The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max has been our #1 air purifier for 10 months – here’s why it’s still our top recommendation

The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max (or Blueair Blue Max 3250i, if you hail from the UK) has sat at the top of TechRadar’s best air purifier ranking for nearly a full year now. We’ve tested plenty more purifiers since – including powerful machines that are excellent at clearing odors and purifiers that double up as side-tables – but none quite match this Blueair machine’s blend of user-friendliness, efficient cleaning and value for money.

It’s impressively compact and lightweight given its capabilities, and straightforward to control, too. On top you’ll find a touchscreen button to switch the purifier on and off, and another to cycle through the modes: three fan speeds, an Auto mode and a Night mode. That’s enough options to give you a good amount of control, but no extras to overcomplicate things.

Wrapped around the outside is your fabric pre-filter, which Blueair has cleverly made available in a range of colors to suit your decor. Our tester was especially impressed that it was removable and machine-washable. The pre-filter is your first line of defense, and inside the purifier you’ll find a secondary filter for finer particles, plus an activated carbon filter to tackle bad smells. These will need to be replaced periodically, but the pricing for replacement filters is reasonable.

In Auto mode, the purifier will detect PM2.5 particles, and increase its fan speed to clear them. In fact, it’s capable of filtering other particle types too – including VOCs – but it won’t detect them and respond to them in Auto mode. (There are options with more sensitive Auto modes listed in the alternatives section below if you’d prefer.)

Our tester found this purifier reliably detected contaminants and cleared them quickly – you can read about the tests in more detail in our Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review. She was also impressed with how quietly it operated.