Sunbeam Simply Fresh SAP0900WH

Does everything it's advertised to do with small room for improvement – First up, I think it's essential to disclose that I was sent this air purifier for review under ProductReview's Ambassadors Program. That said, I have done my best to provide a truthful and unbiased review of the item. My wife and I have been using the Sunbeam Simply Fresh SAP0900WH air purifier for a bit over a month now, during which we've… Read more

tested it in a few different environments. We are currently living in a circa 1900 Federation terrace, which comes with a fair share of dust and in some areas sadly also exhibits the noticeable telltale smell of mould or mildew in the air. We have been doing a lot of cleaning and renovations over the last couple of weeks, so we've had a chance to pit the air purifier against some mild to not so gentle chemical smells from cleaning products and paint. Finally, we do have a pet cat that just happened to go through his worst couple of weeks of heavy moulting, dropping his winter fur for a lighter summer coat. In short, I think we've been able to really put this appliance through the wringer.

The item comes in a purposefully sized (circa 25x25x36cm or 10x10x14"), i.e. not excessively bulky cardboard box that is printed with photos of the appliance and advertises its intended use and general properties. I was happy to find that Sunbeam kept plastic and other non-biodegradable packaging close to a minimum, opting against moulded polystyrene in favour of cardboard clamshells to keep the item protected during transport. The only plastic waste consisted of a clear bag covering the main unit and a smaller sleeve holding the mains power cord that had been bundled with a wire twist and had a plastic cap to protect the prongs. According to the printed user guide (only five pages, which IMO is refreshingly short), the filter element housed inside the unit was supposed to have been separately wrapped in another plastic bag, but we found this not to be the case. Perhaps our review unit had been un- and re-packed before it was shipped, which might explain the missing bag. Either way, I recommend anyone purchasing this item follow the instructions and make sure to check and remove any bag around the filter before first use.

The appliance itself has a relatively small footprint of just 21x21cm or roughly 8x8" and stands 32cm or just over a foot tall, making it about the size of a larger shoe box stood on its end. Fully stretched, the 2-pronged AC power cord is about 160cm or just over 5ft long. This could be a little short in some settings, but it keeps the tangled mess of excess cable in check when the unit is placed near a power point. The unit's main casing is made of matte white moulded plastic, which has a good quality feel to it and seems to avoid finger smudges from carrying and moving the purifier around quite well. The top of the unit consists of a dark grey plate with air vents arranged in a kind of wavy pattern. Whether this design serves any purpose besides aesthetics is unclear, but it's pleasing to look at. At the bottom/base of the unit is a flap secured by a spring-loaded latch and can be opened without removing screws or the need for any tools. The base plate has four rubber or hard foam feet, presumably to prevent the unit from scratching any delicate surfaces and reduce vibration and noise from transferring to the floor or piece of furniture on which it is placed. To open the base plate and access the filter, I recommend standing the device on its head. The bottom plate does have a safety switch feature that cuts off power to the built-in fan as soon as it's opened, so there is no danger of reaching into fast-spinning fan blades (besides, the fan is separated from the filter compartment by a grille). That said, I still recommend unplugging the unit as I found it's pretty easy to accidentally turn it on while handling it by simply making contact with the touch-sensitive control buttons on the front-facing side (more on those in a minute).

The cylindrical HEPA filter cartridge is about 17cm/7" in diameter and 16cm/6.5" in height. It has a plain handle to pull it out of the device for cleaning or replacement. The cartridge does not lock, snap or otherwise secure in place but sits quite loosely in the unit. There is a ring of foam around the grille that protects the opening between the filter and the fan which sits above it. It presumably creates a seal and dampens vibration, and I can attest that the filter does not appear to be rattling about despite the loose fit. The composition of the filter is described on the box and consists of three stages. First is a pre-filter which essentially consists of a fine, transparent plastic mesh around the entire outer surface of the cylinder. After running the filter for about four weeks, there was a visible amount of pet hair, dust flakes and other detritus stuck in this mesh. I found this to be relatively easy to clean with the soft furniture brush head of our vacuum cleaner, and I would expect that doing so will prolong the life of the filter cartridge as a whole. Visible under this mesh sits the so-called True HEPA fine-particle filter, which looks like a waffled or zig-zag shaped folded paper or cellulose membrane to maximise its surface area where it can trap microscopic particles from the air sucked through the filter. According to the manufacturer, this filter is capable of catching "airborne pollutants as small as 0.3 microns" which is roughly one three-thousandth of a millimetre. According to my research, this is sufficient to trap dust particles (~2.5 microns), bacteria (1-3 microns) and smoke particles like we would get them from a bush fire (0.4-0.7 microns). With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it would, of course, be interesting to know if this filter is sufficiently fine to catch this nasty Coronavirus. But, I found the amount of information circulating on this particular topic quite overwhelming and ranging from presumably reputable and trustworthy sources to some that are mildly put questionable. So, I want to leave it at that and recommend anyone interested in this to please do their own research. Getting back to the SAP0900WH's filter cartridge, the third and final filtration stage consists of an activated carbon filter. This comes in the form of a dark grey ring of sponge-like material that sits inside the HEPA membrane. I have used activated carbon, often simply called charcoal filters, before, e.g. in an aquarium and in moisture and odour traps used in wardrobes and storage cupboards. I know active charcoal can bind to many organic molecules, including the so-called VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which includes things like solvents and vapours put off by drying paint. Sunbeam recommends replacing the filter every 8-12 months, and there is a small indicator LED on the front panel that supposedly lights up when the device believes it is time to replace the filter. I do not know what method of measurement is applied to work out this time, and it could just be that the unit is somehow counting the overall hours of operation before it is programmed to "go off". I have checked the internet and found the replacement filter to be available on Amazon for $50.

The control panel is located at the front-facing side of the unit and consists of just three touch-sensitive buttons. The middle button controls the fan speed, and thus the volume of air churned through the filter. From the off/standby state, the first touch of this button always switches the unit into the highest of its three speed settings, indicated by three white LEDs placed behind and shining through the white plastic aligned with lettering in Roman numerals I II III. Subsequent presses of the power button reduce the speed to II, then I and finally switches the unit back off again. Personally, I would have preferred two separate buttons, one to control the fan speed and another to turn the unit off or back on at the last selected setting, rather than cycling through the four states with a single button. The left-most button can be used to put the purifier on a countdown timer and automatically shuts down the fan after 2, 4 or 8 hours. The button is only active when the unit is already in operation and also cycles through its four states from no timer > 2h > 4h > 8h > no timer. So far, we have not been using the timer feature, instead, we've always let the unit run on low/I overnight, turning it off by hand in the morning or running it at full blast/III to clear out a room when nobody was using it. The third, right-most button turns on or off a nightlight feature, which illuminates the appliance's two opposing left and right sides where the air intake vents are located in a deep blue. Personally, we found Sunbeam's choice of colour somewhat odd for a nightlight, when there is ample scientific evidence that exposure to blue light suppresses the release of the hormone melatonin in the brain, which controls our sleep cycle and essentially tells the body that it's time to sleep. For the same reason, most, if not all, mobile phones and even laptop/desktop computer operating systems now include Sleep or Night Mode settings that reduce the brightness of the blue light component in their display. A red, orange or warm yellowish colour, or perhaps even a customisable RBG LED illumination, would have been a more appropriate choice. Also, the nightlight can only be used when the purifier is in use and running at least on speed level I. I believe it would have been quite useful for parents who want to use this as a nightlight for their children (or themselves) to have the option of using the light independently of the fan.

We have been using the purifier in essentially three different ways. The most common has been running the device on its lowest setting overnight while we were sleeping. We set up the unit only about 1.5m/5ft from our heads, standing at bed/head height on a hard surface (tabletop) and close to a corner of our bedroom, with a low slanted roof ceiling above. So, we knowingly chose a position you could easily describe as not ideal, maybe even as bad as it gets. Even so, we found the fan noise on the low setting to be acceptable, and my wife and I had no trouble falling asleep. The fan's noise is a steady hiss of air, with only a slight humming from the motor and little or no higher pitched whining. Of course, noise and the tolerance to noise when awake, resting or sleeping is entirely subjective and everybody's personal preference. If there is the possibility to inspect the purifier in-store, I would recommend prospective buyers to try out the device and make their own judgement on the noise level. Lacking the equipment to measure the noise level myself, I can only state the figure Sunbeam gives in their manual, which claims the purifier emits 55dB(A) on its highest setting. I do feel this figure, which sits somewhere in between normal conversational volume and office or restaurant noise, is perhaps a touch optimistic. I would not want to sit through a full workday with the device on III beside me. But again, noise and noise perception is a highly subjective matter. Our bedroom is on the large side and actually somewhat bigger than the max 30sqm room size Sunbeam recommends this purifier to be ideal for. Yet, my wife and I both felt that the air quality in our bedroom improved when having the purifier running on low overnight, and we both felt it may well have improved the quality of our sleep. And of course, simply checking the filter cartridge confirmed that the device had indeed sucked in and trapped a lot of dust and presumably a lot more particles we cannot see with the naked eye.

Another setting I tested the purifier in was in a significantly smaller room of circa 12sqm. While this room that we use as a study easily fits the recommended use case, it does have a problem with mould/mildew to the extent that there is a very noticeable smell in the air. Luckily, True HEPA filters are supposed to eliminate all airborne mould spores that can range in size but are not known to be less than 1 micron in diameter. I have been testing the purifier in this room on a couple of days when it was not possible to open the window to air out the smell due to weather. Running the purifier on the high setting while not in the room and the medium or low setting while being and working in it had a significant and almost immediately noticeable impact. I found the effect of using the purifier at least comparable to having the window open and combined with more frequent vacuuming (using a Miele barrel vacuum that also uses HEPA filtration) I actually believe the air quality in the room has altogether improved.

The last use case I want to write about specifically is how the purifier handled chemical smells. As I mentioned earlier, we have been doing some renovations that included varnishing a coffee table using Danish Oil and using some oil-based spray paint, both of which, despite explicitly being permitted and even intended for use indoors, are rather strong emitters of volatile organic compounds. Running the purifier on its high setting for a couple of hours after applying the paint, we found the smell had virtually dissipated but for a very faint whiff of fumes that were still coming off the painted surfaces even after the advertised drying time. I'm guessing most of the filter effect can be attributed to the active carbon filter, and I'm certainly happy to report that it seems to do the job it's supposed to.

Final verdict: If you, like we unfortunately do, are having problems with dust, mould or mildew, if you suffer from hayfever or other allergies to airborne pollutants, if you are planning on doing indoor renovations or painting, or even if you are using a 3D printer (both filament and obviously resin-based 3D printing exudes a lot of VOCs) I definitely think the SAP0900WH could be a real improvement to your comfort and wellbeing. Luckily, we have not had to endure any severe bush fires in the area we live in, whether as wildfires or controlled backburning. Still, I am hopeful that this purifier will also serve us well when the time inevitably comes again.

There are, of course, tons of additional features Sunbeam could try to package into the next generation of this device, like Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity with home automation integration via Alexa, Google Home etc, but I wanted to just focus on the features this model does have and if or how those could still be improved.

The device is reasonably compact, portable, well-built and easy on the eye and while there are a few mostly little things that could still be improved (mainly controls, nightlight), it certainly seems to deliver the promised benefits. As I have mentioned, we were given this unit for free to test and write our review, but we definitely plan to keep it and continue making good use of it.

It's the best thing since sliced bread! – Upfront I'll say I was skeptical about air purifiers. My eyes have opened and I can see the light, hallelujah! The standout benefit for me is quality of sleep. It's such a good, deep, rejuvenating sleep. The night of my first use I only got a few hours sleep but I felt more rested than I had in comparison to the 8 hours sleep gotten the previous… Read more

night. These are my findings after testing in my outback locale. The unit was left running overnight as we slept & set to run on 8 hour timer. The unit itself is simple, it's just air being sucked into a small-medium sized box, through a filter and blown back into the room. It has 3 touch-sensitive buttons which just do 3 things. It's not complicated or difficult to use. The 3 buttons are: * Power on & Fan speed (cycles through 3 speeds then to off). *Timer on, 2H/ 4H/ 8H/, timer off. *Night-light on /off. The night-light is ideal, it's a soft blue and is only visible from two opposing sides. This allows its light to shine to be set away from sleeping eyes but light up walking areas. Our home has ducted air conditioning /heating so air inside the house has already been filtered to begin with.

The purifier's size is suited to our bedroom's (4x3 metres), our home is designed using the open plan living style. This is where the living areas or communal areas, essentially are just one big, room and this air purifier is too small for this area, of loungeroom, dining room and kitchen combined. Placement is a significant factor, I placed it on my bedside table, the minimum fan speed didn't interfere with comfortably falling asleep and the quality of sleep was dramatically improved for both my wife and myself. To assess its effectiveness I also placed it on my wife's bedside table and found that the depth of sleep was slightly better for the person closer to the purifier. Summed up, the better sleep means less grumpiness, more patience, tolerance, mental acuity, more energy etc. The effects of better sleep are huge. Over 3 weeks I've been assessing this unit in this manner, changing its location, or leaving it switched off for a night and then continue trialling it for a night etc, using it in our bedroom, changing its position etc, using it with different people (guests). Important to note that we only power it on at bedtime and leave it set on the sleep timer so it automatically switches off. I've also taken a photograph of the filter after being used once in this manner and a second photograph of the filter after about 2-3 weeks nightly use. I'm now a believer in the positive effects of air purifiers, if for nothing else than just waking up more refreshed than I used to. The cleaner air for my allergies when waking is also a nice touch. I've attached photos of the filter near new and after 14 days nightly use.

Good value, and does its job well – This product is somewhat tricky to review, as it is one of the first air purifiers I have ever used... as such it's not super-easy to rate in comparison to other units. First impressions were good: product was well packaged, and very easy to unpack and set up. The filter unit is easy to install and remove for replacement. Physically it's not as… Read more

imposing as I imagined it might be; some air purifiers I have seen available in stores have ranged from rather tall and unstable-looking to hulking units which would only be at home in bigger rooms or rooms with very little furnuture. This one is fairly compact, equally at home on a low-line TV unit or sideboard as it would be on the floor. It takes roughly the same volume as a small subwoofer and its smart styling helps it to blend in with modern appliances. The touch switches for power, timer and nightlight are easy to use and the LED indicators for all functions are bright and easy to read.

It does a good job of removing odours from the air, which is a positive for busy houses with multiple pets and people coming and going. I've found that Medium speed and an 8 hour off-delay on the timer is great for freshening a lounge room during the day. The filter isn't a washable one, but recently pulled it out to examine what it had captured. From what you can see, it does a decent job of filtering finer fluff and dust.

Noise levels vary depending on the selected fan speed. Low and Medium settings are fairly subdued and don't create too much background noise in a room, but the High setting is fairly rowdy. Although, there's also a lot of filtered air leaving the vent on top of the unit on High... so it's an understandable compromise.

On the whole, this is a decent quality unit for the asking price. It's good at thinning particulates from the air as well as keeping the room smelling fresh. Not too intrusive or hard to find a spot for, either. Other than possibly being too noisy on High for some rooms, my only real concern would be future availability of replacement filters; it would be a shame to see a solid applicance like this hamstrung by short-lived availability of consumables.

Very compact and quiet – I found the unit was a great size and very modern, easy to put together i didn't even need the instructions only a couple of steps for assembly and the unit felt nice and solid . It is a great addition to our newly renovated home without being too bulky for the room. In our home we have animals and i also suffer with allergies and asthma. I… Read more

placed the unit in our master bedroom and found that my allergies decreased almost immediately. I usually wake up sneezing and if i use the unit i found that my sinus's have been eased significantly. We live quite high on a mountain and my allergies get me every year so it has been a welcome relief.

The unit has three settings i used them all and prefer number two due to the noise level. I did try it on three and my husband that likes white noise when he goes to sleep it was an alternative to him having fan on all night. Very easy to use its a very simple appliance.

It also has a feature of a light which is blue and lights up half the machine and is great and nice to use as a night light.

This unit does a room 30m2 and everything advertised it does which is rare these days. I like the look, and that it is so compact. For the price it's a great addition to our household and would be a clear choice in the current market. It does not come with a spare filter but the cost is approximately $50.00 and its only about once a year to change (The filter is a 3-in-1 with a pre-filter, a hepa filter and a carbon filter to remove odours). You have an indication the machine when the filter is needed to be changed which is great. It does not have remotes or an app but to be honest it does what its supposed to do and looks great .

I have attached a couple of pictures as i received it out of the box.

Little beauty - no bells and whistles but Plug and Play clean air! – This unit will purify an area up to 30m2. Out of the box, all you need to do is plug it in. Thankfully it’s a small unit so it’s been sitting on a little bookshelf in the rumpus room busy doing its job for the past four weeks. I’ve had a behemoth Breville unit in the past which was massive and pretty ugly so this neat little unit was a pleasant… Read more

surprise.

Does it have an app? No. Can you tell how clean the air is? No. Does it do what it’s supposed to do? Yes.

It’s pretty much a no frills machine. I think you change the filter every 9-12 months and it does not come with a spare. There is a filter light indicator so you can see when your filter needs replacing, there is also a timer function and this is super easy to use. It’s also super easy to change the filter as you simply undo the base and slide it in. It would be perfect for anyone who is befuddled by technology and does not want to read the instruction manual. It really is a plug and play device.

The filter is a 3-in-1 with a pre-filter, a hepa filter and a carbon filter to remove odours.

I also have a Dyson Hot Cool purifier in another room. At more than four times the price, of course it’s a superior machine. It has an app, it has a cooling and a heating function as well. It continuously measures the air quality in the room it’s in. I moved the little Dyson to the room being purified by the Sunbeam and put it on the monitoring function to measure the quality of the air. Good golly the little Sunbeam does work well. The Dyson agreed!

Should you buy it? I would recommend this beauty if you need a budget air purifier that does not take up space with the added bonus that you can move it from room to room. Its small size and lightweight makes it easy to move from the living area to the bedroom.

It’s recommended that you run the machine continuously on the second fan setting. I personally found that a bit loud for my liking with a lot of white noise in the background. Running it on speed 1 was my preference. At speed 1 it still cleaned the air and was not too noisy. When I say noisy, I don’t mean the motor - it’s more the fan noise that you’d get from a regular fan. Even at speed 1, I personally would not have it in my bedroom as it’s noticeable. I’m probably spoilt as I have the little Dyson in my bedroom which has an almost silent sleep function and that’s what I’m used to. Those who like to sleep with a bit of white noise in the background (about the same noise as an ordinary fan) might enjoy the sunbeam in their bedroom and the fan noise would not be disruptive in a baby’s or a child’s bedroom. There is an option of a night light too, so that could be useful.

I’d recommend this little unit if you wanted a simple to use, no frills unit that looks unobtrusive and doesn’t take up floor space. You really don’t need all the bells and whistles that other units have - you probably only look at the air quality when you first get it to make sure it’s working. If you want something that measures the air and also looks good have a look at the Mila unit. It’s $100 more for the bells and whistles. But I like this honest sturdy little unit and I like Sunbeam products. They do what they’re supposed to do.

Relieves my allergies by purifying the air. Hayfever be gone! – I suffer from chronic hayfever. The start of spring is particularly bad for my allergies with the high level of pollen in the air. I was excited to give the Sunbeam Simply Fresh Air Purifier a go to see if it would relieve my symptoms. FUNCTION The air purifier has 3 fan speeds. I tend to start on the highest setting and let this run for a while… Read more

before I switch it to a lower setting.

At night, I use it on the lowest speed and the motor is relatively quiet. I have no problem falling asleep with the air purifier running all night. In fact, there is a marked improvement in the quality of my sleep when I have it on. It does the job of reducing the pollen and minimising my allergies. I wake up in the morning feeling fresh.

FILTERS This air purifier comes with 3 layers of filters: the HEPA filter is hospital-grade and removes a lot of the large and finer dust particles. The carbon filter is really useful for neutralising odours in the room.

After cooking, I run the air purifier on the highest fan speed and the cooking smell is neutralised within 30 minutes.

DESIGN The unit is compact and can be easily transported from room to room. The matte white finish and minimalist silhouette becomes recessive in any decor. The lack of buttons also adds to the minimalist design.

THE VERDICT I love the Sunbeam Simply Fresh Air Purifier. It has improved my allergies and the quality of air in my home. It is reasonably priced and good value for money. I would recommend this product to family and friends.

Like vacuum cleaning the air at home! – I've been trying this air purifier for the last couple of weeks and I have to say that I'm impressed with its results so far. Whilst having a small and basic look, the unit has shown a great performance. During the day I've been running the appliance in my home office space at speed 2 and thanks to its convenient size I have no problem in moving… Read more

it back to my bedroom at night time. I prefer to keep it at speed setting 1 during the night as the noise level is really low, which is great. I was a bit skeptical at first as I couldn't really tell if the unit was working or not, however after running it 24/7 for 2 weeks I had a look at the filter inside and the images speak to themselves. I was actually relieved to see lots of dust, hair and dirt collected inside the filter! It's like I've been vacuum cleaning the air at home. Absolutely loving my sunbeam air purifier and I highly recommend it!

Easy to Use Air Purifier that may help, depending on your circumstances – The Unit: This Sunbeam purifier is a small HEPA recirculating portable air filter/purifier. The HEPA air filter which has an activated charcoal lining is contained in the base, is easy to replace at its end of life. The unit has a simple 2/4/8Hr timer, plus continuous operation, 3 fan speeds, and a blue led as a "night light" if desired. … Read more

Capacity: It is specified with a CADR [Clean Air Delivery Rate] of 153 m3/hr for smoke - (fine particles). Using the 2/3 rule (the CADR should be at least 2/3 of the room area in square feet) it would be suitable for rooms of 240 sq feet (approximately 23 sq m) which is a large bedroom with a standard ceiling height. This CADR would give approximately 3 room changes per hour, recommended for smoke particles. This is a close enough match for the rated 25 sq m specification on room size. It is assumed that this would be with the air purifier working at the highest fan speed.

Use: In a bedroom or a small living space, it should keep the air inside fresh - as it recirculates the air it works best with doors and windows closed - if you like fresh air & open windows or live in an open plan house then this item will not do much for you. It is probably ideal for a small office. The other use would be to run it overnight on low speed (medium & high are too noisy) in your bedroom, as some tests have shown that air purifiers can assist with nighttime sleeping.

Does it work: With casual use in a house where the occupants don't have sensitive airways or odorous animals, then its hard to tell without doing some challenges to see how it works - I couldn't really tell much difference. My partner claimed it helped with sleep, but that could be the well known "placebo" effect or just the comfort of the drone of the fan. So a few challenges. • I stirred up the air in the room & blew some fine dust off shelves, & then ran the purifier for a time. An inspection of the filter showed some fine dust collection, but its never going to replace manual dusting and cleaning. If you are pollen sensitive, then it could be of assistance. • Next I lit a scented candle in a medium size room, let the "aroma" permeate, and then ran the air purifier on in the room - the candle scent had subjectively disappeared after about 20 minutes, so it appeared to work with odour / smoke particles. • Last, I put some acetone on some paper towel and let it permeate the laundry. Without removing the source, I ran the air purifier in the room at the same time to see how it might reduce the presence of a Volatile Organic Compound. Subjectively, after 10 minutes the acetone smell appeared to have been reduced, but not eliminated. There appeared to be dead spots in the room where the smell remained • Overall, yes it works – YMMV depending on your nose sensitivity & environment. Long term, Sunbeam say the filter should last about a year, depending on use. RRP is approximately $50 for a replacement filter.

Ease of use: Its very simple, very manual, quite easy.

Value: If you have a sensitive nose or airways, air quality issues, fur babies, then its probably quite reasonable value and of some practical use in the space it is designed for - a medium sized room.

Room for improvement: Some air purifiers come with home automation & remote control capability, The Sunbeam could benefit from having a simple memory day timer so you could preset it to run every night in your bedroom at a set time, for example. It does not come on automatically when plugged into active power, so an external timer will not work.

Photo: showing the unit upside down with the cover off and the filter unit

So Simple! – I had the purifier running within a couple of minutes of getting it in the door. Remember to remove the protective sleeve off the filter and you are essentially ready to go. Three fan speeds are accessible from the one button. I tend to use the highest speed when I first turn it on and then switch it lower once the air smells clean and fresh -… Read more

and yes, you can notice it! It has a timer to switch off after 2, 4 or 8 hours but have not needed to use this yet. An unexpected benefit is it also circulates air to keep my home office/spare bedroom less stuffy. This model is compact, the design blends nicely into the room and the dog sleeps happily in the sun close by it.