![We had the opportunity to review Honeywell’s Air Touch V3, an air purifier geared towards smaller homes and rooms [File]](https://th-i.thgim.com/public/sci-tech/technology/wzprca/article67975221.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/Honeywell%20full%20view.jpg "We had the opportunity to review Honeywell’s Air Touch V3, an air purifier geared towards smaller homes and rooms [File]")
A good air purifier should feel like a magician’s tool; leave it in a dusty, stale-smelling room to do its work and wait for an airy and odourless space in return. On the other end of the spectrum, a bad air purifier is an eyesore that guzzles up electricity and makes too much noise without improving your surroundings.
So what should a first time buyer look out for?
We had the opportunity to review Honeywell’s Air Touch V3, an air purifier geared towards smaller homes and rooms. Here’s what we discovered.
Design
The Honeywell Air Touch V3 isn’t what you would call sleek or stylish, but its neutral build makes it easy to overlook in almost any room. The boxy device is a glossy white that roughly reaches your knees. Lightweight and easy to move around, it has a recessed handle at the back for convenient lifting. All the touch controls are at the top, while a circular indicator light and the brand name are placed on the front of the device.
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Lifting the plastic front panel allows you to access the filters. Remember to remove the protective sheeting from them before starting your device. Plug in the air purifier, tap the on/off switch, and the Honeywell Air Touch V3 will take care of the rest; there are no fiddly set-up controls or online accounts to create first.
The device does not come with an accompanying app (as there is no Wi-Fi support) or a remote controller.
Honeywell’s Air Touch V3 has a two-pin plug on a too-short cable. We would have preferred a longer cord in order to place the purifier in different corners of the room.
A top view of the air purifier and its touch controls, with the air quality indicator on the front | Photo Credit: Sahana Venugopal
Technical Specifications
- Dimensions: 18.6cm [depth] x 33.8cm [width] x 48cm [height]
- Weight: 4.8 kilograms
- Filters: 4 stages consisting of pre filter, high grade H13 HEPA filter, silver ION anti-H1N1 layer, and activated carbon filter
- Coverage: up to 465 square feet
- Filter life: up to 3,000 hours or 1 year
User experience
The Honeywell Air Touch V3 air purifier does its job well and quickly becomes a reliable household member.
As soon as it is plugged in and turned on, the device quickly starts up and then shuts down. Users will have to manually turn it on again with the on/off touch button. This process could have been more seamless, we felt.
The Honeywell Air Touch V3 will take a few seconds to assess the room’s air quality. Then, its indicator light will turn green, yellow, or red in response to diverse pollutants in the air, like dust, mould, less than ideal odours, mustiness, harmful chemicals, and smoke residue.
The Air Touch V3 rapidly cleaned the bedrooms and the living room where it was placed, taking around half an hour at most to make the air odourless again. The product’s Amazon page noted that five air purification cycles take place in an hour, which almost lines up with our calculations.
The V3’s sensor works reasonably well, as it was able to pick up household cleaners as pollutants and downgraded the air quality when placed in a newly mopped room.
However, when placed near a damp and smelly cupboard, the machine’s sensor did not pick up on the poor air quality, though it did help de-odourise the space. The Air Touch V3 also failed to downgrade the air quality when exposed to the smell of burning or cooking, so we had to manually set it to the maximum fan speed.
Honeywell’s air purifier offers three different fan speeds and three modes. When set to the ‘Auto’ mode, the air purifier automatically adjusts its fan speed from 1 to 3 based on how clean or dirty the room is. Alternatively, users can set their desired speed, with 1 or ‘Sleep’ mode being the quietest while ‘3’ or ‘Turbo’ is the loudest and most powerful.
The noise levels are well within their limits, even in small rooms or workspaces. Fan speed 1 is a little more than a whisper, while 2 is an audible but soothing whoosh.
In case the user wants to put the Air Touch V3 in a child’s bedroom, a timer lets you choose between 1,2,4, and 8-hour intervals. There is also a child lock button, and the fan slats at the back of the box will successfully keep away small fingers and curious paws. The front panel also feels child-proof.
Furthermore, using the device for an hour just before sleeping helped us wake up without the usual morning hoarseness and congestion.
The device does not overheat even after being used for long periods.
A view of the device’s filters after being used for more than a week | Photo Credit: Sahana Venugopal
Verdict
Whether you decide to invest in your first air purifier to survive the springtime pollen, ventilate a tiny dorm room in the summer, prevent mould during the monsoon, or withstand the winter smog, Honeywell’s Air Touch V3 is a safe but basic choice that will suit smaller Indian homes across the country.
Lightweight, portable, and easy to maintain, it is ideal for users across age groups as well as those who may not be comfortable with new technology.
While users with severe allergies, asthma, or complex medical conditions in highly polluted cities may need a larger product with add-ons such as an app, a remote controller, or a more advanced sensor, the Honeywell Air Touch V3 is a fine air purifier for new users to try out.
