Acerpure Cool review: What to expect when you’re expecting clean air

Home tech design is arguably more important than the specs for most households. You want something that feels like it fits your space, that is practical but doesn’t deter from the art you selected, the couch you covet, or that stunning feature rug you dropped too much money on. Acerpure Cool 2-in-1 air purifier and circulator’s unique design doesn’t exactly fit this brief, but it does feel homely in a different way. With its bobbly fan sitting atop a stately body it has an almost childlike air to it- playful, a bit silly, and kind of fragile. If you’re the kind of person to name their robot vacuum cleaner, then get ready to adopt a new baby to the family.

Retailing for $599 the Acerpure Cool is a bit pricier than other air purifiers that cover a similar area. With each filter rated to 3,000 hours, if you were to run the Cool for 24 hours everyday, you could go 125 days before needing to replace the filter. Running costs for the 65W device are under $0.01 per hour. Combine the two together and you’re looking at around $337.72 to use and upkeep the Cool each year.

Australian stockists are limited for Acerpure products, but there are a handful of retailers with the Cool 2-in-1 available.

I’ve never had so many feelings opening an air purifier box. Looking down on the device lazing on it’s back, fan face up to the ceiling, it almost looked like it was resting. Pulling it out of the box the fan jolted backwards and I found myself instinctively cradling the neck to get it standing up in one piece. I am by no means maternal, but by the time the Acerpure Cool 2-in-1 was standing I had already named it Jimmy. 

The air purifier part sits on the bottom, a white cylinder with some stylistic vents and a circular LED display on the front- just about where the heart would sit. On top of a sturdy neck coming from the back of the device sits a large circular fan that oscillates up and down by 90 degrees. Just nodding its head over and over again, while the purifier below rotates 80 degrees to and fro. These limited movements do make the Cool ironically look a bit goofy- the dual oscillation makes the fan look like it’s bobbling the way a kid’s head does while fighting to stay awake. 

Weighing in at just 6.34kg the Acerpure Cool is incredibly lightweight so moving it around the house won’t take a village. A trade off of this lightweight design however is that the device does feel a bit cheap, and fragile. The back panel bent as I removed it, and snapping it back into place felt precarious. I can’t speak to its longevity after such a short testing period so this is just a hunch, but I’m not sure how much I would trust the thin plastic over years of use.

Practical elements like the LED display, and control buttons are subtle but reliable- exactly the kind of user experience you want in a device like this. Using a traffic-light style indicator, the LED display shows the PM2.5 and GAS barometers in a pinky-purple when the reading is Poor, a yellow-orange when Moderate, and a green when Good. Good is once the readings drop below 15, Moderate when below 30, and Poor for anything above. It is a commonplace UI for air purifiers, but hey if it ain’t broke.

While the physical design is distinctive, it isn’t breaking new ground like Samsung’s Bespoke range. A white matte cylinder with a ubiquitous fan design attached isn’t necessarily going to stand out in your home (unless it’s bobbing around), but it is very practical for the purposes of the device.

Jimmy will probably be the only child in your house not to bring illness home. Inside the unit you’ll find a 4-in1 HEPA filter, rated to eliminate 99.99% of bacteria. This filter includes a Pre-filter, a HEPA Plus+ filter, a HEPA 13 filter, and an activated carbon filter. HEPA 13 filters are medical grade and are tested to eliminate a maximum of 99.99% of airborne E.coli bacteria, and 99.32% of other antivirals. If you’re concerned about airborne viruses then this is the filter type to look out for.

In our testing we found that the Acerpure Cool 2-in-1 took 18 minutes to clear a 9m2 room of incense smoke. Incense throws out 2.5PM particles, and can contain formaldehyde so it ultimately stress tests the effectiveness of the device. Comparatively speaking we found that Acerpure’s premium device the Acerpure Pro handled the same test in under 7 minutes. 

The 2-in-1 is rated to work across 45m2, and cool up to 12m from the fan head. 

All but one of the Cool’s features are available directly from the remote, or from the on-device controls, but for scheduling you’ll need to download the app. The app itself is very barebones, and as most apps do it wants to know your location and have access to some of your data in order to use it. As it stands you’re not getting much additional value in exchange for having the Acerpure Life app on your phone, that is unless scheduling the device is important to you.

You’ll also be able to access firmware updates via the app, but historically these updates have mostly been around the app’s language accessibility and to introduce new products, not new features to existing products. That is not to say that the app won’t add better functionality to your Acerpure device as time goes on, but as it stands it may not be worth the trouble. Currently, Acerpure products are not compatible with any smart assistant, but a representative did tell Reviews.org Australia that Google Assistant compatibility may be coming soon. When that happens it may be worth revisiting the usefulness of the Acerpure Life app.