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Smart air quality monitors Make sure you’re not breathing in any bad stuff at home with one of these smart air quality monitors. T3 uncovers the best of them the all-rounder
automated air cleaning
platinum award
Foobot
blueair aware
£179, foobot.io
£209, blueair.com
The Foobot won’t win any awards for its looks, but it offers a visual indicator of your air quality, so you can quickly check it and get an accurate overview. Tap twice on the top and the Foobot app will ping you an alert to give you a detailed reading. Foobot detects particulate matter and volatile organic compounds, among others, so you’re well covered. The app is straightforward to use, with a clear layout of each area of air quality, and a score shows how your home’s air stacks up against the WHO’s global health index; the tips could be more comprehensive and the timeline is a little hard to read. For automated cleaning, Foobot connects to a Nest thermostat to employ your home’s HEVC air con – neat, but not so handy in the UK. Alternatively, IFTTT offers a way to hook up to compatible Blueair purifiers.
The Blueair Aware is part of a suite of products from the Swedish company, which primarily makes air purifiers. The Aware can be paired with the majority of these, so when it detects poor air quality it tells the air purifier to get to work. This makes it an excellent solution for those who want clean air, but aren’t that bothered about monitoring it manually. As a standalone monitor, the Aware offers a wide range of air readings, including particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, CO2 and more. The unit itself isn’t visually that appealing, but the single LED strip gives you a quick overview of your air (which you can turn off at night, if you wish). In-app, you can choose the type of air to track, which will display in the Aware overview, while a graph gives you a comprehensive visual of how your air stacks up over time.
Verdict T3 SAYS The Foobot offers strong air quality monitoring skills and it’s relatively easy to use, with some useful smarts tacked on.
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Verdict T3 SAYS When paired with one of its purifiers, Blueair’s Aware is a neat fit-and-forget solution, and it’s a great, if unexciting, air quality monitor in its own right.