Air Purifiers Rankings - Independent Rankings for Air Purifiers

Where do you find the best air purifiers rankings?

That's a particularly important question, since many websites claiming to be independent reviewers are just sales outlets for specific purifiers. And which do you think they rank highest? Themselves, of course!

Finding purely unbiased independent air purifiers rankings and reviews is a difficult task. But, I love a challenge. So here goes!

Consumer Reports (CR) is probably the best source for independent rankings. Not everybody agrees with their choice of products, but they do an excellent job of testing and, since they don't sell products, their rankings are impartial.

All air purifiers ranked by CR are tested in a sealed room with specific amounts of dust and smoke released into the space. Each machine is then measured for how effectively they remove these airborne particles, as well as how loud they are. Ratings are listed for both low and high-speed levels.

CR ranks air purifiers every year or two, so those reviewed are usually available in stores. This is good since manufacturers bring out new models all the time.

Air Purifiers America (APA) also does a good job of testing and ranking air purifiers. Even though they sell products, APA seems committed to only selling good quality products to their customers.
They do their own testing on a small number of purifiers and are very free with presenting the details of their research. They also rate products based on clean air delivery rates, independent testing and customer feedback. The APA website also provides excellent additional information for buyers of air purifiers.

But most other organizations that rank air purifiers - such as Allergy Buyers Club, James Dulley (a syndicated columnist) and Consumer Guide - mainly rely on anecdotal and subjective opinions rather than actual product testing. For the most part, they focus their air purifiers rankings on such factors as cost and noise levels and not on removal of odors, dust and allergens.

I also have considerations about two other organization for air purifiers rankings - the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) and Epinions.

In order to get an AHAM certification, companies need to pay several thousand dollars. Now, I'm not saying these are definitely paid endorsements. However, paying for certification is questionable - sort of a legal form of blackmail. Besides that, having an AHAM certification doesn't mean the air purifier is good. It only means the company was willing to pay to be included. Surely there are manufacturers of great products who choose not to spend their marketing money in this way.

As far as Epinions goes, I'm all for everyone voicing their own opinion about products they've purchased or experienced. And there's certainly no harm in checking out the opinions of others while you're in the process of doing your research - you may pick up some extremely valuable information. But, even though Epinions may be fun and interesting, I wouldn't base my decision only on this one source.

You'd be better off checking out the air purifiers' rankings of Consumer Reports and Air Purifiers America before making your final choice. That is, if you want to make sure you get the best!