This smart air purifier opened my eyes to a troublesome metric I had no idea about

Levoit is objectively one of the best air purifier brands available. It’s also one of my go-to brands, as you can often find reliable, long-lasting air purifiers for affordable prices. Recently, Levoit launched a pair of smart air purifiers aimed at parents called the Sprout line, and I was eager to test in my kids’ room.

I tested the Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier, available for $280, and the Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier, available for $190. Both are smart air purifiers, but they have features that set them apart for different use cases. 

In my testing, I ended up relying on both. I set up the Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier in my older kids’ rooms, which came at a great time because they were in the throes of a cold in the dead of dry winter conditions. 

The Sprout Smart Air Purifier was one of the best additions to my toddler’s room, giving me highly viable insight that I was completely unaware of before using it. 

Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier: An eye-opener

I set the Sprout Smart Air Purifier in my three-year-old’s room to replace an older nightstand Levoit air purifier with no smart features. This appliance was a perfect replacement for my youngest kid’s dumb air purifier but it also served as a sound machine, night light, and air quality monitor.

While most smart air purifiers give you insight into particulate matter (PM) in the air around the device, this one has five sensors to monitor seven air quality factors. The Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier can monitor PM (1.0, 2.5, and 10), TVOC, humidity, temperature, and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in your or your kids’ room. 

This smart air purifier flagged high CO2 levels in my three-year-old’s room, which we were completely unaware of. The CO2 levels in her room average over 1,100 ppm and can reach as high as 1,600 ppm while she was sleeping. 

If you’re unfamiliar with acceptable CO2 levels in a home, they typically range between 400 and 800 ppm. Fair levels are 800 to 1,200 ppm, poor levels range between 1,200 and 1,800 ppm, and dangerous levels are above 1,800 ppm. 

My kid’s room was rated to have fair and poor CO2 levels, which is consistent with complaints of drowsiness, headaches, fatigue, and poor concentration. Once I began getting alerts about this metric from the Sprout Smart Air Purifier, I brought in my SwitchBot Air Quality Monitor to corroborate, just in case there was an issue with the purifier’s sensors. Unfortunately, the SwitchBot Air Quality Monitor had the same verdict, confirming that this room’s CO2 levels were too high.

Unlike carbon monoxide (CO), high levels of CO2 are not imminently dangerous and can be easily remedied. High CO2 indoors indicates poor air circulation, which you often feel as stale air. Very high CO2 in indoor air can cause symptoms like the ones I shared above and can be dangerous in concentrations over 40,000 ppm, but this is extremely rare in home environments. 

Either way, I was eye-openingly aware of this metric from the Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier in my kid’s room and decided to remedy it immediately. Because this indicates poor air ventilation, I’ve been cracking my kid’s window to improve air circulation until we can optimize the HVAC system. 

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There’s also the option to buy a window fan that circulates outdoor air inside or removes stale air from the room. 

I’ve also been running the central HVAC fan overnight to keep air entering the room and the Sprout Smart Air Purifier to clean this air and maintain airflow. These measures have lowered the overnight average by hundreds of ppm, bringing it down to around 800. 

Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier: A winter weather saver

I have to preface this by saying that I’m a fan of data. I love getting a visual on everything related to my kids and home, which is why I love smart home devices. Because of this affinity for information, I’ve had each of my three kids wear a sleep monitor to bed from birth up to about the time when each one was two years old. It’s also partly why I have an air purifier in every room in my home (as well as an imminent risk for lung disease).

The Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier has a separate humidity sensor that you can place elsewhere in your room. My kids loved the humidifier’s night light feature, but I thought it was too bright to place it on their nightstand right next to their heads, so I put the humidifier on a table further away and kept the humidity sensor on their nightstand. This gives the device the parameters it needs to adjust the humidifier’s intensity until it’s at the level I entered in the app. 

I set up this device in the middle of a respiratory virus during winter. The Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier has successfully maintained the humidity in the room, with me topping off the water almost every day, and worked as a night light for my little ones since I set it up.

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier and the Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier are perfect for kids, adults, and seniors. Each serves a different function, which I love because I like relying on the humidifier feature for illnesses and comfort and the thorough information I get from the air purifier. 

The Levoit Sprout Smart Air Purifier is perfect if you want a smart air purifier with a washable pre-filter that extends the HEPA filter’s life and gives you actionable insight into air quality. The Levoit Sprout Evaporative Humidifier is a perfect choice if you want the combination of air purification and added humidity, whether for comfort, symptom management, or to combat dry winter weather.