Germ Guardian- Clean Air with UV-C?
We don’t like questions marks in headlines. We like to be authoritative, and to deliver answers after thorough testing of a product whenever possible. But how do you properly review something that kills invisible things without expensive equipment and fancy test setups? We felt it necessary to preface the article with that because to all intents and purposes the Germ Guardian seemed to do everything it promises… but it also didn’t seem to have much effect on subjective measures of air quality.
First off, what the unit offers is what they claim to be the first unit to utilize UV-C technology to kill 99.9% of germs and mold spores, and even viruses and bacteria. Many units can handle air filtration, but few to none offer protection on that small of a scale. The EV-9102 isn’t an ionizer, doesn’t produce ozone, stays cool to the touch, and has no filters… the only way you can tell it’s running is by the blue lights, and the not-very-powerful fan.
The reason for the weak-seeming fan is that circulating the air any faster wouldn’t allow the unit time to actually truly kill the bugs. The Germ Guardian isn’t large, it can fit on a desk pretty easily, but the flip-side is that it really can’t handle a large room. Perhaps it would be good near a bedside, but the lack of a filter means that it doesn’t handle common allergens, like dander, pollen, and dust. So, by most subjective measures, UV-C technology doesn’t really help with air quality. We didn’t get a cold or flu during our time with the unit, but that could be our proper diet of PB Loco and tea… or the Germ Guardian EV-9012 could be massacring microbes by the millions and we might not have known. The manufacturers asked us to add that independent third-party testing does back up their claims.
Bottom line: research carefully before dropping the $120+, and don’t expect fresh-smelling or well-circulated air.
I purchased 3 of the handheld vac with the uv-c cleaning (germ guardian). I placed one in two bedrooms and the open family room. For the record, the results were astonishing. My daughter who has a hamster in her room, no longer have that cage smell. I keep the doors closed at all times. My grandson who suffers from asthsma, has not had a cold or attack since we started using them. Even when he returns from a couple of days with his mother and has a running nose and consistant coughing, one night under the machine he is cleared the next morning. When I enter the family room by way of the garage, I no longer have “that smell” in the house. I am going to buy 2 of the non vac types for my bedroom and my office. As far as I am concerned something right is happening.
— Elaine · Jan 23, 03:33 AM · #
By the way, I forgot to mention that those areas have NO scent at all! So, I guess that means “fresh”?
— Elaine · Jan 23, 03:38 AM · #