SHARP Air Purifier for Large Rooms – Covers up to 2,198 sqft in one hour, True HEPA Filter Air Purifier for Home, Pets, Dust, Smoke, Pollen - FPA80UW

I've had this air purifier for about a month, and I like it! For now I'll give you my initial impressions, and I'll come back if I have anything to add later. Some reviewers have mentioned plastic smells. When I first opened the included filters and installed them into the unit, I did notice a very slight odor. However, once I turned the machine on and started using it, there was no smell whatsoever. The air that comes out of this air purifier has no odor that I can detect. I tend to be sensitive to chemical smells, but I'll admit that some people may be able to sense odors that I cannot. The best we can do here is describe our own experiences. One of the first things you will notice about this model is that it is always processing a significant amount of air, even if it is making no noticeable noise. It's quite impressive. The clean air blows out of the top of the device, so it contributes to air circulation without blowing in your face. I've had two air purifiers before this one. The first was one of the round Honeywell HEPA models. I bought that one in the late 90s, when HEPA air purifiers were a novelty. The Honeywell was very loud, and I never really felt that it was doing much to keep our air clean. Eventually I think I gave that one away. Back in 2011 I bought a Sanyo ABC-VW24 Air Washer Air Purification System with Electrolyzed Water Technology . That was a very nice device, and I'm still using it. The electrolyzed mist feature doesn't work as well as it used to, but the machine pops into action when smells appear, and it noticeably improves the air quality in our home. Sanyo was acquired by Panasonic, which still makes a line of air purifiers but apparently doesn't sell them in the United States. The Sharp FPA80UW is bigger than my Sanyo, and it seems to be at least as effective. It doesn't respond to smells as noticeably as the Sanyo but it doesn't have to, since as I said it is *always* processing a significant amount of air--and silently! If you put your ear right next to the unit you can hear some air flow and a very slight sound of small particles of activated carbon rustling in the filter, but this thing is amazingly quiet. I think it makes sense to get this model over the FPA60UW, unless you are only going to use it in a small room. The two use the same filters, but the FPA80UW can process more air in less time, which means it will make a bigger difference in your air quality. The thing to remember about air purifiers is that they can't eliminate odors whose source remains present. So no air purifier will get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke if there's a smoker in your home, or the smell of mildew if you have a moisture problem. If you have a damp basement, probably the best thing you can do for the quality of the air in your home is to install a dehumidifier in your basement. Once you have eliminated odor sources, I would strongly recommend this air purifier to help keep your home's air clean. Finally, when I was shopping for an air purifier I found the following resource to be very helpful: air-purifier-power dot com.

If you do not live in a dry area, having a reasonable amount of humidity (water) for this "Plasmacluster" Ionizer to create hydroxyl ions from, then this tech cannot currently be beat. This tech definitely works. The closest competitor are PCO (Photo-Catalytic Oxidation) devices which also create hydroxyl ions although a different process, but they use 10x the power. To be fair, a "good" PCO will also kill more airborne viruses, but apparently they are not all "good" at this point. Back to Sharp's entry, the FPA80UW and FPA60UW are the same device, except 2 things. First the motor is heavier duty in the FPA80, and both run at low speed at 71cfm but the FPA80 is 2dB quieter, and 2dB in a range that you can tell. So it's worth the extra money, if you are sleeping with this in the bedroom to get the 23dB FPA80 rather than the 25dB PFA60. I can hear the difference. It's worth the money if you need to clean a large area, the FPA 60 won't handle it. Our calculation of Sq. Ft. "CADR", the CFM produced, and reality, lead us to believe the room size in Sq. Ft. is overrated by Sharp Japan, using probably a 7 ft. ceiling as the constant. Keep this in mind if you have 9 ft. ceilings, we figure 7/9 of rated Sq. Ft.. The second thing different, the FPA80 has the dust sensor built in. A nice feature, it seems to sense higher levels of dust as designed, but not a "have to have". Filters. Sharp has a standalone FZ-A60HFU 1.5" HEPA replacement. You can buy the charcoal foam in rolls. They(edit) did step up and supply part FZ-A60HFU for their units. The Whirlpool and Alen each make superior 2" filter (the filter bay is over 2" deep so it fits), for less $$, that could be made (cut) to fit. In conclusion, Sharp has a great product and is charging a premium for it.

It's an excellent air purifier & very quiet. I have it in a large bedroom and it works very well. I have terrible allergies, but now don't wake up sneezing in in the middle of the night or all congested. And, another plus is I barely have to dust! It runs 24/7 even with the bedroom door open and it's very effective for that whole part of the apartment. Where I live is not only near major intersection & freeway, but there are many blooming trees and gardens year round. This is the first time in the 3 years that I've been living in Sherman Oaks that my allergies are under control. I've tried many other brands of air purifiers, but this one is the best. At first I thought it might not be working because it was so quiet, but when I brought in a basket of dirty laundry to sort suddenly I heard swoosh & the light turned red in reaction to the dirty clothes as it went into attack mode. Same thing if I've happened to open my window and a smoker walks by. There is something about the Plasmacluster technology that makes the atmosphere very relaxing (I have a Sharp portable AC with the same technology in another room). I am sold on this technology. It's a very nice design and looks great. It's light enough to move easily. If you don't like the display lights you can hold down the touch panel button on the left and the lights go out. The delivery from Amazon.com came much faster than anticipated (I think I got it in less than 2 days) and it was well packaged. Highly recommend this product.

I recently evaluated this unit and the Sharp KC-860U before buying several more FP-A80UW's. I selected the FP-A80 because of value. It offers a good combination of an activated carbon element, a pleated filter, and a 'plasmacluster' ion generator. It doesn't incorporate a high-maintenance humidifier and it offers a good flow-rate for the respective noise levels. I also have an IQ Air Health Pro Plus, to which I can compare this Sharp unit. The most important thing to understand is that this is a bedroom size unit that will do a good job in a typical suburban house bedroom -- certainly not a whole house. The activated carbon element in this unit is light and although it's nice to have, you will probably realize a significant benefit from a filter with a much larger carbon load. The IQ Air GC series is a good example, but costly. The "V5" unit the the Health Pro Plus is good for a room, but it's a significantly larger and more noisy than this Sharp unit which simply lacks enough carbon. I built my own attic unit using sheet metal and bulk ctc60 I bought here on Amazon. The pleated filter on the Sharp is effective, though certainly not as meticulous as the IQ Air HEPA filter. Bear in mind that "HEPA" is a performance rating of the filter media and not the filter unit or system. Laser-particle counter wielding fanatics have proven the IQ Air's superiority as a complete system. But certainly some filtering is better than none and the Sharp offers two advantages: a dust detection circuit that can be set to automatically increase fan speed based on the detection of particles; and a quieter noise level at low speed. I suppose to compare the noise levels fairly, you would have to evaluate the clean-air delivery rate (CADR) to noise ratio. But "noise" is a subjective measurement and average-weighted "dB" ratings don't tell the whole story. Air filters are not often rated in "sones" either, and people have different opinions on various sound pressure levels at different frequencies. Regardless, the IQ Air HPP on the lowest setting is louder than the Sharp on the lowest setting. Whether it has a higher CADR or is better at any given noise level for any other reason, the IQ Air is louder. Possibly it can be made as quiet as the Sharp if you take out the V5. I don't know, but it's still several times more expensive and a lot bigger than the Sharp -- which is simply to say that if you're looking for something quieter for the bedroom, the Sharp is worth considering. The plasmacluster technology is interesting. While ion generators could be meaningful additions to air purifying equipment, they have side effects and their overall effectiveness seems questionable. If the technology was totally effective, we would certainly see more significant commercial applications. Sharp PR boasts of an application in the Imperial Hotel, but it certainly has the appearance of a promotional operation. Even ordinary, non 'plasmacluster' ion generators do not have widespread commercial adoption. Sharp's literature is nevertheless certain to point out how many millions of units they've sold to convince you otherwise. Nevertheless, I 'believe' in the plasmacluster technology. I 'bought it' so to speak, figuratively and literally. While I have no way of objectively evaluating the results I'm getting as a consequence of using the plasmacluster ion generator, I can clearly distinguish one negative side-effect. Running the plasmacluster overnight significantly lowers the room's humidity to a level where it can become irritating -- this is even with the humidifier in the KC-860U running. I had to supplement the KC-860U with an additional humidifier in the room to prevent this. Admittedly, I have very low natural humidity levels. During the non-heating season, my house typically has 30 to 35% RH. My family is adjusted to living in low humidity. 30% would be irritating to anyone coming from a 50-60% norm, but we're usually not too irritated until it gets down into the teens or "bone dry." Even though I have several hygrometers, including the built-in unit on the KC-860U, the readings vary wildly. They're simply not accurate. More subjectively I can tell you that the plasmacluster unit seems to dry out the room badly. The reason I chose the FP-A80 is because it dispenses with the inadequate humidifier. My home's needs are much greater than the tiny unit built into the Sharp 860U which hardly keeps up with the unit's own demand. I opted for the FP-A80 and some higher output humidifiers that require less frequent maintenance. During the heating season, the demand for humidity is even greater as the cold air is incapable of holding much moisture and when heated, the RH drops to very irritating levels. I have a furnance-mounted 12gpd unit that helps with the extra demand in that season. I suspect the Plasmacluster's consumption of water-vapour outstrips the 860's humidifier's output on low fan speeds. In order to get enough humidifier output to counter the plasmacluster, you have to run high and loud fan speeds or the Plasmacluster will dry out your air. Of course, this is a good thing if you have naturally high humidity -- in which case you should certainly prefer the FP-A80. While exactly how plasmacluster works is somewhat shrouded in marketing babble that is more bent on convincing you that it's good than explaining what it actually does in simple and realistic terms that would truly lay it bare, it's apparent that that Sharp is using some kind of plasma streamer to ionize water vapor molecules, the components of which are subsequently dispersed as both negatively and positively charged particles. While I find this explanation insufficient, we can at least be certain that it uses water. That not only means that it will dry out your room, but also that providing adequate water will also make it more effective. Since a humidifying unit like the 860 provides water vapor "at the source," the air passing through the plasmacluster should actually be at a much higher humidity than the room itself after the humidified air is diffused. Does that intense humidity at the source improve the plasmacluster's performance compared to an FP-A80 operating at room-level humidity? I suspect not because once the 860's hygrometer reaches 60% or so, the humidifier shuts off, at which point it would not have any continuing advantage to a non-humidifying unit, even if there was any advantage to it while the humidifier was actually running. Unfortunately it's not clear with the FP-A80 and 860 units are what sharp calls "25,000 ions/cm3" or "7000 ions/cm3" generators. They advertise some very costly Japanese units as having the higher output generators but don't make it clear where the US models stand. At first I was concerned that I get "more power" because, of course, I want "more" of these things, whatever they are, because if some are good, more must be better! I suspect, but have no concrete evidence that the FP-A80 and the 860U have the higher production generators, but if they don't, I don't really care because they certainly fry enough water out of my air as it is. The costly imports from Japan do not have the value proposition of this FP-A80 at all. In that price range, I would go for IQ Air.

When I selected this purifier, I was looking for something that would be quiet and yet efficient for a medium-sized room, unobtrusive-looking, simple in operation without too many bells and whistles, and with at least 1 year of the HEPA filter life. This Sharp model seems to fulfill all of the above so far. I bought it for my parents' bedroom because my mom has a slight allergy to our dog's hair, which makes it hard for her to fall asleep sometimes. Since we got the filter, she has been running the Quick clean function, followed by auto, every night, and has told me that her allergy symptoms have completely disappeared when she is in the bedroom. On low, the purifier is virtually silent, with the only sound being the extremely quiet clicking of the plasmacluster (if you turn that off, the purifier is even quieter). When we have it on auto, the filter defaults to low most of the time - I think I saw the "air quality" bar turn yellow and the filter turn up to medium once since we got it a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how effective the auto-detection of air quality actually is, but the air in our house isn't particularly dusty or smelly, so I'm not too surprised that the purifier is on low most of the time in auto mode. When I bought this model, I thought that the option to turn off plasmacluster was really important because I'd read that it dries out the air, so I thought it would be nice to be able to shut it off. However, I haven't noticed a difference in humidity levels in the house since we bought the unit, and my parents haven't complained yet, so the plasmacluster just keeps running at all times. I was very surprised by the size of the purifier when it arrived - I expected it to be a lot smaller for some reason - but it's quite light and portable despite being fairly tall, and the design is very classy. The lights are not too bright - the air quality/plasmacluster indicator light (not the other lights) can be turned off optionally, but they are so unobtrusive that my parents just keep them on at night. We'll see how this thing holds up with time, but I'm very satisfied so far.

Great stuff! For buyers outside the US, please note that the voltage level is 110 V. Silent, efficient, and cool!

I did a lot of research about HEPA air purifiers, because I had never had one before. I read the NY Times article on them, but they didn't even include this Sharp for some reason. I looked at everything they reviewed, and got some insight into what features to look for, but all of the products they reviewed seemed to be deficient and expensive. Then I saw this Sharp, and it's perfect. You need a large fan to be able to filter a large amount of air quietly, and you need a quiet setting so it won't disturb you at night. This was the quietest fan I found--27 dB. The air inlets don't have to be in front--this one's are in back, and that makes it even quieter. It also has medium and fast modes, which will clear a room of smoke quickly. It lets you turn off the indicator lights too--they would make it impossible for me to sleep. In that "lights off" mode, there are just 1 or 2 small LED indicators on top, which I cover with a piece of cardboard, blocking all light coming from it. It has a timer feature that you can use to set it to turn off in (I think) 2hr, 4hr, and 8hr, but I just manually turn it on at night, and off again in the morning. It also has an air ionizer, but I leave that turned off because I don't like the smell of the ozone it generates. It has two filter panels--one with activated charcoal, and the other one is the HEPA air filter. You need to open the back air grille and remove the plastic bags around these air filter panels before you use it. I read one review where someone didn't do that, and they complained about a plastic smell, but I don't think you'd get any airflow at all through it if you don't remove the plastic wrap around the two air filter panels. So, I've been very satisfied with this unit, and I'm still amazed that the NYT didn't review it.

Works well. Nice and quiet on low setting. I have to put my hand over it to make sure it is running. High is louder but not horrible. If you are sitting next to it on high then yes it is an issue but around the corner and 20 feet away not a problem at all. Even at low it does seem to move the air. I do feel the air is cleaner. I tend to wake up with less sinus issues when I have it running. I tend to leave it running all the time on low and hit the 10 min boost button when I think the air needs it. It does automatically kick up when the sensor gets tripped by something. Will kick up to high when the spray can is used in the next room so I know it senses something.