HOLMES HAP242-UC HEPA Air Purifier  Product Reviews

"I've owned mine for about 5 years, and I love it. I was surprised to see so many negative comments from other reviewers. If I may add my two cents to the discussion: * This machine works great as an air purifier for small/medium bedrooms. It is designed to remove dust and other allergens from the air, and it does so quite well in my opinion. It's not meant to clean the air in the whole house. It's not meant to remove strong odors like stinky pets, dirty diapers, etc. That's what an odor eliminator is for. (I use a Hamilton Beach 04271R TrueAir Plug-Mount Odor Eliminator next to the litter box, and I can't complain.) An odor eliminator contains a carbon filter than neutralizes bad smells. A HEPA air purifier contains a filter of thickly folded fibrous paper that strains tiny particles out of the air. The two devices have completely different purposes and methods. * Yes, you do have to replace the filter periodically. I run my unit continuously on the low setting and have to replace the filter about once a year. Target usually sells them in two-packs or three-packs for a good price. * It needs to be wiped down with a damp cloth every couple of weeks because the outer casing gathers dust and lint. In my experience it does NOT, as other users have commented, get filthy. I supposed it might if you never cleaned it. The fact that it attracts dust means it's working. * It's almost silent on the low setting. Medium is audible but not intrusive. The high setting is almost as loud as a dust buster. I've found the low setting to be sufficient for small bedrooms. I hope this helps."

"After returning my Honeywell hht-081 purifier because it was louder than living next to the airport, I'm very pleased with this one. It's exactly what I needed... a quiet opeating, effective, small air purifier. It's not going to get your whole home fresh, and it says so on the box, so don't buy it in place of a larger purifier if that's what you need. It WILL reduce allergens in the home, but works best in smaller rooms (i.e. 11' x 10') Regarding filter replacement... People, get over it. That's how any (good) purifier works. The ones with "permanent" filters that you're supposed to vaccum... Yeah, a vaccum is going to get it good as new every time, isn't it? *shakes head* You just have to take into consideration that in order to operate this you will have to buy and replace the filter on occasion. Just like when you buy a car, you have to buy gas to make it work."

"We hade hade this thing for about 4 years. It was a HEAP cleaner, but I found it was not cleaning well. So, I made my own .3 stage flitter. Then, I found how good it was! My flitter showed me that the Holmes was the best air cleaner ever! { cenbared to my ORECK} every Holmes made thing has done well, but not their HEAP air cleaners. Almost all all cleaner crops say that the so called HEAP flitter is the best. So if you buy this air cleaner, you will have to make your own fliter."

"Like many others who have reviewed this air "purifier" & I use that term loosely. I should have done my homework before purchase. I bought 1 of these for around $30, and 2 "Tower types" which were $60 apiece. I don't see much difference in the air quality in the rooms these are placed in. I leave them running 24/7. The filters are $15 each or $25 for a 2 pack in my area. I have dogs and these filters need replaced at least once a month. I'm tossing them out and springing for a decent one with a removeable and reusable filter."