Was The Ionic Breeze Air Purifier Nothing But A Big Fat Lie That Eventually Took The Sharper Image Down?
January 19, 2010 by Wilma Perkins
Filed under Green Gadgets
You remember the original Ionic Breeze air purifier, don\’t you? They were all over the TV with infomercials, and made brief appearances at Radio Shacks as well as The Sharper Image\’s retail stores, if you could find one. Then they were suddenly gone, and it seemed as if The Sharper Image went with them. Search the web and you\’ll find tons of negative commentary about how The Sharper Image supposedly lied in their claims about the Ionic Breeze. Yet, if you can actually find any reviews written by people that used them, they all have good things to say about the Ionic Breeze. We\’ll take a look at both sides of the coin and get to the truth of the Ionic Breeze air purifier.
It\’s Been Said That The Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers Is Not Effective
True, the Ionic Breeze is not as effective as a True HEPA purifier, but no one ever said it was. In fact, The Sharper Image never made direct comparisons with HEPA air purifiers except in terms of maintenance. Consumer Reports says that the Ionic Breeze silent air purifier only cleaned 30% of the pollution that passed through the machine. Consider that all of the air in the room will pass through the machine multiple times. If you clean 30% of something multiple times, you eventually end up close to, though not quite 100%. So, basically, an ionic air purifier is slower than a HEPA machine at the same job. It\’s also cheaper to buy, run, and maintain, so it\’s a trade-off. Also consider that these comparisons were made against True HEPA air purifiers, not HEPA-type machines. HEPA-type air purifiers don\’t have any particular standard to adhere to, and True HEPA machines are extremely expensive.
The Ionic Breeze Actually Makes The Air Unhealthy
This comes from the idea that ionic air purifiers produce a dangerous amount of ozone when doing their job. This simply is not true. The confusion comes from ozone generators, which work in a fashion somewhat similar to ionic air purifiers, but produce far more ozone. In fact, Consumer Reports even said that the Ionic Breeze air purifier produces under 50ppb of ozone, which meets HEPA guidelines. For what it\’s worth, the original Ionic Breeze air purifier passed every HEPA guideline, except for efficiency.
Some Say The Ionic Breeze Air Purifier Killed The Sharper Image
Yes, The Sharper Image did file in 2008, but lack of sales was not their downfall. The Sharper Image failed because they were a publicly traded company, and their stock prices dropped like so many rocks once their reputation had been so thoroughly tarnished. Although they had a ton of debt by the time they declared bankruptcy, they still had around $50 million in equity, not to include cash on hand. Unfortunately, however, their investors apparently didn\’t look the whole picture.
Are New Ionic Air Purifiers Any Better?
As the technology is quite simple and effective, there really isn\’t much room for improvement, even in the newest ionic air purifiers. The more fans you add, the faster and better it cleans the air, but even without fans, ionic breeze air purifiers eventually do the job. And although you may have a hard time finding the original Ionic Breeze, there are newer versions with The Sharper Image name on them (they got bought and resurrected), and also the Ionic Pro air purifier which is pretty similar to the original.
Want to learn more about the Ionic Breeze Air Purifier, as well as the alternatives? Visit Ionic Air Purifier Info.





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