Levoit 400S Review: This Air Purifier Works for Cooking Mishaps and Air Pollution

Updated: Nov. 20, 2023

Family Handyman

You already clean your home, but you should also be cleaning your air quality. In our Levoit 400S review, see why you need this air purifier.

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I’ve never thought much about having an air purifier. Sure, I could see the advantages for any household, but couldn’t I accomplish the same thing by opening the windows and changing the furnace filters regularly in my HVAC system? How wrong I was.

Since acquiring a Levoit 400S air purifier, it’s become something I use almost daily, including functions I never considered using an air purifier for. I change out the filters in the heating and cooling system and the windows have been open almost constantly since spring, but the air purifier has made my home much more comfortable. Read on for my full Levoit 400s review.

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What is the Levoit 400S air purifier?

A sleek cylinder shape, the Levoit 400S sits unobtrusively in the corner of a room, quietly pulling in air through the holes in the bottom half and releasing fresh air from the top. It cleans the air via a three-layer filtration system. As a bonus, it’s backed by over 13,200 five-star ratings on Amazon alone. Now that’s a solid air purifier choice!

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We Tried It

Levoit 400S Air Purifier

The Levoit Core 400S is the efficient smart air purifier to clean a whole room properly. AirSight Plus technology scans the surrounding air for airborne particles as small as 0.3µm.

Levoit 400S Air Purifier Features

The pre-filter stage captures larger stuff like lint, visible dust, pet hair, etc. Next, an H13 True high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter captures microscopic particles, like pet dander, smoke, pollen, dust and other indoor allergens. According to the manufacturer, statically charged fibers trap 99.99% of bacteria and viruses, though I had no way of verifying that in home testing. Finally, a third filter of activated carbon fiber gets rid of smells and fumes.

There are five fan speeds, as well as an auto setting that adjusts the fan based on workload. You can control the unit via an app or a panel on the top. One nice feature about the app: It lets you operate the air purifier from anywhere, set a schedule or activate a 24-hour timer.

It weighs 11 pounds and it’s not small, running about 20 inches tall and 10 inches in diameter. It works well in large rooms, with an effective range of up to 403 square feet. Despite its size, the design blends into just about any room, so you won’t really even notice it’s there. Tons of folks praise this air purifier for its myriad features, including TikTok user @allisonwisdom, who breaks them down.

@_allisonwisdom

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♬ Golden Hour: Piano Version – Andy Morris

How We Tested It

The Levoit 400S offers a sleek, streamlined design. Despite being about as visually appealing as other air purifiers, it offers an unobtrusive look that blends in well. However, the way the unit looks doesn’t matter so much as how it performs.

Right away, I put it to use. I’m not the most gifted chef, so sautéing various foods usually results in a house full of smoke and various smells that can be, well, off-putting. My kitchen space connects to my living room, so there’s no escape from culinary mishaps. I also tried it in my office/studio, where I regularly paint scale models. I mostly use water-based acrylics, but even some of those feature a solvent base that can be quite strong.

Where I really put the Levoit 400S to the test, however, was handling some rather intense wildfire smoke. With historically large blazes burning less than 40 miles away in the mountains east and west of my home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I spent much of April and May with brown haze and acrid smell around my place.

view of the screen on the Levoit 400s Air Purifier sitting on the floor of a home library Family Handyman

Reliability and Durability

It sits quietly in the corner, so it’s not taking much abuse beyond a bump from the vacuum cleaner from time to time. There’s no upkeep involved other than changing the filter, and it’s always ready to roll when you need it. While there are some “smart” components, thanks to a glossy touchscreen, there’s no need to worry about anything not syncing up correctly. Wi-Fi isn’t necessary when using the unit, so it still works well in spaces with weak network connection.

Ease of Use

The Levoit 400S may offer ample features, but the unit itself isn’t busy with dozens of buttons and extra fluff. The sleek touchscreen offers eight intuitive settings, including fan speed and sleep mode. It really couldn’t be any easier to operate—you push a button and it goes to work. The app isn’t really necessary, but it does add convenience. Using the app also means enjoying access to a few extra features, like filter life notifications and unit statistics such as runtime.

Display

You hardly notice when this unit on. The display tells you how dirty or clean the air is with the particulate matter (PM) 2.5 reading; that’s the amount of particulate matter per 2.5 micrometers in a cubic meter of air. For the less scientifically minded, there’s also a color-coded indicator, going from blue (under 35 ) to green to yellow to red. The latter indicates bad indoor air quality when the PM 2.5 reading climbs above 115.

Air Cleaning Performance

Lacking the proper equipment to independently verify air quality, I can’t say for certain how clean the Levoit 400S got the air in my house. However, smoke and vapors cleared up pretty fast with the unit running, much more so than by opening the windows and running a floor fan (which you can’t do during fire season). It also passed the smell test, an important test for those who have pets.

The first big test came after I sprayed some clear varnish on a project in my office/workshop. It was acrylic varnish, but still pretty strong stuff. I turned the air purifier on and it ticked up to 300 almost immediately. I turned the fan to its highest setting and it cleared the air within 10 minutes, according to the monitor on the unit. Even the smell was gone.

Wildfire season started here in the first week of April. That’s usually when I can keep windows open during the day, but not with a heavy smoke settled in over everything. On one particularly bad day where visibility was maybe a mile under a dirty brown haze, the house was inundated before I could shut the windows. Everything smelled like the fire was in my home rather than 25 miles away in a forest. I fired up the air purifier in the living room. It took care of the smell in a reasonable amount of time, about 30 minutes. On days when the smoke wasn’t as bad, the Levoit 400S worked well enough that I didn’t have to close all the windows entirely.

In the kitchen, it cleared up smoke and bad smells effectively. In one noticeable instance, smoke from sautéed chicken cleared up in less than 15 minutes where the kitchen and living room connect. It even took care of hairspray in the bedroom (which registered surprisingly high in PM 2.5), and some unpleasant smells from a three-bean salad prepared that night.

I especially like that the color-coded indicator and PM reading on the top offers data at a glance—no need to spring for a separate air quality monitor.

Value

At time of publication, the Levoit 400S costs about $220. That’s not bad for a unit that can handle large rooms. The manufacturer recommends changing the filter every six months, which costs $50 each time. That means a yearly cost of about $100—not bad at all.

Pros

Easy to set up
Attractive and intuitive smart display
Easy controls and useful features in the VeSync smart app
Use voice controls via Alexa
Purifies up to a 1,980-square-foot room once per hour
Constantly scanning the air for quality improvement suggestions
Easy to transport via built-in handles on side
Air quality sensor gives useful air quality data
Sleep Mode offers nearly imperceptible 24 decibels (dB) sound setting
Energy Star- and Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-certified

Cons

A new filter is pricey at about $50

What Others Reviewers Had to Say

With over 13,200 five-star ratings, this air purifier is getting major thumbs up from real-life shoppers. Here’s what they’re saying their Levoit 400S reviews:

“I have multiple dogs with me in my large master bedroom. This Levoit purifier kept the odor at a minimum. Barely noticed wet dog smell even on a rainy day!” shares Sherry Webb, a verified purchaser.

Jason, a five-star reviewer, says, “I was against getting this, but my wife wanted it and it was on sale, so I pulled the trigger. I have to say, I’m impressed. It has drastically reduced the amount of dust and dander in our living room (we have a larger dog). You can set it up for a runtime on an app, and it will automatically monitor the air quality and run the fan speed accordingly.”

“We keep it in our kitchen. Our smoke detector is hooked into our alarm system, which can be annoying. Since having this, our smoke detector has not went off once,” writes verified buyer, Rebecca I. “This clears the air quickly. If set on auto, you can watch the numbers drop when the air quality goes down. It’s sensitive enough that lighting a candle or using air freshener will tell it that the air quality is low.”

Final Verdict

For me, living with an ever-lengthening wildfire season, an air purifier has become a necessity I never imagined I’d need. But the Levoit 400S would be a useful addition for anyone, from dealing with the occasional cooking mishap to air pollution from the street below your apartment. Those with allergies and pets (or both) would benefit from one, as well.

Where to Buy the Levoit 400S Air Purifier

You can snag your own Levoit 400S air purifier on the brand’s website, as well as Amazon, Walmart and Chewy for around $220. It’s only a (short) matter of time until you’re breathing easier.