Shark - BreatheClear MAX by NeverChange Air Purifier - Dove

Noticed less dust within first few days. House smells fresher. Unit is very quiet! Worth every penny spent.

I'm completely blown away by this new Shark BreatheClear MAX by NeverChange Air Purifier. It's remarkable in its simple operation, but its perhaps the most intelligently capable air purifier I've ever seen or used. It comes nicely packaged as you'd expect from Shark. The first thing you do when you unbox it, is unscrew the bottom of the purifier to remove the HEPA Filer, and remove the protective plastic wrap it's in, then reinsert it and tighten the bottom lid back in place. There's a QR Code you can scan, which takes you to the user guide and included in the box is a one page sheet which describes the settings and controls. To be honest it's pretty self-explanatory in setting it up. When this purifier turns on, it goes through a calibration process, which takes about 6 minutes to complete. Once it's done calibrating on the top of the purifier is a row of touch sensitive controls, which includes: Power - Settings - My Air IQ (which when tapped provides information about the air in your home) - Breath Clear (a setting which automatically adjusts fan speed based on the air quality in the room) - Up Button (to go up the menu options presented) - Check Button (to confirm the setting you've selected) - Down Button (to go down the menu options presented). It's simple and intuitive to set up. You then have the option to set up the day and time, Sleep Mode (which dims the lights and sounds at a predetermined start and stop time). You can change the level of brightness of the screen or even turn it off if you don't want the screen to display any data. But I wouldn't do this personally, as the information provided is quite helpful. For example, I grilled steaks tonight and the purifier immediately sensed the smells of cooking and took immediate action to go to work cleaning the air. The screen also displays the clean air level in the room, plus changes color from Dark Blue (95% - 100% Clean Air), Light Blue (85% - 94% Clean Air), Yellow (60% - 84% Clean Air), Orange (30% to 59% Clean Air) and Red (0% to 29% Clean Air). After cooking the steaks, the purifier changed to Red and the fan speed increased automatically to purify the air and it did so quietly and efficiently. It took about an hour for the scent of cooking to be completely gone! Shark says this is a Never Change Filter Air Purifier. It's not quite never as they suggest the filter is good for 6 years. But it will need to be vacuumed or wiped with a cloth towel to remove debris on an average of every 8 weeks. It intelligently will let you know when it's time to clean the filter, which is good. The display is a high resolution LCD and it's super crisp and easy to read. This is a rather large device, as it was designed to purify the air in a room up to 1650 Square Feet, but again, it's so quiet, you won't really hear it doing its thing. The purifier continuously filters smoke and pollutants (including pet dander) VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds, found in car exhaust, cleaning products, grooming products, etc.). And with advanced scanning, this puppy scans the air 3600x per hour. It also senses motion and boosts purification power when motion has been detected to proactively remove dust and other particles in the air. Shark is a company I trust to enhance my life. Every Shark product I've ever owned has never broken and some products I've used for several years now. They just build things which are well designed and engineered to last for years to come. This BreatheClear MAX Purifier is simply an amazing purifier and after only a few days in our home, it's making a tangibly positive impact on the quality of the air we breath. It doesn't get better than this. I HIGHLY recommend this purifier if you want better air quality in your home. And honestly, you SHOULD want better air quality in your home.

The Shark BreatheClear Max arrived extremely well packed, with enough protection that I wasn’t worried about damage during shipping. It is larger than I expected, but the size makes sense once you see the airflow design and filtration system. Setup is simple and well explained. The instructions are clear, though you do have to flip the unit over to remove the plastic from the filter before powering it on. After that, it’s essentially plug‑and‑go. The display screen is bright, easy to read, and gives you real‑time air quality feedback, which makes the technology feel both transparent and reassuring. What impressed me most is the filtration system. Shark’s “NeverChange” filter branding is a little confusing at first. The box says “zero filter changes” but also mentions saving up to $350 on replacements. It finally clicked that the savings refer to how long the filter lasts—not that it never needs replacing. After checking online, I learned the main filter is designed to last up to six years, which is far longer than typical HEPA units. You do still clean the prefilters every eight weeks with a vacuum or damp cloth, but that’s quick and easy. Performance-wise, the improvement was noticeable. My air quality reading started at 72%, and within just a few hours it climbed to 97%. The unit runs very quietly, even on higher settings, which makes it easy to forget it’s running at all. Between the quiet operation, the efficient filtration, and the real‑time air quality tracking, it gives a genuine sense of peace of mind. I’m especially excited to see whether it helps reduce dust levels throughout the house over time. Based on the early results, I’m optimistic.

I have the smaller version of this type of shark air purifier in a bedroom and I really love not changing the filters all the time so I had to try the big boy for the main living space and, oh my, did they update some stuff with this one. A full animation screen, more sensors, and sleep mode as well as other minor changes make this newest shark model worth getting. So right off the bat, this thing is big, not in a way that takes up a lot of space, but compared to all my single room purifiers we have (we have a lot, 5 total now), this is much larger. It's about the size of a kitchen garbage can. In such a large room though, this doesn't look big or out of place. It sits neatly in our living room next to some furniture. Once I got it out of the box and set up, including removing the filter from the bag that a LOT of reminders will thankfully tell you, the screen walked me through the setup process. I'm trying to remember exactly what it did but it was mostly things like setting up the clock and preferences. One of the preferences you can set is a sleep mode. I love this addition. It allows me to set a time to automatically turn on “sleep mode" which turns the screen off, motion sense off and sets the fan to low until the time I choose. Even though it's called "sleep” mode, this does not need to be set for when you sleep. I actually have it turn on in the evening when I'm usually watching TV on low volume while others are in bed but I have the mode stop in the middle of the night. This allows me to keep the tv volume low because the fan on the purifier isn't firing up and down. That said, the unit is pretty quiet until it gets to the top two speeds. And in the week I've had it so far, it hasn't stayed on high for long. The unit seems to clean the air quickly. The other 2 modes are static fan speeds (set the fan speed and it holds until you change it), and what shark calls “breath clear" mode which is basically auto mode. It uses air sensors to adjust the fan speed based on the purification level of the air. In this mode, if motion is detected, it will kick the fan up a notch for a bit. Shark says this is in anticipation of the air getting stirred and becoming worse with motion. Now, the motion detector setting can be turned off BUT it turns back on every time the mode changes. So the aforementioned sleep timer, yep, every time it turns on sleep then goes back to breathe clear, motion detect is back on. I'm not gonna lie, this really upset me. I do not like that Shark advertises the motion sensing as being something you can turn off when in fact, it turns ON automatically anytime the mode changes. So yes, you can turn it off in settings, but you have to go 5 steps into the menu to turn it off, and it will just come back on the next mode change. This upset me because I do not like the motion sensor making the fan burst up every time the dog goes by or someone moves in the living room. When watching tv, it's annoying to hear the fan going up and down a bunch. Usually I just switch it to low fan speed and have it go back to auto before I go to bed when it starts to annoy me. So after a week of use, I've figured out how to work with it, and thankfully the motion based speed boost doesn't last very long, but I really don't understand why the breathe clear mode can't remember the last choice and keep the motion sensor off. Also I can't see the motion sensor location, it's somewhere behind the screen, so there's no putting tape over it or something. Ok, but if the only complaint is a motion sensor setting that turns itself back on, it's a pretty darn good item. I have a few shark air purifiers and they all continue to work great, one as long as 6 years now. So I trust the brand, and I trust it to clean the air well. My thermostat has an air sensor in it as well and on average over a week, the air quality has been better for longer periods of the day since we installed this air purifier. So it's definitely doing a good job. With allergy sensitive people in the house and pet dander in the air, having clean air is a big deal. I feel like I finally got a beast that can keep up with our open concept living space. Even when someone starts cooking in the kitchen, the shark purifier sensors pick it up and the fan kicks in and starts cleaning the air. OVERALL I'm really happy with this shark air purifier. The light weight and narrow body fits just about anywhere and isn't an eye sore in the room. It can handle a large living space and the best part of all, I don't have to change a filter every month or so. There are 2 prefilters that are magnetically attached to the side and need to be vacuumed or dusted off every few months I think it was. But see, I don't need to remember because the machine does and it will tell me when it's time to clean them. So yeah, it's just a fantastic unit and I'm really happy to have it going in my house. The screen is modern and easy to read, the settings are easy to navigate and the set up was quick and easy. 10 minutes after opening the box, you can have it setup and walk away from it. Even with the annoying motion sensor you can't permanently turn off, I still would recommend this unit and am happy with it.

There are several odor issues we seem to have on our 2nd floor of our 2850 sq. ft. house. My wife seems to smell a mustiness periodically and I keep smelling residual odors from diaper changes yet neither can smell the other. The smell of cooked food always gets trapped up here too, although that is less bothersome. We also have a Siamese cat who sheds a lot and has a lot of dander, for that alone we need the help. Shark is saying the BreatheClear Max is their most powerful air purifier yet so our house should be able to put that to the test. We have a fair share of air purifiers and what really sealed the deal on this is the promise that I won’t have to change the filter for up to 6 (SIX!) years. If I can even get half of that, I’ll be happy. The BreatheClear Max is shorter than I expected but it does have a decent sized footprint due to the round body. It’s actually a very respectable size considering it’s rated for 1,650 sq. ft. When I take a step back, it actually reminds me of a propane tank. But a much prettier one, of course. The textured "dove" color is a little more fun than the usual just black or white you usually see. Plus, the front has a nice, different textured and speckled panel to accent the machine which helps gives the whole thing a more elegant look. First off, it’s extremely quiet. Even when the power kicks up from the motion feature the noise is still very mild. I love the large and bright animated LCD screen. I appreciate it showing the individual levels for the different particle sizes along with the overall cleanliness percentage. One screen also shows that same info but with the addition of current temperature and humidity level which thus far compared to my thermostat seems to be accurate. There are two design features I find really smart, as well. Though I joke about the machine looking like a propane tank with the round body, it serves a great purpose. The body is comprised of two side panels, each covering one of two large pre-filters. The panels have large openings but no grates covering the pre-filters. This allows complete air draw and removes any barriers for particles to get stuck on instead of going into the filters. The panels are held on by strong magnets making taking them out and cleaning them quick and easy. There’s no worrying about any plastic tabs potentially breaking. The other design feature I find really clever is the motion detection that raises the suction momentarily as you get near it. Movement causes the greatest stir of pollutants in the air, especially dust and pet hair and this feature takes advantage of that. The detection range seems pretty significant, as well. If for some reason you don’t want to utilize this, it can be shut off if desired, though. Lastly, I am very grateful for there being a child lock for the device. I have a 1 year old who quickly found the buttons and was having a great time pushing them repeatedly so this feature is invaluable. The only thing I have a problem with the Shark BreatheClear Max is the plug is one of those large adapter bricks. My Shark 3-in-1 Max Air purifier which has a built-in heater and fan even only has a regular standard plug. I’m not quite sure why this particular air purifier required the built-in brick adapter. It’s only a minor nuisance like when using a surge protector or where outlets are very close to furniture. Shark/Ninja continues to be one of my favorite companies. They always add and incorporate smart features and designs that actually make sense. After a couple of days, both my wife and I really did notice a difference in the air quality on our 2nd floor. Besides us not smelling any of those other smells thus far and it quickly taking care of cooking odors, the air in general just feels better. Our Shark air purifier does an amazing job downstairs but up to this point we only had smaller, individual machines in each room upstairs that only do a marginal job. For sure we are now going to be able to unplug at least two of them because the BreatheClear Max gets the job done.