Coway Airmega 200M Review

From one of the best brands in manufacturing air purifiers, Coway Airmega 200M review can resonate vastly with the Coway AP-1512HH. Purifiers are having an increased demand with the current air pollution concerns in the US and around the world. Therefore purifiers such as Coway Airmega 200M can provide a huge benefit in terms of keeping your indoor air clean.

Design Coway Airmega 200M

As with the Coway AP-1512HH, the size of the Coway Airmega 200M is the same and a bit larger. It carries a height of 18.3 inches, a width of 16.8 inches, and a depth of 9.6 inches. Although with the slightest difference the Coway Airmega 200M weighs the same as Coway AP-1512HH at 12.3 pounds.

The Coway Airmega 200M comes in two colors which are white and black. The build quality of the air purifier is from plastic and has a good feel to it. The colors in the material have a glossy finish and the design of the air purifier is much like the AP-1512HH. Round ages with a square-shaped grille in front of the air purifier compared to the round circle with vents on the sides to the Coway AP-1512HH the 200M can be a bit prominent with this grille at the front.

Control panel

The control panel of the Coway Airmega 200M is at the top of the air purifier with the simple power button, and three fan speeds combined with auto mode and eco mode. Next to the speed button, the ionizer switch on and off button can be found followed by the timer. The filter reset button and the air quality sensor light are on the far right with indications for the HEPA filter and odor.

Timer

The timer of the air purifier is also built to operate to the standard times of one hour, four hours, and eight hours.

Auto mode and Eco mode

Much like the AP-1512HH, the auto mode on the speed indicator controls the speed of the fan automatically by analyzing the air quality of your surroundings through the air quality sensor. The Eco mode is designed for less consumption of electricity when the air purifier is in operation and the air quality sensor always monitors the surrounding air quality, and if the quality is up to the standard, the air purifier will switch off after 30 minutes. Coway has introduced this method to save electricity consumption. However, we found that the auto mode and Eco mode can have the same effect with slight changes in terms of electricity consumption.

Air quality sensor

The air quality sensor can be one of the most effective features in the Coway air purifier product lineup, where the sensor can be configured to three different levels insensitive, sensitive and standard. The standard mode is activated by default and the insensitive mode basically switches off the air quality sensor. The air quality sensor is illuminated in three colors blue, purple, and red. Each of these colors symbolizes the air quality surrounding you. 

• Blue – the air quality is good.
• Purple – the air quality is slightly compromised and the, 
• Red – shows the air quality is highly polluted. 

The configuration of the air quality sensor can be done by pressing the ionizer and the speed button simultaneously for two seconds, which will trigger the speed indicator to flash and inform you to change the sensitivity. The speed button will allow you to change the sensitivity, and after configuring it to your desired, setting press, the ionizer button, and the speed button simultaneously for two seconds to operate with the set settings. 

This configuration comes in handy when the air purifier is operated for around three hours and when you note there’s no difference in the air quality or the indicator lights, red and blue, then you can change the configuration of the sensor and this will allow you to have a customized sensor setting to the surrounding environment.

Air Flow and Filteration Stages

The filtration stages are the same as the Coway AP-1512HH both air purifiers share the same filters which are the pre-filter that captures large particles with a bigger diameter such as dust, pet dander, and human hair. Next is the deodorization filter, which is in place to capture bad smells and harmful VOCs, this can vary in terms of food smells, tobacco, etc. 

The next filter is the HEPA filter, which is known as the True HEPA filter, another term for the American Standard HEPA filter, which carries the responsibility to trap and eliminate pollutants, which are smaller in diameter of 0.3 µm These can be in terms of viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. This has a standard efficiency of 99.97%. 

Ion system – Vital ionizer

Next in the filtration process is the vital ionizer, which, we recommend keeping switched off as an ionizer can have harmful side effects over a long period of time. However, this feature can come in handy to capture particles in motion with an electrochemical reaction for pollutants such as smaller viruses and bacteria. 

If you are using the vital ionizer we recommend switching it on and leaving the room for some time after switching off open windows or doors to provide proper ventilation to the room can reduce the side effects of this feature. However, the Coway Airmega 200M and the air purifier lineup passed the regulation for ionizer generation, which is deemed to be safe.

Performance and Filteration process

In operation, we found that the Coway Airmega 200M stood to each claim of purifying a 361 square-foot room efficiently in around three hours. In our test of performance, we introduced large particles and smaller particles with some odors, and the Coway Airmega 200M air purifier did a great job, in cleaning the pollutants from the air at a significant rate, which is around 89 to 90% a particle with its high fan speed.

The HEPA filter efficiently captures the odors introduced and was able to minimize the effect. The pre-filter and the deodorization filter came in handy for the HEPA filter in order to carry out its task. In all of the tests, we do not switch on the ionizer as we do not recommend using the feature.

CADR – Coway Airmega 200M Review

Coway Airmega 200M is designed for a standard room of 361 square-foot room and specifies a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for the following: 

Pollutant	Rating
Smoke	233
Dust	246
Pollen	240

Noise levels

The noise levels of the air purifier can vary according to the speed levels of the air purifier and the auto mode had a decent noise level. When switched on to the other two levels, two and three the noise levels were rather high and irritable around 25 dB and 55 dB respectively.

Maintenance of Coway Airmega 200M

As with all air purifiers, the filters should be regularly cleaned and inspected for dust. Once a week the pre-filter is mostly required to be cleaned and can be used for a long time. However, Coway determines that the deodorization filter is replaced every six months and the HEPA filter can only carry its best performance at around a year.

The air quality sensor is instructed to be cleaned every two months to keep the sensor, operating efficiently and this can be cleaned easily with an ear cleaning plug by removing the sensor cover on the side.

Operating cost of Coway Airmega 200M

In terms of power consumption Coway Airmega 200M is barely noticeable of the settings you are using is the first and second fan speed settings which will average up to around 10W. The third setting however pushes the limits a little to around 60W, but this not even essential if Auto mode is in operation.

The filter replacements adds to operating cost, but from the filters the pre filter can be used for a long time compared to filters such as HEPA and the deodrization filter. Proper cleaning and a bit of vacuuming every week can you a long way in maintaining a good efficiency and avoiding extra costs.

Our opinion

The Coway Airmega 200M is a versatile air purifier with the 4 stages of filtration. However deciding between the Coway AP-1512HH can be challenging for the 200M as it is around the same value with a slightly elevated performance. The Coway Airmega 200M does well in our testing, this is mainly because of the 4 level filtration, as filters are essentially the defining factor. But we would recommend to go for the Coway AP-1512 as it is the lastest version and might offer a slightly elevated purification.