Mila Air Purifier Review

A very clever air purifier, the Mila Air Purifier offers a choice of filters and some very smart modes that let it clean the air without proving a botheration. In my tests, it was quick to clean air – although, it can be a bit slow to ramp up speed, and the lack of voice assistant support is a touch disappointing.

Introduction

In many ways, building an air purifier is simple: you simply fit a fan to push dirty air through a fan to push out clean air. Building a smart air purifier that automatically adjusts fan speed to suit the current environment is the real trick – and it’s something that the Mila Air Purifier nails.

Offering clever Automagic modes, this air purifier not only reacts to how dirty your air is, but it can also adapt to the environment, changing how it cleans based on who’s around and whether or not it’s bedtime. It’s also the first air purifier that I’ve seen to come with a range of filters available, too.

Design and features

• Looks fantastic
• Choice of filters based on use
• Clever range of Automagic modes

The majority of air purifiers are rather ugly boxes, such as the Blueair Classic 405. Not so the Mila Air Purifier, which is a small cuboid that sits on legs. It looks a little like a bit of Scandinavian furniture. 

Unlike many purifiers, this model has the fan mounted horizontally, blowing clean air up and into the room. The advantage of this design is that when it’s cold, you don’t get cool air blown straight at you. As such, this is a model you can use all year round.

What stands the Mila Air Purifier apart from rival air purifiers is that there are a range of filters available for it, designed to do different things. They come with funky names, too. The Big Sneeze, for example, has an H13 HEPA filter designed to capture allergens, such as pollen. 

Opt for the Overreactor and you get a hospital-grade H14 HEPA filter and 1.25lbs of carbon filter to extract gasses and VOCs, such as Formaldehyde. Note that the filter only captures Formaldehyde, rather than using a permanent catalytic filter as in the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde.

There’s also a Critter Cuddler that features a Mila Sock: a washable wrap-around that’s designed to capture bigger particles, such as pet hair. 

Filters range in price between $59 and $99, and need to be replaced every six months. Currently, there’s no status setting to indicate when it’s time to replace a filter, although the company says that it’s working on such a feature.

Something else that makes an air purifier more useful is sensors, which can adjust fan speed based on demand. Fortunately, the Mila Air Purifier offers just that. When you first insert your filter (you get one in the box) and turn on the purifier, it switches on the screen and calibrates its sensors.

On the screen, you can view an Air Quality Index (AQI) score, which tells you how clean your air is. In Auto mode, the purifier will adjust the fan speed to keep this score down; but you can select Manual mode and adjust fan speed (there are 10 settings) automatically.

Strangely, there’s no off button on the top of the unit. Instead, you have to use the main power switch that’s located underneath the unit.

As you adjust fan speed, the Mila Air Purifier works out the target AQI: the setting the purifier can realistically achieve. Faster fan speeds give lower target AQI levels.

You really need the app to access the full smarts. From the main screen, you can see the individual filters, providing a better idea of the quality of your air and what’s affecting it. There are filters for particulate matter (PM) – small particles of dust. You get readings for very fine (PM1), fine (PM2.5) and larger (PM10) particles. Then there is a Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are harmful gasses often found in cleaning fluids or even released naturally from furniture. Finally, there are sensors for CO2, CO, Humidity and Temperature.

Most clever air purifiers come with a simple automatic mode that adjusts fan speed based on the quality of the air. Via the app, the Mila Air Purifier has Automagic modes, which provide a range of features.

Bubble Boy mode lets the purifier rip, pushing to maximum levels; Housekeeping Service ramps up to maximum when the purifier spots that a room is empty; Quiet mode drops fan speed when you’re in the room; Sleep mode turns off the screen and reduces fan speed during your set sleep time; Turndown service ramps up an hour before you go to bed, again taking the timings from the bedtime you set in the app; Whitenoise mode throws out some soothing sounds from the fan while you sleep.

Cleverly, all of the modes can be activated at the same time, with the bedtime you set and room occupancy affecting when they come into operation. It’s all very clever and means that this purifier fits into your schedule automatically, without manually having to engage or disengage automatic modes or night modes.

With all the positives, then, it’s disappointing that this smart device doesn’t include support for Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

Performance

• Can be slow to ramp up fan speeds
• Works effectively
• Very quiet on lower fan speeds

To test the air purifier, I put it through my standard set of tests. First, I measured sound from 1m away at minimum and maximum fan speeds. At minimum, the fan was whisper-quiet at 37.9dB; on maximum it read 62.3dB – that’s as loud as a regular conversation. So, while you can certainly hear the fan at maximum, it isn’t particularly intrusive.

Next, using the Overreactor filter, I tested cleaning performance. I lit a smoke capsule, which burns for 60 seconds, and then monitored how long it took for my Nest Protect to register a clean environment. 

Starting out, I noticed that it the Mila Air Purifier increases fan speed gently, so it can take a while to get to maximum. With a Dyson air purifier, you get a much faster jump to maximum purification. 

Upping fan speed slowly is good for noise levels but it means that it takes longer to clean the air. Even so, my Nest Protect registered that the event was over in 10mins 39secs, although the fan continued to run to clean out the air fully.

Conclusion

With its range of filters and smart cleaning modes, the Mila Air Purifier is a well-priced purifier that fits into your home. It’s fast at cleaning the air, and the app offers a handy way to set its features – although the lack of voice control is disappointing. Opt for the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde and you get an all-year-round product that is part-fan, part-heater and all purifier, making that a better utility device.

If you just want quality purification, though, the Mila is a great choice. Alternatives can be found in my guide to the best air purifiers.

Best Offers