CowayAirmega 230 True HEPA Air Purifier with Air Quality Monitoring, Auto, and Filter Indicator, Sage Green

I bought a 230 in Sage Green in September of 2023, around the time they first released. It has been running 24/7 at speeds 1-2 since then, with negligible stopped time. I have been pleased with it, so I finally bought a replacement filter for that one in April 2025 (approximately 18 months on a single filter) and purchased another 230.Long story short, this air filter has proven reliable, appears to be reasonably (and anecdotally) responsive to changes in air quality, is aesthetically pleasing, and is easy to maintain. Cost of entry is fairly low, and cost of operational maintenance (time, ease, filter cost) is also comparatively low.I currently run two of these Coway 230's and a Blueair 680i for a 1250 sq.ft (116 m²) apartment. Adjacent units' air leaks into our unit (shared compressor and vent), which means food odors, tobacco (and "other") smoke, and sometimes mildew/mold. The building was built in the 1970s, and there are issues with leaking roofs, poor ventilation in the underground parking, etc. We also have cats, which means litter dust, litter smell, and hair/dander. Of course, we also produce our own air pollutants, like cooking odors or aerosolized products. The Coway has done very well in whichever room it's in, reducing odors and dust. It's fairly quiet at all speeds, although 3 is the maximum fan speed and is loud, though not at all intolerable. There have not been any unusual noises, like squeaks or vibrations. The pre-filter is easy to clean with a vacuum or with water, and helps keep the primary filter media free of large debris like clumps of cat hair. The filter media itself is very large and has a lot of pleats, which means more surface area, for lower load on the blower (more efficient and less energy consumption) and more overall filtration capacity (longer overall life before loss of efficiency).Compared to the much larger Blueair, there are some observations that people may like to know:The 680i is significantly larger, designed to perform five air changes per hour for a 770 square foot (72 m²) room. That means that even at the lowest speed, it will generally outperform the Coway, which can perform the same number of air changes in a 403 square foot (38 m²) room. I believe that most air purifiers measure their air changes at the highest blower speed. A larger unit will have a larger blower, which means running the 680i at the lowest and nearly silent speed will still be moving as much air as the Coway at the maximum and loudest speed. For those sensitive to noise or with a need to minimize ambient noise, it may benefit you to oversize the filter for your application.The prefilter is a win for Coway. I have to vacuum the filter in the Blueair monthly to make sure it's not blocked up with debris. It can be heard as buffeting at the blower output. The cats like quality time in the bedroom, so there's always hair.While I haven't cut up the Blueair filter, it is dimensionally smaller than the Coway filter. One may cautiously assume that they deliver equivalent performance as they are both HEPA. This is not an accurate comparison of filter efficacy, since surface area and static pressure, and as a function of those, dwell time of air through the filter is a good measure of filter performance. Basically, I like big filters with lots of frontal surface area. Coway draws air through almost the entire front face. The Blueair draws air from one side to the other, which means a smaller filter intake area.The Blueair body is made of die stamped, powdercoated steel. It's heavy duty and durable, but weighs at least twice the Coway. It even has casters. Durability of the housing may not matter to you, but the Coway is a bit flimsy. This is not a concern to me, but something you may want to consider.The Blueair is a clamshell design, and when you open the rear side, it swings out so you can access the filter and interior. To replace the filter in the Coway, you pop off the front shell. It's easy, but the clips are plastic and the shell is flexible, perhaps too much so. If you were to be clumsy, you may damage it.The air quality indicator on the Coway is extremely bright. It can be switched off, which is a considerate feature. The Blueair lacks this. However, it's nothing a bit of tape can't fix.The smart function on the Coway will run the blower at an extremely low speed or it will shut off if the air is clean and has stayed clean for a long time. The Blueair will run continuously on the lowest speed.

Really good quality and sturdy material.Looks classic, and work fine so far, and can easily see the change in quality of air. Even it sense automatically and run fan speed based on how bad quality of air will be.Removing filter and looking how dirty it is easy.Good to have around I see VOC dropped from 200 points to 35points.

I only purchase Coway air purifiers cause I trust their quality and what it’s made for. I have one 150 model and 300S model. I got my parent a 150 for the bedroom and a 250S model for living room. I’ve recently just got this 230 model. 230 is the best from all the ones I have and my parent. The reason why I like this one the most is because it really cleans any smell and really cleans the air. The reason I got this is because the Eaton fire in LA and were pretty close. Air got in and smells like smoke and if it smells like smoke inside the house, there’s going to be a lot of toxic stuff. So it’s hard to cook when we have to close windows and I had to seal the fireplace and a window near the kitchen so cooking is hard due to the smell. Anyways I had to cook and this model cleaned out the smell and air less than an hour. The air it blows out is pretty strong and goes quite far. I had put it between the kitchen and living room which is not big but it does what it’s suppose to do. It’s not loud but there’s sound. The sound is bearable. But I assume it has to make some kind of sound because the air blows good generous amount so that’s got to use some kind of power. I had put on level 3 for the smell of fire the first day. Next day, the living room and kitchen hardly had any smell of smoke. It has clean and sleek design and I like it’s not so chunky. It’s a good size. It’s bigger than the 150. I also like the buttons are not complicated. It’s easy to use. The tap on the buttons are sensitive and easy to touch. The one little round light to show it’s on or off and air quality is bright enough to let me know it’s on. It’s not that bright that it bothers me. Has timer, sleep mode, smart mode. All those functions are useful and not complicated to understand. If I need to buy another air purifier, this will be the model I would get. I usually prefer to buy one that provides more square footage than the space I plan to use.

I bought two 230s and 2 150s, for a 1790 square foot home. Downstairs is hardwood flooring, upstairs is fully carpeted. I have one 230 unit for all of downstairs since the dust is already minimal on that floor. A 230 in the master bedroom as it's a bigger room and typically the bigger units run quieter. I put the 2 150s into the other bedrooms that my wife and I utilize as office spaces. Upon unpackaging and setting these up (which was a total breeze by the way, documentation provided is perfect), they immediately went to work cleaning the air. The air quality sensor is extremely sensitive and the color scheme is easy to understand and the LED is bright. We kept all of our units on auto initially, and they immediately go to work cleaning the air, LEDs changing color as the air gets cleaner, the unit also getting quieter until the light is blue and the unit is whisper quiet. If the air is clean for a while the unit goes into sleep mode to save power. But as soon as we cook or do anything that may disrupt the air quality the sensors detect it and kicks the unit into gear to clean up the air. We haven't had them long enough to notice if the levels of dust have been reduced, but we can already notice an improvement in the air quality. The air is fresher and there's way less smells left lingering, especially after cooking which we do a lot of. Bacon smell was gone after a couple of hours. Maintenance seems easy enough and the company has a good reputation for support and reliability so I'm hoping these units last a good while. So far very happy and would highly recommend these if you want to clean up your air and cut down on dust and smells.