Winix WAC9500 Ultimate Pet True HEPA Air Cleaner with PlasmaWave Technology
2Winix WAC9500 Ultimate Pet True HEPA Air Cleaner with PlasmaWave Technology
- True HEPA Filtration captures 99.99% of airborne pollutants, pet dander and allergens as small as 0.3 microns.
- Washable advanced odor control carbon filter especially formulated to capture offensive pet odors as well as smoke, cooking and other household odors.
- Washable Anti-Microbial Pre-Filter extends the life to your filter by capturing Pet Hair and larger airborne particles.
- PlasmaWave technology attacks pollutants at a molecular level to neutralize viruses, bacteria, odors, and gases in the air
- Smart Sensors with Auto-Mode. Odor, Dust and Light Sensors automatically adjust your air cleaner settings to meet the needs of your environment.
Suitable for a family room or large bedroom; the Winix WAC9500 Ultimate Pet True HEPA Air Cleaner with PlasmaWave™ Technology combines the best filtering and technologies to deliver clean fresh air. True HEPA Filtration; Advanced Odor Control Carbon Filtration; Anti-microbial hair collecting Pre-Filter; and Winix’s PlasmaWave™ Technology combine to offer superior control of Pet and other Household Odors and Allergens. Winix WAC9500 Large Room Ultimate Pet True HEPA Air Cleaner with Pl
List Price: $ 349.99
Price: $ 259.99
Blowfish
Recommended…Updated, Comparing Two WAC9500 Units,
Update January 1, 2014: Here is my review about purchasing replacement filters for this unit ( http://www.amazon.com/review/R2MJS2HWY0JIKZ/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00ESJDGE6&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag= ).
Winix recently modified the replacement filter design and you will need to purchase a whole new Winix #114190 One year Ultimate Washable Filter Cassette; (fits size 21 models plus P300, U300, 5000, 9000, 9500) for this unit when it comes time for filter replacement if you have the old, grey cassette. (Winix may be shipping new cassettes factory installed in the purifier. If your cassette is black, you have the new cassette. You have the old cassette if your cassette is grey.) New replacement HEPAs/charcoal will not fit the old cassette, which came with the WAC9500 in 2011 and 2012. The new replacement cassette will come with HEPA/carbon installed, and for future replacements after that you will only need to purchase the new HEPA/charcoal (Winix #115115), which will fit inside of your new style cassette.
In summary, for replacements –>
If you have a black cassette: buy Winix #115115 (which is only a HEPA and 4 pieces of carbon filter)
If you have a grey cassette: buy Winix #114190 (which is a whole, new cassette housing with HEPA and charcoal installed); and for subsequent replacements after you have the new, black cassette, buy Winix #115115
ORIGINAL PRODUCT REVIEW FOR WAC9500:
Over the past several years, I have been on a search to find the best reasonably priced bedroom air purifier – one that works but doesn’t cost a small fortune. I will give you the basics on my experience with the Winix WAC9500 and then you can see how I rank it against other purifiers I have tried. I have tried the Winix WAC9500 for only one week before writing this review, however I will update this review as my experience with the purifier proceeds.
A little background about the environment where the purifiers were used:
I have had a little more than 4-years of experience with four other purifiers besides the Winix WAC9500, all shown below. All of them were used in a medium-sized bedroom in a dusty environment. Except for the Whirlpool, which I used for 3 years in a downtown city-environment with a busy street outside my window, all of the others were used in dry, dusty, desert-environments with the grand title of having nearly the worst air in the country. Plus there is a cat living in the house (mostly the bedroom where the purifiers have been located). If a purifier can control my allergies (sneezing, very watery eyes, sometimes a sore throat) from the bad air and eliminate any odors made by the cat, I know it is working.
Winix WAC9500
*My overall grade: A
*Replacement filters: $$$
*Replacement needed: Annually
*Overall annual cost of filters: $$ (Update April 14, 2012: We got 322 days [46 weeks] of use before the change filter light came on. Based on the current replacement cost on Amazon.com of $98.00, the daily filter cost comes to around $0.30/day.)
*Effectiveness: A
*Deal breaker: Includes a remote, which is a really nice feature. The most effective, quietest, and cost-effective purifier I have found. Consumes only 15 watts on high. Filter and Plasmawave feature are very effective at cleaning the air and neutralizing odors.
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The Winix WAC9500 purifier is superior to almost any other air purifier I have tried. The closest comparison I can find is to the Surround Air XJ-3800 Intelli-Pro Air Purifier. Both of them have pretty good odor control, however I think I found that the Winix WAC9500 has superior odor and dust DETECTION. While both do pretty much the same with the odors once they are detected, the Winix WAC9500 was better at detecting odors and kicking up the fan speed in “auto mode” to eliminate them. I think I have found that the Winix may have the slight upper hand at eliminating the odors more quickly, but this advantage may come from the better and faster odor detection.
As for noise, I think the Winix is slightly better than the Surround Air XJ-3800. The “high” setting on the Winix, which is less powerful than the “turbo” mode available, is quieter than the highest setting on the Surround Air XJ-3800, yet it seems just as effective at cleaning the air. The Winix WAC9500 has better fan settings. For me, there is barely a noticeable difference between the “low” and “medium” settings.
One area where both the Winix and Surround Air purifiers lack is in the…
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|K. Gardner
Important Things To Know Going Into Your Purchase,
Trying to research air cleaners is very, very time consuming. I spent a week doing it. I recommend you google “air purifier power”. A second source is to google “allergy buyers club”. The first source does not compete with Amazon because they do not actually sell anything. But Amazon still wanted the www address deleted. One important thing to note, if you google “air purifier reviews”, please be careful. Many so called review websites are really owned by one particular company brand and they are pushing their brand over all others. But they try to disguise their web store as a place to check out reviews and ratings. Some websites do sell a variety of brands, but if you ask them for assistance, of course they are going to point you to the brands they sell and they are not going to mention other, better brands they do not sell. It was difficult finding unbiased assistance.
The Feedback of the first site ultimately led me to purchase this machine, even though they did not recommend it as the absolute best choice. They actually preferred the Rabbit BioGS and the Sharp I talk about below, in this price range. I think any of these 3 would work, but you will still benefit from reading the below points.
Most Important Things To Know Going In:
1) COST
A really good air purifier is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000. I cannot afford that, so going in I know I am not buying the very best here, I am going for a good compromise on price and ability. Most air cleaners in the $300 range will have some flaws, so you are really looking for what you can live with. When I started searching I thought I could get a top of the line cleaner for $300. That is what you might think if you shop at Big Box stores, like me. Doing the research opened my eyes to the truth about how much an excellent air purifier really costs. This is my second air cleaner purchase. Just like most consumers, my first purchase was an air cleaner in the $50 price range. That unit was fair, but left me wanting much more and I started reading about air cleaners.
2) PLASMAWAVE, GREAT TECHNOLOGY, BUT DON’T EXPECT MIRACLES
If you want to see how Plasmawave works, go to the Winix company website, which is WINIXINC. One of the links is about the technology of Plasmawave. They have a nice informative video lasting about 4 minutes about the technology. Before watching, just be advised that they are of course overly optimistic about the capabilities of the machine. But I like the information presented. What customer reviews and professional reviews have said about plasmawave…..
A) It kills viruses and germs that it comes into contact with, but it won’t sterilize door knobs, sink handles, etc. In other words, it helps but isn’t a miracle worker.
B) It neutralizes VOCs and harmful chemicals in small, reasonable amounts. However, you cannot paint a chest of drawers and then put the Plasmawave in there and expect it to neutralize the huge volumes of chemicals in the air. In fact, one reviewer warned you might get a hydroxy radical mess as the machine tries to bond with the VOCs in the air.
C) Plasma Ion technology has had some critics who say that it’s process may dry out the air somewhat. At worst, it may make your nose stuffy if you sleep next to the machine. Everyone seems to agree the Winix is not as bad at drying the air as the Sharp. The Sharp’s positive and negative ion maker is rated as stronger than the Winix machine. I personally cannot sleep next to my Winix 9500 on the night stand, because it will make my nose dry and stuffy. Maybe just because of the circulation of the air over my face as I sleep. However, I sleep just fine if it is 6 feet away from the foot of the bed. So it is not a problem. I am actually testing it now, just for fun, using instruments that measure humidity, to see if the humidity in the room with the Winix 9500 changes at all.
The Plasmawave technology was started by Sharp in Japan. Years ago, when people said the Sharp Plasmawave dried out the air, Sharp addressed the issue by adding humidifiers to their Plasmoclaster machines. This website posed the question that if the plasmawave needs water vapor to work, does it work poorly in low humidity environments. I don’t know. The company does not list any minimum levels of humidity that I have found. Go to air purifier power website mentioned for more explanation.
D) You will see many reviewers saying they want to be able to turn off the plasmawave part of the machine at times and just use the HEPA and other filters. Winix 9500 does have the option to turn the Plasmawave off, which is nice. However, the owner’s manual suggest that you should leave it on at all times.
3) SLEEP MODE
You have to know that many people seem to have issues with the automatic sleep mode. The light sensor does not seem to work well. This goes…
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