GermGuardian AC5350B Review

Performance Comparison

Air Cleaning Performance

The AC5350B earns an average score in our air cleaning testing, putting it a bit short of the top performers. This purifier reduced the airborne particulates in our testing room by 91.5% after running for half an hour. That reduction rose to 99.5% after an hour. This put it just behind the top-scoring Coway, which hit a reduction of 99.84% in the same time frame. While the Coway did clean the testing room a bit faster (it had reached a reduction of 99.32% at the half-hour mark), it is incredibly unlikely that you'll be able to tell the difference between these two machines after they've been running for an hour.

The one area where the AC5350B does fall behind the Coway is its CADR (clean air delivery rate) spec. The AC5350B CADR rating is 125, meaning it can handle rooms of up to 188 square feet. This is plenty for most bedrooms, but if you were hoping to purify the air in your living room, it might be slightly underpowered. The Coway, on the other hand, has a rating of 240 and can thus handle rooms of up to 360 square feet. This extra power lends a bit more versatility to the Coway.

Noise

The AC5350B is one of the quietest models we tested, earning a top score in this metric. You can really only hear it if it is on its highest setting, which emits a fairly low hum that easily blends into the background for most people. However, we had no trouble watching TV, listening to music, and even napping with the AC5350B right next to us and set on high. At lower settings, the machine is virtually silent. This performance was, if anything, just slightly better than the Coway; the Coway was also virtually silent at lower settings. On high, it produced the same volume as the AC5350B, but its pitch was just slightly higher, making it just slightly more noticeable but still well short of annoying.

Ease of Use

The AC5350B scored a high score in our ease of use testing. It has a very simple and clean interface. The backlit buttons are easy to read, even in the dark, and an LCD display clearly indicates which settings are selected. This makes it easy to set fan speeds, turn the UV sanitizer on and off, and set an automatic sleep timer. It lacks a built-in air quality meter, but this is a feature our testers found to be inconsequential. At 11.25 pounds, the AC5350B isn't light, but it is slightly lighter than the Coway, which tips the scales at 12.7 pounds. Both models have comfortable carrying handles, so moving them around isn't too much of a hassle.

Operating Cost

The AC5350B achieves an average score for this metric. It uses filters that last six months and cost $34. It also uses 0.03kWh of electricity for every hour of operation, translating into about $16 of electricity per year. Adding all this up with the list price and you get an estimated lifetime cost of $542. This is surprisingly close to the $556 estimated lifetime cost of the top-scoring Coway.

Value

The AC5350B has an estimated lifetime cost of $542. Its main competitor, the Coway, lists for more but has a very comparable estimated lifetime cost of $556. Both of these models represent good values, though if you can afford a bit more upfront costs, you do get better performance out of the Coway.

Conclusion