It took me a while, but over the last year or so, I’ve become an air purifier guy. It started with the Electrolux Ultimate Home 500, then the Samsung Versatile Plus AX46, and now, the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde. Surprising absolutely none of you, Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde is big and quiet. It doesn’t have Formaldehyde, however, rather it sucks that out of your home (obviously, but I needed to clarify, just in case).
While I absolutely love having the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde in my home, I feel I need to tell you immediately that once Dyson picks it up, I won’t be buying myself a replacement. This thing is $1,499. And although it does everything you want (and more), this $49 Ikea device will be what I continue to use, purely because of the price. It’s nowhere near even remotely comparable, but it makes my mind think purification is going on, even if general housework is more effective than a purifier in some instances.
Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde
The Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde launched back in May, with Australian availability now announced. The first thing you’ll notice about the Big+Quiet is just how Dyson-y it is. It looks so similar to the Airwrap and the company’s range of vacuums. It also reminds me of the accordion from Johnson and Friends as well as the Pixar lamp. Anyway. The cone is actually meticulously designed as an airflow delivery system that the company says offers more than double the airflow of previous models – which equates to up to 87 litres of airflow per second of purified air over 10 metres.
It also boasts a new CO2 sensor that indicates when to ventilate and it packs an improved three-phase filtration system that Dyson said captures up to 99.95 per cent of ultrafine particles. It promises to remove over 430,000m2 of activated carbon and formaldehyde. Specifically:
The HEPA H13-grade particle filter is made of 21 meters of borosilicate microfibres pleated 459 times (making it 3.8x larger than predecessors and the equivalent area of 2 king-size beds or 127 pieces of A4 paper). It captures 99.95% 2 of particle pollutants, including dust and allergens as small as 0.1 microns.
The HEPA filter should last you around five years, after which time you’ll need to replace the machine.
Does it work?
I have a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with 3m-tall ceilings. For the majority of my time with the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde, I had it in the loungeroom, in front of the TV and next to a door to outside, pointing down the hallway to the bedrooms. The purifier’s cone delivers a 10-metre projection and even though the air wasn’t as clean feeling in the farthest bedroom, it still felt like the purifier was reaching the room. You can angle it at 0-degrees, 25-degrees, or 55-degrees via the remote or the app (more on the app soon).Throwing the air all the way down the hall was sort of forcing the bad air to leave the space and get purified before sitting still.
There’s a scientific way to describe this, I’m sure.
But in the loungeroom, which attaches to the kitchen, the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde swiftly dissolved cooking smells (even the good ones, unfortunately), and having a candle burning was a waste of $55. The room/s, however, felt less heavy and although I don’t have asthma or any concerns regarding my breathing, I could definitely tell the air was thinner and less gross than it was before the machine was on.
On the ‘gross’ part – I have two cats who stay indoors and therefore use litter. The room this litter is in is next to the loungeroom, off the aforementioned hallway. While I was still scooping poop morning and night, and changing the litter every three days, the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde made the hint of ammonia you’d get right before change time completely unnoticeable.
I still don’t know if air purifiers work or if they’re a placebo, but the room feels cooler, fresher, and just nicer to breathe it in. So something good is going on.
It was also exceptional at ridding that wet feeling having the clothes dryer running all day makes the apartment feel like. It sucked all the damp blobs out of the air.
On the ‘quiet’ part – the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde produces just 55.6 decibels of noise, which does increase when you up the air output. But, it’s otherwise pretty quiet and can be easily on in the background while watching TV.
Now, to the Formaldehyde part. I’m now scared of new shit. (Formaldehyde is what gives ‘new shit’ that ‘new smell’). Formaldehyde, which is 500 times smaller than particles the size of 0.1 microns, is particularly challenging to trap and destroy, but the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde can do it no troubles.
Most indoor pollutants can’t be seen or smelled, so a device that promises to get rid of them is hard to test without the equipment Dyson would have at its HQ. But, the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde has a tonne of integrated sensors that seem to be monitoring particle, gas, and formaldehyde levels, and there’s an LCD screen and stats in an app so…..
Setting it up and getting started
Setting it up was a bit of a punish – only because you have to lock in the bowl/head/thing in a very fiddly way. But aside from that, it was unbox, put head on, plug in, turn on, away you go. You can use the Dyson app to control the Big+ Quiet, or simply use the remote/on device controls.
The remote is teeny tiny, my cats loved hiding it under the rug, but it offers the ability to change everything you’d need and turn it off. Kinda pointless if you have the app because you can just do it from there. But if you don’t want the app, remote exists.
The MyDyson app, when you’ve connected the Big+Quiet, gives a tonne of info. The below screenshot was taken shortly after it was turned on, as my partner cooked eggs.
Things got much better within 10 minutes.
Aside from stats and being a remote, the app also has a handful of advice to read through and settings to fiddle with.
Should you buy the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde?
The Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde is pretty (subjective), makes my apartment not feel like it has no windows, and gives me peace of mind that I’m not breathing in gas from my stove at all hours of the day. It also drastically removes the smell of cats from my home. The purifier doubles as an air con unit, really, when in such a small space, and it just makes things feel more fresh.
I still don’t have any scientific testing I’ve performed to back any of this, all I know is that Dyson has invested a shitload of time and money into air purification, and the Big+Quiet Formaldehyde is evidence of this. I’ll be sad to see it go.
Where to buy the Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde?
Dyson Australia $1,499 | Bing Lee $1,499 | The Good Guys $1,499
Image: Asha Barbaschow/Gizmodo Australia