Winix 5300-2 Air Purifier with True HEPA, PlasmaWave and Odor Reducing Carbon Filter

We bought this purifier in 2019 to help improve the air quality in an apartment. The building was older and had a ventilation system that, during the winter, would pull cooking smells, smoke, and other odors into our living space. The overall timing turned out to be fortuitous since we ended up spending a lot more time indoors when the pandemic kicked off a year later. The immediate effect of the purifier was noticeable. Unwanted odors were improved, there was less dust in the air, and we experienced fewer allergy symptoms. Especially since we were in a smaller space (~600 sq ft), this thing really did a great job, even staying on its low setting. It was great piece of mind knowing the air quality was a bit better for our newborn, too. We’ve since moved into a larger house and this thing is still humming along in our living room. I’m sure it’s less effective in such a large open space, but it’s positioned near our A/C air return, so it’s cleaning up a lot of the air as the A/C circulates air through the whole house. It has remained quiet and effective. I just vacuum out the dust shield every couple weeks, replace or vacuum out the charcoal filter every few months, and change the HEPA filter out annually. Overall, I don’t think you can beat this for the price. I like that it doesn’t have a remote, an app, and other extraneous things when all I need is cleaner air. I’ll likely upgrade to something larger at some point, but I’ve been super happy with this little guy for over 5 years now.

Update 4/2026: It's s been close to 2 years of use. It still works great and runs smoothly. I'm so glad I chose this model due to others helpful and honest reviews! 8/24: I'll be updating this over time but thus far, I'm very happy with this purifier. I had finally redecorated my room, but with new bedding, curtains and other various textiles, off gassing became a problem. I didn't have a problem until I opened windows on a damp cooler night...that's when it became apparent. I also have two cats and live in a 100 yr old home. Though I like to keep a clean environment throughout (weekly cleanings), and clean litter boxes several times a day (you see cats but don't smell them), one could easily see all the dust sparkles in the sunshine that float around. Despite changing the furnace filter monthly, dust still happens. I needed help with both dust and off gassing. Not all purifiers offer both. After doing A LOT of homework with research and reviews, I purchased this. It has helped immensely with getting rid of the smell and I'll launder items again to hopefully put a stop to t it as I can smell off gassing once home. However, it clears up with this on. I use this in my bedroom and after 24 hours of use, I woke to see barely any sparkles in the sunshine. I literally had to search for them! I couldn't believe it! I love the sleep option as well since I like the room dark. Also being a light sleeper, I appreciated this being whisper quiet. Set up was a breeze and it was up and running within minutes. I also ordered a pack of filters at time of purchase to have on hand. I plan on ordering a second purifier for the first floor in the near future. I've no opinion on durability as of yet, only had this a matter of days. A big thank you to those before me who wrote very thorough and extremely helpful reviews bringing up information I had no knowledge of with purifiers. They helped me to decide which color (model) to get. So far so good....will update as time goes on.

I smoke cigars and live in a small brick rancher. I run two air filters, one in the back of the house and one in the room where I smoke. This is air cleaner replaced one of my older Hunter air cleaners that died. It is a very nice looking unit, very stylish and the panel displays all of the functions so you know exactly what is going on. There is a light bar on the front that changes from Blue when the air is clean to Yellow when some contamination is detected to Red when heavier levels of contamination are present. Most of the time it will be Blue, but if you are smoking or you fry foods, it will go to Yellow or Red. It is impossible to hear at fan speed 1, it's a slight whisper at 2, at 3 there is a gentle 'whoosh' that is drowned out by conversation or the TV and 4 is like a small jet plane taking off. I find that the auto setting doesn't run at high enough speeds when smoking cigars, so I set the fan speed and leave it at 3. I have never run it at 4 because it moves a LOT of air and is LOUD. Not sure under what circumstances you'd run it at 4, it really is overkill at that speed. I guess if you just smoked a cigar or had string food odors and were going out, you could set it on 4 and leave, but it blows very hard and makes too much noise to sit in the room with it at that level. But don't worry, because 3 is the sweet spot for this machine when smoking/cooking and 2 the rest of the time. Fan speed 3 keeps the cigar smoke under control while smoking and left running overnight, it kills all cigar odor by morning. The prefilter is a very fine, sheer screen. It washes in the kitchen sink in minutes, no soap required. Always remember to point the dirty side down in the sink and spray it from the clean side, that way you are forcing the dirt back OUT of the mesh the way it came in, instead of pushing it INTO the mesh. The carbon filter works well and in a cigar smoking situation lasts about 1.5-2 months. Winix recommends 3 months and in a non-smoking house that is probably about right. I saw someone saying you can vacuum dust off the carbon filter. Yes, you CAN do that but carbon filters work by capturing odors in the microscopic pores of the carbon in the mesh. Vacuuming it will remove dust, but it won't restore the odor capturing properties. Just change out the carbon filter when you notice it's no longer working on odors. Winix (and generic filter suppliers) include 4 carbon pre-filters for each filter. So if you replace the carbon every three months and the HEPA once a year you are set. In a smoking household, expect to change the carbon every 1.5-2 months and the HEPA every 6-8 months. This is because the HEPA filter will eventually absorb enough smoke particles that get past the carbon filter that the output will smell a little stale, even with a clean carbon filter. Filter changes are simple, just pop he panel off, wash pre-filter and swap carbon and/or HEPA; including rinsing the pre-filter you can do it in a couple of minutes. The PlasmaWave works VERY well, beating out my old Hunter for odor removal, despite both using similar HEPA filters and similar 1/4" thick carbon filters. We have a dog and when friends with dog allergies visit they say that their allergies don't even act up, so it's doing a good job of capturing pet dander. During pollen season, you notice relief just minutes after coming inside. I highly recommend this unit for everyone and will be purchasing another when I use up the last of my filters for the Hunter.

> 1 year use everyday Note for frugal: If you are frugal, go on youtube and find home-made Air filter. After researching filters, I realized they are mostly just box fans with a HEPA filter attached. This does have an air purifier that apparently DOESN'T create ozone, however after a year of straight use (no turning off), it has started to VERY quietly hum/click a bit. I keep it off and turn it on when I feel like there is a lot of allergy-inducing particles in the air (window open in pollen season) Summary: This thing works and the air quality is considerably better having it run for just a few minutes on high (small or small-mid size room). The mesh is amazing. The HEPA filter is self-explanatory and great. The carbon filter is worrying (more below) My most important takeaway: After reading a comment that talked about black fuzz from the carbon filter, I looked at dust in my room that had accumulated (much, much, much less than before due to the product). I ran my finger across the dust and looked at it closely. I noticed black fibers that another comment had mentioned. I do not want to be breathing that crap in so I removed the carbon filter leaving the HEPA filter and the mesh. After removing the black carbon filter, and checking spots in my room where dust accumulates. I found there was no more black fibers to be found. The carbon filter degrades or breaks apart and somehow gets around the HEPA filter. Would remove but the product itself is amazing. Extra Info: Sound: 2 is quiet and I am sensitive to noises so 1 should be less than noticeable for users who do not like fan/white noise. 4 is loud but loud also means a lot of air is moving. The range of volume/air movement is great and doesn't leave anything to be wanted. Additional Recommendations: 1. Remove the carbon filter. I am 90% confident it was releasing black fibers into the air in my room and settled with the other dust. I care about my health which is why I got this in the first place so I will not be experimenting to see if black fibers accumulate (read above for more info) 2. I removed the front magnetized panel so that there is less coverage for the air intake and filtering. Keep it on for looks, take it off for efficiency. 3. The mesh is absolutely amazing. 100% recommend for asthma sufferers. This thing improved my symptoms when I was suffering from weird symptoms after running on high in less than 5 minutes.

Bought this hoping to at least lessen the litter smell and to my surprise it got rid of the smell completely. The filters last a long time and the washable ones are easy to clean. It’s not super loud and doesn’t use a ridiculous amount of electricity so your bills don’t go up. Eventually I’ll be buying two more for the house because of how well it cleans the air.

If you suffer from allergies, this filter is so worth the money. It's made a major difference in my home this allergy season. It shows a color-coded light that identifies when it's sensed contaminates and what level cleaning is underway: Blue, Orange, Red. I know it's accurate, because if I open the door for any length of time it turns orange. I'm a rather poor cook, and when it gets the least bit smokey inside it turns orange. I usually turn it off when I'm cooking. However, one night I filled the place with smoke, and this unit cleared the air in about two minutes, all the while display the bright red "What are you doing" light. When I first powered this up, it was red for a few hours, letting me know how contaminated the air was in my home without this device. If I leave this on for the day, when I return at night the air has a slight izonization smell... sort of like after a nearby lightening strike; which I'm guessing means it's been doing its job. The filers are kind of pricey, but couldn't even watch TV because my eyes were so watery before I got this unit; so it was worth it. First, there's a simple screen to block the big stuff. I just pop-this out and spray it was the water hose and it's clean in seconds. Behind that screen, there's a 30-day charcoal filter. These aren't reusable, but the unit comes with three of them. That's because the third filter is the micro one, which lasts for 90 days. So you use the three charcoal filters for 90 days, then replace the micro filer as well. An new filter kits comes with another three charcoal and one micro filter, so you're good for another 90 days. After about 45 days my allergies were starting to get bad again, then I remembered I hadn't replaced the 30-day charcoal filter. As soon as I did the air improved. It's pretty quiet. I don't really notice it's running unless I've got it on the maximum speed. At that speed it's loud enough to interfere with hearing the TV, but it's really cranking-out the air as well. Most of the time, I leave it in the auto mode. The sensor works very well, knowing when to kick-in and when to stay dormant. I'm considering getting another for the office.

If you need to rid the air of dust, pollen, smoke, or other particulate matter: this is the purifier for you thanks to a large fan and true hepa filter. If you need to rid the air of odors: you're going to need something else - preferably with 15-20lbs of activated charcoal in it. HEPA filters capture particles - not gasses. After buying this thing, I found out that many air quality problems can be abated by deep cleaning and controlling humidity - if you've already done those things and still need to get rid of dust or don't regularly or seasonally have humidity indoors above 50% then this is a good move. After a little bit of research I found that dust mites and mold flourish in humid environments both of these things are major causes for allergies. A HEPA is still a good idea because dust contains other toxic chemicals like flame retardants which are pretty bad for you. Lowering humidity kills dust mites and mold so they can't release allergens but HEPA filters will capture particles of that size if they're a problem - I just think humidity is more important than purifying. On to the review: The Winix 5300-2 is a little friend that comes in a box. When you plug it in he (or she) plays you a tune, samples your air, and cleans it up by sucking it through a true hepa filter. This purifier is the Thor's hammer of air quality control. It moves a lot of air, it is almost silent, and it is adorable. I think this machine is the best value on Amazon for air purifiers and here's why: It covers a relatively large area, it's well made, has a strong recommendation from Allergy Buyers Club, and one of the other reviewers measured its effectiveness with a Dylos air particle sensor and stated the results were excellent and far better than the Sharp Clustersomething. So here's what you need to know: If you push air through a Hepa filter it will remove particles from the air. You can achieve an effective result by taping a 20" house fan filter to a box fan and get a 90% reduction of air particles - and perhaps more if you use a better filter. It's an ugly and kind of ratchet solution but it's something I'm still considering for my studio space. This machine has a true hepa filter so it will work. The problem we run into in the design of these machines is size and noise. This machine is bigger and has a lot of surface area compared to smaller units and so the fan can be larger and draw more air in at a lower speed which means it's not as noisy - at least that's how I think science works. Either way the little guy is dead silent on sleep mode and is not a problem even at level 2 - after that it sounds like a little fan is on and if you put this sucker into turbo it sounds like a small aircraft - it's great for initial cleanup but not necessary to run it at that speed all day. Now lets set some realistic expectations about what this thing can and cannot do. I saw one lady complain that she lived with 5 cats and she ran it for a week and still had cat hair everywhere and none in the machine. There are dedicated machines for pet hair and they aren't cheap. I think they're also huge and they probably sound like a commercial air scrubber if you turn it on. This isn't going to replace vacuuming your house or brushing your cats - and having lived with one cat I can tell you that they're nasty creatures and 5 of them stuffed into an apartment is probably way too many cats for one person or 1 Winix air purifier to handle. If you want to use this to clean up cat hair here's what you do: Step 1: Obtain a gas powered leaf blower and some ear protection Step 2: Turn on your Winix 5300-2 - set to Turbo Step 3: Turn on your gas powered leaf blower Step 4: In a circular orbit complete passes around the room making sure to get all of the cat hair airborn Step 5: Repeat step four until all cat hair has been sucked into the Winix 5300-2 This machine was designed to remove fine particles from the air. It does that. Every time you turn on your vacuum, walk on your carpet, open doors or windows, sit on your dusty furniture, or turn on your air conditioner you kick up dust. That's what this is for. Ok so Plasmawave: YES it creates ozone but only a little bit. So little that in the People's Republic of California I can still buy one. Ionizing air purifiers have been banned by order of the Government here - and so this is not that. Other things that create ozone? Your hairdryer and microwave. Also you can turn plasmawave off if you don't like it. I'm not exactly sure that it is useful but I leave it on while it's scrubbing the room on turbo and then I turn it off when I'm actually inhabiting the room. So here is the bottom line: you breathe about 3000 gallons of air per day. How much water do you drink per day? Do you filter that? So now that we've decided you need one of these machines do you pick the 5300-2 or the 5500-2? The 5500-2 has lower maintenance costs because it comes with washable filters. As far as I know - that's the only difference. I chose the 5300-2 because I want my air and house to be cleaner, I don't want to open up the chamber , pull out this dusty filter, drag it over to the sink and ring it out or whatever. All in all you decide! But when you get one, I think this is the best one. I'll update it after a bit of more use. **Update 1 week in** Definitely loving this little guy, and have noticed that the air is definitely cleaner and I feel noticeably better. If you're going through the hassle of getting one of these, do yourself a solid and do a deep clean of your house. Wipe down the walls, vacuum under your furniture, change your air filter in your furnace or air conditioner, vacuum the drapes, wipe the mildew off of your windows. Main complaint: It has a sleep mode and it's dead quiet, but I am comfortable with it blowing at level two while asleep. You can't run it out of sleep mode and still turn the blue air quality indicator light out. The light is super bright and illuminates a room to a disturbing level. Eventually I'm going to put one in my bedroom and just put tape over the light and leave it at two while I sleep. Other than that, it cleans the air as advertised, no strange smells that I noticed, except the smell of a fresh air filter. It's well built, the buttons look and feel good, and I feel better after using it. So far it's still a highly recommended product. I'll update down the road. Update 2/8/17 I think it's been about a month. No problems so far. Emailed Winix and found out that the air sensor measures gases and temperature - not particles. I've noticed of my wife paints her nails the air quality quickly goes to red, it will also do that if you burn something on the stove. It does have a carbon filter but that filter is not very good at removing smells - they make machines for that and they use 18lbs of activated charcoal. The best one I've seen is $700. Basically the air quality sensor is kind of useless because in auto mode it will only kick on if you do something smelly to your house and not if say your heater kicks on and blows out a lot of dust. Auto mode is pretty pointless just use the manual controls - takes 2 seconds. I will definitely be buying another unit from Winix - probably a 5300-2. Update: 6/24/18 Still going just fine and while I’ve needed to clean the first screen every few weeks, the carbon filter only needed to be replaced once and the hepa still looks like it’s 65% of new. I’m tempted to replace it just because the manufacturer says to do it about once a year.

This thing works! Like many other users, I regret not having invested in a air purifier until now. Being that my little room is right next to a public parking lot and near the street roads, a lot of dust gets collected. A lot. I'm not sure even I have allergies or whatnot (as I don't have a need to take any medicine) but I do find myself sneezing a lot more often prior to getting this purifier. This would often lead to a decrease in my mood and often times even very frustrated. Definitely not good. The Winix 5300-2 is one of the best rated air purifiers on Amazon but I actually had intended to go with its bigger brother, the 5500-2, instead. However, due to shipping restrictions, Amazon was not able to deliver it to my state. The major difference between the two from my recollection is that the 5500-2 actually incorporates a different type of carbon filter that is stronger than the 5300-2 and is therefore able to absorb odor a lot better. After having used the 5300-2 for about two months with it working nonstop 24/7, I am happy to say that it definitely helps in minimizing the dust in my room as evident in my screenshot along with many other reviewers. The amount of dust captured in the pre-screen filter is insane. Prior to the purifier, there would be a thick coating of dust on my glass computer table and I'd have to wipe it every two weeks or so if I wasn't too lazy. With the purifier, I have wiped the table just once these past two months! The difference made is incredible. Be forewarned that the purifier will not be able to capture every single mote of dust. My glass table along with other furniture items still have dust sitting on them but it is nowhere near the level it was prior and that's okay with me. I now no longer sneeze as much which in turn allows for me to be in a much more positive mood as I'm less irritated. It's hilarious when someone mentioned the lights on the unit turning color when they farted in the room. Suffice it to say, yes, this unit pass the fart test for me as well. Farting in the room will have the unit usually picking up the bad air fairly quickly and the color will change to orange. If it's really bad, it will turn red. Quite hilarious but I'm relieved to know I have a quick trial on hand to test if the unit is still working properly! What this unit doesn't do too well is masking or filtering bad odor. I have a neighbor below me that likes to smoke in the balcony. While I personally don't mind the smell of cigarettes wafting into my room, the 5300-2 did little to mask the odor. So although it is able to detect bad odor due to the light changing colors, I'll have to trust whatever technology it is using to clean that air for me because it doesn't really get rid of the actual smell itself. If you're looking to eliminate foul odor, you'll definitely want to pickup the 5500-2 instead. The little extra money spent should be well worth it. The 5500-2 comes with a 1-yr supply of carbon filter replacements so that was very generous of them to provide. The pre-screen filter is washable. Also, my electricity bill only jumped a little with this guy running 24/7 for a full month and I'd say its worth every single penny!

Air quality is great. Noise level nothing. Value for money. Works amazing because new construction going lots of dust is coming. It’s very easy to handle. Its portable not heavy to move in house

Es un muy buen producto, lo compré porque donde vivo hay actividad minera cercana y el polvo es una molestia, además gracias a la última contingencia ambiental no se podía abrir la ventana sin que el olor del humo colmara la habitación por horas. Resolvió ambos problemas sin esfuerzo, solo basta con colocarlo en modo automático y dejarlo trabajar. El ruido en su potencia de ventilador más baja es casi nulo, incluso en un nivel intermedio apenas y podrás percibirlo, la cosa cambia en su nivel máximo de potencia donde el ruido es más que perceptible, pero rara vez lo operarás en dicha potencia. Mantiene el aire limpio y sin olores sin problemas, yo ya estaba a costumbrsdo a dormir con la nariz tapada debido al polvo y tenerlo en el cuarto ha sido un verdadero alivio. Es fácil de limpiar y los filtros son asequibles. Mi cuarto mide 4x 6 metros y lo coloque en una esquina, no tiene problemas para limpiar el aire contenido en tal volumen.

I have had TWO of these for over a year now. They GREATLY reduce the amount of dust that accumulates on the furniture. Love the fact that it has a pre-filter that can be vacuumed (vacuum mine every few weeks). Also amazed by how sensitive it is to any fumes (exhaust, cooking, colognes). Also seems to have reduced allergic reactions from a family member (we have a dog) when they come to visit (they bought one for their home as well!). It is also very quiet, even on high speed!

Good air purifier with all the required features. It turns red if the AQI in the room is high, and orange if it is moderate. Blue means the air quality in the room is good. It has an auto night mode, which switches it to silent operation when the room lights are turned off at night.

After having a persistent bout with allergies I purchased this purifier in an attempt to further purify air in one particular room in my house. In terms of air quality issues within my control, I had already gone through the routine changing out my furnace filter and washing out the air to air heat exchanger of my HVAC system. Let me begin in saying I was pretty sceptical that the air purifier would have much effect given the previous actions I had taken but I purchased it anyway to see if would improve the situation. As stated I have an additional fresh air heat exchanger as part of my HVAC system in addition to a proper furnace air filtering system. As the air purifier purified air was now contained to a specific area I was able to compare the results of being in that area compared to the other areas of my house. I put the unit on the second highest fan setting which seemed to move a satisfactory amount of air while keeping the sound level of the fan quite acceptable. After using it in this manner I found that I no longer was sneezing when in the area of the filtered air. I really don't think this was a subconscious reaction in response to being in the room with the air purifier since sneezing isn't something I consciously control. There is a slight change to the smell of the air which I perceive as a bit sterile yet pleasant and may be from running the Pulsewave action. Between the low hush of the air and this scent the purifiers presence is perceptible while being acceptable. In conclusion I would say that I had started with pretty decent quality air in my home and it seems to me that the unit is able to further improve the air quality from there. I imagine if the air quality started out quite poor the results would be remarkable. I intend to add a second unit to my bedroom now that I have had the opportunity to test it in there as well and found I am able to operate it in night mode without it effecting my sleep.