Smartmi E1: Sleek HomeKit air purifier

Daniel

The smart air purifier market remains buoyant. Although during the pandemic was certainly the peak of demand for this category of equipment, but they may have raised awareness of home air quality. An air purifier can also provide support in the event of general air pollution caused by traffic exhaust fumes or, as is currently the case, the start of the pollen season.

The manufacturer Smartmi is particularly active in this area. So back in January we were able to announce the new Smartmi E1 air purifier to you. It is expected to be available for purchase in Germany at the end of this month. We have been using the device for a few days and present some first-hand details.

The compact 42 × 30 × 14 cm case is made entirely of plastic and, as usual from Smartmi, is well made. With 2.6 kg, the air purifier is also sometimes easily placed in a different location. However, the power cable is permanently installed on the device. The stand can be pulled out of the case if you don’t need it, or you can use the air purifier via horizontal or vertical wall mounting. Screws, dowels and a template to drill the appropriate holes are also included directly.

The distinctive feature of the Smartmi E1 air purifier, is certainly the decorative air filter. This consists of an activated carbon filter that removes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and bad odors. A filter against contaminants such as pollen and the decorative pre-filter, which is designed to directly capture larger contaminants such as dust and pet hair.

The manufacturer wants to offer the filters with different motifs. The entire filter is always replaced. This is also very easy to do with a flick of the wrist. Smartmi indicates a necessary replacement with a period of three to six months, depending on the contamination. The device informs about a necessary filter change via the Smartmi app as well as via HomeKit. The air purifier makes sense for room sizes up to 19 sqm.

The Smartmi E1 air purifier is quickly added to the Smartmi Link app and connected to the home 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The Smartmi app is not mandatory, but it is useful for updating the firmware, for example, if the manufacturer wants to provide optimizations or functions via it. In HomeKit, the air purifier is integrated as usual in a few seconds by scanning the QR code and can then be controlled in the Apple ecosystem.

The E1 air purifier can also be controlled directly on the device. On/Off, cycle through the three available cleaning levels, and reset filter usage. The device also does not offer any additional functions in HomeKit. No values for the current air quality are displayed and thus there is no regulation of the fan speed. Only these three levels can be switched manually in the apps.

The advantage of a not-so-smart air purifier integrated into HomeKit is, of course, the possibility to combine it with an existing room sensor via automations. If the measured air quality of an external sensor falls into a bad range, the air purifier is activated.

Some air purifiers already have corresponding sensors built in to regulate the purification stages independently. If you’re interested in these alternative devices, take a look at our HomeDevices app device database in the Air Purifiers category. There you can also conveniently select according to the desired criteria.

By the way, if the concept of the Smartmi E1 air purifier looks familiar to you, it’s probably because of a visually very similar device, the IKEA FÖRNUFTIG air purifier. However, it does not offer any smart functions and integration options. These are offered only by the IKEA STARKVIND air purifier.

IKEA FÖRNUFTIG Air Purifier (no Smarthome functions)

We do not know the price of the Smartmi E1 air purifier for the German market yet. If you look at other countries, this is between EUR 110 and 130. A replacement filter at about 39, – EUR. As soon as the new Smartmi device is available for purchase here at the end of March, we’ll be happy to send you a quick message via your SmartApfel if you have push notifications enabled.