The best air purifiers for mid-sized rooms 1. Sharp UA-HD50U-L: Best purifier and humidifier for mid-sized rooms An air-quality sensor, which enables the machine to switch itself on when the air quality becomes poorer, can be useful. After all, you can’t see when the air quality dips, for example, as the result of a high pollen count. This is one of those rare dual-function appliances that’s effective at both, and if the only downside is that it’s a bit weird looking, then that’s not exactly hard to live with. Throw in smart features, a good remote, and fairly frugal power consumption, and it’s a great addition to your living room or bedroom. The best air purifiers for small rooms 1. Russell Hobbs RHAP1001B Clean Air Compact: Best budget air purifier

Levoit’s Core 300S is an elegant, compact purifier with all the latest features. Like the Princess Smart Air Purifier, it’s Wi-Fi and app enabled, hooking up to the third-party VeSync app for remote control, air quality monitoring, and scheduling operation. You can set it to turn on and off at specific times, set the mode and power settings, even set whether the display should turn on or stay off. If you’d rather go completely hands-free altogether, you can also control the Core 300S through Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands. It’s just as good as an air purifier too, though its CADR rating is slightly below that of the purifier-only Pro P2. In tests, it took PM2.5 levels from a maximum 411 micrograms per square metre to 25 in 135 seconds, bringing it down to double figures in just over a minute. Again like the Pro P2, it’s quiet, with the noise barely noticeable at the lowest speed in purifier mode. Left on Smart mode, with the front-facing display turned off, all but the lightest sleepers should be able to sleep through.

Filter replacement indicators aren’t crucial and not all air purifiers have them, but this is a helpful feature as a clogged air cleaner won’t work properly.

A few high-end units double as humidifiers, managing the moisture in the air to prevent dry air causing irritation to the nose, throat, lips and skin. You’re more likely to know Acer for its PCs, laptops or monitors, but its foray into air purifiers shows a lot of promise. The Pro P2 is a mid-sized tower – just under 58cm tall – with the top accommodating the fan’s grille, the minimal controls, and a 1.5in square OLED colour screen. The latter gives you the current PM2.5 reading, plus an at-a-glance air quality indicator, with the text turning from green through amber to magenta as it worsens.

Noise is another factor – you don’t want to replace one irritation (allergies) with another (the sound of a jet plane in your room). For many, the hum is something that doesn’t bother them, but some purifiers can get very noisy. It’s also worth remembering that, while some machines are quiet on their lowest setting (where they’re often at their least effective), they might be loud on the fastest (where they’re working at their best). Breathe easy with the Russell Hobbs Ozone Free Clean Air Purifier. This Air Purifier is perfect for small to medium sized rooms up to 14m² and features an advanced 3-Layer filtration system, including a H13 HEPA filter. And with a CADR of 112m³/h, you can enjoy cleaner, purer air fast. Spending more will get you something quieter with more power, but this is a decent little purifier for a small lounge, home office or bedroom if you’re working on a similarly sized budget.

Breathe easy with the Russell Hobbs Ozone Free Clean Air Compact Air Purifier. This Air Purifier is perfect for small rooms up to 10m² and features an advanced 3-Layer filtration system, including a H13 HEPA filter. And with a CADR of 80m³/h, you can enjoy cleaner, purer air fast. The icing on the cake is excellent performance. In our standard anti-perspirant spray test, the DustMagnet got us down to safe levels within two minutes, with most of the work being done within the first 60 seconds. And while we had our doubts about its claims of capturing airborne dust before it settles, we did notice a lower build-up over a couple of days of testing. Normally we wouldn’t want to leave it on so long, but with the DustMagnet using around 4W to 10W when set to Auto, power consumption is relatively low. Quiet, efficient and effective, it’s the perfect purifier for your living room. Speed settings. Most air purifiers have a choice of speeds so you can keep it lower for sleeping and turn it up when the pollen count is high. A night mode can also help if you want a quiet setting and dimmer lights while you sleep, although we found this doesn’t always work as well as you’d hope.LED Display and Lighting– Cleaner air is made simple with this easy-to-use air purifier. This model offers a timer option for 2, 4 or 8 hours, giving you complete control. It also features colour-changing LED lighting to suit any setting. CLEAN AIR COMPACT - This compact model is perfect for small rooms up to 10m², such as your home office, bedroom or living space. The sleek, contemporary body is designed to fit seamlessly into your surroundings. Some purifiers have a built-in timer. This can be really useful if you want your machine to come on a few hours before you get home, or if you want to turn it off automatically at night. We’re not sure how well that works in practice, but the UA-HD40U-L is impressively efficient at filtering out impurities and very quiet at its automatic and low-power settings. A strip on the top turns from red to orange to green to indicate the current air quality, and there’s a humidity readout so you can monitor humidity levels, although both this and the “ion shower” feature can be turned off if you just want air purification. Well designed and easy to use, this is a great air purifier for smaller rooms.