There is a great many different opinions. Personally I think the cheaper ones are ineffective by experience. I love my RabbitAir one. It ha 6 filters and gets changed once per year only. http://www.rabbitair.com/ They will give you custom filters for birds and they work!!
I agree with spiritbird. I thought that a cheaper one would do but they don't really work well. I spent the money on an Rabbitair and love it. It does a really good job at filtering the air and is well worth the price.
With respect to those above - and acknowledging that I seemed quite outnumbered on this view - I do find the cheap simple ones to work wonders for me. My allergies used to be dreadful, but I have no problem at all now with a simple unit that is basically just a fan to pull air through a replaceable HEPA filter. I have never tried the rabbitair - I have no reason to doubt it's quality - but at least for me the far cheaper solution worked quite well.
There are many similar units on the market. The filter itself is worth investing in good quality - I'm a fan of Filtrete brand, but any HEPA filter should work - beyond that it's just a housing/casing and a fan.
Well my main problem with the cheap filters are that they pick up smells. They make a room smell really bad. I regularly clean cages but the filter still smelled something fierce. It did drastically reduce dust but investing in the rabbitair made the room smell soooo much better.
I had a "cheap" one and it didn't last too long, a few months to a year maybe? It started making weird noises and being somewhat unreliable.
I have a Rabbit Air for my living room and LOVE how quiet it is. I also have a Austin Air Allergy Machine in my bird room and it's also quite effective. But both were on the expensive side.
RA model says minusA2 SPA 700A. Hope you appreciate this cause I had to get down on the floor with a flashlight to see the number. Just joking. It really is a waste of money for the cheap ones. I have had two and one was a honeywell with the hepa filter and they just did not do a good job of filtering.
Thanks you so much for the info! I have learned that if i get the best product right off the bat, I don't have to buy multiple product so in the long run I save money....
How much is the RabbitAir that you recommend?
I am trying to decide if I should adopt a cockatoo & I would really need an air cleaner then.
It all figures into the equation.
Thanks.
If you are asking me the model I purchased was five hundred or so. I just sold my condo at the time and had it to spend. They advertise in Bird talk Magazine.
Is the air purifier used for the health of the bird or the owner? I don't have any allergies or breathing problems to warrant the purchase of a purifier, but if it is for the health of the bird I will purchase one.
Well I just bought my Rabbit Air! I bought it at airpurifiersdirect2u.com and they have free shipping and a 10% off coupon for October (SPOOKY) and it came to $413.95. I am pretty happy with that price as I thought it would be $500.00 or so. YAY!