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Young Lim, editor of Home & Décor Singapore, takes the 3M Vehicle Air Purifier Plus for a spin to see how it fares along the roads. Find out why every car owner needs to have an air purifier in their vehicle and how it can add to the overall health of the driver and passengers.
Why car purifiers?
Now you might be wondering why an editor of a design magazine would be interested in reviewing an air-purifier for the car, well, that’s because according to research Singaporean drivers are spending an average of nine hours per week in their vehicle. That’s comparable to the amount of time we urbanites spend at home. In that sense, our cars function more or less like our second home.
With that said, I’m sure we are farmiliar with air purifiers for the home. They are commonly seen in homes and can be purchased from any reliable home electronics store, but not many know about the in-car unit equivalent.
Presenting the 3M Vehicle Air Purifer Plus
“Did you know most car air-conditioning units are already equipped with an air purifier?” That was the remark from a fellow driver when I was talking about this in-car purifier. While that may be true, air purifiers do need to be regularly maintained and have their filters replaced in order for them to remain active. Not many drivers will bother to have their air-conditioners maintained unless it’s affecting the temperature inside the car. If you think about it, getting an external air purifer makes absolute sense because it’s convenient to upkeep as well. Furthermore, according to 3M the device removes up to 99% of PM2.5 particles and up to 93% of harmful gases in cars within minutes.
The Unboxing
Getting the air purifier plus to work is as simple as taking it out of the box and plugging it into the car’s power outlet. The set comes with a filter as well as a non-slip mat for you to place the unit on.
Placement
The unit measures 20.6cm x 17.6cm x 7.3cm, or roughly the size of a small dinner plate. The instructions mention that it can be placed anywhere in the car, but I found that it was a bit too big to be placed on the dashboard. It did fit snugly between the driver and front passenger seat. I thought it was a more sensible place to put the unit too as it meant the unit would be located in the center of the car’s interior. Another possible area might be to hang it off the back of the driver’s seat, or even under the driver’s seat as well.
Operation
The air purifier works by pulling air through the filter and blowing it out through the side of the unit. There are three fan-speeds, as well as an auto mode, to choose from, which can be done easily by tapping on the on/off button. An led light shows the level of pollutants there are in the air, ranging from red light (being in the very polluted range) to blue (for healthy range). The noise level of the fan is bearable, and if you set it on low, is almost un-noticeable.
The effectiveness
Okay, now this is where the fun happens! I wanted to put the purifer through a series of road-tests, such as bringing strong-smelling foods into the car, to see how well it would be able to remove the odours. The key suspect would be the durian of course! Yet even before I managed to get to Geylang to buy a pack of D24 durians, something else hit me!
As a regular gymmer, I tend to perspire a lot during my workouts. That means everything from my gym gloves, to my workout attire, gets drenched in sweat. A few nights ago, I made the horrific mistake of leaving my gear in the backseat of the car. I totally forgot about it until the morning after, when I got into the car and the most foul-smelling, gut-wrenching and offensive pong hit my nostrils.
So you can imagine how thankful I was to have the air purifier unit already in the car, because as soon as I switched the unit on it began to work. The detector light went from red, to orange and blue within seven minutes. I was impressed. What’s more, not only were the smells removed, the air felt clean and fresh.
Summary
I believe this unit is terrific for all drivers, especially in family cars. When you have many passengers getting in and out of a car, it’s inevitable that they will bring along dirt and air pollutants as well. And it’s common to get into a car and detect a slight smell of staleness or remant smells of cigarette smoke for those who smoke, or even the scent of someone else’s perfume. If you are especially sensitive to such smells, this unit is going to be indispensable.
The downside though, is that the unit can be rather chunky in smaller cars, and finding a place to put it can be tricky.
Pricing
3M Vehicle Air Purifier Plus (PN38816) is available online on Lazada and Qoo10 via Aveon Living (an authorized 3M distributor), and from Autobacs stores in Singapore. It retails for $299 (including GST). Replacement filter cartridges for the 3M™ Vehicle Air Purifier Plus (PN38716) are also available via the same channels and retail for $30 (including GST).