I have a habit of getting sucked into watching infomercials late at night, and one evening when I saw the Homedics brethe Air Purifier, I knew it was an item I wanted to own. I am a smoker, and sometimes the air in my bedroom gets a bit stale. I liked the idea of using “water” as my air filter, because water is something you can change a lot more frequently than a HEPA filter cartridge. However, the $59.95 price tag was a bit too high for my liking, so I decided not to order at that time.
A few weeks later, I was browsing through an Avon Catalog, and I saw a product called the “Avon Fresh Air Globe” that was essentially the same thing. Only Avon’s version was $39.95, which was a full $20.00 cheaper….plus, I could get free shipping through my local Avon lady. I figured that I wouldn’t find a cheaper price, so I went ahead and ordered the Avon Fresh Air Globe, knowing that if it didn’t work out I could always return it.
When the Fresh Air Globe arrived, I was surprised at the simplicity of the product. All I needed to do was fill the reservoir up with plain tap water, and then plug the unit in. As soon as I powered up the Avon Globe, a quiet fan began to “stir” the water, creating a mini “rainstorm” of fine mist within the globe. The idea is that incoming air is forced through this mist before being released back into the room, effectively “washing” and purifying the air. That’s the idea anyway.
After a few hours, I was expecting my room to smell fresh and clean, just like the air after a spring rain. However, I didn’t notice any difference in the quality of the air. I did notice that almost all of the water in the Avon Fresh Air Globe had evaporated after just a few hours, and I also noticed that the water that was left wasn’t dirty. It was supposed to be dirty because of all the “impurities” it has cleaned from the air, but that wasn’t the case.
After a few more days, I was convinced that the Avon Fresh Air Globe was a waste of money and I was getting ready to return it. Then, my best friend saw the Homedics brethe Air Purifier on QVC and decided that she was going to give it a try at a special price of $49.95. When her Homedics unit arrived, I noticed to main differences from the Avon Fresh Air Globe. First, the Homedics brethe Air Purifier was noticeably larger than my Avon one. More importantly, the Homedics brethe came with 3 bottles of scented “hydro-essential oils,” whereas the Avon version did not come with any oils.
The idea with the oils is to add a small capful each time you change the water in the air purifier, which enables the unit to give off fragrance in addition to cleaning the air. We plugged in my friend’s brethe unit and added the oil as instructed, and within minutes we were surprised at the amount of fragrance that had filled the room. Everything smelled fresh, clean, and just absolutely wonderful! Intrigued, I borrowed a capful of the Homedics oil for myself to see if the Avon Fresh Air Globe would work better with the addition of some scent.
Sure enough, when I added the hydro-essential oil to my Avon Fresh Air Globe, I got the same powerful fragrance as my friend’s Homedics brethe Air Purifier. I went back and read the instructions that came with my item, and sure enough Avon said it was okay to use oils in the unit. They just didn’t provide any of the oils for me to use.
I figure the main reason for the disparity in price between the two units is a) the smaller size of the Avon unit and b) the absence of oils with the Avon unit. The small size is annoying because it means you have to add water more than once a day, and you’re going to need some scented oils for the unit to noticeably work, so in the end, I think the Homedics brethe Air Purifier is a better purchase. The Homedics version also looks better than the Avon version if you ask me, which is another added advantage.
Also, even though I think that the Homedics brethe Air Purifier is a better product than the Avon Fresh Air Globe, I don’t think that either one is terribly effective at actually removing dirt from the air. Instead, these products seem to be nothing more than fancy scented oil diffusers. If I wanted to just add some scent to a room, I would light a candle or use a plug-in air freshener. I think that if you want a “real” air purifier, you are better off going with something like an Oreck Air Purifier or an Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image. They may cost a bit more, but they’ll actually be cleaning the air instead of just letting out a “cover-up” scent.
