Levoit MetaAir True HEPA Air Purifier

BACKGROUND: Its coming up on 2 years since I got a Levoit Vista 200 for my wifes allergies, and I was never really quite satisfied with that purifier for multiple reasons. It had no air quality indicator was a major reason, as well as it seemingly improved air quality very little(perhaps it should be rated for rooms smaller then its listed as). It clearly worked to some extent, being I have purchased no less then 5 replacement filters since buying it. All that being said, while my wifes allergies improved sometimes, other times it seemingly made no difference, but that didnt stop me from recommending Levoit to my sister and mom because of the build quality and it clearly worked to some extent as i said the filters would become filthy. REVIEW: So here we are 2 years later, in a larger apartment and my wife still struggles with her allergies occasionally. It generally happens at night where she cant breathe or when she wakes up she cant breathe. For that reason, we moved the Vista 200 into our living room(a room im sure its too large to properly purify, but hey, its something) and purchased the LV-H133 air purifier. When my wife saw it she couldnt believe that it was only $100 more then the Vista 200, its about 3x the size, has an air quality indicator and feels much more premium and well built then the Vista 200. We put this purifier in our bedroom, an area that is probably only about 250sqft which it should handle fine and she hasnt had any allergy issues since. Now, I am not sure I can give all the credit to the purifier, my wifes allergies come and go without notice, but im sure it doesnt hurt. On the day we first got it, for the sake of science I wanted to test the air quality indicator on the purifier. We brought it into the kitchen and after dinner i let a pan burn a small amount of oil (not a lot of smoke, that would have been too easy...just enough to smell really) and what do you know, near instantly the purifier indicator went from blue to green to yellow to red in no less then 5-10 seconds. I was very happy to see how quick it was able to establish the air quality was poor, kick up the motor to a faster level and clean the air it only took a few minutes before the indicator was back to blue. All in all, this purifier is a far better bang for your buck then any of the smaller purifiers that Levoit has. Thats unfortunate as not everyone wants something so large in a room, but its the truth. Originally when I was looking to purchase a second purifier I was considering the Smart LV-PUR-131 but decided against it because we basically leave our purifier running 24/7 anyways so there wasnt much benefit I saw to getting that, it covers much less area then this model and is only about $20-30 cheaper. For ANY of the smaller models to be worth their price, Levoit needs to update them all to show the air quality, without that information to me a purifier is useless. Any fan running 24/7 will catch dirt and dust in it, even one without a filter will accumulate it on its blades so the fact that the filter gets dirty isnt enough an indication to me that the device is working. All this being said, I am very happy with the LV-H133 thus far. We generally leave it just as we have always done with our Vista 200, on the high setting 24/7. It provides some good white noise which for us is fine. For others it may be too loud to sleep, but there is both a sleep and auto function for those people that make it almost inaudible. I would have no hesitation in recommending this product to anyone else, I am much happier spending $200 on this then ~$100 on the Vista 200. One thing I will say is both of these are well made, and I have never had any mechanical problem with the Vista 200. I do believe Levoit is a good company, I just think there is a lot of room for improvement and much to be desired in their entry level models. Go with one of their bigger purifiers, you wont regret it.