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Ask HN: Which air quality monitor to buy?

5 points by thisisjason ↗ HN
Hi, I want to buy an air quality monitor to understand the quality of air in my house and ultimately improve it by implementing measures such as improving ventilation where required, purchasing an air purifier, and so on.

After doing a bit of research, I narrowed it down to two options: Airthings View Plus [1] and Awair Element [2], both around the £300 mark which is acceptable in terms of budget.

Is there anything better in that price range? I don’t mind going a bit higher if required.

Thanks in advance.

[1] https://www.airthings.com/en-gb/view-plus

[2] https://uk.getawair.com/products/element

7 comments

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mittermayr
Awair had a $100 coupon going on Amazon recently, I think there was quite a bit of trouble when the company (or part of it) invested too heavily in a crypto project that went sideways. Not sure what the status is there (see Twitter).

That aside, I LOVED the Awair. There's a great story by DHH online on how his entire family got into somewhat serious health trouble due to heavy VOC exposure, and the Awair basically revealed all of it (I think it was an interview on YouTube).

Just be aware that the cheaper devices use cheap sensors to estimate certain measurements and aren't as reliable. There's some on Ali Express you can buy and wire up yourself (or use HomeAssistant with it). I prefered the Awair due to its neat look.

thisisjason
Thank you very much!

I'll have a look at the Awair situation to understand the risk — I wouldn't want to invest on a solution from a company that it might go under soon.

Regarding cheaper devices, that's my thinking as well; I assume that a cheaper device might be less reliable and I definitely don't want a DIY solution.

retino
I've used a airthings for some similar research, you should consider that the quality differs over the year, heating, outside temperature and so on will change your results, what i want to say is if you want to prove different rooms you should consider buying more then one ...

... and some changes will also take some time to show effect. For me it was the amount of radon in the air.

mattivc
I have two Airthings View Plus and I am very happy with them. I have them set up in Home Assistant to turn some fans on and off based on air quality.
gfd
At that budget, you can just get an air purifier with built in monitoring.

Though usually those only detect particulate matter since air purifiers don't really help with CO2, etc.

mrks_
At that price point you should check out Mila which is an air purifier that adjusts based on air quality. I own three - highly recommended!

https://www.milacares.com