Leitz TruSens Z-1000 air purifier review: does this cheap device work?

Air purifiers are becoming more and more popular, mainly thanks to the Dyson range. Ideal for bedrooms and home offices, they circulate air in the room whilst removing anything that shouldn’t be there, scrubbing it clean, via a series of filters.

They can, however, be pretty pricey (certainly true of the Dyson models) so it’s good to find something that does the same thing at a price that doesn’t make our teeth itch. Made by the US company TruSens, and sold in Europe by the German office products company Leitz, I’m looking at the base model – the Z-1000. Right now, it’s available from Amazon for just under £50.

Unboxing

Despite this being the smallest version they sell, it comes in a meaty-sized box. However, take the product out and you’ll quickly realise that an awful lot of it is moulded cardboard, for protection during transport.

There’s an envelope to open, in which is two leaflets – one, the unexpected but usually pretty redundant health and safety guide, and the other an instruction manual. It’s in lots of language and the details for each are sufficient but short.

There’s a lot of plastic packaging, particularly around the cable, which I guess is to prevent damage to the purifier itself. Nonetheless, considering how good the rest of the packaging was, environmentally, it was disappointing to see the quantity of plastic. There’s even a bag inside the purifier, surrounding the filter, which has to be removed before first use.

The purifier

Now it’s out the box, what does it look like and how does it operate?

Standing at 46cm tall and not even 20cm wide, it’s not huge and can sit in the corner of a home office without getting in the way. It’s designed for rooms up to 23m² and will clean the air every 30 minutes.

On top are touch sensitive controls for power, fan speed (1, 2 and turbo) and for turning on the UV lamp. The UV can be used to help destroy any bacteria or microbes on the filter, where they are likely to be trapped. There’s are also indicators on top to indicate when one of the filters or UV lamp requires replacement.

Running costs

The Z-1000 requires filters and lamps to be replaced over time. These are:

1. HEPA and Carbon filter – these are separate but can be bought together for around £20. They are designed to last for 12-18 months, depending on use.
2. UV Lamp – a replacement is around £10 and should last 2-3 years.

So, this works out at about £17 – £25, barring any electricity that you use. The Z-1000 consumes 40W in use, which is roughly comparable to a laptop computer.

In comparison, the Dyson Pure Cool Me (probably the closest Dyson product to this one) HEPA filter lasts around 12 months and is £65 to replace. It also uses 40W of power, when being used.

The Leitz TruSens Z-1000 air purifier in use

The Z-1000 extracts air from all around (those 360° of holes you see around the base) and blows out the filtrated results from the top in two different streams. Unlike Dyson’s Pure Cool Me, it’s not designed to blow air at you – this is intended to improve circulation around a room.

When it came to testing out its cleaning chops, I tested the device in a room larger than it was meant for on quite a tough ask – grilled bacon! My kitchen is open plan with a reception room next to it, and in that room I have an air quality monitor. During the bacon grilling, it was very much showing red (really, really poor quality air), so I placed the Z-1000 in the middle of the room and put it on “Turbo” (no UV).

I started before I’d finished cooking and left it on whilst I ate my food. By the time I had, the monitor was showing green. It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes later and, as I said, in a room far bigger than the product is intended for. That’s impressive, as my air monitor will normally remain on red or orange for hours after I’ve been cooking bacon.

The noise level is anywhere between 39 and 65dB, which is the kind of thing you’d expect of a fan, but I found the Leitz made a whining noise whilst in use. Even on its slowest setting, this could be irritating in a bedroom.

One further disappointment is that by choosing the purifier for a smaller room, it comes with less functionality. Leitz’s air purifiers for medium and large rooms come with a remote sensor, which adjusts filtration speed automatically, as well as air quality monitoring and reporting. I’m not sure why I should miss out on features simply because I have a smaller model.

Otherwise, the Leitz TruSens Z-1000 air purifier works great and the controls are simple to understand. A useful carrying handle on the top makes it extremely easy to move.