Sharper Image Ionic Breeze

masraum · 09-02-2006, 10:56 PM

I'm curious, do any of you have one, and what do you think? I don't plan to buy one, but I've seen enough of the ads for my curiousity to be piqued. It seems that at some point in school I heard about the cleaners that they put on plant exhaust stacks to clean the emissions, and it seems like the theory is similar.

They must not be selling well enough since the guy has the new commercial where he's holding the baby. Darn pricey things. Even with the current 2 for 1 pricing.

LeeH · 09-02-2006, 11:06 PM

Read this.

Ionic Breeze is covered about 3/4 of the way down.

BlueSkyJaunte · 09-02-2006, 11:29 PM

Bwhahahahaha! Sharper Image sued Consumer Reports! SI is the last bastion of high-buck snake oil sales....

Hugh R · 09-02-2006, 11:33 PM

Ionic breeze creates ozone, a respiratory irritant. Now they market them with "ozone guard" a catalyst to convert O3 (ozone) back to O2 (normal oxygen). Studies by the American Industrial Hygiene Association, of which I'm a member, show that the 03 levels are not high enough to brekdown smog (NOx) or other contaminants before they give respiratory discomfort from the O3 that the unit creates. Rather, they create your own little smog alert in your yours. By a HEPA (high efficiency Particulate airfiltration) system instead.

fastpat · 09-03-2006, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by masraum
I'm curious, do any of you have one, and what do you think? I don't plan to buy one, but I've seen enough of the ads for my curiousity to be piqued. It seems that at some point in school I heard about the cleaners that they put on plant exhaust stacks to clean the emissions, and it seems like the theory is similar.

They must not be selling well enough since the guy has the new commercial where he's holding the baby. Darn pricey things. Even with the current 2 for 1 pricing.

My wife wanted one to help reduce the airborne dust, which she hoped would help with her allergies.

As far as I could tell, it did nothing. Not only that, it put out a huge amount of RFI that got into our cordless phones and into the radio.

My verdict, they're worthless junk.

Buy a HEPA filter for your home HVAC and change it monthly if you both AC and heat; right after you have your vents and ductwork thoroughly cleaned.

john70t · 09-03-2006, 02:53 AM

Say........that 2-for-1 special wasen't for the unit and the baby, was it?........
Guy holding baby can sell anything. Even GM used children with the direct "please mom, buy GM with OnStar for us" tactic.

cegerer · cegerer's Garage

We've investigated several of these machines that have caught fire and/or discharged soot into homes due to failure to clean the 'electrostatic plates.'

Oh Haha · 09-03-2006, 04:46 AM

We were just looking into purchasing one of these. My wife's allergies get pretty farked up in the fall. I'll wait and do more research. Pelicans come through, again!!!

89911 · 09-03-2006, 05:26 AM

Its the perfect item to push to consumers since you have absolutely no way of knowing that it actually works. Next time when that infomercial comes on, change the channel.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Most of the stuff sold by Sharper Image and Brookstone is cheaply-made junk. I should know, I was a manager at a Brookstone store for about a year in college, and came to find out that the same companies make practically identical products for Brookstone and Sharper Image.

Just about the only thing carried by these stores that ISN'T junk is the Tempur-Pedic line.

David · David's Garage

I heard they don't really work, but

I've got a friend that lived on a boat with his wife for a couple years. They're both smokers. As far as I could tell the SI filter worked pretty well.

asphaltgambler · 09-03-2006, 09:40 AM

It is absolutely worthless for anything other than a nice paperweight. In order for a device to 'clean' the air in a room it has to actually move the air to do so.

Air 'cleaners/purifiers' are rated by how many times in an hour does the unit completely exchange the air in a given space. IE: not just square footage, but entire volume of air in that space.

Most efficient cleaners exchange the volume of air several times and hour. We purchased a Freidrich unit based on CR rating. It is electrostatic with washable filters. Very happy with it.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I have several and really like them. I have a hepa filter in my furnace/AC but the Ionic breeze still manages to pull enough junk out of the air that I have to clean the attraction plates daily. I had another brand room sized cleaner and it was so loud that I could not run it and talk. The Ionic breeze is silent.
The best think I have found for allergies out west is to run a small, room sized hunidifier.

Moneyguy1 · 09-03-2006, 10:37 AM

Not sure what issue, but Consumer Reports did a test and if I recall, was not favorably impressed because of the high ozone output. Now with their "new and improved" design, I would still do some research. A boatload of money for a product with, at best, mixed reviews.

Sales must be declining, with their "2 for 1" offer, and the use of a baby in their commercials. An subliminal emotional ploy that the product would improve you baby's health is still an emotional ploy, plain and simple.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I thought you had to use the baby to power the unit. My mistake...

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

I have very bad allergies & ashama, and I have a Ecoquest and it works very well. I researched and while not cheap, this appears to be the only one that really works. I can really tell when it needs cleaning (wkich I'm doing right now

)

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by CJFusco
Most of the stuff sold by Sharper Image and Brookstone is cheaply-made junk. I should know, I was a manager at a Brookstone store for about a year in college, and came to find out that the same companies make practically identical products for Brookstone and Sharper Image.

Just about the only thing carried by these stores that ISN'T junk is the Tempur-Pedic line.

Someone bought my wife, who's always misplacing her keys, one of those "Clapper Alarms" that goes on a keychain. You could clap all day and unless you were 2 feet from it, nothing happened. However, if our small dog barked within 50 ft.... beep! beep! beep! beep!! It was hilarious, we had to get the dog to "speak" to make it actually work, nothing else was affective. It had Brookstone written on the front. It's no longer on her keychain.

kaisen · 09-03-2006, 04:16 PM

Someone bought your wife? What did you get for her?

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by kaisen
Someone bought your wife? What did you get for her?

How else could I afford my 911 habit? No refunds either....

RickM · RickM's Garage

I purchased a LifeWise Ultra Air Purifier from Radio Shack. It seems to really clean well. It uses a large honecomb electrostatic "element" and on the pricier units has UV light as a germicidal.

The air is driven through the unit via a multi speed fan. There's nothing like "just after it rained" fresh smell.

However, after purchasing I looked up testimonials and learned that many have had their units burn out. Well, low and behold the other night I smell that burning electronic componet smell. Sure enough mine is toast as well. So, while I liked the unit I'm hoping to get a refund. Because of the length of time I've had it I'll likely just get a new unit.