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SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: an efficient air purifier with many talents
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SwitchBot Air Purifier Table: two-minute review
The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table integrates an air purifier with a tabletop, a wireless Qi charger, a colored ambient light, and a fragrance diffuser.
It has a list price of $269.99 / £299.99, and can be purchased from SwitchBot and Amazon; however, there appear to be very regular discounts on the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table, and at the time of writing, it’s on offer for $175.50 / £180.
Replaceable filters cost $39.99 / £44.99, and will need to be replaced roughly every 6-12 months, depending on use, so it’s important to factor this extra cost in.
Setting up the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table was fairly simple but a little fiddly, on account of the little electrical connector I needed to plug in before putting the tabletop in place.
It’s a good height for having next to the couch or bedside, and the built-in wireless charger proves particularly useful in these cases. The onboard controls are a little tricky to see due to the tabletop, but I found myself using the SwitchBot app to control the purifier most of the time.
The simple-to-use companion app was pleasingly responsive when operating the air purifier and offers air quality data, scheduling, and a timer, which are all good features to have.
During testing, the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table quickly detected and cleared dry shampoo contamination. While it didn’t immediately remove fragrance, it was cleared fairly quickly once I intervened and increased the fan speed myself.
It operates quietly in sleep mode, and is only as loud as light traffic when on top speed. Pet Mode didn’t operate as I’d expected, but the overall low volume of the purifier meant that it didn’t bother my cats. I also found the fragrance diffuser to be efficient in lightly fragrancing the room after I’d applied drops of fragrance oil to the pop-out pad.
Overall, this is a good price for a multi-talented and Matter-compatible air purifier with an efficient companion app. If you’d like to explore other air purifiers we recommend, I suggest taking a look at our guide to the best air purifiers.
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: price & availability
- List price: $269.99 / £299.99
- Available now in the US and UK
The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table is available to purchase from the official SwitchBot website and Amazon, and has a list price of $269.99 / £299.99.
The list price sounds pretty high considering the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table only detects and reacts to PM2.5; however, there appear to be regular discounts on offer on the SwitchBot site and at Amazon, so it’s common to find it available at a lower price. For instance, at the time of writing, the Air Purifier table has 35% off in the US, and 40% off in the UK at SwitchBot, knocking a considerable $94.50 / £120 off the list price, and lowering the cost to $175.50 / £180.
There’s a cheaper model available too, the SwitchBot Air Purifier, which includes most of the features mentioned in the following review, just without the tabletop and wireless charging. This has a list price of $219.99 / £239.99 but, as with the Air Purifier table, this price is often discounted, and it’s listed at $119.99 / £139.99 at the time of writing.
Both models use the SwitchBot Air Purifier Filter, which has a list price of $39.99 / £44.99. As with all HEPA filters, this will need to be replaced on occasion, with SwitchBot advising a lifespan of 6-12 months depending on usage and air quality, so it’s important to factor in this regular cost.
Taking into account the convenience and additional features of the Air Purifier Table, and that it’s very regularly available for less than its official list price, I would say that you’re getting good value for money here.
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: specs
Type | Air purifier table |
Fan speeds | 3 |
Timer | Yes |
CADR (Clean air delivery rate) | 236CFM |
Filter | Pre filter, HEPA and activated carbon |
Particle sizes detected | PM2.5 |
Dimensions | 11.4 x 11.4 x 16.5 inches / 290 x 290 x 420mm |
Weight | 10.7lb / 4.9kg |
Control | Onboard power buttons, app, and voice control |
Additional modes | Auto, Sleep, Pet |
Extra features | Fragrance diffuser, Light sensor, Wireless charging, Matter |
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: design and features
- 4-in-1 air purifier, wireless charger, fragrance diffuser, and ambient light
- Simple to set up, but a little fiddly
- Detects and reacts to PM2.5 contamination
It feels like they were having a “yes” day in the SwitchBot office when they came up with the concept of the Air Purifier Table, like every idea thrown out was met with an enthusiastic nod. But somehow they found a way to make it work.
The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table consists of an air purifier with a tabletop, as one might expect, but it also boasts a wireless Qi charger, a colored ambient light, and a fragrance diffuser. It made a useful little side table next to my couch, and the built-in Qi wireless charger proved handy for keeping my iPhone or Motorola Moto Buds+ earbuds topped up, which was a nice bonus feature.
Does an air purifier really need all these things? Perhaps not, but I appreciated the thought, and found these extra features useful, so you may do, too.
The air purifier is capable of detecting and reacting to PM2.5 (particle matter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller), but it is also capable of filtering VOCs and odors, thanks to the HEPA and activated carbon filter. This filter sits within the base of the machine, behind a washable pre-filter, both of which can be easily accessed by removing the outer panel.
Setting up the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table was a little fiddly, as there are two parts of a little electrical connector between the purifier and the table top that need to be connected together. Once this was done, it was a case of rotating the table top until it clicked into place. There were four little screws that were meant to be screwed into the purifier underneath the tabletop for extra reinforcement, but this seemed basically impossible, even with my tiny hands, so I had to leave them.
There are a number of controls on the top edge of the purifier, underneath the tabletop, to use when you’re within reaching distance, or you can use the companion app to control the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table. The onboard controls include a button to change between the air purifier’s three modes: Auto, Pet, and Sleep, a button to cycle through the three fan speeds, a child lock, and a timer.
The controls were a bit tricky to reach, as they’re somewhat hidden underneath the tabletop. It wasn’t easy to change the settings unless I was sitting down and had a better view, although this wasn’t such a problem once I’d used them for a while, and it made more sense to use the app to adjust the settings, anyway.
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: app
- Responsive and simple to use
- Can set schedules and timers
- Shows current and historical air quality data
The SwitchBot companion app is simple to use and houses a good range of features and air quality data insights for the price of the appliance. It proved very responsive over the weeks I used it, making it easy to switch modes or power on or off.
It clearly displays the air quality reading on the dashboard, using ratings from very good to bad, along with a numerical reference that relates to the number of micrograms of PM2.5 per meter cubed.
The app also provides historical data in graphs spanning either the last 24 hours or 30 days. This meant I could view which hour any spikes in air contamination occurred over the last day, and see what the minimum and maximum readings were each day over the last month. It would have been nice to have access to a 24-hour graph for previous days of the month, but this is only a small niggle, really.
I could also set schedules within the app, either as a one-off occurrence or repeating on particular days and times. There’s a timer function, too, which offers both hours and minutes, up to 12 hours, so I could leave it running for exactly 11 hours and 26 minutes, if I really wanted to.
Finally, the care and maintenance section told me how many hours of life were remaining on the filter, and how many hours I’d been using it for. At this moment, it’s telling me that I’ve used it for 184 hours, and I’ve got 4,136 hours left. This section also advises that the pre-filter should be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner every two to four weeks, which is all handy info to know.
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: performance
- Quick contaminant detection and clearing
- The noise didn’t disturb my rescue cats
- Subtly fragranced the air
The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table was pleasingly responsive when I tested it by spraying dry shampoo from roughly two feet away. It took just a few seconds to detect the contamination, with the PM2.5 reading increasing to 619 micrograms per meter cubed in thirty seconds.
In this time, the fan speed increased in order to tackle the detected contamination, and took a further thirty seconds to return the air level to “good”, and back to “very good” in less than two minutes from the initial detection.
As it tackled the contamination so quickly, and therefore returned to its lowest setting, it didn’t do much to tackle the lingering fragrance of the dry shampoo in this time, though this is standard for air purifiers incapable of reading the ambient levels of VOCs in the air. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t capture VOCs, however, as the HEPA and carbon filter is capable of doing so, but it needs to be manually set back to a higher fan speed to do so efficiently. I upped the fan speed to level two, and could no longer detect the fragrance after about fifteen minutes.
On the subject of scents, the built-in fragrance diffuser worked better than I was expecting. I’ve encountered this feature before with my beloved GoveeLife Smart Air Purifier Lite, though it was one of the rare sources of disappointment, as it wasn’t very efficient. Things were a bit more positive when it came to the diffuser in the SwitchBot, however; I could detect a good amount of the fragrance from the oils I’d placed on the pad.
One important thing to note regarding fragrance or essential oils and pets is to please make sure you do your research on whether any oils you plan to use are safe, as some can prove toxic to our furry friends.
The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table was very quiet when in sleep mode, measuring just 26dB from two feet away, which is quieter than a whisper. It was therefore very easy to sleep next to, and so I’d have no concerns using the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table as a nightstand.
Pet Mode worked a little differently than I expected. On the SwitchBot site, Pet Mode is described as using a softer air supply to prevent disturbing pets. In practice, I found that enabling it just seemed to bump the fan speed up to two, regardless of the air quality, which was already good. Nonetheless, neither of my rescue kitties seemed bothered by the 49dB volume, and were happy to come up and have fusses right next to it.
At its top fan speed, the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table gave a reading of 55dB, making it a little louder than the Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max, but seeing as this is still only as loud as light traffic, it’s perfectly acceptable.
Overall, the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table is an efficient air purifier for the price, and a handy little side table and phone charger.
- Performance score: 4.5 out of 5
Should I buy the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table?
Section | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Value for money | Provided you purchase it at what appears to be a regularly discounted rate, you’re getting a good little air purifier and some fun additional features for the price. | 4/5 |
Design & Features | There’s a lot packed into this little table, thanks to its air purifying, charging, and fragrance diffusing features. The setup was a little fiddly in places, but easy enough overall. | 4/5 |
App | The companion app was simple to use and responsive. It gave some insights into any spikes in contamination throughout the day, plus min and max readings over the past thirty days. | 4.5/5 |
Performance | The air purifier reacted to and tackled contamination quickly during testing, and dealt with the odor left over, once I’d manually upped the fan speed. | 4.5/5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
SwitchBot Air Purifier Table review: Also consider
| Header Cell – Column 0 | SwitchBot Air Purifier Table | Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i | GoveeLife Smart Air Purifier Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
Price | $269.99 / £299.99 | $169.99 / £169 | $49.99 / £59.99 |
Fan speeds | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Modes | Auto, Sleep, Pet | Auto, night mode | Sleep, Custom |
Additional features | Fragrance diffuser, Light sensor, Wireless charging | Washable fabric pre-filter | Aromatherapy |
Filter | Pre-filter, HEPA and activated carbon | HEPA and activated carbon | 3-in-1 HEPA filter |
App support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dimensions | 11.4 x 11.4 x 16.5 inches / 290 x 290 x 420mm | 18.9 x 10.6 x 10.6 inches / 481 x 269 x 269 mm | 6.2 x 6.2 x 10.75 inches / 158 x 158 x 273mm |
Weight | 10.7lb / 4.9kg | 7.5 lbs / 3.4 kg | 2.4lb / 1.1kg |
How I tested the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table
- I tested the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table for a few weeks
- I explored the different modes and features
- I tested its detection and reaction speeds
I passively tested the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table by having it next to my couch for a few weeks. I used it as a side table, charged my iPhone and earbuds, and made use of the fragrance diffuser and ambient lighting.
I tested out all of the different modes, like Sleep mode when I napped on the sofa, and Pet mode when my rescue cats were about. I explored the app and made use of the various features.
I tested how fast the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table would react to and clear contamination by spraying dry shampoo around two feet away. I also monitored the readings on the app during this time.
