As a home appliance tester, I admit that I was a bit skeptical about the performance of air purifiers at first. I was sure the air purifier was doing something, but I wasn't sure how effective it would be in the home, if at all. I was fortunate in my youth that I didn't suffer from hay fever or allergies, so I didn't need an expensive appliance that would take up space in my small apartment.

But one summer, years later, I noticed something had changed. I was walking to the store for groceries and decided to take the scenic route. As I passed a park, suddenly my eyes began to water, my nose began to run, and I couldn't stop sneezing. I looked and felt so messed up that I had to turn back. Once indoors, the situation improved, but the symptoms never completely went away. To make matters worse, I started waking up in the middle of the night with an itchy tongue and a stuffy nose. I googled the symptoms and found that it was hay fever.

Things continued to get worse, and year after year, the symptoms got worse everywhere I went. And the first house he built with a mortgage was a construction site. The summer heat created dust everywhere, so much so that every time I opened a window I could see dust accumulating in the room. My allergies were through the roof and medication was no longer helping. So I decided to try an air purifier.

Dyson first entered the air purifier market in 2015 and has been aggressively expanding this category ever since. Not only do they offer air purifiers in a variety of sizes and improved performance, but they also combine them with other appliances such as humidifiers and heaters to create multifunctional products.

It wasn't cheap, but desperate situations called for desperate measures, so I purchased the Dyson Pure Cool TP04 ($574 on Amazon). I placed it in the corner of my living room, flipped the switch, and looked at it, hoping for a miracle. The small LCD screen immediately displayed a yellow line, warning me that the airflow was insufficient. I let it do its thing and went about my day. [I sneezed less and my nose stopped running.

I connected my Dyson air purifier to the app and looked over its graphs. In addition to catching pollen in the air, the Dyson Pure Cool TP04 was reducing VOCs and nitrogen dioxide. I had no idea that my air was so polluted. Even where I had been cooking earlier, the numbers had spiked. I decided to move the unit to my bedroom because that was where my symptoms were the most concerning. I slept well that night and when I woke up my symptoms had not completely disappeared, but they were definitely improved.

I ran the Dyson day and night (using the convenient night mode) and also took full advantage of the automatic setting that adjusts power via sensors. My partner doesn't have such bad hay fever, but he too noticed the difference and was happy to have it in his bedroom.

When the pandemic hit, it became necessary to work from home and I found myself carrying the Dyson air purifier from my bedroom to my home office every day. I also noticed that as soon as the Dyson was moved, the air quality in the original room began to drop. Sadly, one Dyson is not enough to cover the entire apartment.

Since this is a new building, I also noticed that the windows are often closed and the air is drier. There was a lot of static electricity when I dressed and when I combed my hair. It was so bad that I was afraid to touch anything metal in my bedroom for fear of static electricity.

Luckily, Dyson had just released the Dyson Humidify + Cool PH01 ($799 at Best Buy). We placed them in our bedroom and set the humidity at the recommended level. By placing one at each end of our home, the entire space was given the treatment it needed. I sleep better at night and no longer have to buy and store tissues everywhere I go. The humidification feature worked wonders for the dry atmosphere as well.

These days, we take the effectiveness of these appliances for granted. It is only when they come up in conversation that I remember their impact. For example, when my father visited recently, he commented that his allergies had stopped since his arrival. He also wants to invest in Dyson. Friends also comment on the Dyson and ask if it works and if it is worth it.