Cleanse your lungs, portably

This Bluetooth speaker lookalike, the LG PuriCare Mini Air Purifier, is a portable air purifier that can filter PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 dust at a radius of 1.67m.

I personally don't have any allergies or health issues and did not find it helped my breathing in any way. So I passed this device on to my younger brother, who has dust allergies. He immediately sneezed a lot less after leaving it running in his room.

Since I'm not an air-quality expert, we'll have to trust Intertek, the British Allergy Foundation and the Korea Asthma Allergy Foundation for giving this device a pass for removing 99% of 0.3 micron ultrafine dust and particles from the air, preventing allergens that can cause respiratory and skin diseases, while also helping with asthma and allergies.

The purifier is mostly built out of aluminium, with some bits made from a hard plastic that seems pretty durable. I did not try tossing it against the wall, but the thing didn't budge one bit from my squeezes and punches. It weighs about half a kilo, which is not feather-light, but is light enough to carry around in most bags.

LG PuriCare Mini Air Purifier. (Photo courtesy of LG)

It has also won a Red Dot Design Award for being both a handy lifestyle object and a functional technical product.

The fan is very silent on lower settings (30 decibels) but can get pretty loud at full speed (48 decibels). If this is to be used in a bedroom, setting the fan to low is recommended, or else you'll be sleeping with a constant buzzing noise.

The two available operational buttons at the top are self-explanatory and should be easy enough for anyone to use: one to turn it on and the other to control its fan speed (plus turning on the Bluetooth function, if you hold it for three seconds).

Why turn on Bluetooth? Because you can install an app that lets you control the purifier from afar and see how good (or bad) the air around it is, in real-time.

It comes with a stand that fits in cup holders in cars. Pretty handy.

On a single charge, which takes around 4 hours, this mobile air purifier lasts around 8-10 hours. Basically, this means that this will be working the whole night before it runs out of juice.

LG claims that the replaceable filter can be used for up to 2,000 hours. Doing some simple maths, this means that you can leave it on for 83 days non-stop, or about 250 days if you leave it on at night only. The filter costs around 300 baht.

As most know, air quality in Bangkok is ... questionable at best, so having a portable air purifier is a very convenient way to take care of your health.