Firstly, before giving feedback on the product, I would say to anyone considering an air purifier that it is worth it. I used purifiers for a while now, but this is the first one I have used with an air quality sensor. The air quality in my house without this on is 5x worse than outside! The amount of pm2.5 that is in the air indoors is crazy...
It is very easy to unbox and put together this purifier. The filters inside the machine come packaged in sealed plastic, so must be removed before turning on - this is as simple as sliding off the front cover of the machine and the filters are there. Nothing fiddly.
The machine plugs in and starts up straight away. No setup required to get it to function without WiFi. All good so far (save for Amazon delivery not knocking on my door, but leaving this on the street in the product box for everyone to see an expensive item to steal).
There is a mild smell to start with, but nothing offensive or long lasting. The carbon filter does quite a good job of eliminating smells, especially oil from cooking.
Regarding the fan speeds, there are 5 options. Silent is what I use at night in the bedroom, which cannot be heard. Of course, the effectiveness of the machine is not great when the fan is spinning so slowly, but it is better than not being on at all. The regular speeds are 1/2/3, which seem to be very similar. Turbo mode is a huge jump and sounds like a hairdryer. The machine is very effective at removing the pollutants in Turbo mode, as can be seen on the real-time air quality feedback.
It would be great to see some speeds inbetween 3 and Turbo, similar to the Dyson pure with 10 speed settings. Since the machine does not oscillate, a strong airflow is required to circulate the air - 3 does not do this well enough and Turbo is too noisy. When switching to Turbo mode, you can see that the air is circulated better, and dirty air drawn in, as the air quality rating shows an increase in pollutants immediately after the speed-up.
It would also be nice to set some direction to the clean air outlet. The air inlets are long, thin and on either side, so I expect do a good job of drawing in air from various directions. The air outlet however is on the rear and points upwards. It would be nice to angle this, as I have the unit in the corner of the partly obstructed by another piece of furniture.
The thing that really bugs me for a high price air purifier is the App. I have heard similar issue for the Dyson App too, so would not necessarily make a decision on this point, it is just disappointing as the WiFi control is one of the features you are paying a lot for. The App design is quite clear, with easy to read layout. Connecting the unit to the App is a nightmare. I work in technology, and have everything in my house as a "smart" device. This is the most un-user friendly setup I have experienced personally and professionally. It took me almost an hour just to get it connected.
You have to set your WiFi so that there is a separate 2.4GHz channel - by default my BT router has a 2.4GHz and 5GHz dynamic connection to allow for devices to connect to either, but because my phone connects to 5GHz channel, I had to change from dynamic to separate channels, which required learning how to change router setup. When changing to a distinct dual channel router setup, a lot of devices got kicked off the network and needed to be provided with a new password and reconnected.
During the connection process, the App "guides" you on what to do. However, some steps just don't work first time and need to be tried multiple times. This is even more frustrating since the App doesn't give progress status, so you just sit whilst the App says "please wait" and hope that it works. Sometimes, after a few minutes, it says "connection failed" and provides only one option labelled "connect manually". Pressing "connect manually" does nothing but take you back to start the exact same process again.
After finally getting connected to WiFi network, the App can be used to control the fan speed settings, set an auto mode, adjust the brightness of the lights on the unit, and turn on/off the unit. This works okay if your phone/tablet is connected to the same WiFi network as the device. If you are using the App over mobile network, I would say it works probably 10% of the time. The majority of the time it says the device is not connected. Some of the time it says the device is connected, but any change to settings doesn't seem to actually apply to your device - the app just freezes. I sent the log files and contacted the support team, whose only suggestion was to uninstall and reinstall the app (note I had only just installed it as I was setting it up).
The App is supposed to also record and display hourly data for the air quality reading of your device. This seems to work okay on my Android device, but in iOS devices it just doesn't load in the App. Only the spinning "loading" icon.
Comparing the performance of purification against other purifiers, this is significantly better. I have compared to both the Bionaire and Levoit units I have, and measured the results using the air quality sensor. I ran the Philips unit for 2 hours in a 20 square metre room - the pm2.5 rating reduced to 1 particle per cubic metre. Comparing against the Bionaire and Levoit purifiers, even when left running ALL DAY LONG, they produced a reading of no lower than 15 particles per cubic metre.
This effectiveness is what redeems the Philips unit for me - the App and WiFi connection may be difficult and unreliable, but the purification power is immense.
The other thing that let me down with the Philips unit was that the Philips website explicitly said you could set a SCHEDULE using the App. You cannot set a schedule, you can only in fact set a timer. So you cannot say turn on at 6am and turn off at 9am. You can only turn it on manually and set a timer for 3 hours. The only thing that redeems this for me is the fact that the device turns on when the socket is turned on - I have this connected to a WiFi plug, which is on a timer. When the WiFi plug turns on, the purifier turns on with the same settings as when last turned off.
Edit on 30 July 2019:
I bought a second one of these in Prime Day sale and I must say the issues with the setup and app have been ironed out. Leaving my original review unchanged as I cannot tell whether the setup is working better because I already have one device setup on the app.
Edit on 07 April 2020:
A few more things to add that I have noticed after living with the units for a couple of years now. Everything is still going strong, no rattles, no shakes, no squeaks. I have just added an AC0820 unit to my home office space, and I must say that whilst it doesn't have as many features as these bigger 2000 series units, it seems just as good quality and is so quiet!
One thing I noticed when reading reviews of AC0820 before purchasing, is that some people are complaining it is made of plastic. I have actually found the total plastic build of all the units to be a big benefit in keeping them clean. I have a very muddy dog (the kind of one you see in the videos online where they look like a swamp monster climbing out of a mudpit) and he brushes past, or shakes next to, these units on a daily basis. The plastic build means that a little wipe down with some kitchen or bathroom cleaner returns them to looking like new. I imagine the same thing would apply to children who like to express themselves with paint and crayons.
I have had to replace the main filter once since buying the units. This is despite two people who work from home and a dog making dust to be sucked up 24.7. Yes, the replacement filters are expensive, but when I had a brand new one next to the one that reached the end of its life, it was like night and day. So I am confident that the particles are getting sucked up and staying trapped.
| Brand | PHILIPS |
|---|---|
| Model Number | AC2889/60 |
| Color | Silver |
| Product Dimensions | 29.4 x 41.2 x 61.2 cm; 7.7 Kilograms |
| Volume Capacity | 1 Liters |
| Power / Wattage | 56 watts |
| Voltage | 220 Volts |
| Material | Plastic |
| Energy Efficiency Class | A |
| Runtime | 0 minute |
| Item Weight | 7.7 kg |
