This budget air purifier from BlueAir is as good as models triple the price

The price people pay for air purifiers seems to be going up and up, which is why the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i is such a breath of fresh air. As one of the most affordable models on the market, it's suprisingly powerful, quiet, and stylish too.

BlueAir has long established themselves for making some of the best air purifiers on the market and the Blue Max 3250i is no exception. It stands out, not just for its reasonable price tag, but for the stylish, Swedish design and ultra-lightweight body.

I've been living with this in my home for months, throwing dry shampoo, pet hair, burnt toast, and lots of other pollutants its way. And the results have been impressive. If you want a simple, affordable air purifier, this could just be the one.

BlueAir Blue Max 3250i specifications

Who would the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i suit?

If there is one thing that everyone can agree on, it's that the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i Air Purifier is a steal. As budget air purifiers go, this is the most sensitive, reactive, speedy, and effective model. If you spend more money, you might get more detailed feedback on your air quality (this is quite crude), but I found that the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i Air Purifier delivered on all of its air purifying qualities and more. For example, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i air purifier effectively removes tiny airborne particles (down to 0.1 microns) but can only detect larger pollutants like dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria (PM2.5). More expensive models, like the Molekule Air Pro, can also monitor harmful VOCs from paint, furniture, and cleaning products.

As you might expect from a budget air purifier, this is also incredibly light. Given that this was one of the biggest models that I tested, it was nice to have an air purifier that it's easy to move. It's also very straightforward as to why this is light: the base is almost all filter, which is good news for its air cleaning capacity. If you have large rooms, this will be really helpful. The one aspect that you'll want to note is that, because the base is pure filter it's also easier to damage, so you might want to think about where you put it in the room to minimise the chances of it getting knocked around. 

Thankfully, the Blue Max 3250i is stylish and customisable enough that this can look good in multiple different rooms. And, it's even quiet enough to leave running in your bedroom on the lowest setting, so you can have clean air overnight.

BlueAir Blue Max 3250i design and features

When I tell you that the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i is Swedish, you won't be surprised. It has that chic, simple aesthetic that is so quintessentially Nordic and it's one of the reasons that I actually trust that this could be a reasonable price and yet effective. BlueAir has that kind of reputation.

Whilst there are more compact air purifiers on the market, what this takes up in space, it makes up for in style. The minimalist silhouette is complimented by the surprisingly light body and clever knitted outside layer. This comes in a range of colours and actually works as a pre-filter for the single-use filters inside. It'll capture dust and can be upgraded to the Smokeblock or Allergenblock alternatives if you want extra special filtration.

If you lift up that knitted layer, you'll see that the bottom two thirds of the air purifier is one huge HEPA filter. This sits with the white plastic top and the simple base, so it's really a three-part model.

I'll get into the details of the controls on top, but they're very simple: you have two buttons that let you navigate through speeds and settings. In the context of the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i's size, I think the control panel could be bigger and easier to read. It's generally clear and the indicator lights help you to work out what exactly you're setting and doing for the most part.

BlueAir Blue Max 3250i unboxing and set up

You'll see a theme of 'simplicity' running through the whole BlueAir Blue Max 3250i review and this feels like a good place to really kick it off. The BlueAir Blue Max 3250i arrives in a simple, cardboard box, which you open up to find the air purifier sat inside. It comes pretty much ready to use. I clocked a three-minute record from unboxing to air purifying, which is pretty impressive.

You can operate the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i from the controls on top, which again are very basic. You'll see two buttons which let you cycle between three different speed settings, or select an 'Auto' or 'Sleep' mode. There are also neat lights that will change colour to let you know about the status of your air quality: blue means excellent, green means good, yellow is moderate, orange is polluted, and red is very polluted. See what I mean? Simple.

If you want a little more detail, you can download and connect up the air purifier to the BlueAir App. It'll also connect to your Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant if you want to use voice commands, which is very clever. I opted for the app controls, but, given that I'm not the most tech-savvy, had a bit of a tussle getting it connected. However, once I had pulled in a more proficient member of the house, we had the app up and running in minutes.

You can choose to make an account with BlueAir, which means sharing your location, or you can use it in a 'guest' status. Both versions are free, but if you share your location, you'll get local updates on your air quality, so I'd recommend going through the whole set-up process, if you have a spare 60 seconds.

What is the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i like to use?

Having lived with the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i for a few months, I've fallen into a simple routine of how I use this. The Auto mode is my go-to: it uses built-in sensors to respond to changes in air quality and I've found that it's both sensitive and speedy to react. If you have this in your home, I'd recommend sticking the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i on Auto, because it'll also likely save you on your energy bills, because you'll never be running it on a higher fan speed than is necessary. 

When I first turned this on, the light came on as blue. Now, I don't like to brag, but I thought the air quality in my house would be good, so I was pleased to have reassurance from the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i. However, to put this to the test, I needed to run some tasks that would challenge and deteriorate the air quality in my home, which I did.

The first test that I ran was lighting and blowing out a candle. In Auto mode, it took the Blue Max 3250i 18 seconds to realise, change the light to an orange, and increase the fan speed. Two and a half minutes later, my air quality moved from orange back to blue, which is a good, speedy response.

I tried the same test with dry shampoo, which I sprayed pretty liberally on the other side of the room. Within 30 seconds, again, I saw the lights change, heard the fans whirr, and two minutes later, we were back to business. I left the room and when I came back in, I thought I could still smell the shampoo fragrance, but it was very faint and the air purifier seemed to think the air quality was good again.

Perhaps the toughest test for any air purifier is cooking. If you haven't already read one of my air purifier reviews, I'll regale the same fact that I always do. Cooking a roast dinner with the windows closed can make the air in your home more polluted than if you stood by a road in Delhi. So, as you might have predicted, the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i had its work cut out for it. With the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i on 'Auto' I burned toast and roasted vegetables, with the windows shut and my extractor fan running. I put the air purifier in a sensible, yet subtle place in my kitchen - you're unlikely to have this on your counter - and it very quickly detected by burnt toast. In this instace - my kitchen is a big room - it took the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i five minutes from when I could smell by burned toast and roasted vegetables to when the light went to green, suggesting the air quality was good. The fans certainly upped their game and I recorded 62 dB of noise, which is still quiet enough to hold a conversation over, but it's not the most sociable noise. 

In total, I had to wait eleven and a half minutes before the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i was ready to calm down and believe that the air quality was good and the fan speeds dropped to making 21 dB of noice. Leaving the room and then walking back, I was struck by the clearness in the air. There was only a very faint smell of toast, which is remarkable.

I'd also seen lots of people suggesting that you could sleep with this running, which is a great test for an air purifier. If you don't sleep with your windows open, the air quality can deteriorate significantly over night. So, I tried keeping my windows shut with this running on it's low night-time mode. No air puriifier is silent, but this is the quietest model that I've tested, coming in at 18 dB, which is quieter than a whisper. I generally consider myself to be a light sleeper and I wasn't disturbed by the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i at all. And, when I woke up, the air quality was on its best setting. I took a look at the graph on my app and could see that the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i had managed to keep the air quality consistently good overnight when it would have normally deteriorated to poor.

My one and only qualm here is with the controls. To change from night mode to the automatic one, you have to press the button through all fan speeds which feels less than luxurious and a little bit confusing. Aside from that though, it's great.

Cleaning, storage and maintenance

I've already emphasised that this is attractive in the context of air purifiers. Whilst it's bigger than some, it can handle a proportionally greater amount of room space, so I'd recommend keeping it running in your larger living spaces, rather than trying to cram it into a cupboard. The filters, for example, form the whole base of the air purifier, so you're very likely to damage them if you try to crush your Blue Max 3250i into a cupboard.

Users generally suggest that the HEPA filters inside the Blue Max 3250i last between six and nine months, which is about average for an air purifier of this size. If you can keep on top of cleaning the machine washable fabric pre-filter on the outside, I reckon you could get another few months out of your filter too. It's a really useful extra feature that I've only seen one brand (Shark) including in the design of their air purifiers.

How does it compare?

It's not particularly fair to compare this to the Molekule Air Pro, which costs £799.99 to the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i's air purifier at £169. However, I think it's an option worth considering. The Molekule's Air Purifying power is exceptional. It's crafted from medical-grade materials, with FDA medical device clearance, and its detection capacity is much more detailed than the BlueAir's. For example, it will pick up on and inform you of the VOCs in your air. So, if you want the best-performing model, this is the one to go for.

If, however, you were drawn to the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i for its price, you could take a look at the Levoit Core 300S Smart True HEPA Air Purifier. It's smaller and even cheaper than the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i (you can pick the Levoit up for £149.99), but it's also slower and the filters are single-use. Without the addition of a pre-filter on the outside, you'll need to change them a lot more frequently.

With a CADR of 239 m³/h, the Blue Max 3250i is similar in power to the Levoit Core 300S but much lower than the AEG AX91-604GY. However, it responds more quickly to changes in air quality than either model. Its HEPASilent™ technology helps it filter out pollutants more efficiently and quietly than standard HEPA filters. Overall, when you look at what's out there, the BlueAir has an impressive position.

Should you buy the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i?

If you're shopping on a budget, you have large rooms, and you want a stylish air purifier, you can't go wrong with the BlueAir Blue Max 3250i Air Purifier. The controls might be a little simple, but I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing things back to basics. It's just not as well suited to air quality geeks who like to look at their graphs and data.

How we test

At woman&home, how we test air purifiers is serious business. I put them through their paces, burning candles, cooking, and spraying dry shampoo near them. After pushing through a series of intense tests, I give the air purifier a long term test in my home. I have pets, long hair, and lots of people coming in and out, so I keep an eye on how this handles general day-to-day life as well as more intense tasks. 

I also research and test alternatives so that you get a good sense of who the air purifier suits and whether it's the best value investment for you and your home. If you still have questions about any of the air purifiers that I've tested, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to shoot the breeze about all things related air purifiers