Ionic Breeze Review by former Sharper Image Employee
Written: Sep 13 '04
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Pros: Will make your friends know you have money to blow and possibly make them envious.
Cons: Quite noisy at times. Does not perform as advertised. Ozone odor quite overpowering. WAY overpriced.
The Bottom Line: Would not recommend this item to anyone! Read consumer reports and other reviews before making decision to purchase. Better products available cheaper!
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| s_mcdon73's Full Review: Sharper Image Ionic Breeze GP SI730 Air Purifier |
When I first started my part-time job at The Sharper Image, I was very excited about the opportunity to purchase their items, namely the Ionic Breeze, at a substantial discount. Within the first 2 weeks of my employment I purchased the Ionic Breeze GP.
The first sign of trouble was the second night I had it. It started making a VERY loud buzzing, crackling noise. I thought it was probably damaged in shipping or a rare problem since I hadn't noticed any of the displays at the store doing this. So I returned it for a new identical model. Guess what? Within a week it was doing the same thing as the first, only WORSE! I still had hope of this working for me, but once my fourth unit (not kidding) failed I gave up on the highly overrated Ionic Breeze GP.
It does not perform anywhere near the level that it is advertised to. As for eliminating or even reducing household dust, don't count on it...makes no difference in amount of dust in your house.
And as far as eliminating odors go, If you consider masking an odor with ozone eliminating it, then it works like it should. As for my opinion, the smell of ozone in my apartment was worse and more irritating than the normal odor before I purchased the unit. I have moderately bad allergies and asthma, so I had very high hopes of this helping my breathing, especially at night. I cannot speak for everyone, but my breathing was noticeably worse with this unit running. I have read articles both ways about the effects of ozone on asthma, but as for me I'm convinced that it made breathing more difficult.
In a study performed by the Yale University School of Medicine (email me for the link to this study) colleagues studied 271 children under the age of 12 with active asthma, measuring their response to two air pollutants, ozone and very small particulate matter. A one-hour exposure to air containing 50 parts per billion caused a significant increase in wheezing and chest tightness in those children, and increased their use of symptom-relieving drugs, says a report in the Oct. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
As an employee of Sharper Image I saw first hand the very, VERY high number of these units returned either because they were defective or because of customer dissatisfaction. The one positive thing I can say about the company is they have a very good warranty/return program.
I have since quit The Sharper Image and moved on to better things! Just thought I would let potential buyers know someones opinion who had a lot of exposure to the Ionic Breeze and saw firsthand the problems and complaints they received.
My opinion, look elsewhere and get better quality for less money.
PS. Read the Consumer Reports review of the Ionic Breeze. This really ticked off the big wigs at TSI. They are even suing CR.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 250
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: Somewhat loud
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s_mcdon73
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Reviews written: 2
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