Alen Air Quality Monitor Review – Hands On Test

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Alen Air Quality Monitor

Our Rating:

Key Features:

Measures air particulate levels at 2.5 PM

Hassle-free installation

Connects easily to a smartphone

Simple yet intuitive phone app


Track Your Home Air Quality from Anywhere

The Alen Air Quality Monitor allows you the unique ability to track your indoor air quality without running your purifier. This little device measures tiny particulates in the air to provide real-time feedback about your home air quality through the connected phone app. At the same time, the app will also give you information about the outdoor air quality, so you can plan ahead to optimize your home air environment.

You can get the Alen Air Quality Monitor as a single product or bundle it with the BreatheSmart 45i or 75i and receive the monitor for just $25.

Review Criteria Ratings

Overall Rating4.5/5

Pros

  • Super easy to set up
  • Wall mount or counter-set install options
  • Noise-free
  • Easy-to-use phone app

Cons

  • Does not monitor odors or VOCs
  • No cord wrap

Should You Buy It?

If you’re concerned about your indoor air quality or interested in monitoring the air in rooms of your home that don’t have a BreatheSmart air purifier, the Air Quality Monitor is a worthy buy.

You’ll be able to track not just the air quality but the room’s temperature and humidity and compare it to outdoor levels for a full air quality picture.

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Alen Air Quality Monitor Overview

packaging inclusions of the Alen Air Quality Monitor

The Alen Air Quality Monitor is one of the newest products from a company with a reputation for putting out quality, highly-usable air purification systems.

This small device, which was built to replicate the look of the BreatheSmart purifier line, uses an internal laser to measure air particulate levels at 2.5 PM. Smoke, allergens, and other pollutants in the air will trigger the laser and provide feedback to the connected smartphone app.

The Alen app, which also works with the brand’s smart purifier lines, uses clear, colorful graphs and a simple, intuitive platform to give you a real-time look at your home’s air quality. Along with the data provided by the monitor, the app will also give you up-to-date information about the outdoor air quality based on the location information you provide.

Alen Air Quality Monitor and the Alen BreatheSmart 75i

The Air Quality Monitor is available as a standalone purchase or as part of an Air Intelligence Bundle.

By bundling the monitor with the BreatheSmart 75i or 45i purifier, you can get the monitor for just $25!

We’ve had the pleasure of reviewing Alen’s air purifiers in the past. The company’s quality, user-friendly products have always impressed us, and we were excited to get the opportunity to review this newest addition to the Alen family.

I had a chance to test this monitor in my own home, along with the Alen BreatheSmart 75i. Keep reading to see where this unique little device impressed and where I saw room for improvement in my full Alen Air Quality Monitor review below.

How The Alen Air Quality Montitor Performs

The Alen Air Quality Monitor provides the same kind of real-time air quality reports as the BreatheSmart air purifiers do. The two product types even use the same app to present their data. What sets the monitor apart is that it does this job without purifying the air at the same time.

This important difference allows this product to be more useful in certain situations, such as monitoring the air quality in rooms situated away from your household purifier or during times when your purifier is powered off.

In my house, we often have the purifier powered off overnight because we leave the windows open. This monitor proved especially helpful during these times, as it gave us great insight into how our air quality changes throughout the night and between times when the windows are opened and when they’re closed.

There’s no doubt this monitor was useful, but how did it actually perform? Keep reading to find out what I liked and disliked about the setup process, air monitoring abilities, and smartphone app.

Setup

Alen Air Quality monitor plugged in

Setting up the Air Quality Monitor was about as easy as it gets. I started by downloading the Alen app, followed the onscreen prompts to connect it to the phone via Bluetooth, and set up the network connection.

Once connected, I had to find a place to put the monitor. Since I had a number of tests in mind for it, I opted for the simple install option of setting it on the counter. But, for those who plan to use theirs as a more permanent fixture in just one spot, you also have the option to install it on the wall.

The cord for this tiny monitor is 8 feet long, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on where you want to put it.

For setting on the counter next to an outlet, there is quite a bit of extra cord to deal with. It would have been nice if there was a cord wrap on the body of the monitor or some other easy way to deal with the extra length.

Air Monitoring

Alen Air Quality Monitor on a table

The Alen monitor is rated to detect 2.5PM particulates in the air.. These tiny particles include much of the pollution we breathe in, such as smoke, allergens, dust, and other irritants. As these particles pass through the monitor and over the laser inside, the device tracks the amount of them in the air at any given time.

This data is sent to the app and translated as a measure of air quality. The higher the number, the worse the air is. The app also uses the same color pattern as the purifiers to qualify air as excellent (blue), good (green), fair (orange), poor (red), and very poor (purple).

The quality readings of the air inside my home overnight trended well with the outdoor air quality reports for the area. The air quality monitor was also quick to report spikes during the period in the morning when my neighbor stepped out back to smoke cigarettes. This all seems to indicate that the device works very well to track particulates in the air.

device status and air quality data from Alen Air Quality Monitor’s app

One thing that it does not do, however, is account for odors and VOCs in the air.

Depending on the source, Odor particles can be much smaller than fine particulates devices like this are meant to track. Most VOCs are even smaller. They’re so small that they are measured in picometers—which is more than a million times smaller than the 2.5PM particles this device measures.

This came to my attention after I unboxed a cheap foam mattress in my room. The mattress gave off a hefty chemical smell that was apparent for days. Throughout this time, the air quality reading on my monitor never registered as worse than good.

While this isn’t by any means indicative of a defective product, it is worth understanding that there are pollutants this device was not created to sense.

Smartphone App

smartphone app of Alen Air Quality Monitor

The Alen smartphone app is very easy to use in general, and this holds true when accessing the Air Quality Monitor data as well. From the device homepage, you can quickly see the outdoor temperature, humidity level, air quality readings, and indoor readings.

The indoor readings are further clarified by the big colored circle in the center of the screen that uses the Alen color system to tell you your indoor air quality.

Below this information is a very helpful graph that shows your indoor air quality against the outdoor air quality for the past 24 hours. You can even scroll back through the graph to see the information from previous days.

From the app homepage, you can easily navigate between the air quality monitor and your BreatheSmart purifiers, a great feature if you purchase the full Air Intelligence Bundle.

Alen Air Quality Monitor Alternatives

The Alen Air Quality Monitor works exceptionally well for tracking particulate levels inside your home. But if you want something that can also take care of that pollution or monitor more than just fine particle pollution, there are other options.

The Alen BreatheSmart 75i is a highly capable air purifier that uses the same technology to track air quality as the monitor but has the added benefit of being able to purify the air simultaneously. In auto mode, this large purifier will automatically adjust its purification settings based on the feedback of the built-in monitor to keep spaces up to 1,300 square feet free from pollutants, odors, VOCs, and more.

If you’re after a simple monitor that can also detect VOCs, radon, carbon monoxide, and other non-fine-particle pollution, then what you want is the Air Things 2960 View Plus. This highly capable air quality monitor connects to your smartphone to provide real-time data on everything from humidity and pressure to airborne chemicals and pollen levels.

FeaturesAlen Air Quality MonitorAlen BreatheSmartAir Things 2960 View Plus
DetectsFine particlesFine particlesFine particles, carbon monoxide, VOCs, radon, and more
PurifiesNoYes – particles, smoke, VOCs, odors, and moreNo
Price$$$$$$$$

Conclusion

An air quality monitor is a great way to keep track of the air quality inside your home. These smart devices can help you understand where your purifier is coming up short, how purifier placement can affect air quality, and how things like opening the windows change your air.

The Alen Air Quality Monitor is a great little gadget to help you track your home air quality. This tiny device takes up almost no room and works seamlessly with the intuitive Alen app so you can see your results in real-time. Plus, it integrates perfectly with the Alen BreatheSmart purifier line so you can see your air quality levels and improve them with one simple app.

Click on the link to buy your Air Intelligence Bundle, or click here to learn more about the Alen Air Quality Monitor.

Do you have any questions relating to this article? Email us at [email protected] or call us on +1 (310) 961-4908

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Author
Sara Seitz is a freelance writer and novelist. She lives with her husband and wildling toddler in Colorado where she spends her days working on their house, gardening, and reconnecting with nature.

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