Ionic Breeze Quatro
by Jose Langua
(Los Angeles, CA)
In 2006 I purchased 3 Ionic Breeze Quatro air purifiers from Sharper Image. (It was a buy two get one deal.)
I had very high hopes for these devices because of all the hype I had heard about them and been told in the stores.
My house has cellulose spray in insulation in the walls as well as the attic. This stuff may be great insulation, but it is very dusty.
Combined with my wife's new cat, we really needed some air cleaning. After receiving the 3 devices I set them up throughout the house.
They had little ozone filter things that snapped on to the front that were supposed to turn ozone into pure oxygen. Right off the bat when I turned the devices on I knew that part was not working to snuff.
Ozone has a distinct smell and it was strong coming from the machines. I figured I could deal with that though if it helped reduce the dust and pet dander. After allowing the devices to run for 48 hours continuously, I removed the metal strips that collect the dirt.
I wiped them down as instructed and guess what came off on the rag. Almost nothing. Well, I was sorely disappointed, but I thought maybe I just needed to let them run longer. I ran them for a week.
Still almost no noticeable dirt on the strips. Meanwhile, enough dust had built up on the furiniture that it was time to dust again. I did so and over the course of two more weeks, I realized I was collecting more dust from wiping down the entertainment center once than I had from all the air purifiers in a month.
I returned the devices to Sharper Image and eventually got my money back. I have since purchased one air purifier with a wet filter system and a fan that moves the air.
It works 100 times better and cost a lot less.