into pairing mode. You’ll know when the lights in the ring at the top begin to swirl. It paired immediately for me.
Once in the app, I was told that no outside air quality information was available because there was no air monitoring station near me, and was prompted to download the Air Bubbles app. This app shows a real-time air quality map, and sends notifications (if you opt-in) should the air quality around you worsen. I exited to the app store and downloaded the app, giving it permission to find my location.
Operation is simple: tap the power button on the front to turn the unit on or off, and turn the top control ring to adjust the airflow to your liking; turning to the left will turn it up, and to the right turns it down. That’s it! It runs relatively quietly, depending on the airflow level you choose. (At a high level of purification, naturally, it’s much louder.)
Or, use the app to control the unit, when within Bluetooth range, including adjusting the purification level by sliding your finger around the virtual ring. You can also see the battery and filter life of the Purifier, and can also turn on Auto and Night Modes. Auto mode, which automatically adjusts the airflow levels based on the air quality outside, only works if there’s data from a local air quality station. That will be dependent on where you live. In Night Mode, which you can control through the app or by double-tapping the Auto button, turns off the top light so it won’t distract you, which is especially useful if you have the purifier running in a bedroom or child’s nursery at night.
Want a better cleaning angle instead of having the airflow point upwards? Clip on the handy kickstand to funnel air at an angle.
Once the battery has depleted, you can plug it in to fully recharge in about 4-5 hours.
The purifier’s filter lasts for about three months of normal use. Once ready to change, screw off the bottom of the unit, pull out the old filter, insert a new one, and screw the bottom cap back on. Pretty simple!
If, for whatever reason, the purifier doesn’t seem to be working, reset it by holding down the power button for 10 seconds. If you do this, you’ll likely need to go through the pairing process again to ensure it’s connected to your phone and the app.
Using the WYND Essential Personal Air Purifier
There’s really nothing to using the purifier. Charge it up, turn it on, adjust the airflow or put it into auto mode, and let it do its thing.
The portable nature of the device not only makes it great for travel, but also easy to move from room-to-room should you want to purify the air on the main level after having guests over, then to the basement where the animals hang out, and up to the kid’s bedroom to clean the air there.
Bottom Line About the WYND Essential Smart Air Purifier
The sleek and portable design is the top benefit of this air purifier. It’s great for those who suffer from allergies, who want to bring it to hotels as they travel, or to the office, or for parents who want to protect their kids from harmful bacteria and viruses floating around the air outside, in shopping malls, or other areas. It’s small and unobtrusive, so people may think it’s simply a speaker or standard fan. And the kickstand is a neat accessory if you want to direct the airflow in a specific direction versus straight up. The ability to control the purifier from your phone, when within range, is convenient, too.
If you want to get more detailed data about the air quality in your home, you might want to look at the WYND Plus Smart Personal Air Purifier, which comes with an air quality sensor as well to deliver reports on air quality. A new feature will also be launched early next year called Air Quality Path that will provide insights from local air quality stations. But again, that would depend on availability in your area.
As a personal purifying device, the WYND Essential Smart Air Purifier is a useful accessory worth popping into your luggage while traveling, or grabbing with the stroller holder for your kids. The fact that it can run wirelessly, has an easily replaceable filter (no screws needed!) and is a simple set and forget device, makes it a great option for keeping the air around you clean.
Check out the WYND Essential Smart Air Purifier at Best Buy Online.
I’ve noticed that without an air purifier sometimes the air in a house can somehow seem stale. Something like this is a good idea for any home.
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