GermGuardian Air Purifier with HEPA Filter, Removes 99.97% of Pollutants, Covers Large Room up to 750 Sq. Foot Room in 1 Hr, UV-C Light Helps Reduce Germs, Zero Ozone Verified, 22″, Black, AC4625BDLX

Germ Guardian Air Purifier with HEPA carbon filter (Model AC4625WDLX)) This brand, Guardian Technologies, is a trusted brand for us because we purchased an ultrasonic humidifier from them years ago and it’s still going strong. We haven’t owned an air purifier before this one, but I have one at work in my shared office space so am familiar with that one (I’m the one who changes the filters). This is a great air purifier that I am happy to have in our home, but it lacks a feature that the one at work has that I find myself missing. There’s no “auto” setting. The available settings are off, low, medium, and high. So, this unit is either on or off, and you must manually change the setting to low, medium, or high. Our slightly larger/heavier work purifier (a Winix, which when on sale is about $100), is left on all the time because it can automatically change settings based on air quality / sensor readings. Both purifiers are energy star certified and both have carbon and HEPA filters (but the work one isn’t the smaller round shape of this one). This unit has a slightly smaller profile and is the only one with UV-C light, but the work unit can handle more square footage. Both are equally loud when on the higher settings. So, think about the features you care the most about. There are two parts (and an optional third) that will need replacing throughout this unit’s lifetime: HEPA filters that come with a carbon filter (Model No. FLT4700), UV light bulbs (Model No. LB1000), and optional additional carbon filters (Model No. FLT47CB4) if you want to change them out more often than the approximate six months for the HEPA filter. The back panel of the purifier opens easily for access to the filter and UV bulb. The HEPA filter has two pull tabs that make sliding it out simple. The carbon filter is wrapped around the HEPA filter and is easily removed (there’s a Velcro strip that it attaches to). Once the HEPA filter is out you can easily access the UV Light. (See photos). The cord is a little over 6 ½ feet long (we added a cable sleeve over the cord to deter our cat that chews). As far as placement, it’s recommended that “For proper airflow, locate the unit at least 1 foot from any wall or furniture.” We wanted our purifier in the living room so ended up placing our unit in front of the stair rails to the basement (good airflow and the white of the purifier blends with the white of the rails). The hand hold on the back of this 22” tall unit makes it easy to move around as needed, and we’ll take advantage of that, when someone’s sick, to move the unit into a bedroom. Made in China.