Toshiba Air Purifier CAF-W36USW UV Light Sanitizer, Designed for Smoke, Dust, Odors, Pollen and Pet Hair for Home, Office, Bedroom, Black

I love this filter, but not so much to begin with. Initially I had both the blue and green lights blinking and it wouldn't connect to anything. The filter worked fine for what it was supposed to do with the manual buttons, but once I settled down, it only took a few minutes, turning on a light and unpacking a few brain cells to get everything connected and working the way it was supposed to.I'm sure all this was included in the setup directions, but being male and moderately capable in technology, my wife says I tend to avoid those in favor of having challenges to solve so I can prove my worth around the house. I think it's more that I just hate wading through useless directions telling you 78 ways to not use your new appliance that never crossed my mind. Nope, taking my air filter into the shower wasn't even a consideration, but I'm sure there's a really entertaining story in there somewhere.On startup, the blue light was blinking which supposedly means that the filter needs to be changed. Not likely just a minute or so after initial startup. The solution is to hold that button down for a few seconds till it gives a very faint beep. Don't hold it down any longer than that... as with many things, more than enough isn't necessarily better and might actually hold up or reverse the process.That left the blinking green light to solve. Again while the directions said hold it for 3 seconds, I held it for about 10 seconds just to be sure. At that point it beeped numerous times at me and as it turns out, that was the filter's way of saying, "knock it off". Nope - wouldn't connect to Alexa and the app just gave me error messages. So I went back and just held it down till it beeped once and like magic, then it connected.With everything working, let me tell you about the number of ways that I like this and how great it is, in no particular order.1) This pushes as much air as my old air filter but only weighs about 20% as much, meaning it's easy to move and takes up about 1/3 the floor space.2) It actually kinda looks pretty slick and fits in with just about any decor.3) The Alexa function is spanky. On/off and increase/decrease speed. Also turn on/off UV mode. You can also create a routine with this but I honestly don't plan on turning this thing off till 2020 his in my rear view, and I'm not sure about then.4) Since beginning operation, our required dusting is significantly less. Since we have allergies to dust, this has made everyone feel better. Also of note, dust is a known pathway for various pathogens so it makes sense that reducing the dust could improve health and the immune system less encumbered.5) I don't burn things in the kitchen very often, but general odors from cooking are quickly reduced while running this filter on high, and guests say they can't tell what we had for dinner just a couple hours later. I expect fish fry night may put that to a test and could mean I'll have to change the carbon filter much sooner.6) Super quiet. All you hear is the sound of the air going through the machine. On low setting, you could have this right next to you and not have it interfere with a conversation. We have ours on the far end of the living room with seating in the middle and the television at the other end. On high speed, there's no interference with television sound.There is a claim in this page for [UVA sterilization]. I have serious doubts here as I've not been able to find any corroborative information and in fact several sources say that UVA doesn't sterilize anything. Also, even when UV does sterilize, it depends on how long the pathogen is exposed. This filter pushes air through at a very good rate, and even on low speed, I can't see that anything going through the filter would be exposed to any UV light for more than a split second. Sounds like a gimmick to me, but take it for the opinion that it is and welcome information that tells me how they can accomplish this task and independent labs that would have verified this is what is happening.

The media could not be loaded. Update:I’ve been using the air purifier pretty much day and night, and it is phenomenal. I don’t need to use the UV Light function often because fresh and pure air is constantly flowing. I haven’t had a stuffy or congested nose due to seasonal allergies and that’s the reason I keep it on. I spent time on a trip and I noticed my allergies; I was glad to come home.I have about 1,000sq ft in my kitchen and living room, bedroom is 12x14sq feet and it works. I keep it away from me if I don’t want to feel the light air flow that is almost like a fan. The look reminds me of a compact tower fan that fits anywhere. It doesn’t have a weird look like a tower fan or anything. I am really glad I purchased it because it made a huge change in my breathing. I expect the air flow to be warm for the winter. I can turn it if I don’t want to feel it.Using Alexa: You have to connect it to the Alexa App, not the Amazon App. You need a compatible Alexa device, like an Amazon Show. I would search for the the specific name of your Amazon device to make sure it will work to ask Alexa to change the settings. I have a Show. It works but I am not sure if my Echo Dot will work since it said, “Compatible with your Show.”I didn’t know anything about it and I basically blindly purchased it; I just knew I wanted an air purifier. If you need one or you are looking for an air purifier, take the chance! You won’t regret it.It is so quiet too! It is one of my favorite items I have in my house. It might seem weird but it is a great product!FIRST REVIEW:Easy out of the box set up. It connected to Wifi and it easily connects to the Alexa App. It can be controlled by asking “Alexa” to turn it on or off, even when not at home (that is the benefit of Wifi). You can change the name on the Alexa App. Press the bison and it will connect to Wifi right away. It is very quiet on Low and quiet on Medium and less quiet on High. It has a soothing sound, which I like to use to fall asleep. It has the UV light to reset filter and there is another light that flashes when the filter needs to be replaced.It is extremely easy to move around. Make sure you take off the plastic protector from the filter before using. There is a warning on it to help with it and instructions. Keep it more than 30cm away from the wall and other obstructions when using, as well as more than 50cm from metal/applianceI will learn more about the functions as I use it more, read the manual again and, as the days pass by, and update my review, if needed. I hope someone found this helpful. If you would please click “Helpful” if you like my or find my review helpful in any way.I will update soon!Thank you for reading.I recommend it.

Wi-Fi - like a lot of (most!) IoT devices, it does best on a dedicated 2.4GHz ("B" band) network with other brain-damaged devices. If you put it on a network (SSID) that spans 2.4 and 5 GHz, it's going to lose its connection back to Alexa and will start flashing the frontmost green LED. This could be because of band steering or it's because the Wi-Fi on the microcontroller is a bit out of spec. What I do know is that once I ditched my Asus networking gear I don't think that it has lost the connection to the 2.4GHz network nearly as often. When that happens, simply love your phone over to the 2.4GHz network and go through the steps to re-add the device to Alexa - assuming you left the default name First Air Purifier on place. Note that I didn't say that you had to delete the device out of Alexa first - turns out you don't need to do this step.This lives in my bedroom and if the gunk on the pre-filter is to be believed, it does a good job at trapping dust in the air. It's not a 100% solution - things still need dusting.It's not annoyingly bright - I do like it to be very dark at night and its indicator lights are the dimmest in the room.Changing out the pre-filter and filter is easy enough - pop the back off, do the thing, pop it back on, then press and hold the UV button until the indicator stops flashing blue.