FreshAir Surround by Vollara (formerly EcoQuest) with ActivePure

 (23 customer reviews)

We live in a dusty place--agriculture nearby, windy conditions and a relatively dry climate mean constant dust. Plus we are in an area of high air pollution with coal-fired power plants. I find lots of dust in the house, and I know it makes me uncomfortable. We purchased the EcoQuest Fresh Air Purifier during a home show, and I find it lives up to its promises of cleaner air, though there is certainly a downside to using it (more about later.)

How it works

Some air purifiers work by filtering the air--they bring IN the air with a fan and blow it across a filter or precipitator to remove the dust. But the EcoQuest is different; it bombards the air with ions that make the dust fall down and break apart. While this sounds like science fiction, it is a well-known method of precipitating particles in many applications. Therefore, one EcoQuest works on a large area--in our case we use one for the main part of the house which is open plan and find it controls dust in...Read more

Hands down this is the best air purifier I ever used. I used the Ionic Breeze and the Oreck XL and they don't even come close to this unit. My friend let me borrow his unit because I was complaining how I was having problems getting rid of my cat odor in my room. Oreck XL was close in getting rid of the odor and The Ionic Breeze was a useless piece of junk. The Ecoquest got rid of my cat odor COMPLETELY.

I would get the ECOQUEST version though cause I think ECOQUEST bought out Alpine and updated the unit with more advance features like the lighted digital display, a "Go Away" feature, and added a remote control. You can get at ebay for around $300 for about the same price as the useless Ionic Breeze.

The unit works well eliminating dust and odor. Most of my friends who have this machine have the same complaint that I do - Maintenance and new parts. They tell you that you never need to buy another filter. This is true, but the lamp ($17) always needs replacing (this is the 3rd one in 18 months) and friends of mine have complained that they have needed to replace the plate many times. Since you cannot buy parts at your local store, you need to get them online and wait while your machine is out of commission. You need to clean the machine at least once a month. It is not like other machines that just snap open. You need to unscrew the back panel, front panel and inside panel. It is amazing how dusty the inside gets! The filters are easy to wash down. Like anything else, when it is working it is great.