Blueair Blue Pure 311i Max Review

About the Blueair Blue Pure 311i Max Air Purifier

• Area coverage: 387 to 928 square feet
• Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 19 inches
• Weight: 7.8 lbs
• Color options: Light gray, dark gray, sepia
• Maximum noise level: 49 decibels
• Filter life: Six to nine months

Blueair purifiers have widely performed well in our previous lab and home testing. The Blueair DustMagnet 5410i is one of the best true HEPA filters we’ve ever tested.

With the Blue Pure 311i Max, Blueair continues to impress. The 311i Max has the best particle filtering performance we’ve measured during our lab tests, and drastically improves home air quality.

Air purifiers work by using a fan to pull air through a filter. This one works the same—pulling air through its external prefilter, passing it through an internal HEPA filter, and sending clean air out the other side.

How we test air purifiers

Most air purifiers are designed to tackle particulate pollution, like smoke and pollen, and chemicals, like VOCs. In our testing labs, we subject every air purifier to high pollution levels. The purifiers are placed in a sealed chamber with controlled levels of smoke and VOCs and rated on how quickly they can clean up the space.

After the workout in the lab, each purifier goes home with a tester to see how it performs in realistic conditions. This lets us figure out how suitable the noise levels are for sleeping, how well it fits into an average room, and whether the purifier is user-friendly.

What we like

Particle pollution filtering is exceptionally good

Switch on the Blue Pure, and its impressive carbon filtering will soon take care of smoke particles and common allergens like pollen or pet dander, drastically improving indoor air quality.

To test the Blue Pure, we put it in a space filled with dangerously high smoke levels. Smoke particulate matter is tiny and challenging to filter. However, our testing chamber was smoke-free in around five minutes thanks to the filtering power.

In many air purifiers, high filtering rates mean noisy fans, but this isn’t the case with Blueair purifiers.

The HEPASilent filter achieves true HEPA levels of particle removal without blocking airflow as much as a conventional HEPA filter, meaning the fan doesn’t have to work hard to overcome filter resistance.

The upside to this is that when running the filter on Sleep Mode, the fan quiets to an almost imperceptible 22-decibel noise level. For comparison, the background noise level in most homes is around 30 decibels, making the Blue Pure 311i Max an ideal bedroom air purifier. However, the Blue Pure also has enough draw power for larger spaces like living rooms.

The controls are simple and intuitive

The simple control panel lets you switch between Automatic, Sleep Mode, and three fan speed modes with a single button.

The Automatic mode relies on a built-in particle sensor. If the sensor detects a rise in dust, smoke, or pollen levels, the fan speed increases to cope with it. Automatic modes are a major energy and filter lifesaver as they ensure the air purifier only runs fast enough to match the current pollution levels.

The filters are easy to manage

The 311i Max has a fabric prefilter. This is an elasticated sleeve that’s easy to remove and easy to wash. Prefilters are particularly important if you own pets.

Pet hair and dander can soon overwhelm filters. By blocking these, a washable prefilter extends the life of the disposable filter and reduces the frequency and cost of filter changes.

The main filter is also easy to replace. Once you’ve slipped off the prefilter, the fan housing lifts off easily, and it’s simple to lift out the one-piece filter and swap it out. If you might be wondering if you can wash that too, we’ve tried washing HEPA filters and the conclusion is you better not.

The app is easy to use and informative

In the past, we ran into some setup snags with earlier versions of the Blueair app. The current version was easy to get up and running, at least in the Android version. My phone connected within minutes.

The app allows for much finer adjustments than the control panel. You can adjust the fan to any level within the available speed range. The LED indicator brightness is adjustable between zero and maximum brightness.

Depending on how comfortable you are with broadening the app permission levels, you can also enable a Welcome Home feature, which uses geofencing to detect when you leave or return home.

It puts the unit into standby mode when you’re out for the day and turns it back on when you’re close to home. This will only work if you allow the app to continuously access your phone’s location and allow constant background activity from the app.

If you’re not happy with your air purifier knowing where you are at all times, there’s a simpler option: the app allows you to set a schedule.

It looks good

The Blue Pure takes visual design seriously. Its fabric prefilter isn’t just functional but also looks good.

With air purifiers, appearances do matter. They work best when they’re out in the open and can circulate the air effectively.

Having an air purifier you don’t want to hide away helps you get the best possible performance.

What we don’t like

The VOC filtering could be better

Although Blue Pure’s filtering performance for removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals is acceptable, hitting about 70% of the average performance rate we’ve measured in lab testing, it doesn’t match the stellar particle filtering performance.

If your primary interest in getting an air purifier comes from concerns about chemical off-gassing, then the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde PH04 Air Purifier is a better option, as it has with exceptional chemical filtering.

Should you buy the Blueair Blue Pure 311i Max air purifier?

Yes, this is the best air purifier you can buy

We’ve seen great things from Blueair in the past. The Blueair DustMagnet 5410i has held our number one rank as the best overall air purifier we’ve tested. But in recent tests the Blue Pure 311i Max edged out even the DustMagnet in terms of particle filtration, with the best smoke and particle filtration we’ve encountered in testing yet.

But even though air purification is the main thing air filters do, it’s not the whole package, and thankfully the Blue Pure’s sense of gestalt is great, too. The quiet fan is ideal for bedrooms and is nearly inaudible in Sleep Mode. Its fabric wrapping serves as both an attractive design note, and a prefilter for pet hair and dust clumps, that’s easy to clean.

While the Blue Pure is decent at filtering out VOCs and chemicals as well, it falls somewhat short at the job, especially compared to some other more chemical-focused purifiers. If VOCs are your primary concern you might look elsewhere, but if you’re worried about forest fire smoke, cigarette smoke, dander, dust, pollen, and other airborne particles then the 311i Max is the best air purifier you can buy right now.

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