The pollen count around the Canberra region where I live has seen record breaking numbers this season. Given this is the first year I’ve ever been affected by it I was pleased to be given the opportunity to check out the Philips Air Performer 7000 Series 2-in-1 Air Purifier and Fan. 

Priced at $799 RRP, the Air Purifier has a number of innovative features including AI which gives it the ability to intelligently sense its surroundings and moderate its functions accordingly. This means you get cooling when it needs it, and a breath of fresh air each and every time. 

The unit can cover areas up to 70m2 and removes 99.97% of particulate matter including bacteria, pollen, dust, pet dander, dust mites, mould spores, harmful gases, odours and other pollutants.

There’s Wifi connectivity on-board and an app which will let you control it, as well as feeding you back information on air-quality from the smart AeraSense sensors, temperature and more. 

I used the Philips Air Performer 7000 Series 2-in-1 Air Purifier and Fan for two months to get a good feel for it, and here’s how it went.

What’s in the box? – Setup

Included in the box is the Air Purifier itself, which includes a filter and a remote control. 

Physical setup is easy, take it out of the box, unwrap the filter and install it in the back of the unit, then plug the unit into the wall. The remote has a magnetic base and can stick to the top of the unit, but for first use you’ll need to remove a plastic tag before use, but once removed it’s ready to go. 

To setup the fan online you’ll need to install the Philips Air+ app which is available for Android and iOS. The setup is as simple as following the bouncing ball. The only downside to setup is the requirement to do it on a 2.4GHz Wifi network, something becoming more of a hassle in a world of tri-band routers – that said, setup was easy and completely smooth.

Once setup, you can also integrate the Air Purifier into your Alexa or Google Home setup for voice control – you’ll just need to associate the Philips Home account with your voice assistant and you’re off and racing.

Design, Fan, Fan Noise and Oscillation 

The Philips Air Performer 7000 Series 2-in-1 Air Purifier and Fan is a big unit, at just over 106cm tall and at around 27cm in diameter, so it needs a little room to really work.  The unit itself has a fairly clean design which is nice to look at and will fit in well to most homes.

A part of the clean design, at least for me, is due to the bladeless design which means it doesn’t look like your average pedestal fan with the added bonus of it being quieter and safer by not offering a whirling set of blades for any youngsters to stick their fingers through a cage and try to access – there’s also a child lock on the unit and in the app to stop them controlling the fan as well.

There’s a control panel display on the front of the unit, allowing you to monitor all the functions, making for an easy to read option when using the remote control.

The unit sits on a rotating base, offering up to 350° of movement which means it can offer a wide sweeping breeze almost entirely around the room if you put it in the centre. Using the remote you can select between 45, 90, 180, 270 and 350°, while in the app itself you get a nice slider to set your own preferred angle of how far it will oscillate at 5° increments.

We have full air-conditioning at home, though it’s not been hot enough for most of this summer to warrant using it. Instead I’ve been using the Philips Air Performer to move the air around and cool us off – even our dog has taken to enjoying sitting in the breeze to cool off and it’s fun watching her fur lift along her body as the unit oscillates.

The fan itself can blow quite strongly, which elevates the noise level a little, but it’s not over-bearing, but on the auto setting it happily oscillates away to the point where you don’t notice it at all.

Control

The Philips Air Performer offers dual inputs for control, either by way of the remote control or the app – whichever you prefer.

The remote control which is stored on top of the unit works well if you’re up and about, but for my lazy butt sitting on the couch my goto control method was of course the app. 

The app has a good design with a lot of controls front and centre on the main screen. The main page includes information on weather near you, including the AirQuality Index (AQI) and Allergy Index.

The device controls include the ability to turn the unit on/off, set the mode (Auto+, Turbo or Sleep), Function (Fan or Circulation) and Fan Speed (1-10 or Auto).

I was using the Air Purifier on manual, which works great if you just want a great fan which purifies the air, but if you want to try out how it runs with AI you can try the new Auto+ mode – though it remains in Beta. You have to perform some manual steps to jump into the Auto+ mode, but it’s very straightforward to do so.

Once Auto+ is enabled, Philips says that ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI), Auto+ mode maximizes (sic) your device’s performance, while keeping noise and energy consumption to a minimum’. It will alert you as well in the app to let you know when it was engaged and the result which is pretty cool.

Although the AI function was only recently added, it’s a good addition. The fan only ramped up when required and keeping us cool when the temperatures spiked. It’s very subtle, with the fan noise almost non-existent unless it went to full power which it never decided to do.

Air Filtration

The air filter is included with the unit, (Part#: FYM860 for easy reference) and costs $99.95 for a replacement – though each filter has an expected lifespan of around 12 months, this is with fairly heavy use – but with around 2 months use it’s down to 91%.

It’s easy to check the status of the air-filter if you’re worried with alerts that pop up on the control panel on the Air Purifier, as well as an easy to see status in the app.

Philips recommends you use a vacuum cleaner to clean off surface dust, however you will eventually need to replace it – Philips advise in the manual that it’s not washable, and it’s easy to replace by simply removing the back panel and swapping it out.

The actual filter includes a fairly hefty amount of protection for you including a 3-layer system including  NanoProtect HEPA, active carbon, and pre-filter to filter out gases and odours as well as particles including bacteria, pollen, dust, PM2.5 and whatever ‘pet dander’ is.

In practical, or more precisely anecdotal terms, I found having the air-purifier turned on every day helped with my hayfever – but as with all these things, Your Mileage May Vary – but it’s good and I’m going to be looking to add one of these to our home after this review unit is picked up for return.

Should you buy it?

For anyone looking for a smart Air Purifier to clean the air they breath, as well as cool them, the Philips Air Performer 7000 Series 2-in-1 Air Purifier and Fan is a solid option.

The unit itself is large enough to generate excellent air flow in a large area, with the benefits of clean air to boot. It also looks good and is quiet enough to fit into almost any home without standing out or drowning out conversation.

At $799 it’s a large price tag, however I’ve been shopping around with the intent to purchase and there’s some aggressive pricing going on and it’s worth checking out any active deals. 

You can find all the specs for the Philips Air Performer 7000 Series 2-in-1 Air Purifier and Fan on their website, or head over to Harvey Norman, David Jones, Bing Lee or JB Hifi to buy one yourself.