Smart Air SA600 Review - Are The Four Filters WORTH It?
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Today, Danny is reviewing the new 5-speed version of the Smart Air SA600. This air purifier has DOUBLE the amount of filters as most other air purifiers: two HEPA filters, two activated carbon filters and two pre-filters. But is it worth your money?
⎯⎯ 🛒 Links
▸ SmartAir SA600 (UK 5-speeds) → smartairfilter...
▸ SmartAir SA600 (US 3-speeds) → www.smarterhep...
(IMPORTANT: The 5-speed version is not available from Smart Air US, we will update the link when they include this version on their website)
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I have almost every high end air purifier on the market and this is actually one of my favorite units. I use it in my RV and it works great. I immediately removed the carbon filters since they are insignificant and only will restrict air flow. Also had 0 off gassing unlike a lot of the plastic units from other brands. I love it.
@@itgoofy that is great to hear , been a big fan of ours the more I used it. Plastic also feels higher quality just from touch. I want to try and wall mount ours soon as that should be possible.
@HouseFresh not sure what filter prices are like in UK but the filter prices SA600 here in australia if you go by the 6 month intervals changes the costs are about 90% of the price of a brand new unit
@@HouseFreshyou filter interval are incorrect. Company recommends 12months running at 8 hours per day. So running 16 hours will decrease to 6 months. So if you run 24/7 which most do your looking at 4 monthly intervals which is ridiculous
Dang that clear air kit is a beast
Yeah the guys at CleanAirKits made a silent beast! Just a shame we can’t get HVAC filters easily here in Europe 🥲
Just found your channel and subscribed. I have a very large living room that has high vaulted ceilings probably about 20 feet high and then it’s open where the stairs go up into the loft area. I’m looking for a unit to sit in the living room . I want the very best. What would you recommend.
If you just want a just one unit I would look into the top CADR models from the main brands.All of these seem to have sweden ecom sites: Levoit EverestAir (tested and liked it), have not tested the IQAir Atem X as its quite pricey but could also fit what you need with a very high CADR.
Depending on the room size you might need multiple devices - you find out what CADR you need for specific air changes for your space. I would max out the ceiling to 9ft as the vaulted ceiling will also provide ventialtion benefits.
Hey Danny! How safe is the SA600 for kids, especially if they try to put their fingers into the round inlets near the fan (2:24)? Are there any protective measures to prevent accidents?
Just had a look and it’s got a hard plastic grill so no way of putting any fingers into this area. Will show more details when we post the web review version. A very useful thing to check for so will make sure we check for this in all future reviews. Thanks!
Similar question about the Blast Mini MKII: Is it safe to leave around kids unsupervised? Does the fan automatically stop if the lid is opened or the pre-filter is removed, or is there a way to securely lock them in place? Also, how big are the holes behind the pre-filter? Is there a risk that kids could puncture the pre-filter and reach the fan with their fingers?
Sorry missed this as YT studio is and for sharing replies. I will look at this tomorrow and share my thoughts.
@@HouseFresh Thanks! Looking forward to hearing what you find.
Filter removal doesn’t switch off fan and so could access the back into the fan area from the front.
If you own an SA600 5-speed, can you look through the top air outlet with a flashlight and tell me if you see white dust, residue, or debris? I just got my SA600 5-speed two weeks ago, and I noticed quite a bit of dust on the surfaces of the shiny black plastic fan compartment. Perhaps it was left over from manufacturing and the part was not washed/cleaned? They kindly offered to replace it, but I was curious if anyone else has seen this.
Its late here now but I will check it out tomorrow. I don't recall seeing anything like that but I also didn't look super close.
Will update you tomorrow when I get a chance to look.
I can confirm that the SA600 comes with a dusty air outlet interior straight out of the box. Seems like Smart Air should spend more time refining their manufacturing process instead of trash-talking competitors.
So, I took off the top grill-it's not complicated, just six screws around it. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as it looked when I shined a light through it while it was closed, where it looked like a construction site. Wiped it down with a microfiber cloth, and now it looks like new. Oh wait... it is new.
At least the grill is easy to remove, which is a plus. You might want to clean it eventually anyway, especially if you leave the purifier off for long periods without covering the top grill.
Thx! Is there sufficient carbon for VOC? Any idea how many lb?
Just eye balling its not a massive amount likely less than the 260grams you get with the Winix 5500-2.
@@HouseFresh Where does the 260 grams number for the Winix 5500-2 come from?
I remember seeing a post on Reddit from someone who cut open some Winix's filters and weighed the carbon on a scale. They measured around 1 lb, with some variation of about ±50 g.
@@RRR20238 Sorry it should have been 226 grams as Winix mentioned told me that they include 0.5lbs of carbon. But I do want to test this myself at some point.
@@HouseFresh Ok, now this is even more confusing.
So we have:
- A Reddit user measuring around 1 lb (~450 g)
- Winix telling you it's 0.5 lb (~226 g).
A few possible explanations:
1. Winix reduced the carbon in their filters at some point.
2. Winix actually meant 0.5 kg (not 0.5 lb) but got mixed up, since they're a Korean company that primarily uses metric, this might have happened during translation or something like that.
3. The Reddit person measured used carbon instead of new, which defeats the whole purpose of weighing it, since carbon gains weight as it adsorbs VOCs and other gases. Doubling the weight seems odd, though-Google says used carbon typically gains up to 50%, but usually less. Possibly, the other 50% might just be dust weight, since Winix's pre-filter isn't the most efficient compared to something like IQAir, for example.
Would be great to see an independent test to settle this! That's a good idea. However, if you're going to do so, make sure the filters are fresh and unused, otherwise, the results won’t be reliable. Cutting open brand-new filters may feel wasteful, but unfortunately, it's the only way to get an accurate measurement.
@@RRR20238 Good point on the new vs old, I will look at doing this at some point but yeah does feel a little wasteful but we need to know !
Is this better than getting the winix 5500-2? Is there a benefit to having the two sides? Should it be placed not by a wall then?
This doesn't have an ionizer and can be wall mounted but the 5500-2 would still provide more value for $ spend.
I read that you shouldn't but directly against wall but can be a few inches a way as that would be how you use when wall-mounted.
If you were to choose between SA600 and Xiaomi 4 pro? Which would you say is a better purchase?
I would personally choose the SA600 but i prefer my air purifiers without smart features. So really depends on individual needs.
@ we went with Sqair.. we were kinda in a budget.. i hope it just works fine.. Majority of the use will be on our room.. and sometimes in our open area Living, kitchen and dining area.. (i think the sqair is under powered for that space)
Sorry for the delay in this - The Sqair is a solid device for the price and I personally think it looks great. I will be including it in my round up of the best small air purifiers for 2025 - so keep an eye out.
I just bought this purifier to assist me with the wildfires in LA but I am disappointed to find out that it is NOT coming back on after being switched off and on by a smart plug like it is explicitly stated in this video at 3:40. Please correct this in a pinned statement, this is annoyingly a reason for me to return it.
That is strange I just checked my sa600 now it came back on every time I switched it off from the plug. Maybe it’s the smart plug you are using, i tested with Philips Hur, which brand are you using and I can try and see if there is a workaround.
@@HouseFresh So I checked with the US distributor Smarterhepa where I bought it from and they told me that the newer 5-speed model is not on their website yet but that they would exchange it for my 3-speed model and do it fast. Sorry I came onto you so strong but things are difficult currently. Their support was extremely fast and helpful. Thanks for your hellpful reviews, in times like these objective tests and reviews are super important.
Hey, don't worry. I can't imagine what you are going through, and I did worry that maybe I missed something in our original review!
Hope you get your new SA600 soon and hope things get better in your location.
@@artyemsie Is it correct that all 3-speed SA600 air purifiers are designed not to turn back on automatically, or was there something wrong with the one you received?
Did you end up getting the updated 5-speed model, and does it turn back on automatically?
From my understanding, they all should turn back on automatically, but I will let @artyemsie confirm that.
Seems like speed 5 is not worth it. Not a significant difference from speed 4 with 4x the energy usage. Speed 1&4 probably the best 2 settings. Speed 4 with 12 month replacements and maybe third party options would probably smoke the competitors price wise.
Depends on use case but like that speed 3 is close to the 40dBA limit for quiet classroom and offices. Considering it’s not much extra cost I don’t see a reason why not.
@ side question, it's hard to tell from the videos and pictures but it seems like this unit's carbon filter is very "light" on carbon-like everything I've seen shows a ring of pellets around each circle but almost nothing filling the rest of the circles. Compared to other similar carbon pellet filters it seems quite lackluster. Can you confirm this visually/weight wise or with a comparison on VOC reduction?
@@Holy_Hobo it's 140g each side, 280g(±10%) total, which is indeed lackluster. Especially for their price
@@Holy_Hoboit is fairly light in the carbon and around half the width of the Winix 5500-2 filter but then you also get one on each side. Likely enough for minor odors but like many standard air purifiers would get quickly used up with serious issues.
One Winix 5500-2 filter reportedly contains about 1 lb of carbon, which is more than two SA600 filters combined. A pack of 2 SA600 carbon filters costs $48.99 on Amazon, while a complete set of Winix 5500-2 filters (carbon + HEPA) is $40.91.
Similarly, in the UK, the Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Pro combined (carbon + particle) filter costs £57.54 and contains 650 grams of carbon, which is more than double the carbon in a pack of 2 SA600 filters. For the SA600, a set of 2 HEPA filters (£36.00) and 2 carbon filters (£33.00) costs £69 (nice) total.
Besides odors, activated carbon can adsorb harmful gases like NO2, a common air pollutant in areas with high traffic or industrial emissions. In my city, NO2 levels right now exceed the WHO's annual limit by more than 10 times. So, if this is a concern, it wouldn't hurt to have more carbon.
In any case, if one needs a lot of carbon, it might be worth buying activated carbon by weight and refilling the filter frames or making a DIY custom frame for it. That said, I don't know how much carbon is realistically needed, or how to tell for sure when it’s time to change it without buying NO2 sensors, which might cost thousands of dollars. Although, I think, the AirGradient monitor might suffice with the right approach.
😍
Glad you liked Milena!