Hi there! This post is the most detailed Coway Airmega 150 review you’ll find on the Internet. Coway is a big air purifier brand and I’ve not seen them introduce newer models very often. Although the number of models in Coway’s catalog is big, but they do not release each one of them in all countries. Their Coway Airmega series is a rage in North America. When they are already selling air purifiers in tranches, what’s the need for new releases? Well, its due to competition from majors like Honeywell and the relatively newer Levoit which have so many models in their kitty. This has prompted Coway to also roll out a low cost small room air purifier. Welcome the newest Coway Airmega 150 (AP-1019C). Its all about looking different, as this is what attracts muster. Coway Airmega 150 looks simple with nothing flashy about it. It caters to small rooms and is silent if not run in its top fan speed. I received my Airmega 150 and this is an account of how I found it after use.
DISCLAIMER– This model is specific to India and its specifications vary from the US release. Please check local listing on AMAZON.com for technical aspects. You are most welcome to get to know the Indian review of it though. 🙂 The USA model covers a smaller area and is mostly the same otherwise.
Coway Airmega 150 Review
Expect the Airmega 150 to clean the air of medium sized rooms sized 355 sq.ft. Most homes in India have smaller rooms than this size. Hence, in all probability it shall suit your needs as well. Nowadays, air purifiers having a True HEPA filter is a norm so don’t worry about it. It too has a good quality H13 grade True HEPA filter. You would miss the Smart WiFi features rendered by an App because not every air purifier is the Levoit Core 200S.
AIRMEGA 150 UNBOXING
My Airmega 150 arrived in about 4 days of ordering on Amazon. The packaging was good and the air purifier was secured in its place well. The pre-filter, the HEPA filter and the carbon filter were all housed inside the air purifier itself. The uniqueness lies in how the filters are housed inside the air purifier (Cartridge feature). Apart from this a user manual, a quick start guide and a power cord came along. I was also sent an original N95 mask inside as a promotional gift which was a pleasant surprise. Anyways, these days you’ll find a mask with everyone by default. So, now you can the old one you’ve been using!
DESIGN AND LOOKS
When I unboxed the Coway Airmega 150, it came out to be smaller than I had expected. Happens so many times that a product looks larger in pics than in reality. Funny thing is that Coway Airmega 150 doesn’t look like a typical air purifier. It may seem to be a ventilated rack if seen from only the front. I personally keep things simple in life, as then you can devote greater time to the important things. This time around Coway has taken simplicity way too far. And here I am talking about its raw looks which may not be liked by all. But, for me its kind of cute little device.
Coway AP-1019C is available in a single color at the moment i.e. like mine with a White color. In US, you also get a choice of a Sage Green body. I cannot think of any air purifier scoring more on minimalism than the Blue Pure 121. Coway Airmega 150 definitely is way more endowed to be called minimalist. It has an air quality indicator LED to provide feedback on the ambient air quality. The air purifier does a small POST when powered up.
MODULAR FILTER SETUP
The thing that stands out is the ease of cleaning of the pre-filter. This is the World’s first Batch separation technology. Have you seen how beehives are kept in apiaries. The Coway Airmega 150 has a similar arrangement for checking/cleaning the pre-filter. Its good to clean the pre-filter frequently and this comfort means you’d never feel it as a burden. You can pull it out with the help of the grey plastic jutting out from the top. No fuss at all in the maintenance. All the three filters can be taken out without any risk of contamination. You’ve already seen how the pre-filters can be cleaned. Its similar to how it is in air conditioners. For the HEPA and the carbon filter, you should be cautious not to take them out too often. The carbon filter being rugged in texture can be made to stick on the HEPA filter frame via inbuilt Velcro tapes. The HEPA and the carbon filter held together with the Velcro tape, become one unit as shown below.
DIMENSIONS
I do not have anything peculiar to say for the size and dimensions of the Coway Airmega 150. Its a standard sized air purifier for small rooms, but yes it is not heavy at just 5.5 Kgs. The shape is also such that it can easily fit in corners. The air intake is from the front only and not from the sides. The grille on the top face is from where the purified air comes out.
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 13.4 x 6.5 x 18.5 in
COWAY AIRMEGA 150 PRICE
In India, the price has been kept lower than the Coway Sleek Pro model. Its understandable given the fact that it has smaller filters, body and covers a smaller area. Coway AP1009 is definitely way more beautiful in looks. Everything factors in the price. However, I’ve come to know that the company intends to bring the goodness of costlier models to cheaper new releases. This is a consumer friendly strategy to make air purifiers more attractive to the masses.
BETTER INDIAN MODEL – Coway Sleek Pro Air Purifier
UPGRADE FOR BEST IN CLASS PERFORMANCE – SHARP J40M-W
Airmega 150 has been released in the USA as well before India. There is has been pitted against medium to small room air purifiers from other brands. As such it was priced at $189.99 originally which is now down appreciably at this time. I would still not call it anywhere near cheap. We have small air purifiers coming in at as low as $40, ofcourse they are more like a placeholder. But Yes, as far as Coway’s own catalog goes, Coway Airmega 150 is currently the lowest priced model. And why wouldn’t it be, it has the smallest coverage area among all other Coway air purifiers.
COVERAGE AREA & ACH
Air purifiers cannot do magic time and again when it comes to the utterly menacing air quality in North India. Coway Airmega 150 has a perforated front cover to suck in the polluted air through. The air purifier has a front to top air flow. Using an air purifier for smaller areas than it is made for means greater number of Air Changes per Hour (ACH). The more the ACH, the greater number of times the whole volume of the room’s air is cleaned. So, its good to use an air purifier for areas smaller than its rated coverage to get best results. Or, use a big air purifier to clean smaller rooms. One and the same thing. Philips AC3059 is a feature packed 2020 release model with 452 sq.ft. coverage.
The air purifier market is already saturated for all room sizes and specifications. Anyways, Airmega 150 claims to cater to 355 sq.ft. room sizes. Looking at its CADR ratings, I can say that its ACH would be below 4. Coway Airmega 150 has decent CADR ratings for midsize rooms.
AIRMEGA 150 CADR
CONTROL PANEL
A very simple control panel I would call it. No effort has been invested in beautification of any sorts. I can’t understand how the company has given so little attention to the looks department. Minimalism is another thing, but adding a little color to the console would have made it more appealing. Come on, atleast the filter replacement LEDs could have been a little larger. The Air quality indicator LED is hidden from view unless the air purifier is seen from the top. Hence, I’d not call it a great control panel design. Seems things have been ignored in the oversight.
The buttons are touch sensitive but not very responsive. You have to touch the embossed markings to get your preferred setting. Not many buttons feature on the control panel. Its just the Power button, the filter reset button and one for the fan speed. I especially struggled with the Power button. It has to be touched for a while longer than the fan speed button.
AIR QUALITY INDICATOR
Coway Airmega 150 has an LED which changes color in accordance with the room’s air quality. Upon staring the air purifier, all colors except the yellow one light up once with a short jingle. The particle sensor takes sometime to analyze the air quality. Hence, just after power up, the LED would always be toggling colors quickly until it shows the true air quality status.
- Perfectly clean air is shown by BLUE LED.
- Moderately clean air is depicted by GREEN LED.
- When the indoor air is impure then the YELLOW LED glows.
- A RED LED means the air inside is very unhealthy.
AIRMEGA 150 FILTERS
The same three filter types are present like the True HEPA, deodorization filter and a pre-filter. Note that unlike the MAX2 Filter in the Airmega 300S which is a composite filter, here you have three separate filter units. The HEPA and the carbon filters merge after you affix them together with the Velcro tapes. The HEPA filter should be facing yourself.
These filters are secured in a plastic sheet when your air purifier arrives. You need to remove the plastic covers and place the filters back in the same order. Try not to throw away these plastic covers to use them later. In months of good air quality when you put the air purifier away, seal them again in the plastic to maintain their longevity.
TRUE HEPA FILTER
Coway Airmega 150 has a H13 Grade True HEPA filter. It has a customary green coating of extracts from Sumac and Gingko plants to impart anti-microbial and anti-viral properties to the filter. Note that the coating is only on the outermost layer of the filter and not on the other side. As is expected from any True HEPA filter, it removes 99.97% particles of size 0.3 microns and above.
The HEPA filter is like a mini MAX2 filter that the Coway Airmega 400 have two of them. I felt the filter without any manufacturing defects and of fine quality. However, it was apparently a little flimsy in terms of maintaining its shape. But, once packed inside the front panel frame, no worries. It is lined with foam to pack a good sealing without any air leakages; a good thing and also essential.
ACTIVATED CARBON FILTER
The activated carbon filter removes organic gases, odors and fumes from the air. I prefer air purifiers which have actual carbon pellets. I am not very impressed with the activated carbon filter of Coway Airmega 150. It is still sufficient to do its job well. It is a non-costly sheet of carbon-woven fiber. Also, the lack of any supporting frame makes it flimsy. Its another story that it obtains rigidity after attaching to the HEPA filter’s frame. I expected a better carbon filter from Coway. Another upside is that you can go for cheaper replacement filters from other brands. Just cut them to size and you are ready to go.
PRE-FILTER
There’s a pre-filter which you have already come to know above. Its a fine mesh which is washable and comes out easily with the help of a flap jutting out. It would have looked odd if not for the Coway name marked on it. The pre-filter does not come packed in any plastic as it has nothing to lose. So, in summary the pre-filter comes out without having to open the air purifier’s front panel.
FILTER REPLACEMENT INDICATOR
When the time would come to change the filters, the Coway Airmega 150 would warn the same. There are two small LED lights to alert when the HEPA has run its course and similarly one for the deodorizing filter. You’d need to reset the warning by pressing the filter reset button for 3 seconds.
FAN SPEED SETTING
Not difficult to guess the number of fan speeds the Airmega 150 has. Yep you are right, it has 4 fan speeds settings including the AUTO mode. There’s a Silent level, Level 1, Level 2, and the AUTO mode. If you are not sure what AUTO mode is, it is a good thing to have. Air purifiers with Air quality indicators have particle sensors doing the air quality analysis in the background. In AUTO mode, the particle sensors becomes the brain of the air purifier. You do not need to worry about setting the optimum fan speed at all. This would be taken care by the air purifier on its own.
You can observe the AUTO mode in action very easily. When some activity in the rooms stirs up dust or even frequent movements, the fan speed would adjust in order to clean the air. In AUTO mode, when the AQI light transitions from Green to Yellow or Red, the fan speed too increases and then decreases when the light turns Green again.
ALSO READ: BLUE PURE 411 REVIEW
PARTICLE SENSOR
If an air purifier has an AUTO mode and an Air Quality Indicator, it ought to have a particle sensor. The cleaning of the particle sensor with a soft cloth or an ear bud from time to time is a good practice.
POWER CONSUMPTION
A midsize room air purifier doesn’t need to have a big fan. As such mostly all air purifiers covering upto 200 sq.ft. consume nearly an average 40W of power. Coway Airmega 150 also comes true to this generalization with its 35W rated power. Remember this is what it consumes at the highest fan speed. At lower speeds, it would consume even less power.
NOISE LEVEL
At the highest fan speed i.e. Level 2, the Airmega 150 makes the greatest noise of all other speeds. This has been recorded at 48.3 dB which is definitely audible from a distance. However, all air purifiers make extra noise when their fans run in full speed. One of the reasons for it could be the strong but small fan which has been tasked to move large air volume. This noise level is tolerable, not something too loud but it may not be comforting during sleep time. The Airmega 150 lacks any Sleep Mode. Hence, before sleeping you may need to set it to manual mode to either Silent, Level 1 or Level 2 fan speeds.
CONCLUSION- Coway Airmega 150 Review
I find that the airflow of this air purifier is very good at highest fan speed. It may look small but it cleans the air well. Super easy filter maintenance is its another highlight. I would not call the looks of Coway Airmega 150 too inspiring. There are far better looking air purifiers in this price bracket. But, looks are not what you want an air purifier right? The good thing is that the full frontal air intake helps perform better as far as the air cleaning goes. There is no obstruction from the any front panel to the path of the incoming air. If I were to pronounce a judgement, I’d definitely try out this Airmega. Stay tuned and Coway would relaunch the powerful Coway Airmega 200 in India. This model is even more powerful and endowed than the Sleek Pro AP-1009 and in a different league from Airmega 150.
Telling you frankly, people often return the products they don’t like. I have seen not more than 5% of these sold air purifiers being returned. Thats a very encouraging thing you know. In a nutshell, majority of people who choose to buy it, stay with it.
In USA, instead of this, the Levoit Smart WiFi LV-PUR131S is a much better choice in the same cost. It comes with a WiFi support and can be voice controlled by Alexa. You can even set Schedules in it through the VeSync App. Sleep mode which is absent in the Coway is present here. What more, it has a better carbon filter with actual pellets which deodorize better.
Hi, You mention that coverage area and CADR of Airmega 150 is less than sleek pro but the company website and officials say its the same for both.
Which is better and value for money in providing the best air purification ?
How among Coway Sleek Pro, Coway AirMega 150, Phiips 2887, and Mi Air 3 would you chose in overall sense for a city like Delhi in providing the best purification, after sales service and filter costs?
Hello, Thanks for your question. I’ve compared all these models in depth on various parameters. So, its really a matter of what are your preferences and what features you can trade-off with other specifications. Overall, Philips AC2887 is better than all air purifiers in Indian market. Coway Sleek Pro lags behind in Features (no mobile App, digital PM2.5 display etc) but you get good after sales support. MI air purifier 3 is 100% Chinese and I do not support buying Chinese goods at all. Its odor removal ability is zero, although its quite powerful and the best value for money compared to the Coway Sleek Pro and Philips AC2887. I have spoken with Coway technical teams and they say that Coway Airmega 150 is at par with Sleek Pro on all fronts although has a smaller form factor and lower cost. But, I do not fully believe this. Indian buyers are not aware of technical aspects, and they just believe what they see.
In summary, the Coway Sleek Pro is what is trending, so go for it.
Hi I am confused to go for Mi3 airpurifier or Coway Mega 150, as in all aspects i found Mi3 better. Need your personal opinion which one is better as i stay in Delhi. Apart from noise Coway makes less
Hi Arjun – You can go for any of the Coway air purifiers like Airmega 150 or even the Sleek Pro if your budget permits. Their odor removal capacity is better, customer service etc is better than MI3. However, if you are going for the same Rs.9999 budget then go with the Sharp Air Purifier. It has the best quality HEPA filter of H14 grade none other brand offers and even has granualr carbon filter way better than both Coways and the MI3. The idea is that you need bigger HEPA filter size for Delhi NCR and Airmega 150’s filters are relatively smaller than Sleek Pro. Sleek Pro is the leader and I need not stress why it is so.. The Airmega 150 may seem a little toy-like and MI3 is better equipped/value for money, thats the reason I’ve rated MI3 higher than the Coway Airmega 150 model but only slightly. There are a lot of plus and minuses in each you see, no one is a clear winner. Feature-wise nothing like MI3. MI3 is trash when it comes to removing odors and when the peak parali/crop stubble smoke scenario reaches(maybe in November) then you’ll have to run any air purifier that you choose day and night. For MI3, it has a very powerful airflow and cleans the air very quickly and efficiently. It makes high noise at its Turbo/favorite speed. For my MI air purifier, the burnt smell of last season made it useless and I had to replace the filter altogether. I won’t blame it for that as I ran it non-stop last November, such was the pollution. After that it started to give out the same burnt smell of smoke, although the filter life didn’t decrease much. This is when the quality of the carbon filter makes a difference. You can check my MI air purifier articles also. This is the rating for HEPA filter qualities- SHARP > Coway > Philips = MI3
This is the rating for carbon filter quality – Philips > Sharp > Coway > MI3
So, if your budget is nearly 15K, then go with either of Coway Sleek Pro or Philips AC2887 (my take Coway unless you want the digital PM2.5 reading feature very badly) There is a comparison post for these two as well. Both are very good air purifiers.
If budget doesn’t exceed 10K, then go for MI3 or Sharp (my take MI3 because of high power and higher coverage area). I am yet to fully test the Airmega in days of extreme pollution.
Thanks you, I really appreciate that you take time out to revert with such good details which are not even available on other sources. Hats off to your dedication and efforts :-). Keep it up.
I am confused to buy between Airmega 150 and Sharp J40M. Both have same coverage area approx. 350 sq ft.
AirMega costs now at Rs. 11,500 INR (after all discounts from Amazon).
Sharp available at retail shop at Rs.16000 INR
Can you please compare Airmega 150 Vs Sharp J40 on overall performance/cost/maintenance etc. and which one should I buy ?
Airmega 150 is the latest model from Coway but any Sharp model is always better but costlier than Coway due to the better HEPA filter grade H14 vs H13 and also better carbon filters. This obviously comes at a premium. Sharp air purifiers come with plasmacluster (ionizer) which lends better air quality improvement among other benefits which you can read about online or on Airswacch posts. Getting filters for Sharp maybe a challenge online, not sure how it is offline. However, SHARP FP-J40M is a good air purifier although costly for sure.
If you have the budget to buy a ₹18,000 then I would suggest to buy two air purifiers, one Airmega 150 and another SHARP FP-F40E (no difference between this model’s coverage area and CADR from J40)
i’m really torn. so far i’ve used mi 2c for about a year and it worked. The only issue i had with mi was with replacement filters. The replacement filters i bought directly from mi store(online) turned out to be used filters. Then i bought philips 1000 series, it didn’t even work effectively. My house has a ceiling height of 11ft. The Philips 1215/20 even after working for hours didn’t clean the room’s air. Now i’m about to buy the 3rd purifier, setting my budget for about 35k. And i don’t like purifiers with ionizers. The one that i’ve on my mind is the latest philips 3000 series(2020). This thing has a high cadr and a thick filter. I’m thinking of buying coway airmega 150, because of the company’s reputation, availability of filters, customer care. The only issue is that they have only two models for sale airmega 150,200. They both look very identical after reading about it in the company’s webpage. I like coway filters because of the antibacterial features it has, philips doesn’t have any. Though I’m extremely doubtful whether or not coway would work. The mi 2c had cadr of 340, i had to move the purifier in different locations in my room to make it clean the air the whole way through. Airmega 150 has a cadr of 303. I’m not sure if it will work for me.I’m looking for an air purifier that works for rooms with ceiling heights of 11ft, Replacement filters are easy to buy. Could you help me out?. Thanks in advance
Hello,
So, you’ve mentioned 11 feet as the height of your ceiling. CADR, uses a 8 feet ceiling height, it’s just a standardized dimension for testing. How many rooms do you see in real-life having an 8 feet ceiling! What you need to focus on really should be the coverage area and the ACH (Air Changes per Hour). You need to look at the coverage area and ACH together and not separately. An air purifier may claim to have a certain coverage area but capable of delivering an ACH of just 2. ACH of 3.5 to 4 is a bare minimum. Indian websites do not mention the ACH clearly and misguide users by hyping the coverage area. Basically, an air purifier must be able to bring the AQI to healthy (Green) levels within 15 minutes of running at top speed. 20 minutes would also do. If it is not happening, it means that you are either using the air purifier for a much larger space than its capacity, or having doors/windows opened frequently etc. I can write essays on this, but I stop here.
As for the MI Air Purifier you used, I can say that its MI 3 is a powerful air purifier and surely has an ACH=2.5 for around 200 sq.ft. For ~300 sq.ft., its ACH decreases but it eventually does manage to clean the room air.
You didn’t mention the room size you are looking for an air purifier for? From your wish for Philips 3000 series air purifiers, I can guess the size to be over 300 sq.ft. Well, unless you have a big drawing room with open kitchen etc. type of setup, don’t go for a single large air purifier.
Recommendation – MI Airmega 150 is selling like hotcakes, and users are majorly satisfied. Since October, no airmega 150 has been returned back whatever were sold through my site. This is a big thing. But, its not for big rooms. Airmega 200 is not yet released. The day it comes out, you’ll see a detailed review on Airswacch before any other website. It is an old model being relaunched in India after a gap.
If looking for a single air purifier with ACH=4 and ‘THE BEST’ air purifier with H14 grade filters, go for Sharp FP-J80M-H. Link here – https://amzn.to/32v1rO7 but you want to avoid ionizer, otherwise its very good. Avoiding ionizer for concerns of Ozone? Don’t be afraid of it too much, Japanese standards are very strict.
Best would be to buy 2 different units as I always recommend –
Buy one Sharp FP-GM50E-B with 450 sq.ft. Link here – https://amzn.to/3lmuVFi
Buy one Philips AC3256 – Its also a good choice but check replacement filter availability. Else AC2887 is optimum. Link here – https://amzn.to/3kiO5KN
Philips AC2887 + Sharp FP-GM50E-B = INR 35K (Always for for real-time PM2.5 meter models)
I am confused between Coway airmega 150, Sharp FP-F40E-W or Philips AC2887
The main problem i am facing is as i have doubt on the Sharp FP-F40E-W might release Ozone gas i am not sure about this because Plasmacluster technology might release as it ionizer (I have no idea about it because there was nothing mentioned on the amazon product page if its 100% ozone free or not).
And about the philips AC2887 I read have H12 filters on the amazon questions & answers page and also they haven’t specified how much hours their filter will work like in Coway they have mentioned 8500 (approx) life .Because philips purifier filter are costly and cannot change them every 6 months if required.
Coway air mega 150 seems to be nice but I haven’t heard about the company, seems to be a nice brand but I won’t be buying air purifier again and again and also on the coway international site says it covers 214sqft but on indian site it sayd 355sqft(i dont remember the exact figures but it was close to these). And doesn’t have the real time meter so don’t know if the light will be correct or not .
So I read your articles and looks like you have more understanding of air purifiers than me so can me help to get an air purier that really purifiers air and i don’t have to change filters much (using 12-15 hours a day).My budget is less than 17k-18k. Depending i dont have to change filters much like every 1- 2 years.Also if any other purifier you know is better than these pls suggest I even checked bluestar purifier but it also have ioniser and don’t know
it releases ozone or not.
Hello,
Coway Airmega 150 in the US is a different coverage air purifier altogether although with the same name. You’d see this highlighted in pink at the top of the article itself. Airmega 150 has been launched to replace the Coway Sleek Pro Ap-1009 model. Later in time they’d release Airmega 200 too.
For the H12 thing you mentioned about Philips air purifier, its not completely disadvantageous if it is true. Due to lower filter density, it may clean the air better although in more time. As far as I know, it has H13 grade as they claim to clean 99.97% of particles which is the property of H13 grade filters. Philips carbon filter is very good quality, definitely better than Coway and at par with Sharp. Sharp has the best quality HEPA filter of H14 grade.
No one can guarantee the life of the filters. Do you think running the air purifier in a region where AQI remains in severe range for 2-3 months would still last for 2 years? It all depends on the air quality and your usage duration. In any case, no one runs the air purifier everyday of the year. Some months you just pack it off like in the rainy season. So, your filters would still cover atleast 2 seasons (equivalent to 2 years) provided you vacuum clean and maintain them.
Overall, if you want H13 grade + PM2.5 meter + No ionizer + easy replacement filter availability –
MI air purifier 3
is for you. Link here – https://amzn.to/2Ume75q
You can also consider one
MI air purifier 2C
which doesn’t have APP and PM2.5 meter. Rest all is at par with MI air purifier 3.
One MI air purifier 3 + One MI air purifier 2C = nearly ₹17.5K within your budget and it would give an enormous coverage area and redundancy.
Hi great job ! Very comprehensive reviews ! Could you also please compare smartair sqair with airmega 150 ?
hello, I haven’t reviewed the Smartair sqair yet. However, they say their air purifier can clean the air pf a room of size 161 sq.ft. 6 times in an year. That’s very very good. This makes it a good choice for room sizes 161sq.ft. to 320 sq.ft. I’ll try to review it in coming months. If you happen to purchase it, do let me know. I’d request you to write a review on it from AirSwacch.
Please advise how (and how frequently) to clean the HEPA filter and Carbon filter (if possible).From your reply to a query I came to understand that the HEPA filter can be cleaned by vacuum cleaner. Please tell us more about this very useful aspect. Thanks.
Hello Vipul,
Ofcourse you can use a vacuum cleaner to try clean a HEPA filter if its a separate unit or detachable layer. The HEPA and carbon filters cannot be wet cleaned so apart from cleaning/replacing the prefilters from time to time, you can employ a vacuum cleaner to try if it catches some dust too. Its a safe way which doesn’t risk any damage to the filters and may help prolong the life/health a bit more. Especially the pre-filter can be cleaned with a powerful vacuum cleaner.