Can the affordable Realme TechLife air purifier fight indoor pollution? | Latest News from India-Hindustan Times

2021-11-12 11:54:32 By : Ms. Tina Wu

Soon after the festival, as the weather changes, with the advent of winter, mercury will drop, and we will face the problem of air pollution.

Unlike other seasons, pollutants still remain in the air. Although we can't do anything outdoors, we still have some hope for indoors.

We spent a lot of time at home-a lot of it now. Air purifiers do provide an important respite inside the home, because all polluted air will flow in and merge with indoor pollutants (such as pollen and smoke), making it a deadly cocktail.

Just before we pessimistically call it the "pollution season", Realme is entering the field of air purifiers in India in advance. The Realme TechLife air purifier is priced at Rs 6,999, which is likely to make Philips, Honeywell and Xiaomi stand up and pay attention.

The design of the Realme TechLife air purifier really reminds us of the larger design language of the air purifier made by Swedish air quality expert Blueair. Maybe it's a contour, maybe it's a mixture of curves and straight lines.

This purifier is not very high, clean air flows out from the top, and there are touch controls on the panel around the clean vent.

Also read: Diwali puts the air into Delhi's "very poor" range regardless of cookies

You may be wondering if this clean vent design will obstruct the air flow from the purifier. Don't worry, its total coverage is similar to Philips 2000 series air purifiers.

In fact, Realme insists that the internal air duct design can discharge more clean air. We have not seen such efforts to spread clean air. The front panel is detachable and you can access the filter from there.

There is a pre-filter and a HEPA filter, and the air passes through these filters when it leaves. The pre-filter is essential to capture larger dust particles so that the HEPA filter layer does not do the job, which means it will block faster.

The pre-filter can be cleaned. The HEPA filter itself is a high-efficiency H12 grade specification, which is theoretically one of the most powerful filters for household air purifiers. These will capture particles as large as 0.3 microns or larger.

Realme TechLife air purifiers use thick filters, which is good because there are more filters to let pollutants and particles through. It will take a while to reach that stage, but some people claim that this can last up to 2,800 hours of use. This will vary greatly depending on the degree of pollution your house is exposed to from time to time.

Realme uses an air quality sensor made by Sharp to closely monitor the air quality PM 2.5 level in your room, which is also marked as AQI or Air Quality Index. Sharp itself produces very powerful air purifiers, which undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for Realme TechLife air purifiers.

A simple guide-if the air quality in your room is good, the light will be green; if it is moderate, it will be yellow; red, as the color implies, is a danger sign of poor air quality.

You can choose to put it in automatic mode and have the sensor change the fan speed and power based on these readings. Or you can simply manually select one of the three fan speeds.

The timer allows you to set it to turn off after two, four, or eight hours. As the name suggests, sleep mode can quiet everything down, even the faint hum of the fan in the purifier will not disturb you in the silence of the night.

In our test experience with Realme TechLife air purifiers, this coincides with the steady increase in pollution and the decline in ambient air quality, which seems to be very sensitive and responsive to even the slightest AQI change.

After the Realme TechLife air purifier stabilizes the indoor air, open the window for about 30 seconds, and it will immediately detect the new air bag and accelerate it when needed.

Using the Laser Egg 2 air quality monitor for testing, it takes 15 minutes to reduce the AQI reading from 123 micrograms/cubic meter (ug/m3) to a stable 24 ug/m3.

The fan is audible at maximum speed, a slight buzzing sound is emitted at medium speed, and it is almost inaudible at minimum fan speed.

What definitely counts as a mistake is the lack of wisdom quotient. And, we mean the lack of any Wi-Fi connection that allows smartphone control.

Please note that it is not common in this price range, but Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier 2S (approximately Rs 8,999) has it.

Although there are variables such as how long the HEPA filter lasts and the persistence of this situation when severe pollution becomes a reality during the peak winter season, there is no doubt that Realme TechLife air purifiers are building an experience block on a solid foundation.

The thick HEPA filter, the air quality sensor made by Sharp, and the design that blends into the background of the room are all positive. The same is true for price tags.

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