Consumer Reports tested 40 air purifiers by locking them in a closed room and filling it with smoke and dust—in other words, they recreated this writer’s childhood Christmases when Granny would visit with her angry poodle. Here are Consumer Reports’ selection of the best and worst devices.

Two ozone-based purifiers, EdenPure Area Model and the EcoQuest Fresh Air, “do a poor job of removing smoke and dust, and they emit very high levels of ozone.” Consumer Reports slaps a “Not Acceptable” for use by homeowners label on them. (More memories of Granny.)

Of course, the most heavily marketed purifiers we know of are from Sharper Image. So how did the company fare?

Consumer Reports also tested air purifiers from market leaders Oreck and Sharper Image. The Sharper Image Hybrid GP Germicidal Air Purifier is $500 and the Oreck tower, the XL Professional Air Purifier, is $700. But Consumer Reports says neither did a good job of cleaning the air.

A much less expensive air purifier did a much better job and earned top-ratings. It’s the Whirlpool Whispure model number AP45030S for $230. It uses only a filter to clean the air, so it doesn’t emit any ozone at all.

As far as antibacterial features, the testing found that the Whirlpool Whispure model named above performed as well at removing microorganisms from the air as more expensive models, even though the Whirlpool model isn’t marketed as antibacterial.

“CONSUMER REPORTS: Air purifiers” [9 News Colorado]

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