Product Review: Vornado Air Quality System 500 Air Purifier

The Vornado Air Quality System 500 Air Purifier is a simply designed yet efficient air purifier that cleans dust and allergens from the air.

Ease of Use/Performance: 25/25
Convenience/Storage 22/25
Appearance/Design 24/25
How much I enjoy 23/25

Total: 94/100

Simplicity of design has to be the benchmark behind the Vornado Air Quality System 500 or AQS 500 with its simple motor and controls in a drop in unit and the base with its two filters. The drop in unit that has the fan and controls simply sets down in the base that stands about two feet tall with its two air filters.

The Vornado brand has been used back in the 1940's and 50's for quality manufactured fans in Wichita Kansas and in 1989 Michael C. Coup founded the new Vornado Company. The Vornado brand now sels air handling and air quality equipment such as humidifiers, air purifiers and heaters.

Vornado has some excellent air handling and circulating products and they continue the traditional quality with the Vornado AQS 500. This simple yet very efficient air purifier works on the volume of air to clean air from a single room or area.

In the military I worked on air circulating and cooling equipment for small missiles and had to learn about air pressure, volume and worst of all leaks in air plumbing. Using air volume you can filter a larger amount of air using a larger filter and simply having a decent fan pulling or pushing the air.

If you force air through a smaller filter you need to have a larger or more forceful fan and that means more noise. Those desktop air purifiers may not take up as much room but they are not going to filter as much air in the same time as the Vornado AQS 500 nor do it as efficiently.

The simplicity here is the volume of air movement and how they designed the unit to simply have two air filters you drop into the base with the fan unit setting on top for easy use and maintenance. The volume of air being moved is dependent on the size of the fan and the size of the air filter area that is allowing air to pass through the unit.