The Starke Living Air Purifier is a mobile, USB-powered purifier wonderful for any home or workplace.
Clean air is an absolute necessity for healthy living today, isn’t it?
Even without the COVID-19 pandemic, the air around us contains lots of invisible particles that could do us harm. Mites, minuscule dust particles, pollen, pet dander, the awful list goes on and on.
Within our homes, air cleansing could easily be achieved by plugging in an air purifier, but here’s the question. What if your living space is … err … so crowded, there’s no way to add a full-size purifier unit? What if there are no spare power sockets to leave it plugged in too?
And what about your workspace, an area where you’d possibly spend more time at? What if there’s again no spare power plug or your boss just can’t stand the sight of a full-size purifier taking up space? What if you use a co-working space where you can’t leave anything overnight?
That’s where a portable, USB-powered air purifier like Starke Living’s could come in handy. Lightweight and sleek, this nifty unit is designed for portability and mobility. What’s more impressive is that despite its compact size, it is in no way small on capabilities.
This review was written using a sponsored unit. All opinions stated are my own.
A Home Improvement Product by Starke Living
Some background information first, before my review proper. Firstly, I was keen to review this product because of its portable nature. At the moment, I’m using a co-working space, and being still jumpy from the pandemic, I’ve been wondering whether there’s some way to sanitise the air around me. I am, of course, aware that an air purifier can’t completely help with viruses but as I highlighted above, who knows what other threats floating about?
Secondly, Starke Living doesn’t just retail air purifiers, they also specialise in bathroom products and digital locks. Their designer toilet bowls, for example, are designed with the patented Starke Siphon™ and Starke Sauber™ technologies to combat the accumulation of bacteria and germs. Their digital locks are also empowered by German technology, with pre-purchase consultation and a full refund policy. (Click here to check out the long list of features for their seamless locks!)
What I’m saying is, these guys know how to use technology to keep your home clean and safe. They certainly also display superior physical design with their products, but more on that later.
Delivery
Delivery, from order to arrival at my current home, took but two working days. Without surprise, it was hassle-free too.
Starke Living Air Purifier Features
Here’s a quick list of the features:
- 16 cm diameter by 26.8 cm height, and 1.25 kg in weight. (In other words, perfectly mobile)
- Capable of disinfecting and sterilising air with the release of negative ions.
- 360-degree full air circulation ability.
- Triple-layer (Primary, Activated Carbon, HEPA) filter. The middle, activated carbon layer removes odour and absorbs formaldehyde, an awful chemical present in many furniture and appliances.
- Automatic & manual modes for wind speed.
- USB-C fast charging, with a battery capacity of 10,000 mAh (around 20 hours of use)
- Smart LED display of settings, ambient air quality, and battery life.
- Night light function.
- As shown above, comes with a synthetic leather handle strap for easy carrying.
- Available in white and grey
- Online retail price: SGD 150/-
As for the more technical aspects:
- Air purification level: H13
- CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate): 56.8m3/h
- Noise level: <52.3dB
- Negative ion concentration: 8000000 pcs/m3
- Effective range: 10-15 square metres (larger than a typical Singapore HDB bedroom)
Testing at Home and Workplace
I spent a day carrying the unit all over my home, and then to my co-working space. My findings are as follows:
Perfect Portability
The unit is not exactly petite, but it certainly doesn’t feel over a kg in weight too. (Or maybe those home weight training sessions I’m doing are paying off) I had no difficulty at all placing the purifier into my backpack too, although, with the purifier in, I wouldn’t be able to put it a laptop or any other gadget.
At my workplace, the sleek, elegant design furthermore ensured it wasn’t too eye-catching. As in, it didn’t attract baffled stares. I could use it for hours without anyone commenting, or worse, complaining.
Controls
I’m sure you can tell from my pictures that Starke Living adopted a stylish, minimalistic approach to the physical design of their purifier. There are just one power switch at the back and one mode button under the LED screen. Turning on the purifier, in turn, is easy. Just flick the switch and press the mode button.
On the other hand, if you want to adjust fan speed, switch on the night light, etc, you do need to read the mini-manual. (It’s in English only). Nothing too complicated, though. Single press to change the fan speed. Double presses to activate/deactivate the night light. Long press to activate/deactivate negative ions. And so on.
LED Display
As is the case with controls, it’s necessary to read the manual to know what’s shown, although again, it’s nothing arcane. Fiddle with the mode button long enough and anyone would be able to figure out what’s what.
Battery Life and Charging
The box doesn’t come with a power plug, just a USB-C cable. This isn’t a problem for me as I have lots of left-over USB power plugs. But if you don’t, you will need to buy one, or share one meant for your other gadgets.
And while the specifications listed fast charging as available, hmm, it didn’t quite seem that way to me. I left the unit plugged in for 15 minutes and the battery level but rose a percent.
On the plus side, the battery level dropped just as slowly when I was testing the unit. My conclusion is thus that the need to recharge shouldn’t be too much of an issue in the long run. This is, of course, with the night light is off and the fan speed set at auto.
Noise Level
Unless you’re operating the purifier at maximum fan speed, it’s impressively quiet! At the lowest speed, one can still hear a hum, but only if you’re keeping an ear out for it.
And at my co-working space, I couldn’t hear anything at all. The hum was drowned out by our aggressive air conditioner.
In other words, an absolute five-star as far as noise is concerned. Just like portability.
Purification Speed
Am I using a sensible phrase? What I mean is, how long does it take for the Starke Living Air Purifier to “clean” a typical size room?
Well, I don’t live or work in a toxic dumpsite, and I can’t see pollutants, and so I have to resort to a … cigarette test. After a shameful puff in my bathroom (around 3m square), I left the unit on at automatic fan speed and rechecked 5 minutes later. The burning smell was mostly gone, mostly. The air purity indicator had also returned to green.
Going by this crude experiment, I dare say the purifier wouldn’t need more than half an hour (?) to do its magic with a typical bedroom? If I interpreted the official website right, I believe this is thanks to the 360-degree air circulation ability.
Review Conclusion
I have to repeat this once more. The star selling point of the Starke Living Air Purifier is its portability.
You might not intend for it to ever leave your home, but you’d still appreciate its lightweight mobility and the lack of need for a constant power supply. Needless to say, I found it great to bring into rooms without direct power supply too. Such as the bathroom? The storeroom? Or crowded corners of the bedroom?
And despite its compact size, most functions that I’d expect from an air purifier are available, with controls easy enough to figure out.
If any, I think the only downside is that it takes a while to charge. (According to the documentation, 7 hours for a full charge) Luckily, it doesn’t appear that power-hungry too. On auto mode, I used it for an hour and the battery level dropped less than 10 percent.
My summary: for SGD 150/-, this is definitely a worthwhile addition to anyone’s home. Or workspace. Especially a shared workspace.
Check out my other gadget reviews.
