Sometimes, modern technology drops a nugget of brilliance into your life, and this just happens to be one of those! Intrigued? Read on!

 

How it started

It all began 4 weeks ago, when the PR team at Philips got in touch to find out if I would be interested in trying out some of the products in their new anti-allergen range to see if they would help Callum. They’d come across an article I had written, where Callum had been really suffering with the pollen, and it affecting his eczema and asthma and wanted to see if their products could help.

It was impressive timing! I was mid-way through researching air purifiers to see if installing one in his room would make any difference to his increasingly worsening symptoms.

The products

Within the new anti-allergen range they have:

• Air purifier

• Bagless expert vacuum cleaner
• Bagless ultimate expert vacuum cleaner
• 2-in-1 lithium wet & dry cordless vacuum
• Dust mite cleaner
• 2-in-1 lithium cordless vacuum/mop
• Bagged compact vacuum cleaner

It’s quite an impressive collection isn’t it, and covers most bases.

The lovely team at Philips decided to send me an air purifier, dust mite cleaner and also the 2-in-1 lithium wet & dry cordless vacuum/mop.

The details

It was really important for me to see how these products would work, and whether they would really be able to make a difference so I put them through their paces over the course of 3 weeks. It’s all very well to review a product on first or second go, but by using them constantly, in an everyday environment, you get a much better feel of whether they are any good, and whether they actually do deliver on their claims and promises.

Air Purifier

According to the details provided by Phillips:

‘It captures 99.9% of bacteria in the first hour of use, helping you to breathe easy day and night’

The spec also confirms:

‘HEPA filter and intelligent purification system (IPS) filters dust, bacteria and viruses in the home which helps to prevent exposure to allergy triggers’

That’s a pretty bold statement, and a potentially hard one to live up to. Did it live up to the high expectations set? I’ll explain more in just a moment!

2-in-1 lithium wet & dry cordless mop

This is a clever design, as it not only vacuums, it also mops at the same time. It has a lithium battery which holds enough power when fully charged for up to 40 minutes run time and:

‘It filters 93% of pet hair, bacteria, allergens and pollen’

‘The 2-in-1 vacuum and instant click on/off mopping system is suitable for all hard floors’

Dust mite cleaner

Not only does the dust mite cleaner help to eradicate dust mites, it also doubles up as a very effective hand held vacuum, perfect when trying to clean up after a toddler!

‘It filters 99% of dust mites with EPA 12 filtration and has powerful vibrating pads and a 450w motor that loosens up dirt and helps remove dust and dirt from soft surfaces in the home’

Callum quickly named this particular appliance the ‘cool alien’ and loved trying it out on the sofa, his bed and the floor!

Putting them to the test

As mentioned previously, I spent 3 weeks using these products as part of my normal housework routine. We regularly hoover, dust and mop to try to keep dust and allergen levels at a minimum for Callum. It’s especially important to do this during levels of high pollen as it carries through the house and causes debilitating symptoms such as:

• Wheezing

• Sneezing

• Coughing

• Streaming eyes and nose

• Eczema flare

• Itching

All of the products integrated so well with regular daily life.

Crumbs on the floor in the kitchen, no problem, we used the cordless 2-in-1. Muddy footprints left after traipsing in from an afternoon in the garden, or after a walk around the village, no trouble for the mop function. It easily cleared them, with little effort, whilst hoovering up the dried bits of mud first.

It’s lightweight, and I mean really light, so easy to use as Callum can testify. This is a big plus for parents, especially if you’ve got a little one that you’re having to carry around at the same time!

It’s got a decent vacuum function and it manoeuvers really well, thanks mostly to the fact it is cordless. The battery at full charge will last for up to 40 minutes, depending on whether you use it on maximum power. I found that the boost of power was only needed on stubborn areas, but then leaving it to run on normal power was more than sufficient.

The swivel head works well, and surprisingly, it is easy to make it go where you want it to.

I was worried by the size of the dust bucket, but actually it compacts quite a lot in there. It’s easy to empty too, with a simple push of a button to click it out, before unclipping the lid and emptying.

When using the mop function, you simply fill the water chambers on the mop attachment and then clip the attachment to the wheels and off you go. The microfiber cloth can be easily removed and cleaned, and comes with a replacement too.

The only thing I would add, is that it doesn’t stand up very easily on its own. It would be great if Philips could incorporate a way of making it stand upright without the need to use the docking hook that comes with it.

 

Moving on to the Dust Mite Cleaner, I have to say, it’s a really clever product, as not only does it hoover up, it also kills dust mites in the process.

It’s important to point out that its main function is not that of sucking up mess. It is designed primarily for the purpose of removing dust mites. It helps to eradicate dust mites, which makes life easier for dust mite allergy sufferers such as Callum. The Dust Mite Cleaner works best when used to vacuum the areas where dust mites thrive, such as sofas, beds, carpets and so on.

It has an inbuilt UV light, included in the design because the UV light dehydrates dust mites, effectively killing them.

It has little paddles to move the dust mites out of soft furnishings and enable them to be sucked up into the dust container.

It’s a revolutionary product, and will be a game changer for dust mite allergy and asthma sufferers.

The only product permanently on and in use was the air purifier. It’s not something you can just turn on and off as and when. For it to work at optimum levels, it’s important to having it running all the time, so the air can be filtered and kept ‘clean’.

Callum has a dust mite allergy, so his room is hoovered, dusted and aired 3-4 times a week to keep it as safe as possible for him.

When the air purifier comes out of the box, you need to put the filters in place before first use. It’s a simple case of clicking them into place, and was very easy to do.

It has an air quality light indicator:

• Blue – good

• Blue-violet – fair

• Red-purple – unhealthy

• Red – very unhealthy

I was very pleased to see that when we first turned it on, the colour immediately changed to blue, and stayed there. A good sign that our cleaning regime for Callum’s room works well.

It has various fan speeds available (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) as well as an auto mode (A), and even an allergen mode (AL), which is specifically designed to effectively remove common allergens such as pet dander, pollen and dust mites. For night time, there is a sleep mode, which works on speed 1. It dims the power on/off and light indicators, and turns off all the other lights.

We had the purifier running permanently on AL during the day as this is what best suits Callum’s needs, before choosing sleep mode at night.

Callum found the change in the air quality to be really good for him. In the weeks prior to receiving the air purifier, he was regularly coughing in his sleep, thanks to the high pollen counts. In fact, when we have got to this point before, it has usually resulted in an A&E trip to help calm his breathing.

I’m pleased to report that this hasn’t been the case so far. It’s worked absolute wonders, and it’s really made such a difference as Callum testifies.

I have to say, I am really singing the praises of this purifier. Not only does it improve the air quality dramatically, it also has a child lock, which is essential if you have a toddler in the house!

It’s worked so hard, we’ve already had to clean the filer as it became full due to the excessively high pollen levels over the past few weeks. I was worried it would be a faff, but it was as simple as unclipping the front cover, removing the filter, running it under cool water and leaving to dry fully before putting it back together.

In summary

I have been extremely impressed with all 3 products. The 2-in-1 vacuum/mop has been a great addition to our household, and the Dust Mite Cleaner is a revelation in terms of being able to keep dust mites at a minimum.

To keep the house at optimum level, you really do need to maintain a high level of cleaning, otherwise you’ll be back to square one, and these products will help to achieve this.

The clear winner in my eyes is the Air Purifier!

Absolutely without question, this has changed things for the better for Callum.

This time of year is the worst for him, as pollen levels increase and his asthma and eczema becomes affected. He would have been admitted a number of times to hospital by this point.

If anyone is considering getting any of these products, I would recommend them, but especially the Air Purifier!

Do any of you use something similar already? Has it helped?

One last thing…..

Check back for our next blog post as we reveal an exciting giveaway of one of these products!

(NB: We were sent these products to review, and have not received any payment)