Can I Still Purchase An Ionic Air Purifier Anywhere?

Many of us remember The Sharper Image and their stores that were in many major cities. As is normal with store closures, most people that knew of those retail outlets probably think that ionic air purifiers are no longer obtainable. This is not necessarily the case, although ionic air purifiers sold under then name "The Sharper Image" are no longer being manufactured. If you're looking for an ionic air purifier, you have a few options.

The Ionic Pro

The Ionic Pro is a lot like The Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze, but it's a lot cheaper than the original ever was. It offers the same lack of maintenance as well. Just pull out the magnetized filter bar, clean it off, then replace. There's nothing more to it than that. As there's no fan, it's uses a lot less energy and is quite a bit less noisy than HEPA air purifiers, though generally less effective. However, if a cheap solution for cleaning the air in a 500 feet is what you're looking for, but you don't want anything that makes noise, then an ionic air purifier might still be your best choice.

Those Cheap Generic Ionic Air Purifiers

Then there's the ionic air purifiers that have no branding at all. You can generally find them on various websites, as well as brick and mortar bargain stores for about a hundred or so dollars. The fact that they are not branded does not mean they don't work, but you will probably have to depend on the store you bought it from if you want to claim on a warranty. Still, considering the technology that drives ionic air purifiers is fairly simple, the off brands are probably at least mostly safe.

Ionic Air Purifiers With Fans

Generally speaking, an ionic air purifier doesn't use a moving fan. Instead, it will use the motion of the air particles that are magnetically pulled toward the machine to create a very slight breeze. Consumer Reports did not feel that this was enough, however, and only certified one that did use a fan. This might not work for some people, though, since they may be considering an ionic air purifier simply because it is silent, even though it's less effective. The advantage of cheaper, filterless maintenance still stands, though.

Buying A HEPA Air Purifier Instead

There's also the ever present HEPA air purifiers. HEPA and Ionic air purifiers promise much of the same results, but work very differently. If you own a HEPA air purifier, you will occasionally have to purchase filters. There's no worries about filter replacement with ionic air purifiers, though, since all you have to do is wipe all the offending pollutants straight off the static bar. HEPA air purifiers, however, have been consistently shown to be more effective than ionic air purifiers.