Dyson Pure Cool TP04 review: So much more than a great air purifier

Dyson has proven that it can innovate when it comes to vacuum cleaners, and in recent years the manufacturer branched out into other areas. With air pollution becoming an increasing problem in Asia and other parts of the world, Dyson rolled out its first air purifier back in 2015.

Of course, you may be wondering at this point if you actually need an air purifier. Air quality is getting increasingly worse in major cities across the world, and an air purifier is now a necessity in most Asian countries because of high particulate matter. But even if you live in an area that doesn't have particulate pollution, there are a lot of allergens, pollen, and airborne pathogens that can cause diseases like the flu. Air purifiers have taken on an increased significance in 2020 because of the coronavirus.

Like all Dyson products, the first-gen Pure Cool stood out thanks to its minimal styling and innovative features. Air purifiers usually tend to be blocky pieces with a few filters that sit in front of a fan and an outer plastic shell, and as a result, they're not very elegant. That's not the case with the Pure Cool series, with the latest TP04 variant offering a polished design aesthetic that will fit right in with the rest of your decor.

The Pure Cool TP04 has a lot to offer: it has a three-layer filtration system with a HEPA and activated carbon filters, a digital LCD readout that gives you real-time details on air quality, and the bladeless fan has been a revelation. At $549 (₹45,900 in India) Dyson's air purifier is one of the costliest options in the market today. So what are you getting here that you won't find with other brands? Let's find out.

Dyson Pure Cool TP04 What I like

I did not think I would say this of an air purifier, but the Dyson Pure Cool TP04 is beautiful. The elegant design with clean lines and the white color scheme just makes the air purifier stand out. I have three air purifiers in my house — a Honeywell Air Touch A5, Mi Air Purifier 2S, and a Philips AC3256 — but the Dyson is in a league of its own in terms of design.

The Pure Cool TP04 has two distinct sections: a base that houses the HEPA and activated carbon filters that clean the air of all pollutants, with a bladeless fan that covers the upper two-thirds of the body.

The bladeless fan uses Dyson's innovative air multiplier technology to blast cool air around a room, and it works astonishingly well. The fan delivers powerful airflow, and after using the Pure Cool TP04 for over two weeks, this is my favorite feature on the air purifier. The air purifier has a 360-degree design for the air intake, with two sets of identical filters located at the front and rear halves of the unit. There's the usual activated carbon filter that cleans gases and other common pollutants, and a HEPA filter that scrubs up to 99.95% of particulate matter as small as 0.1 microns.

Most HEPA air purifiers available today do a decent job at cleaning pollutants, but by adding a bladeless fan, Dyson has managed to create a unique product here. There are slits on either edge of the tower for pushing air out, and there are ten speeds to choose from. You also get four oscillation levels, with up to 350 degrees of coverage. I found that the auto mode worked reliably enough most of the time, and you'll get decent coverage for most medium-sized rooms by setting the fan speed level to 5.

The fan itself is inaudible at levels 1 and 2, and as you'd imagine, it gets very loud when you increase the level all the way to 10. I don't understand how the tech works here, but what I do know is that it works really well.

There's also a diffused mode that provides air purification without cooling. For the most part, the cooling on offer here is more than adequate for most homes. The weather right now where I live is in the high seventies Fahrenheit (24 to 27 degrees Celsius), and the Pure Cool on its own was good enough that I didn't have to use the air conditioner at all. Rounding out the design, there's a digital readout that sits on the base of the unit. You get an LCD panel that gives you a real-time view of the air quality (AQ) in your room, as well as PM2.5, PM10 allergens, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels.

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Installation is about as straightforward as it gets: all you need to do is remove the filters from their packaging, and attach them to either end of the air purifier's base. You'll get an alert on the LCD when the filters need to be switched out, and during regular use, the filters are touted to last up to seven months.

Of course, this won't be the case if you're living in a city that has high particulate matter, but for the most part, you'll only have to change the filters on the Pure Cool once a year.

You'll control most of the features on the Pure Cool TP04 via the bundled remote. The remote itself is about half as tall as most phones these days. It has buttons for all the key features: auto mode, setting oscillation, controlling the fan speed, scrolling through the various information panels on the digital readout, switching to purification-only mode, and toggling night mode — where the air purifier switches to the quietest setting and dims the panel.

The best part about the remote is that it is magnetic and attaches to the top of the tower. The remote is curved — just like the top portion of the tower — and slots in easily. Another cool feature is that the top and bottom portions of the remote are see-through, and you can make out the IR blaster and the battery housing.

Alongside the remote, the Pure Cool TP04 has Wi-Fi connectivity, and you can control it with your phone by using the Dyson Link app. The app itself has a clean interface, and you get to change the fan speed, turn the air purifier on or off, set a timer, toggle night mode, set oscillation, switch to auto mode, and select the purification-only option.

You get all the features as the remote, and there's a detailed breakdown of the air quality and indoor pollutant levels in your home throughout the time the air purifier has been active. You get a daily as well as a weekly overview of PM2.5, PM10, VOC, and NO2 levels, with an average score assigned to each pollutant. You also get to see the indoor temperature and humidity levels.

I had the Pure Cool TP04 running throughout the course of the day in the office and at night in the bedroom, and the air purifier did a fantastic job scrubbing the air of all pollutants. The air purifier was particularly handy in the kitchen — cooking releases a lot of particulate matter and odors into the air, and the air purifier took just 15 minutes to scrub all VOCs and pollutants from the room.

I underestimated the cleaning prowess of the Pure Cool TP04 given the smaller size of the purification system, but in real-world usage, its performance was on par with air purifiers with significantly bigger filters. In the two weeks, I used the product, the average PM2.5 levels in my home stood at 2 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), PM10 levels at 3 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), and good VOC and NO2 levels.

The Pure Cool TP04 is ideal for small to medium-sized rooms, but it also fared well in my living room, which is over 400 sq. ft. Basically, the Pure Cool TP04 is just as great as other air purifiers in this category at scrubbing the air inside your house of all your pollutants. If you're prone to allergens or worried about pollen or particulate matter indoors, the Pure Cool TP04 is a fantastic choice.

Dyson Pure Cool TP04 What needs work

I have just one issue with the Pure Cool TP04: it doesn't have any onboard controls to change the fan speed or set oscillation. Now, this won't be an issue to most users as the bundled remote is attaches magnetically to the tower, but as someone who's prone to losing remotes, it would have been easier to get a few basic controls on the air purifier itself.

Then there's the cost. At $549, the Pure Cool TP04 isn't what you would call affordable. Having used it for over two weeks, I now understand why it costs so much — you're basically getting two products here. I believe the design and features on offer justify the pricing, but if you want a more basic option with just air purification, there are a decent number of alternatives around.

Dyson Pure Cool TP04 Alternatives

Dyson's Pure Cool TP04 is a unique product in that you won't find other air purifiers that also double up as a fan. That said, if you need a no-frills air purifier that's designed for large rooms, the $217 Honeywell HPA300 is a great choice. It has three-layer filtration with a HEPA filter, three cleaning modes, and easy-to-use onboard controls.

Coway's $200 AP-1512HH Mighty is also a good option, with this particular air purifier offering a four-layer filtration system with a unique ionizing feature and eco mode.

Dyson Pure Cool TP04 Should you buy it?

Who it's for

• The Pure Cool TP04 is ideal if you want an air purifier that cleans all pollutants
• If you want a product with a minimalist design that looks great
• If you're looking for a product that also doubles up as a fan
• If you want an air purifier that connects to your phone over Wi-Fi

Who it isn't for

• If you're in the market for an affordable option

At the end of the day, the Dyson Pure Cool TP04 stands tall (literally) over other air purifiers. It is unique in that it scrubs the air while doubling up as a fan, and there really isn't anything else in the market that can do both.

The bladeless fan on its own is fantastic, and the powerful airflow is more than adequate for medium-sized rooms. It runs quietly most of the time, and with a 350-degree oscillation, it will cover the entire room. As for air purification, the Pure Cool TP04 is just as great as other products in this category, with the HEPA and activated carbon filters making sure the air purifier scrubs all pollutants from a room.

Combine that with an elegant design, a digital LCD panel that gives you real-time air quality info, a great remote that attaches magnetically to the unit, and the ability to connect to your phone over Wi-Fi, and you get one of the best air purifiers in the market today.

4.5 out of 5

The interesting thing about it is that the air purifier costs the same in most global markets: it retails for $549 in the U.S., and is available for ₹45,900 ($600) in India, and £499 ($618) in the UK. So you're not really paying more for the product in other markets. Ultimately, if you want an air purifier that delivers clean air and looks good while doing it, the Dyson Pure Cool TP04 is the obvious choice.