Your home is supposed to be a haven from the demands and stresses of the outside world. However, the home is full of hidden dangers. In fact, a 1989 report by the Environmental Protection Agency found that there are up to five times more airborne pollutants indoors than outdoors. For infants, the elderly, those who are immunocompromised and people who suffer from respiratory problems, poor indoor air quality is a serious health risk.
The Rabbit Air MinusA2 Artists Series
Using an air purifier is one way to combat these contaminants. This week, HouseholdMe had the pleasure of testing a high-end model that was sent to us by Rabbit Air.
The MinusA2 Artists Series promises to work efficiently in large rooms while allowing you to customize the way it looks and performs. If our tests are any indication, you won’t be disappointed by the MinusA2.
Our First Impression
If you’re someone who detests the utilitarian look of appliances in general, you’ll be over the moon about by the Artist Series version of the MinusA2 air purifier. For our review, we received the ever-so-exquisite Cherry Blossom design that will definitely have guests asking questions and giving compliments.
As an original piece of art by Rabbit Air, the “Cherry Blossom” MinusA2 perfectly captures the essence of Sumi-e, which is a Japanese style of art that involves the use of black ink.
Set against a glossy white background, “Cherry Blossom” depicts a branch of the lovely cherry blossom tree that is symbolic of peace and renewal in Japanese culture. Although the simplicity and neutral colors of “Cherry Blossom” are sure to enhance any space, Rabbit Air offers more covers from brand originals to copies of great masters like Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.
If you simply can’t decide or want to change up the look of your air purifier, these covers are fast and easy to interchange.
The Power of Five Filters
HEPA filtration is the gold standard of the air purifier industry. If you’ve spent any time shopping around for an air purifier, you’ve probably noticed that many of them have a pre-filter and some of the also have an activated carbon filter.
Rabbit air offers much more than the standard one to three filters found in most residential air purifiers. The MinusA2 takes a heavy-hitting approach to indoor air quality with its six-part filtration system, five of which consist of filters.
Pre-Filter
From the front to the rear of the air purifier, the first filter you see when you remove the purifier’s gorgeous cover is the pre-filter. You can think of the pre-filter as a barrier that protects the other filters from clogs.
Its ability to trap large dust particles and other allergens not only keeps the air clean but also prevents these particles from diminishing the efficiency of the other four filters.
Medium Filter
Behind the pre-filter, there is a medium filter. The MinusA2’s medium filter captures dander, mold spores, pollen and contaminants that are 1 micron in size or larger. We were genuinely pleased by the addition of this filter as two large-particle filters are not the norm for residential air purifiers.
BioGS HEPA Filter
Next, there is the BioGS HEPA filter. Like other HEPA filters, this high-efficiency particulate air filter is designed to catch 9.97 percent of airborne pollutants as small as 0.3 microns. However, the BioGS isn’t a run-of-the-mill HEPA filter.
In addition to its particle-trapping capabilities, this filter controls the accumulation of on-filter bacteria and virus growth, ensuring that the entire filtration system works at peak performance from the beginning to the end of each filter’s lifespan.
Customized Filter
If you remove the BioGS HEPA filter, you’ll notice the fourth filter. Since you can customize the filter that goes in this spot, the one you choose may offer different benefits than the one we tested.
Much to the delight of this product’s main tester, who lives with three children, four cats and one smoker, the MinusA2 air purifier that Rabbit Air gave us came with the manufacturer’s Odor Remover filter. From pets and cooked food to smoke and mildew, this filter is made to combat the unpleasant smells that plague your home.
Rabbit Air also offers three other customized filters to meet the unique purification needs of its customers. You can choose the Germ Defense filter that eliminates mold, viruses, and bacteria – This is a great choice for those who have a weak immune system.
There is also the Pet Allergy filter, which significantly decreases the amount of dander and hair in the air. If you live in a new-construction home or are in the midst of home improvement projects, the Toxin Absorber filter will capture those dangerous volatile organic compounds that come from off-gassing.
Activated Carbon Filter
The final filter in the MinusA2 is the activated carbon filter. When used in conjunction with the Odor Remover filter, this activated carbon filter gets rid of virtually any odor. On its own, the filter is still proficient at knocking out undesirable smells. Since the filter contains granular carbon instead of a carbon layer, you get the benefit of long-lasting, unwavering performance.
Ionizer
To round out the air purifier’s multiple stages of filtration, Rabbit Air integrated a negative ion generator into the purifier’s design. This technology involves the use of an electrically charged wire that delivers negative ions into the air. In turn, these ions attach to harmful particles, making them too heavy to stay in the air.
As a result, most of these newly formed particles fall onto surfaces where you can remove them by vacuuming and wiping down your tables and counters. Those that don’t fall from the air make their way into one of the purifier’s three inlets and become captured by its filtration system.
On the MinusA2, you have the option of running the ionizer whenever you choose. If you need an extra boost of purification power, the ion generator is a fantastic tool.
It’s also safe as this ionizer only emits 0.05 parts per million of ozone, which is well under the maximum of 0.05 parts per million that the Food and Drug Administration recommends for indoor medical devices.
Excellent CADR Scores
One earmark of a quality air purifier is its clean air delivery rate, or CADR, scores. Determined by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, these scores give you an idea of how much air a purifier’s filtration system can process, and they come in handy when comparing air purifier models.
In the category of pollen filtration, the MinusA2 has a score of 201. For dust, its score is 200, and the air purifier has a smoke CADR score of 193.
Foolproof Filter Assembly
Before you plug in the MinusA2 to the nearest electrical outlet, you have to prepare the filters. For packing convenience, all five filters can be found where they are normally placed inside of the air purifier, which can be accessed by simply lifting the “Cherry Blossom” cover from the bottom and gently pulling it away from the purifier.
Each filter is individually wrapped to maintain its integrity, so there is little chance of any filter becoming damaged in transit.
At first, we were worried that we would install the filters in the wrong order due to the sheer number of them. Thankfully, Rabbit Air took multiple steps to make the installation process a no-brainer.
The company provides clear, illustrated instructions in the manual as well as on the backside of the front cover. Plus, each filter wrapping is numbered to indicate the order in which it should be installed, so there is no way anyone can mess up the installation process.
Once you have all five filters stacked on top of one another, all that’s left is to put them into the filter compartment and replace the cover. If the air purifier is already plugged into an outlet, the machine’s LED light strip will blink blue to let you know that the front cover is in place.
From unwrapping the filters to replacing the cover, it only took us about 7 minutes to get the filters ready for use.
Multiple Fan Speeds
Surprisingly, it’s difficult to find a reliable air purifier that can handle the demands of a large room. However, the Rabbit Air MinusA2 Cherry Blossom Air Purifier is up for the task.
The tech specs state it can cover an area as big as 700 square feet. This means you can use it almost anywhere in your house, such as a bedroom, living room or a dining-kitchen combo.
The first setting we took for a spin was the fan speed selector. Within the Minus A2, there is a powerful brushless DC motor. As opposed to brush motors, the brushless variety like the one in this air purifier is quieter, longer lasting and more durable.
As far as sound goes, the purifier’s motor did not disappoint us. From silent to turbo, no matter which of the five fan speeds we chose were quiet. Even when on high or turbo speed, the air purifier did not overpower the noise from the television or during the course of a normal conversation.
The tester who uses this purifier in her home said that ever speed from silent to high was quiet enough to not disturb her sleep.
Of course, we at HouseholdMe prefer to give you more precise results from our test when possible. Since sound is subjective, we got out our trusty decibel meter to find out how the fan speeds compared to the decibel range listed on the product’s specs.
At the lowest speed, Rabbit Air states that the purifier made 20.8 decibels of sound. At its highest speed, the specs report a decibel level of 45.6. According to our decibel meter, the lowest speed generated 22.2 decibels and the highest fan speed produced 46.8 decibels, which puts our results right in line with Rabbit Air’s findings. Then, we conducted the same test with the ionizer on and found there to be no difference in the purifier’s decibel range.
Impressive Airflow
A common measurement used in the world of air purifiers is called air changes per hour, which is abbreviated as ACH. This measurement indicates how often an air purifier can circulate all the air in a room in a 1-hour time frame.
The brushless motor that powers the purifier’s fan is strong enough to clean the air in a 700-square-foot room twice per hour if you set it to the highest fan speed, which moves the air at a rate of 187 cubic feet per minute.
Energy Friendly
When you consider how well this air purifier performs, it’s reasonable to think that the purifier is an energy hog. According to Rabbit Air and Energy Star, this couldn’t be further from the truth. This Energy Star-certified purifier only consumes 47 watts of power on turbo speed and a mere 7 watts on silent speed, so you don’t have to worry about paying a high electricity bill at the end of the month.
Our in-home tester receives prepaid electricity service. Therefore, she can view a daily log of her home’s kilowatt-hour usage. After checking the log for three days in a row and running the air purifier non-stop during that time, she reported no noticeable difference in her electricity costs, so feel free to run this purifier 24 hours a day.
Sensors and Other Convenient Features
To help you monitor the indoor air quality in your home, the MinusA2 is equipped with a particle sensor and an odor sensor. These sensors work hand in hand with the air purifier’s auto mode and pollen, which change the fan speed to keep the surrounding air at a healthy level to save you the trouble of manually adjusting the fan throughout the day.
In addition to the particle and odor sensor, this air purifier also has a light sensor that can tell the difference between a lit and dark room. When the room gets dark, the sensor puts the purifier in sleep mode.
On the control panel, you’ll see an air quality indicator bubble. The bubble changes to one of four colors to let you know the current air quality in the room. When the air quality is bad, the light is red. When it’s healthy, the light is blue. For moderately polluted levels, the light will either be dark purple or light purple.
If you are purifying the air in a large room, have a fire going in the fireplace or suffer from allergies, you may find it helpful to change the air quality sensor’s sensitivity to high. Standard sensitivity is the default setting, and there is also a low sensitivity setting.
Because our tester practically chases after products that let her get a restful night’s sleep, the first place she used the MinusA2 was in her 144-square-foot master bedroom. On medium fan speed, the purifier’s air quality indicator went from red to light purple in about 10 minutes. Within 30 minutes, the light was blue.
For testing purposes, she even let her husband smoke a cigarette in the bedroom. Within a minute of him lighting up, the air quality indicator light, which was blue, became red. Later, she used the purifier in her 420-square-foot living room. Although it took longer for the air quality to become healthy, the light was blue in about 1 hour.
At the end of the day, she put the air purifier back in her bedroom to see if she, an asthma sufferer, would notice a difference in how her lungs felt upon waking up.
Usually, her airways are tight for the first 10 to 20 minutes after getting up in the morning. However, the MinusA2 air purifier made a world of difference. For the first time, she didn’t have to reach for her inhaler, and she raved about the smell of the air, describing it as fresh, crisp and slightly sweet.
Mood Lighting
As if the MinusA2 wasn’t already packed full of convenient and life-enhancing features, it also has a mood light strip splashed across the artwork on the front cover. This optional LED light cycles through blue, light purple, dark purple and pink when on certain modes like pollen mode and stays stationary on red, blue or the other colors when in modes such as auto mode.
If you’re sensitive to light while sleeping, it only takes a second to turn off the light. Auto mode makes it even easier if you find lights to be a distraction at bedtime.
After putting it in auto mode, the mood light turns off automatically when the room gets dark. Of course, you have the option of overriding this auto adjustment.
Easy-to-Navigate Controls
The first time you look at the control panel on the MinusA2, you may feel overwhelmed. After all, this is no bare-bones air purifier. However, the labels on each raised, chrome button along with a logical layout make navigating the control panel easier than it seems.
To the right of the speed, mode and mood light buttons, there are lights that indicate your chosen settings, taking the guesswork out of confirming your selections. Every time you press a button or turn the air purifier on or off, the appliance makes a noise. Unlike the harsh, jarring beeps made by other appliances, the Minus A2 produces low, melodic dings that are so soothing to the ears that it actually put a smile on our face the first time we heard them.
Since Rabbit Air is all about giving its customers the best air purification experience possible, the MinusA2 comes with a remote, allowing you to control each function from across the room. Its simple design that consists of just four buttons makes distance control a breeze.
Placement Versatility
In terms of size, this air purifier is no mini-machine. The MinusA2 measures 20 inches tall by 21.4 inches wide by 7 inches deep, and it weighs 19.4 pounds. Although you may not be able to put it on a slim nightstand, the purifier’s weight means it will remain steady on a tabletop or the floor. Plus, its recessed handle in the rear makes it easy to tote the machine from room to room.
However, Rabbit Air left nothing to chance when it comes to safety. To give the purifier additional stability, the machine is set on a wide base, which is fitted with four textured feet that are made of rubber. Even when our tester’s cat jumped on the table, the air purifier didn’t wobble.
If the front cover is accidentally removed, the purifier will stop running until the cover is reattached. This means you can feel confident using the MinusA2 around pets and children.
You may also opt to mount the purifier to the wall if you’re short on floor space. The wall mount requires a 2-foot clearance from the ceiling and an 8-inch clearance on either side. All you have to do is locate the studs in a wall with a stud finder and purchase four screws to drive into the studs. With an electric drill, you can get the job done in 20 minutes.
Straightforward Maintenance
Like you would with any appliance, you must perform a little routine maintenance to keep the MinusA2 in top condition. Luckily, the pre-filter is permanent, and the other four filters last a year. This saves you a ton of time and money. When it’s time to switch out the old filters, the air purifier’s filter indicator will illuminate.
Besides changing the filters, make a note to clean the particle sensor, intakes, outlet and exterior once every few months, and be sure to vacuum or wash the pre-filter monthly.
Although we haven’t had the MinusA2 long enough to warrant any maintenance, we took the liberty of going through all of the maintenance steps except for replacing the filters, so you could get an idea of how much time it takes. From wiping down the sensor to dusting the front panel, quarterly maintenance only took us 15 minutes – Not long at all.
 |  |  | |
| Rabbit Air | A3 | MinusA2 | BioGS 2.0 |
| Coverage Area (2 air changed per hour) | 1,070 sq. ft. | 815 sq. ft. | 550 sq. ft. |
| Power Consumption | 5 to 60 watts | 7 to 61 watts | 5 to 29 watts |
| Noise Level | 20.3 to 51.0 dBA | 25.6 to 51.3 dBA | 22.8 to 48.6 dBA |
| Filtration | 6 Stages with BioGS HEPA Filter | 6 Stages with BioGS HEPA Filter | 4 Stages with BioGS HEPA Filter |
| Wall Mountable | Right side up and upside down | Right side up only | |
| Mood Light | Programmable | Preset | |
| WiFi/Bluetooth Connection | ✓ | SPA-780N only | |
| Zero Ozone Certified | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ENERGY STAR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Filter Life (Typical) | 12 months | 12 months | 18 months |
| Review | here | here | here |
Our Final Thoughts
Nothing gives us greater satisfaction than to come across an appliance that performs as promised, which is exactly what you get with the MinusA2 Artists Series. Yes, we call it an appliance, but this air purifier is so much more than that. It’s a work of art, a wellness product and a sanitizing device all in one.
As far as looks go, there is no other purifier that comes close to its stunning design. The purifier is efficient, quiet and user-friendly, and it filters the air in six ways. You can customize the way it operates and looks, and you can use it in small and large rooms.
Plus, the MinusA2 comes with some of the clearest instructions we’ve ever read.
The manufacturer also stands behind this air purifier. Why wouldn’t it? The MinusA2 is a quality purifier through and through. Instead of a rinky-dink 1-year warranty, the purifier comes with a generous 5-year warranty with no extra charges for parts and labor on warranty work.
Other air purifier brands better watch out – Rabbit Air set the bar high with the Rabbit Air SPA-700A MinusA2 Air Purifier.
If you have any questions or comments, please add them below in the comment section. Similarly, please let us know if you spot any mistakes or omissions. Thanks!
