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Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

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Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#241

Post by syntaxing »

garmanarnar wrote: post #165
syntaxing wrote: post #156

A bit off tangent, but Blueair purifiers was the only brand where the output air was 0 PPM2.5 during wildfire season in the Bay Area (I have the $50 uncalibrated laser PPM sensor that purpleair uses so interpret this as you want). I tried Dyson, Winix, and making a V-shape DIY purifier with a vornado fan. Nothing was able to pull the indoor air below 15 besides Blueair so I recommend it to any of my family and friend…

Which line of Blueair are you using? I use Bluepure and I think they do a great job, but I don't have any instruments to measure their efficacy.

I have the Pure and the classic. The classic is actually pretty affordable and has a built-in PPM sensor which makes me lean towards it more than the Pure.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#242

Post by bryanlarsen »

technothrasher wrote: post #141
mattacular wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consumer Reports used to be good but it seems to have gone through change in management or something because now it is indistinguishable from the avg SEO spam site.

I gave up on Consumer Reports many, many years ago when they got caught taking kickbacks from tire manufacturers.

That's a very serious accusation that I don't believe and Google can't find.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#243

Post by mwt »

SmellTheGlove wrote: post #230
bayindirh wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also Rtings ( https://www.rtings.com ).

I wish rtings had a Boolean on tvs so we could search explicitly for non smart models. That is basically the only thing else I’d want from that site, it’s really good.

I'm with you, but I wonder if this is the sort of "only people on this site care and the vast majority of the readership wouldn't use it" thing ... I'm not sure it is, but it could be, and I wonder if somebody with their ear to the ground/access to more analytics knows.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#244

Post by ethbr0 »

One thing that irks that shit out of me in reviews -- not normalizing or banding for cost.

Measuring performance without taking into account cost is meaningless.

Hat tip to (old) Tom's Hardware for being the first site I knew that did this well, with their cpu / gpu hierarchy, which attempted to rank the last 2 generations or so of product against each other.

It boiled it down to two columns (Intel, AMD), with gaps where each manufacturer didn't have product for that performance.

It really helped in "Should I buy previous gen +spec, or current gen -spec, given they both have the same price now?" questions.

Sadly, it seems to have devolved into this, which is less useful: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#245

Post by stjohnswarts »

donohoe wrote: post #43
daenz wrote: post #19

Protip: you can turn a box fan into an incredibly effective air purifier[0] (particle measurements in thread). The one they show is pretty elaborate, using 4 filters and some construction, but you can also use a single filter and slap it on the back of the box fan and have similar results. The air purifier industry is more about aesthetics than it is function. 0. https://twitter.com/LazarusLong13/status/1425517352624…

> The air purifier industry is more about aesthetics than it is function Well, sure, to a point. I could make my own air purifier (like the one you link) but it looks awful. I would not want that in my home. So yeah, aesthetics do matter. Its not the only thing but it is a factor.

I think the point is that aesthetics matter to you but not a lot of people care if they have a box fan + air filter stashed away in their bedroom for a cheap airfilter. Maybe if it was more prominent in the living or guest bedrooms?

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#246

Post by Sebguer »

amelius wrote: post #201

> The EU HEPA filter spec—yours to download today for a bargain $1148.24— How can this be true? Weren't these standards produced with tax money?

Sort of. I'm not super familiar with the EN, but ISO is a non-governmental organization, and is funded by 'subscriptions' from every participating nation (which are apparently based on GDP?)

They are also funded by selling access to their full standards reports. You can see a preview for the one in question here: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:29463:-1:ed-2:v1:en

It's only 88 CHF (~90 USD, I think?)

I'm a lot less familiar with the European Standards, and the ISO above is apparently derived directly from the $1148 doc mentioned in the article (https://www.emw.de/en/filter-campus/iso29463.html)

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#247

Post by charlie0 »

Legit review sites are pretty much dead. Most of them look and say exacy the same thing. Almost none of them have any objective measurements beyond what's stated already from marketing spec sheets.

I've still had strong suspicion that even with the ones that do "objective" measurements are somehow misleading and that secretly, there are kickbacks for the top rated products.

I have hope that Linus will bring legitimacy to the review space.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#248

Post by spiderice »

postalrat wrote: post #100
jeromegv wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... I'm an IT professional. I have no time, energy, desire or ability to build. my own fan, maintain it, and trust that it does a good job. That's the reason I bought an air purifier. The restaurant industry is also there for people that don't want the time to learn to cook certain dishes themselves. And (many) restaurants are still thriving.

As an IT professional I find myself with the time, energy, desire, and ability to do many projects like this myself. Are you sure you are a real IT professional?

Surely this comment is satire

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#249

Post by ssully »

darzu wrote: post #102
hypersoar wrote: post #51

The Wirecutter is a highly flawed review site, but at least it's a real one. There are vanishingly few left for general consumer products. There's WC, Consumer Reports, and what else? They've seem to have all been killed off. When I'm researching some category of product, I feel lucky if I find any professional reviews written by people who have actually touched the thing they're reviewing. I know we've all had the e…

YouTube or google site:reddit.com usually yields the best actual human reviews for me. Or specific categories like America’s Test Kitchen for kitchen stuff.

I wouldn't use Reddit for anything but general product usage information. You can get some honest reviews from Reddit users, but I find a lot of it is people justifying their purchase instead of honest feedback.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#250

Post by ferongr »

ethbr0 wrote: post #232
jorvi wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For headphones I just use Crinacle. It’s served me well so far. For other stuff, I usually check Wirecutter and cross-reference it with Reddit reviews. I also have noticed that Wirecutter seems.. less qualitative (?) since they got bought by The NY Times.

Also on headphones, head-fi ( https://www.head-fi.org/ ).

Nope. Head-fi is audiowoo fairy land. Members generally loathe scientific testing and subjective, unsubstantiated claims are regularly made. There's even a cable forum, that, last time I went there, banned double-blind testing completely.
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