Which Purifier Should You Buy?

I have tested very few purifiers so far, so I do not have a good answer for that question, yet.

Update Nov 21, 2016: The Sharp FU-A80E-W has an edge over the Philips AC3256/20. I will update the graph and comparison below soon. Meanwhile please visit the Sharp FU-A80E-W page. Test 2 there shows how it does better than the Philips AC3256/20.

Here is a comparison of the purifiers I have tested:

Legend: AC3256 PM_2.5, PM₁₀; AC4014 PM_2.5, PM₁₀; Moonbow PM_2.5, PM₁₀.

The Philips AC3256 looks like an obvious winner, for the following reasons:

• It has the highest clean air throughput.
• It has an automatic mode, so it switches between high and low fan speeds as needed.
• It is fairly quiet when operating.
• It does not have UV filters, ionisers, or any other nonsense that you do not need to combat India’s particulate matter and noxious gas pollution.

If your budget does not permit the AC3256, then note that the two manual purifiers are neck-to-neck. The orange and purple lines converge at the right end of the graph, and so do the green and blue lines. Now, the Philips AC4014 cost me more than twice as much (₹21,899) as the Moonbow AP-A8400UIN (₹10,341). What am I getting for that extra money? Well, over the course of a night, the AC 4014 will take you to 30/30, while the AP-A8400UIN only manages 100/100. If someone in your family is already suffering from respiratory disease, or you have a child under five years of age, go for the AC4014. Otherwise the AP-A8400UIN is good enough.