Full Review: Xiaomi [Mi] Air Purifier to combat Air Pollution

Xiaomi (小米 in Chinese) is a Chinese manufacturer that has gone global with a wide range of electronic products. As I desperately needed an air purifier where I lived, I bought one and tried it out. And just to make it clear right away: this article is in no way sponsored by Xiaomi or anything. This is a 100 % real review.

Why do you need an air purifier?

Note: if you are already knowledgable of the danger related to air pollution: skip this part. Just simply scroll down and access my honest review about the Xiaomi Air Purifier.

Honestly, I bought the air purifier to combat air pollution. As I lived in a city that was famous for high levels of PM 2.5, cleaning the air is quite important in order to sustain healthy. Most people are quite uneducated on this topic. But luckily, more and more people understand the importance of breathing clean air. Positive development.

Most Americans see air pollution as a “China problem”. In fact, a study that was published in 2009 showed that 60% of all Americans are living in areas with poor air quality. In other words, 60% of us breathe air every day that will affect our health in a bad way.

This is probably the most important (and common) reason to buy an air purifier. But it is also a solid investment if you want to clean the air and remove problems like allergy and dust gathering.

Why did you choose Xiaomi Air Purifier?

By coincidence. As I am a big fan of buying second-hand products (from an environmentally friendly perspective, this is one of the best things you can do!), I was looking online for people in my area that sold air purifiers. Due to the intense smog that could be smelled, seen and tasted (eww!) outside my window, I knew it was a big market in the area.

After finding someone who were interested in getting rid of his Xiaomi Air Purifier, I quickly went to the Amazon page and tried to read some real reviews. And I quickly understood that this is a bargain!

So that was how I ended up with Xiaomi.

Funfact: I was so happy with this company that I ended up buying a Xiaomi Smartphone as well.

Basic information – picture, price and “where to buy”

Just to kick this off, I will give you some basic information:

Price: About 200-300 USD, you can go and check the current price on Amazon here. Amazon is, by far, the best place to buy air purifiers in my opinion. Unless you want something second-hand.

Picture:

And here are some pictures that I took myself:

This is the product we are talking about. So let’s get to the real review.

Review: how good is this Xiaomi Air Purifier?

Good. It is really good. I bought two of them that I have placed in different areas of my 100 square meters apartment.

Let me go through some of the factors that are important when buying an air purifier:

1. Sound.

If you are more than 5 meters away from the device, you will barely hear it. And the more it cleans the air, the quieter it gets. In other words: if you are running your air purifier constantly, you will almost not hear anything.

If I can compare it to other air purifiers that my friends have bought, I can say that it is in the better end. Probably not the most silent version, but very good. I have no problem sleeping in the same room with it.

2. Design.

See for yourself – it is a real beauty!

The Chinese manufacturer has probably spent a lot of time thinking about how it can more or less merge into any bedroom or living room.

If you have a bright, Scandinavian-style furniture in your home: it will fit perfectly. As you literally can have the air purifier hidden behind your sofa and give the same effect as it would in the middle of the room, the design should not be seen as a negative thing regardless of how it looks. But I still have to say that this is a pretty little thing.

3. Size.

You can’t hide (pun not intended) the fact that this device is quite big. However, I have to say that the size is justified by the great effect. I will get back to this later.

As I have quite spacious bedrooms in my apartment (is this what you call humble brag?), I have put the air purifiers towards the wall. Despite being quite big, they sort of “blend in” towards the bright wall. In addition to that, they are not heavy. An adult, of both genders, can easily carry it around the house without any problems.

4. How effective is it?

Now: this is the real question. Effectiveness is what it comes down to. How great is the Xiaomi Air Purifier to clean my room and remove all particles?

You could easily buy a blue & purple, 100 kilo air purifier that sounded like a vacuum cleaner. But as long as it cleaned the air: you should be happy. Well, I am maybe exaggerating a bit – but you should get the point.

Mobile app tracking

In order to fully enjoy all the functions from this air purifier, you should download the Mi App. This app makes you able to connect your smartphone to the air purifier, which is better than it sounds. You can turn it on and off through your phone. You can change the mode (intense/no-so-intense…). And, more importantly, you can constantly monitor how bad the air quality is inside your apartment.

On days with bad air quality, you almost feel that the number increases quicker than it should. I started to think: is this actually real? Or does it trick me to believe that the air is getting cleaner than it is?

I had to investigate this. It was time to take the whole operation to a new level.

Tracking through a “third party device”

I bought this small device that is able to track the air pollution level at any time:

Unfortunately, I only took a picture of it when the “test period” had ended. I have now given it away to a friend in order to let him run the same test.

When the test started, both my Xiaomi Air Purifier and this small, little device agreed on the numbers:

Little device: 53.
Xiaomi Air Purifier: 51.

Accurate. I was happy to see this. Now, after I had been running the air purifier on what I refer to as “the intense mode”, Xiaomi told me through the app that the pollution level should be 2. It went from 51 to 2 in less than four hours. I cannot use other words than “extremely excited” to describe my feeling when I walked into my bedroom in order to check this small, little device. And YES – it also said 2. Almost too good to be true.

So in other words: approved.

Conclusion: should you buy a Xiaomi Air Purifier?

As I have only tried one type of air purifier in my life, I would not say that I can tell you whether or not this is the best option on the market. But if you try to figure out the answer to that question through Google, you will land on a lot of biased fake-review sites. And then probably make a purchase that is based on information you cannot trust.

I have to say that this is probably one of the best air purifiers on the market. This is based on my own experience, but also conversation I had with friends that have bought other types. In other words, I do not what to expect from other air purifiers. But I know that if you want to buy a device that cleans the air in your apartment efficiently to a decent price, I can wholeheartedly recommend Xiaomi.