pollution

IQAir Atem® Personal Air Purifier Review

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Before we begin, make sure you check out my IQAir AirVisual Pro Review, which is an indoor and outdoor air quality monitor. IQAir also sent me the Atem® complimentary for review. All opinions within are my own.

Atem® is German for breath. The Atem® is a product of Swiss engineering and German manufacturing. Atem® was created to remove pollutants, ultrafine particles, mold spores and particles with an efficiency of up to 99%. It creates a personal clean air zone, perfect for the office, or right next to your bed. You can control the air you breathing with the Atem® personal air purifier. I like being in control.

IQAir Atem

Working in healthcare as an occupational therapist, I could see a lot of my patients with lung diseases benefit from a personal air purifier. I was excited to give the Atem® a whirl.

Experience

I’m not good with assembling new things but was able to pick the right regions plug (they give you three to choose from) and put the Atem® together with the help of the user guide.

The Atem® is 6.26 lbs and super sleek, measuring 12.44” high, 5.51” wide and 11.77” deep. The Atem® comes in two different colors black/grey and white/grey. I received the white/grey version, which goes perfectly in my bedroom.

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There are three different fan speeds, low, medium, and high. You tap the Atem® logo located on the side of the fan to switch settings. You can also control the Atem® via Bluetooth and an application on your smartphone. You can control the sound and light options, too. The Atem® app also has a proximity sensor to safe energy and filter life, turning the device off when you walk away.

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I set-up the Atem® near my future daughters pack and play. I switched on the low setting and a very light blanket of fresh, filtered air pointed directly at where she will be sleeping. It is very quiet and reminds me of a white noise machine. A chime indicates that the machine has been turned off.

IQAir Atem

Permission to use image by IQAir

Then I moved the Atem® to my nightstand. I wanted to see if my allergies and congestion were any different after sleeping with the Atem® pointing at me. I also sleep with my two shedding dogs, who don’t help the pet dander in our sleeping zone. After a full night sleeping with the Atem®, I felt more refreshed and less congested. My husband, who is an allergy sufferer, wanted to try sleeping with the Atem® pointing directly at him. He, too, woke up feeling more refreshed and less congested. I love the light burst of air, keeping me cool, especially at almost 38 weeks pregnant. The low setting is all you really need when it is pointed directly at you. And, it is really quiet. It didn’t disturb me from my sleep.

The Atem®’s replacement filter costs $69 and should be replaced after a year of continuous 10-hour usage. The Atem® also has a nifty travel backpack accessory so you can always be surrounded by fresh air. (Available soon – apparently, but I was able to score one, #benefitsofablogger). 

I feel good using this air purifier in conjunction with the IQAir AirVisual Pro. When I see that the air quality in my home has too much carbon dioxide, or if I am traveling somewhere that the air quality is sub-par, I will definitely rely on the Atem® for clean, fresh air. I trust that the filter and technology will do its job to protect me and my lungs from particulate matter that I can’t see floating around my home. I hope that in the long term it helps reduce my lung exposure to mold and allergens like pet dander.

This has really opened up a discussion between my husband and me about getting an air purifier for our home. IQAir has several different room purifiers, in addition to a whole house filtration system. For now, I will continue to monitor my air quality with the IQAir AirVisual Pro and use the Atem® for when I am working in my office, when the carbon dioxide in my home is too high, and when I am sleeping.

For anyone who has respiratory and pulmonary issues, this is a must-have, as each breath we take truly effects our quality of life.

Connect with IQAir on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Namaste.

Why You Need a Personal Air Purifier

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IQAir AirVisual Pro Review

/ realmofvibes / 13 Comments

Working as an occupational therapist with older adults who have lung diseases like COPD and emphysema, is always a brutal eye-opener. Did they smoke? Did they commute to NYC every day for 30 years? Were they factory workers? What caused them to have such terrible diagnoses and prognoses? A big factor that most people ignore: air pollution.

 

I learned so much about air quality and pollution from IQAir. We take 25,000 breaths each day. How many of those breaths are of good quality? IQAir reports that an MIT study reports that air pollution contributes to 10% of deaths in America. And, our indoor environments can be worse than outside, leaving us with physical symptoms like headaches and fatigue.

I was sent the AirVisual Pro air quality monitor from IQAir. I hooked up the monitor on my console table at the top of my stairs. (I live in a bi-level.) Within a few minutes, I had the device hooked up to my Wi-Fi network. I downloaded the AirVisual app on my Android device (also available for Apple devices).

Teatulia Tea Garden

The screen is 3.25 inches high, 7.25 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. The LED screen is 5 inches. It has a chargeable lithium battery and can operate 4 hours on a single charge. AirVisual Pro allows you to select three languages: English, Chinese, or French. It comes with a Micro USB to USB cord and a USB power adapter. The problem with the IQAir is that the screen is not a touchscreen. The top of the device has up and down buttons. I think having a touchscreen would provide greater ease when putting in Wi-Fi passwords.

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AirVisual Pro is super sensitive. It detects particulate matter (PM2.5) from .3 – 2.5 µm, carbon dioxide from 400-10,000 parts per million, temperature from 14 – 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and 0 – 95% relative humidity. This all appears on your screen within minutes. (You scroll through the different screens using the up and down arrows).

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Air Visual App on my Android Phone

I learned in the user manual that particulate matter is considered the most hazardous pollutant to human health as it can be absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs. That you want the Air Quality Index (AQI) to be between 0-50, which means little to no health risk. Thankfully, as you can see on my monitor, our house has good air quality. The index ranges from 0-500, which the higher index values indicate higher levels of air pollution. I also learned about carbon dioxide (and how it is different than carbon monoxide). The levels range from under 700 ppm to 10,000 ppm. What I noticed in our home was that when we closed the windows and turned on the air conditioning, the carbon dioxide increased dramatically. The good news is that high carbon dioxide rarely causes long-term health effects, but in the short term can cause headaches, drowsiness, and decreased productivity and concentration.

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Luckily, there is an outdoor AirVisual Pro in a nearby town. So our screen shows the air quality in the living room of our home and Chester, New Jersey. It also gives an air pollution and weather forecast to guide our schedule of outdoor activities. I can’t wait to see what the air quality reader says during the hot, humid New Jersey summers. The indoor screen provides temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. The recommendations screen has advice icons (a little man on a bicycle indicating to go and enjoy outdoor activities), Wi-Fi status, Battery status, time, date, and advice text (“Your CO2 levels are high. Open your windows to get clean, fresh air.”)

The AirVisual Pro recently completed registration with IFTTT, so it is now a smart device. If you are unfamiliar with IFTTT, it’s a free service that allows devices to interact with each other (www.ifttt.com). A simple example would be that If the AirVisual Pro reported an AQI over a certain level in your home, you could have it turn on the HVAC fan via a smart thermostat (e.g. Nest, Honeywell). If you have an efficient filtration system, like IQAir’s Perfect16, you can clean the air. The AirVisual Pro has five triggers (Temperature, Humidity, AQI, PM 2.5, and CO2).

The AirVisual Pro is awesome. I like how it provides a lot of different information about the air quality inside my home and outdoors. It is a compact device and a good weather center as my husband and I are getting ready in the morning. The only downside is that I wish it was a touchscreen. If you are looking for an air quality monitor, are a frequent traveler, or have a lung condition, I would absolutely recommend AirVisual Pro by IQAir.

Connect with IQAir on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Namaste.

How do you monitor your air quality? Realmofvibes.com

Disclaimer: Realm of Vibes received the AirVisual Pro complimentary for review. All opinions within are my own. If you would like your product to be featured on Realm of Vibes, e-mail realmofvibesdg@gmail.com