Like clockwork, it is that time of the year again when a thick layer of pollution envelops most cities in North India (data suggests, it’s increasingly becoming a problem elsewhere too). A conversation inevitably begins about finding ways to at least keep the air inside our homes clean. Air purifier manufacturers find new users, while those of us who already use purifiers, time replacement filter purchases to prepare for a drastic degradation in air quality outdoors. I’ve often said this, not all air purifiers are equal, in terms of filtration quality or longevity. Philips has withstood that test of time, an early entrant into the air purifier space a decade ago.
The Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier by Versuni India Home Solutions, formerly Philips Domestic Appliances, is a refresh to the portfolio that continues to tick off different price points whilst retaining high quality filters that make all the difference. Unlike earlier generation purifiers with flat filter layers placed one behind the other, the Philips 2000 Series 3-in-1 Purifier a couple of years ago signaled a shift to circular designs, and therefore circular filters too. It is a positive change, because these designs allow for more volume of air to pass through the filter at any point of time.
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The Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier typifies some of the refinements that Philips purifiers have embedded over the years, including filter density (this, in addition to layers, is important), the touch controls as well as AQI readings with colour coding and the smart controls delivered via the Air+ app (this is available for iPhones and Android devices). While the 600 cubic meter per hour CADR, or clean air delivery rating may often be taken with a pinch of salt, the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier delivers on the potential with substance powerful enough to single-handedly tame the airborne pollutants in a large indoor hall that’d be in the whereabouts of 370 square feet (in most home layouts, the living and dining room combination typifies this).
As timing would have it, we were able to stress test the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier’s filtration capabilities in some of the worst AQI days in Delhi NCR this month, and this purifier maintained the air between a very impressive 30 AQI and 100 AQI, that variation happening towards the latter when there were incomings and outgoings and the doors leading outside were opened for short durations, the outside air an unwelcome guest. When the outside air quality ranged 5 or 6 times worse (as per official, capped figures), this is creditable performance.
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The double trouble here being, a connected kitchen, and spikes also pushed AQI to worsen to around 150 AQI during cooking sessions—even then, the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier to keep things well in control. In my estimates, this indoor AQI reading band across different times as much as 30% lower than what a Electrolux Well A7 (around ₹40,000) managed when cooking was in progress (when the general outdoor AQI was much lower as well), and very much at par with Nirvana Being’s MESP Portable Air Sterilizing Purifier With Washable Filter (the KJ series; priced around ₹70,000).
Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier has four sensors, a collective of which makes up the AQI figure you see on the display and in the app on your phone—PM 2.5, gas or TVOC, temperature and humidity. There is no PM10 sensor, for instance, but for filters on the job when the purifier is powered on, that specificity doesn’t matter.
In my opinion, the prime reason why the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier is able to deliver results in the worst AQI days which are at par with what other purifiers manage when things are comparatively much better, is the double-fan technology. Basically, what Philips have done is, doubled the physical filters in use, and doubled the number of fans sucking in polluted air and blowing out purified air. That, with the circular 360-degree air intake design means more volume of air is treated. The motor sits in the middle, with owl-wing inspired fans either side of it. And there are two of the four-layer filters.
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It is a job well done for the engineers, who’ve managed to make this purifier even more silent than its logical predecessor, the 3000 series, as well as anything from the likes of Blueair, Dyson and Honeywell. At fan speed two and three feet away from the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier, the decibel meter logs it working away at 19db, or decibels. That may actually be lesser than what a whisper would register, on the meter.
Considering the cleaning performance that’s on display, the Philips 4200 Series Pro purifier is putting many a more expensive air purifier in the shade. This, at a price of ₹27,995, has taken the game significantly forward in terms of the core that defines an efficient indoor air purifier. More, is more. Two fans instead of one, two four layer filters instead of one, two activated carbon layers instead of one, make all the difference. This is the sort of generational evolution, that becomes necessary if you live in one of the most polluted cities in the country. And perhaps, indeed the world.
