Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
My sister and I are thinking of getting one of these for our mom for Xmas. Any of you guys have one of these? They are friggin expensive like $400-$500. Consumer Reports rated them as crap. But, I was able to read a few reviews online, and most of the reviews were positive.

But, I know someone who reviewed their own book online at Amazon.com. You think she gave herself a bad review?:D I have grown to trust you Forumites. Any home air filter recommendations?

Bruise
 
I wouldn't know anything about the specific product, but in my experience Sharper Image takes mediocre electronics, repackages them, and then sells them for very high prices. I'm sure that with some looking around you can find a better air filter.

I used to have one at home, though I can't remember the brand. There was a little strip of conductive carbon fibre placed right over the air vent, I think that's how it ionized the air. The air coming out was very dry and smelled like ozone, but it's not too noticeable unless you stick your face in the vent. It became a hassle to replace the filter every year, so we stopped using it.

You could give people static electricity shocks if you touch them while holding on to to the strip of carbon fibre. :)
 
I saw these at one of the SI stores. Interesting, but my experience with their house brands has been that 1) the stepper my wife bought broke within a few weeks of use. She's not exactly Rosie O'Donnell, and they weren't easy to deal with re:replacing in-warranty.... 2) a suitcase I bought off their website (might be a good way to pick up a floor model at a discount, by the way)is decent but had internal fixtures that tore within a few months. Still totally viable, but not the greatest quality, and the advertising on usable space was a little misleading.

This may be a perfect item, but unless you have to make a decision today, do a little more research. I know a lot of natural foods/goods type places are big on air purifiers and might be a good resource to investigate.
 
I've had the Quadra for nearly a year now, and I would say that I'm mostly pleased with it. It does a good job of ridding my living room of odors (from cooking or whatnot), and if all of the gunk that I wipe off of the collector plates is any indication, it does a dandy job at cleaning the air too. The lack of a fan and replacing filters makes the Quadra a much cheaper unit to operate than your typical HEPA filter (and MUCH quiter...usually -- more on that later). The faint ozone smell that it gives off is pretty pleasant too; it reminds me of the smell of the air after it has just rained.

My one complaint is that it will sometimes start making these annoying static-y noises if a little ball of lint or something gets in there and creates a little "hot spot". Oh, and it made similar noises once that didn't seem to improve after cleaning the collector plates. Upon close inspection I found that there was a buildup on the two wires that run vertically in the Quadra. I ended up rigging an old toothbrush on a long dowel to clean those off. The owner's manual doesn't mention anything about these wires needing cleaning, and they sure as hell didn't design them for easy access. That hasn't been a problem since then, though, and really wasn't a major hassle to take care of.

Bottom line, I would buy the Quadra again if I had it to do over. If you decide to get one, be sure to check out eBay. I got a refurb unit there for well under $200. Oh, and I would suggest getting the darker colored one since it probably won't show the sooty stuff that tends to build up on the plastic of my light grey unit over time.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. It seems that most people on the web like the Quadra overall, but when Consumer Reports tested it they gave it a terrible rating.

What Tribalbeeyatch mesioned about the ozone smell, the static sounds when the collection plates get dirty, and recommending a darker colorbecause of eventual dirt buildup, were all mentioned on another website I checked out.

$200 sounds a lot better than $500!

Bruise
 
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