Verdict
Levoit’s range-topping Core 600S is one of the best performing air purifiers we’ve tested. Very quiet, powerful, and with amazing filtering performance, it has an auto mode and app control, too. Its specs and performance make it ideal for very large rooms and open-plan living spaces, but it’s quite expensive to buy, and you’ll need to budget for replacement filters.
Pros
- High-volume, efficient air purification
- App control with smart features
- PM2.5 air quality sensor
Cons
- Quite expensive to buy and run
- No ultraviolet sterilisation
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A HEPA 13 air purifier for the biggest roomsThis big air purifier is designed for huge rooms up to 147 square metres (1,580 square feet). Its HEPA 13 filter can remove pollen, mould spores and even viruses from the air -
Smart controlsUse the VeSync app to control settings, view air quality history, create schedules and tweak other settings
Introduction
The 600S sits at the top of Levoit’s range of Core air purifiers. It’s a big, powerful filter with a whopping clean air delivery rate (CADR) of 410CFM, so it’s designed to scrub the air clean in very big rooms. Levoit says it’ll change the air in a 60m2 (635ft2) space up to five times per hour, or twice per hour in a 147m2 (1,580ft2) room. That’s enough to control odours, reduce allergens and even filter out viruses in a large open-plan living area.
This air purifier is equipped with a three-stage filter that includes an activated carbon layer. It’s made from the same ‘ARC’ formula found in the Core P350 pet air purifier, which Levoit says decomposes trapped molecules, improving performance and extending the filter life. It’s also got an air quality sensor, so you can set it to Auto mode and have it automatically respond to changing conditions in your home.
Design and features
- Big, squared off design with good controls
- Air quality sensor
- Useful and reliable app
This is a big air purifier, but it’s a simple device. In its base there’s a large cylindrical filter, while the top section contains a big fan and its controls. There’s a limited amount of setting up to do. You’ll need to remove the top section and un-bag the filter, after which you can use the touch-sensitive control panel to operate the Core 600S manually, or put it into Auto mode.
This air purifier’s control panel is instantly recognisable from other Core series purifiers. There are buttons to turn it on and off, lock the keypad, set an off timer, or disable the display lights. The control panel also lets you choose from four fan speeds, or an ultra-quiet night mode that also extinguishes the lights.
The final control panel option is Auto Mode, which chooses the appropriate fan speed based on the level of pollutants detected by a sensor. This is a laser-based system that scans the air immediately outside of the purifier, so it’s not dependent on the fan first pulling any dirty air into the device. This detects only PM2.5 particulates – those measuring less than 2.5 microns (2.5 thousandths of a millimetre) across. It doesn’t detect other sizes of particulates, or volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Other Core series purifiers are purely cylindrical, but the Core 600S is rectangular with rounded corners. It’s not the best looking design, but it’s inoffensive, with the silver control panel adding a dash of visual interest. At its centre there’s a display showing the detected PM2.5 level in micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), and colour rings to show air quality at a glance.
The ‘S’ in this air purifier’s model name indicates it connects to Wi-Fi and comes with smart features, controlled through the VeSync app. It’s extremely easy to add the 600S as a new device, at which point you’ll be directed to apply a firmware update, and then it’s ready. The app gives you the same functions as the control panel buttons, along with the current PM2.5 level. It also shows you historical readings alongside the fan speed in use at the time.
Dig around and the VeSync app offers a few more advanced features. You can define multiple schedule items, letting you change modes or speeds at given times or on certain days.
You can also enable and configure a couple of subtly useful features. By default, Light Detection extinguishes the control panel and selects a slower fan speed when you turn the room lights out – effectively an automatic night mode. You can also change the behaviour of Auto Mode, for example allowing it to turn the fan off altogether when air quality is very good.
That’s a good set of features, but while this purifier does filter out most viruses from the air, it doesn’t have an ultraviolet lamp to destroy any microbes that make it through. Given this, it seems quite expensive, particularly as you’ll need to spend £70 on a new filter once or twice a year – the exact frequency depends on how much you’ll use the purifier.
Performance
- Extremely quiet and efficient
- Excellent filtration
- Can stir up quite a breeze
We test every air purifier by shutting it in a small room with a burning smoke pellet. I was expecting the Core 600S to do well on this tough test, but it gave easily the best performance I’ve seen. In less than two minutes it had started to bring the PM2.5 count down below the sensor’s 999μg/m3 maximum, and after five minutes it was at a ‘good’ 18μg/m3. Just one minute later, it had fallen to 9μg/m3, within the ‘very good’ range – that’s two minutes faster than any other air purifier I’ve tested.
This extremely high performance is no doubt helped by this purifier’s large filter, and its powerful fan. Despite strakes designed to create a diffuse output, there’s still quite a powerful flow of air when measured immediately above. On full power, I measured 5 metres per second just 15cm from the output, dropping to 2.9m/s when measured a metre above. On speed three the airflow was just 1.2m/s from one metre, and at lower speeds it was below the roughly 0.9m/s threshold of my anemometer.
Large fans are often quiet, and happily that’s the case here. In night mode I measured just 27dBA from a metre away. This rose to 38.5dBA on speed two, and a peak of 50.4dBA at full speed. At this volume you might need to raise your voice slightly to be heard, whereas night mode was comfortably quiet enough to sleep with.
This air purifier uses a DC motor, which helps make it very efficient. It used just five watts in night mode, rising to 7W at speed one and 10W at speed two. Unless you smoke or frequently fry and grill food, it’s likely to spend most of its time within this low-medium range of speeds. At its third speed setting it used 19W, with consumption stepping up somewhat to 45W at full power.
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Should you buy it?
A very powerful purifier
This air purifier can filter a huge volume of air very quickly, but when top performance isn’t needed, its sensor keeps it at an appropriate speed to save noise and energy. Its controls are easy to use, and its app adds a little more functionality.
Not ideal for everyone
The Core 600S is quite expensive, and it’s overkill if you’re not using it in a very big space. It’s a shame, too, that it doesn’t have UV sterilisation.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve got a very big living space, particularly an open-plan kitchen/diner, Levoit’s Core 600S could be perfect. It can filter out cooking smells, particulates and other pollutants, with its sensor helping to ensure the fan’s always running at an appropriate speed – or even not at all. I particularly like the range of controls, which offer a wide spread of speeds and the simplicity of an off timer, but the app adds some useful extra functions, most helpfully the ability to add schedules.
This purifier might not be perfect for everyone, though. It’s probably overkill for smaller homes, where a cheaper alternative like the Levoit Core 300S might be plenty powerful enough. And while its three-stage filter should be effective at removing pathogens, those with health concerns might want to consider an alternative with UV sterilisation and a more comprehensive pollutant sensor, such as the Leitz TruSens Z-3500H or something else from our guide to the best air purifiers.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every air purifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main air purifier for the review period
We test smart purifiers with their apps and we test Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility.
We time how long it takes each purifier to remove smoke from a closed room.
FAQs
Levoit says the Core 600S filter will last from 6-12 months. The exact figure depends on how much you use the purifier, and how hard it’s working when it’s running. There’s a light to let you know when you need a replacement.
Surprisingly little. We measured a maximum of 45 watts, but it used just 5W in night mode, and only 10W at speed 2 – that’s about the same as a low-energy light bulb.
