Looking to Breathe Clean on a Budget? Try Okaysou Air Purifiers
We can’t prove this, but we believe there is a collective mental block for many men when it comes to air purifiers. Not because men don’t believe the air needs to be purified—lingering kitchen smells, high-pollution urban environments, and allergy season exist for everyone, as far as we know—it’s more a matter of proof. How does one know a device that purifies air is, well, working?
Okaysou, long-hailed as one of the best budget air purifier brands on the market, seemed as good a place to start as any. Here’s what a $120 Okaysou Apollo 630 will and (won’t) do for you.
What Are Okaysou Air Purifiers?
Okaysou air purifiers are often painted as slightly more affordable versions of the premium purifiers on the market from Coway, Blueair, and so on. Its purifiers typically come with fitted pre-filters, True HEPA filters, carbon filters, and more based on what part of the catalog you’re shopping.
What’s Good About the Okaysou Air Purifiers?
Noticeable air quality difference
Previous to running the Okaysou Apollo 630, the air quality in the main living area of my home wasn’t great. My living room and kitchen share a single 1,000-square-foot space. This means the area where the dog hangs out, the front door is, and, critically, the gas range sits, are all fairly close to each other. Where I live, these are the three most significant indoor air pollutants. When cooking, I could smell gas and, hours later, lingering gas and food smells. Starting mid-May, when warmer weather emerges in my neck of the woods, my dog starts shedding like a maniac and the plants barrage the house with allergy bombs.
The Okaysou Apollo 630 is rated to cover just above 1,000 square feet, so, theoretically, should be perfect for the task I’d given it. After running the Okaysou for a week, this calamity was noticeably mitigated. My partner, who is ten times more sensitive to pollen than I am, wasn’t waking up with irritated eyes or a stuffy nose. The lingering cooking smells didn’t stick around all day as they used to. Basically, walking into the house was more comfortable, which is the best signal a product that cannot provide proof of effectiveness can send.
Washable pre-filter
All Okaysou purifiers come with washable pre-filters. While this should be the market standard, it still isn’t, so we have to celebrate it.
Quality air purifiers typically work with three filters or more—a HEPA filter, carbon filter, “blue” filter, and cold filter in Okaysou’s case—but it’s the pre-filter that takes the biggest beating and is the first line of defense. Pre-filters are fixed just behind the intake vent on an air purifier and are responsible for blocking larger particles from reaching the more expensive and much tighter inner filters. If those larger air pollutants reach the tighter filters inside, they’ll rather easily stuff them up, significantly reducing the efficiency and effectiveness of the air purifier.
So, having a pre-filter you can easily pop out of the machine, wash under the sink, shake out, and slot back in is an essential feature for any air purifier you should consider. Okaysou purifiers have this.
Very, very quiet
Okaysou reports that the machine I tested puts out 10, 23, and 30 decibels worth of noise, depending on the power setting. I measured each setting using a recording app on my phone and got 9, 21, and 29 decibels, so even less than the company advertised. For reference, these sound levels range from barely audible to the sound output of a whispered conversation. One of a purifier’s most important jobs is to blend into its surroundings, and because there isn’t an air purifier on the market that looks good, we will take reduced sound output as a consolation prize.
It should be noted that larger Okaysou units may produce more noise, but a quick scan suggests the company’s commitment to quiet machinery runs across the whole catalog.
What’s Not Good About Okaysou Air Purifiers?
No “auto” mode by default
It’s difficult to describe how necessary and helpful and “auto” mode is until you’ve had a purifier without one. Typically, a purifier will sense when indoor air pollution is spiking—you’re cooking something, your dog is shedding everywhere, there’s a window open nearby, etc.—and shift its power level up to compensate. Okaysou seems to have price gated this feature, which is relatively standard across the market now, behind its purifiers running about $150 and up. This means the pleasantly priced and otherwise impressive air purifier we tested does not come with an auto mode.
The absence of this mode isn’t bad so much as it is consistently inconvenient. No one wants to manage their air purifier, but that’s what you have to do to get the most out of one that doesn’t do its job naturally.
Lack of app control
Just like the lack of a universal “automatic” mode, only some Okaysou purifiers are supported by an app. Having used other air purifiers that are paired with apps that beam data to your phone, or allow you to adjust the power level of the machine from afar, I’ll say that the feature isn’t nothing. It’s useful (and occasionally reassuring) to know what’s going on in the air around you. Yes, you see massive and predictable spikes in VOCs when you cook (especially with an open-flame gas burner), but you also see the effect smaller actions have on air quality. For example, lighting a candle will have a noticeable effect on VOC levels in your home. Similarly, opening a window might have a positive impact on your air quality—unless you live in an area with heavy pollution or smog, in which case your purifier will shift into high gear to compensate.
These moments may seem tedious, or perhaps overblown, but they’re didactic. They slowly teach you behaviors that manage and mitigate indoor air pollution, and the fact that not all Okaysou purifiers are “smart”—aka they come with app capabilities—is definitely a con. To the brand’s credit, most of its purifier lines do appear to be app-connected, just not its flagship purifier, which is a shame.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for an effective and well-built air purifier that won’t break the bank, Okaysou is a solid brand to shop. Purifiers with similar filtration setups from larger brands are typically 30 or 40 percent pricier per unit. That said, not all Okaysou purifiers come with features like app control or “auto” modes, both of which are significant quality of life upgrades for a purifier owner.
