Ranking high up in the list of most polluted cities around, Delhi is a veritable nightmare for those prone to health issues, breathing related in particular. Cashing in on the market are the likes of Philips, Honeywell, Atlanta Healthcare and now Kent. The makers of popular water filtration systems, the company has now entered the lucrative air purifier business. We tested out the Kent Aura HEPA Air Purifier system and here’s our review.
Kent HEPA Air Purifier Specifications
- Dimensions: 350 L x 180 W x 482 H
- Effective Room Area: Upto 270 sq ft.
- Noise: <= 60dB
- Clean Air Delivery Rate: 180 m3/h
- Power Consumption: 45W
Design
A device like an air-purifier is large and rather in your face due to the very nature of the product. While there certainly are constraints on how the product should look, we’ve seen the likes of Philips come up with some very appealing designs. The Kent HEPA air purifier while not as visually appealing, wouldn’t appear bad placed in a living room. The hard plastic shell is rather glossy and features a floral graphic that we weren’t all that fond off. The white plastic however was prone to scratches and in fact picked up a lot of stains over the usage period. A darker shade might prove to be a better option here.
The other aspect of the air purifier is the thickness. The Kent HEPA air purifier measures 180mm in terms of width which is about par for the course. The girth allows for the fan as well as two filters. The contraption is slim enough to be reasonably inconspicuous. We found it pretty easy to hide away in a corner.
At the top of the Kent HEPA Pure air purifier are a range of controls that govern the functionality. There’s not too much that you can adjust here and controls basically extend to the speed of the fan / auto mode. You can also switch off the ionizer but we expect most users would keep it switched on all the time. There’s a child lock button that could come in handy if you have toddlers in the house. You can also set a timer for 2/4/8 hours. The LED built into the fan control changes shades between blue and purple to indicate air quality.
Coming to functionality. The Kent Aura HEPA air purifier comes with two kinds of filters built into it. The first is a regular dust and pollen filter that serves as the first line of defence. Following this is the HEPA filter that targets PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulates. The above image shows the two filters, it also shows the condition of the two filters after about a week of use. Suffice it to say, i was quite astonished and worried to see the amount of dust around my house! The air purifier has a very distinct effect on air quality that can definitely be felt. What at first felt like a placebo effect becomes a lot more apparent with longer periods of use. The air quality monitor provided alongside the review unit provides us a more quantifiable look at how effective the purifier is. Keep in mind that the air quality monitor is a 10,000 rupee purchase and is not a part of the sales package.
The Kent air quality monitor is a robust piece of kit that is about the size of a bedside alarm clock. With a battery built into it, it powers the big and bright display for about 4 hours or so. Most users would just keep it plugged in. We wish there was a way to turn down the brightness which can be an irritant while trying to sleep. Better still, such a monitor really should be built into the air purifier itself.
Coming to the monitoring, we don’t have a way to calibrate or gauge the monitor against any other so we’ll have to take the readings at face value. The monitor offers two visuals with the latter offering a more detailed breakdown of air particulate matter. On an average it took about 20-25 minutes in an average sized room to bring down PM 2.5 particulates to below 20 ug/m3. The more polluted, the more time it’ll take to cleanse the air but for the most part the Kent Aura HEPA air purifier was more than up to the task. It was also surprisingly effective at deodorizing the room, a task which isn’t really a part of the feature set.
At a price point of Rs. 16,000 the Kent Aura HEPA Air Purifier is a rather pricey product. The competition is offering similar purifiers at a price point markedly lower than Kent. Leaving the price out of the equation, the device does its job well and is inconspicuous enough to be hidden away in a corner of your room and not stick out like a sore thumb. With the increasing amount of air pollution levels and the resulting paranoia, we can see manufacturers trying hard to push sales of air purifiers and so we expect prices to fall in the coming months. That said, you can’t really put a price on health and the Kent Aura HEPA air purifier is as good as any on the market and would be worth a consideration.