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Professional Series Ionic Breeze $99

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DigitalEdge

Limp Gawd
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Jul 31, 2005
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Like-New/Factory Reconditioned Product
I jumped on two of these, Great deal. They also have them in black just do a store search

Click Here

Reg price on a new one $349.95
 
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has anyone watched the Oreck commercials for their air purifier?
is there commercial true that these dont have a fan that can push the air?
 
Interesting, strid3r, but they offer no proof whatsoever to their claims, e.g. "The Ionic Breeze produces Ozone! Ozone is very bad...."

Okay, but how does it produce ozone? What about the ionic breeze produces ozone? That article is just a bunch of claims with no substance or proof.

Still, it's worth digging a bit deeper before purchasing to look into this.
Here are better articles on the same site:
http://www.aircleaners.com/sharperimage2.phtml

drdeutsch
 
I almost bought one about 4 months ago when I found a similar link but then I read the reviews and comparisons to other air purifiers and the Ionic Breeze had one of the worst ratings. Look up some details and comparisons before you buy.
 
Strider is on the ball:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7391185/
article said:
SAN FRANCISCO - Consumer Reports magazine is taking renewed aim at a popular air purifier made by The Sharper Image two months after it fended off a libel lawsuit filed by the machine’s retailer.

The magazine reports in its latest issue hitting newsstands Tuesday that Sharper Image’s Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier and four other similar machines fail to significantly clean the air — but also release potentially unhealthy levels of ozone.

The article is being published two months after San Francisco-based Sharper Image agreed to pay the magazine’s publisher, Consumers Union, $525,000 in legal costs after a judge dismissed its libel suit. The failed lawsuit alleged that earlier magazine articles highly critical of the Ionic Breeze’s ability to reduce airborne particles were false and malicious.
Click to expand...

Also:

http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/ionicbreeze.html
second article said:
In its extended testing, CR gauged how well each air cleaner could handle the periodic introduction of small amounts of pollutant into a sealed test chamber over a 6-hour period. One set of tests used smoke, another fine dust. A second set gauged how well each cleaner worked for the next 17 hours, after the last injection of pollutant. For both sets of tests, CR's experts ran the Ionic Breeze and the Environizer on high to maximize performance; the others were on low, their quietest setting. CR reported that the Ionic Breeze and the Environizer didn't come close to the performance of the others. CR's experts concluded that they were but ineffective and advised readers that there are much better air cleaner choices
Click to expand...

To me, the burden of proof is on Ionic Breeze to prove that it works.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...eaners-the-truth-behind-the-accolades-505.htm
 
drdeutsch said:
Interesting, strid3r, but they offer no proof whatsoever to their claims, e.g. "The Ionic Breeze produces Ozone! Ozone is very bad...."

Okay, but how does it produce ozone? What about the ionic breeze produces ozone? That article is just a bunch of claims with no substance or proof.

Still, it's worth digging a bit deeper before purchasing to look into this.
Here are better articles on the same site:
http://www.aircleaners.com/sharperimage2.phtml

drdeutsch
Click to expand...

True, that link wasn't exactly an in-depth study. It was merely the first hit that I got on google, and I did not want people to buy a potentially hazardous product.
 
Im sure there are thousands of people that use this product and if one person was harmed I would think Sharper Image would not be allowed to sell this item. Where does it show that people are being harmed by this product?
 
It may not be hazardous, but most of the reviews I've found is that it fails to really clean the air like it claims.
 
How does the ionic breeze produce ozone?

It is essentially a small scale electrostatic precipitator. It uses a high potential difference (ie. voltage) to "push" ions and therefore create airflow while simultaneosly trapping particles in the air as they pass by a metal grid with an opposite charge. Ozone is produced any time high voltages are involved, including photocopiers and lightning storms. You might recognize that distinct photocopier room smell, that's ozone and that's the same smell the ionic air filters put out. I have a few similar units, used them for a couple months then stopped, needed the outlets more than for health reasons ;)

Is ozone harmful? Yes, in high concentrations, the real question is if these ionic air cleaners put out a harmful concentration of ozone. I've seen the new commercials that tout the new "Ozone Guard technology." Makes me wonder, if the first generation units were completely safe and produced completely safe levels of emissions, why is it necessary to add this "ozone guard?"

If anyone wants to question how I made up all that stuff on electrostatic precipitators and where ozone comes from, I'm a chemical engineer and one of my courses back in university had us designing electrostatic precipitators. Pretty common in industry, used in pulp mills, coal fired power plants, cement plants, etc.
 
I think they put the Ozone guard on it because of the bad hype that these do put out a level of ozone probably a very small amount. So they had to do something to keep the product selling but probably wasn’t really needed.

I have one of these smaller units in my room and every three weeks I pull the blades out for cleaning and there is allot of dust on them so it is doing something and my room always smell fresh. I have allergies and allergic to dust and dust mites and this item does help my eyes don’t itch as much in the morning and I feel better. You can actually feel some good air blowing out the front

Im also wondering if these pro units on Ebay have the ozone guard its not listed..I hope so
 
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I have the bathroom version of that... although I use it in my room.... I too every few weeks end up with lots of "stuff" on there that I wipe off...

I might get one of those big ones.
 
My 2 cents:

I have friends/family who own a number of these and other air cleaners and we've had a number of large discussions about it. Basically, the ionic breezes do work. They clean plenty of gunk out of the air, and they do it silently, but not nearly the amount of gunk a big, whooshing fan-driven air cleaner with a HEPA filter can do. That's just common sense; the breeze just doesn't move enough air to clean a room quickly. On the other hand, running it 24/7/365 it does have a _noticeable_ effect on air quality.

The ozone it produces you can't smell unless you have your schnoz right up against it, which is probably 10,000 times the density in rest of the room --especially with basic ventilation in effect. It seems silly to get alarmed about those levels of ozone any moreso than the countless other chemicals/toxins/etc we inhale, drink or absorb through our skin on a daily basis.

Personally, I use a honeywell cylindrical HEPA air cleaner and the noise is annoying as hell so i only run it for an hour a day... but it removes alot of gunk from the air, which I can see on the filters and from the difference in my allergies. It also Seems, possibly due to the carbon filters, that it reduces odors. (Does the ionic breeze have any effect on that?)

Now... neither of those companies (Consumer reports or shaper image) should be making scientific assertions one way or the other; them trying to have an argument about sciencey stuff it is pretty rediculous. Consumer reports panders to consumers who don't want to learn and think; they just want fast answers, and don't care about the fact that most of their reviews are so subjective they border on asinine. Sharper Image, meanwhile, inflates their prices 10-20 times because they have created the illusion that somehow their products are uniquely ingenious and effective... which they are not.
 
Yes, my little tiny ionic breeze
SI627-PIP.JPG


Does make a difference in the smell of the room.
 
I too have been digging for reviews on this... So far Ive read mixed things. Many actual users of the ionic breeze says it works well but all of the reviews I have read from testing companies like CR etc say its horrible and doesnt work. Needless to say I am pretty confused... Is there any more clear answer as to whether this product works or not? If it doesnt work, does anyone have suggestions as to products that work much better for ~ the same price (99-150 bucks)?
 
Well I have a mid-sized one, and I can always tell in my room if it's on or not. If it's off, my nose gets stuffy sometimes due to allergies. If it's on, it's never stuffy (unless I'm sick).

After one week, the "collection grid" is always full of crap, so it's obviously working. For $99, I'd say it's worth it, but that's just my opinion.
 
Does anyone know anything about how well those add-on "ozone filters" (catalytic converters) work? Can you smell the difference? Seen any actual numbers?

From what I've read, the thing filters only a small amount of the ozone that's produced (even sharper image describes it very carefully), but there are no hard measurements anywhere. Just from examining the grid, it looks as if it wasn't designed specially for the ionic breeze, they instead probably bought existing grids fabricated for other purposes and cut them to fit, made a plastic housing for it, etc. Seems like you'd need much tighter spacing to have a real effect.

Also, the grids really don't fit the units very well. Probably only 25-50% of the air coming out actually goes through it.
 
DigitalEdge said:
I think they put the Ozone guard on it because of the bad hype that these do put out a level of ozone probably a very small amount. So they had to do something to keep the product selling but probably wasn’t really needed.
Click to expand...


That fresh smell is ozone. You can decide what's small or not on your own, but I wouldn't put it close to my bed.
 
venm11 said:
My 2 cents:
Now... neither of those companies (Consumer reports or shaper image) should be making scientific assertions one way or the other; them trying to have an argument about sciencey stuff it is pretty rediculous. Consumer reports panders to consumers who don't want to learn and think; they just want fast answers, and don't care about the fact that most of their reviews are so subjective they border on asinine. Sharper Image, meanwhile, inflates their prices 10-20 times because they have created the illusion that somehow their products are uniquely ingenious and effective... which they are not.
Click to expand...

But consumer Reports put the Ionic Breeze in a seeled room with a set amount of pollutants, and the breeze didn't clear the air. That's an experiment and the breeze failed. And while CR is hardly perfect, I've yet to see ANY independent research that backs up Sharper Image's claims.
 
nilepez said:
But consumer Reports put the Ionic Breeze in a seeled room with a set amount of pollutants, and the breeze didn't clear the air. That's an experiment and the breeze failed. And while CR is hardly perfect, I've yet to see ANY independent research that backs up Sharper Image's claims.
Click to expand...

Nilepez, do you (or anyone) have a link to the actual article (or study text)? Online there seems to be only articles about the article.
 
I believe that one of my links demonstrated their methodology.

I also found several links citing that the 'independent' studies done that supported the IB later were studies in which the testers were paid by Sharper Image.

But hey, 'my room smells nice' is far more scientific than a team of you know, scientists that work for CR.

The one thing that I think about when I hear about these products, is that at my age (33), I somehow managed to survive this long without an air purifier. Boy am I lucky ;)
 
Hey, I don't need an air purifier. Just that the amount of dust it cuts down in the room is nice. That way my spiffy Praetorian and LCDs don't get gunked up as often :D
 
Apallohadas said:
But hey, 'my room smells nice' is far more scientific than a team of you know, scientists that work for CR.
Click to expand...

So empirical data gathered by scientists is inherently superior to empirical data gathered by laymen, simply because it's gathered by scientists?

I'm not disagreeing with you, by the way. I'm just questioning your reasoning.

drdeutsch
 
drdeutsch said:
So empirical data gathered by scientists is inherently superior to empirical data gathered by laymen, simply because it's gathered by scientists?

I'm not disagreeing with you, by the way. I'm just questioning your reasoning.

drdeutsch
Click to expand...

He's not saying that, he's saying that empirical data gathered by scientists is better than highly subjective impressions by laymen. "It smells nicer" isn't empirical, and there's certainly no control for anything else that might have made the room smell nicer otherwise.
 
drdeutsch said:
So empirical data gathered by scientists is inherently superior to empirical data gathered by laymen, simply because it's gathered by scientists?

I'm not disagreeing with you, by the way. I'm just questioning your reasoning.

drdeutsch
Click to expand...
How do Laymen gather empirical data?
 
If you want to smell ozone then start with a 7000+ volt neon light transformer. Next, get two 12" long pieces of expanded metal(home depot) that will slide down the middle of a 24" piece of 4" PVC sewer pipe. Next, get a single piece of 1/8" regular glass cut to the same size as the pieces of expanded metal. Connect one lead off the transformer to one piece of expanded metal and the other lead to the other piece of expanded metal. Sandwich the glass inbetween the two pieces of expanded metal and secure them with duct tape or whatever. Slide the sandwich down the middle of the tube and turn on the transformer. You will hear the electricity buzzing and crackling because it will be passing thru the glass and in the dark you will SEE the electricity in the form of miniature lightning bolts. Place a fan toward one end of the tube and blow it around the room.

This is an extremely high wattage device(like it could kill you immediately, like if you have ever been shocked by a wall outlet...well multiply that by about 50... so don't touch your tongue to it or any dumb crap like that) but it's great for, A) Producing that "oh so fresh" lightning smell and B) Masking any kind of odor, and C) Making the electric company rich!

The ozone molecules, o3, are heavier than oxygen so they, in effect, attach themselves to the oxygen molecules that are carrying stench around and they drop to the ground.
 
Would it say redue the amount of dust my stuff is collecting? Having move my stuff around, I notice that my toys have alot more dust now then before and alot quicker. Would this lower the dust my lcd, pc, etc is collecting?

I guess it can't hurt giving that they offer a 30 day return...
 
Apallohadas said:
I believe that one of my links demonstrated their methodology.

I also found several links citing that the 'independent' studies done that supported the IB later were studies in which the testers were paid by Sharper Image.

But hey, 'my room smells nice' is far more scientific than a team of you know, scientists that work for CR.
...
Click to expand...

In SI's defense, nobody does independent testing (eg, certification testing) for free; there's always a fee associated with it. In that one case where a guy was paid $5000 on retainer, that sounds alot like an expert witness retainer (expert witnesses, like independent testing labs, do not work for free). This doesn't prove anything other than that CR's arguments need to be taken with a big grain of salt; they are conducting themselves with obvious prejudice.

As far as scentists-versus-laymen are concerned, the point I was getting at earlier was that these games are being played in the PR and psychology domains; neither company is studying or stating anything in such a way that would lead the consumer or joe public to a rational, objective conclusion.

The IB produces ozone... how much is actually harmful? Is the lesser performance an acceptable tradeoff for having something that operates in total silence? Does the fact that it moves considerably less air mean that it "doesn't work" and that owners "should try returning them to sharper image"?
 
exactly... i've been trying to fish through all of this to decide if I want to get one... all the ozone talk makes me unsure...
 
What if you put a fan blowing air at the Ionic breeze, I am talking a small fan on a low setting. Wouldn't this increase it's effect for air cleaning?
 
would this product help on hot summer days like in my room cause i have no air conditioner, and no option to put one in
 
Wow, those are expensive prob cause they work, Well im buying one of the Pro IB and I will see how it works. They give you thirty days so if i feel its sucks its going back
 
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