Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK Review
A powerful air purifier
Verdict
The company’s first air purifier, the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK is a powerful one, quickly cleaning our test room and getting the air healthy again. It’s well priced, too, and replacement filters aren’t too expensive. The lack of anything bar PM (dust) sensors and no smart controls may mean that some people prefer to look elsewhere.
Pros
- Fast air purification
- Automatic mode
- Clear display
Cons
- No smart controls
- Only measures PM
Availability
- UKRRP: £349.99
Key Features
- SensorsThis model can sense particular matter (dust), with sensors for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10.
Introduction
If there’s one thing vacuum cleaner manufacturers should know (other than how to suck up dirt), it’s filtration.
After all, you don’t want that dirt to get blown back out into your house. It’s no surprise, then, to see the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK.
Following in Dyson’s footsteps, this is the first air purifier that I’ve seen from Shark. It’s easy to use, powerful and its filters are easy to replace. This purifier does lack the smart functions and full range of sensors of its competitors, though.
Design and features
- Tall but thin
- Easy to get change filter
- Nice, clear display
The Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK is one of the biggest air purifiers that I’ve tested. It is tall and quite thin, so doesn’t stick out too much in a room (813 x 432x 226mm). There’s little setup to do, bar plugging the purifier in and removing the bundled filter from its plastic bag.
Filters cost £69.99 each and should be replaced when the filter light lights up. Depending on use, filters should be replaced every six to 12 months. You can also tap the filter life button to see how many hours of use remain.
Air is drawn in and through the filters by the six fans at the back behind the sensor, which shift clean air out of the sides of the purifier. Blowing out sideways, rather than through the front, is a sensible idea, as you can use this purifier in winter without having to feel a cold draft.
Shark’s filter is a HEPA model with activated carbon pellets. This lets it absorb dust (99.7% of particles 0.3 microns or larger), and it will absorb household odours and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are harmful gasses.
Controls are available via the touchscreen panel on top, and via the provided remote control. It would be nice if Shark provided a place for the remote control to live, such as the magnetic holder that he Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde has.
Although you can manually adjust fan speed, the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK also has an automatic mode. This uses Shark’s Clean Sense IQ sensors to detect how dirty your air is. Shark measures particulate matter (PM), which is dust, reading the concentration of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 particle sizes in the air, but it lacks the other sensors that Dyson products have, such as VOC and NO2 gas sensors. Hitting the ‘i’ button lets you step through the PM readings to see how clean your air is.
While the HE600UK will respond to dust, it won’t spin up its fans for VOCs in the air, even though its filter is capable of dealing with them. Fewer sensors cost less money, keeping the price of this purifier down, and if you’re going to have any sensors, PM ones make sense, as they’re a huge source of pollutants. And, for allergy sufferers in the house (those that react to pet dander, dust or pollen, for example), this purifier will respond quickly to the source and clean the air.
Air quality is displayed as a percentage on the LCD screen on the front, going from bad (0%) to good (100%). The light also changes colour, moving from red through yellow to blue (bad to good).
Once the air is clean, the purifier will run in a power-saving mode with no fans. In this mode, you can just leave the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK to do its job, and it will spin up every time it spots your air is dirty.
If you want the HE600UK to shut down, you can set a timer, starting at one hour and moving up in hourly increments to a maximum 12 hours.
Performance
- Exceptionally fast and powerful
- Relatively quiet
To test air purifiers, I light a smoke capsule in my test room. This burns for 60 seconds and creates a lot of particulate matter. I left the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK in automatic mode and timed how long it took for my Nest Protect to declare that the event was over.
The Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK took just 6m 30s to achieve this level, which is the fastest that I’ve seen. It then took 9m 46s for the readout on the screen to go back to Blue, showing that the air was healthy.
I measured the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK at a maximum of 62.3dB. This is pretty quiet and not too intrusive: you can watch TV over the fans at maximum speed. At slower speeds, the purifier is hard to hear at all.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a very powerful air purifier and your more concerned with dust than other pollutants, this is a good choice.
If you want a purifier that’s capable of measuring for more pollutants, or you want a smart purifier, then look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubting the power of the Shark Air Purifier 6 HE600UK. It’s very quick and efficient at cleaning a room. Its display is clear and its controls are easy to use. While an automatic mode is useful, the lack of anything bar PM sensors means that this purifier is not as reactive as some. I found the lack of smart controls a little disappointing, too. For extra features, check out my guide to the best air purifiers.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every air purifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main air purifier for the review period
We test smart purifiers with their apps and we test Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility.
We time how long it takes each purifier to remove smoke from a closed room.
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FAQs
Filters should last between six and 12 months, usage dependant.
No, this model has no smart features.
Yes it can. The purifier uses its PM sensors to detect how dirty the air is, adjusting fan speed on the fly.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.