{"id":5930,"date":"2020-06-26T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T03:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=5930"},"modified":"2021-06-23T17:35:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T09:35:02","slug":"30-dollair-cheap-box-air-purifier-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/30-dollair-cheap-box-air-purifier-review\/","title":{"rendered":"$30 Box Air Purifier Review &#8211; Shocking Results"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I started Smart Air in 2013, the cheapest air purifier I could find cost over $600. That&#8217;s why I started shipping a <a href=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/blog\/how-to-make-diy-air-purifier\/\">simple, effective DIY Air purifier that cost just $30<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But since then, more and more purifiers priced around $30 have been appearing on the market. Here&#8217;s just one example called the &#8220;Diqu purifier&#8221;. It&#8217;s a small, white, box-like purifier that ships for just under $30 (198RMB) in China. In this article, I&#8217;ll cover just how good it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/IMG_20210623_162724-clean-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/IMG_20210623_162724-clean-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/IMG_20210623_162724-clean-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>First Impression<\/span>s<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Diqu box purifier was originally advertised at 465 RMB ($70), but I paid just 200RMB. I was impressed it was this cheap. After unboxing, I found a small, 35cm tall air purifier, with a reasonable but not great build quality. Here&#8217;s the Diqu purifier alongside Smart Air&#8217;s DIY air purifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"424\" src=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier-600x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier-600x424.jpg 600w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier-1024x723.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-air-purifier-30-dollar-cheap-oem-purifier-vs-diy-purifier.jpg 1383w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what I really care about is the how well this air purifier clean the air. To answer that, we ran <a href=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/blog\/cadr-airflow-difference\/\">CADR tests<\/a> for the Diqu, and compared it to our DIY purifier, which also costs around $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>The $30 Air Purifier Test<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Smart Air&#8217;s engineer intern Joseph ran clean air delivery rate (CADR) tests on both purifiers to measure their effectiveness. In these tests, we burn a cigarette in a closed room, run the purifier for 20 minutes, and track the reduction in particles over this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"595\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-purifier-effectiveness-graph-EN.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-purifier-effectiveness-graph-EN.jpg 653w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-purifier-effectiveness-graph-EN-300x273.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The results weren\u2019t pretty. The CADR for the Diqu purifier was about 30% of the DIY1.1. But perhaps we don\u2019t need such a high CADR? Maybe a CADR of 26m<sup>3<\/sup>\/hr is enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately not. Based on a CADR of 26m<sup>3<\/sup>\/hr, the Diqu purifier can clean a room that&#8217;s just 3.1m<span><sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>in size. Just how big is that? It&#8217;s roughly the same size as a king sized bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"740\" height=\"353\" src=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/30-dollar-air-purifier-not-effective-small-room-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/30-dollar-air-purifier-not-effective-small-room-1.png 740w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/30-dollar-air-purifier-not-effective-small-room-1-600x286.png 600w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/30-dollar-air-purifier-not-effective-small-room-1-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Compare that with the DIY1.1, and it can clean a room that&#8217;s 10.5m<sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0in size. That&#8217;s roughly the size of an average apartment bedroom. It can comfortably fit a king-sized bed along with a table and drawer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"gb-headline gb-headline-df1cea46 gb-headline-text\">Why is the Diqu Air Purifier&#8217;s Performance So Bad?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After opening up the Diqu air purifier, I found a small, flimsy looking air filter inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-small-cheap-air-purifier-inside-review.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17423\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-small-cheap-air-purifier-inside-review.jpg 600w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-small-cheap-air-purifier-inside-review-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This filter measured just 21x17x3cm in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-30-dollair-air-purifier-hepa-filter.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-30-dollair-air-purifier-hepa-filter.jpg 500w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-30-dollair-air-purifier-hepa-filter-450x600.jpg 450w, https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/diqu-30-dollair-air-purifier-hepa-filter-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s far smaller than the filters in most purifiers, and means the Diqu air purifier can&#8217;t push out much clean air. A small filter also means it will need replacing more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"gb-headline gb-headline-2671fb83 gb-headline-text\">What About the Diqu&#8217;s Ionizer Function?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Diqu also has an ionizer feature. This is advertised as increasing cleaning efficiency and performance. However, the truth is that <a href=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/blog\/ionizers-can-increase-pollution-particles-formaldehyde\/\">ionizers can actually increase  formaldehyde and PM2.5 in your home<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/blog\/do-ionizer-air-purifier-work\/\">what are ionizers and why you should avoid them \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class='bottom-line'><div class='bottom-line-top'>Bottom Line<\/div><div class='bottom-line-title'>Bottom Line: Diqu $30 Box Air Purifier Review<\/div><div class='bottom-line-content'>The $30 Diqu air purifier is less than 1 as effective as a DIY air purifier. It&#8217;s ionizer feature may actually increase indoor air pollution levels. We wouldn&#8217;t recommend this purifier as a cost-effective solution to breathe clean air.<\/div><div class='bottom-line-last'>Smart Air<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update:<\/strong> it&#8217;s worth noting that 2 years after purchasing the Diqu air purifier, it disappeared from online e-commerce platforms. Replacement filters are also unavailable. I suspect this purifier was a one-off, short term sale by the sellers taking advantage of an opportunity. Without the ability to purchase replacement filters, this purifier cannot be used long term.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I started Smart Air in 2013, the cheapest air purifier I could find cost over $600. That&#8217;s why I started shipping a simple, effective DIY Air purifier that cost just $30. But since then, more and more purifiers priced around $30 have been appearing on the market. Here&#8217;s just &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"$30 Box Air Purifier Review &#8211; Shocking Results\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/30-dollair-cheap-box-air-purifier-review\/#more-5930\" aria-label=\"Read more about $30 Box Air Purifier Review &#8211; Shocking Results\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":17422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-purifiers","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5930"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17428,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5930\/revisions\/17428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}