Medify Air MA-15 Review: Is Best-Selling Rank Actually Deserved?

How good is Medify MA-15 air purifier? This is the main thing you need to know before you buy any air purifier. Medify Air is considered one of the best air purifier brands in the industry; today we will check how well does their small Medify MA-15 model perform.

This will include a spec-by-spec analysis. We are going to check everything from the dual H13 HEPA filtration system to CADR rating and coverage area, and, quite importantly for Medify, the noise levels.

Going spec-by-spec is the only way we can objectively figure out if the good reputation of Medify MA-15 (based on the reviews) is actually justified. It is not surprising that an air purifier that costs less than $150, can achieve an 85 CFM CADR rating, and has dual H13 HEPA filters is such a best-seller.

Nonetheless, to adequately tell if Medify MA-15 is good or not, we have to look under the hood, measure the specs, and see if it really stands up to the comparative scrutiny as well.

You can use these navigation helpers to check anything in particular, like the filtration system, CADR rating, available Medify Air MA-15 sales, and so on:

• Medify MA 15 Filters
• Medify MA 15 CADR Rating
• Medify MA 15 Square Footage
• Medify MA 15 Wattage
• Medify MA 15 Noise Levels
• Medify MA 15 Special Features
• Medify MA 15 Price
• Medify MA 15 Sale
• Medify MA 15 Final Verdict

Medify MA-15 Air Purifier Review At-A-Glance

Overall rating:

---

Medify MA-15 Filters (2 Triple Layered Medical-Grade HEPA Filters)

Medify is known for their superb H13 HEPA filters. Obviously, MA-15 air purifier include this filter. However, the key feature of MA-15 model is that it uses a 2-sided filtration system. This means it has two H13 HEPA filters on the left and right side.

Here is the full filtration system that enables the MA-15 model to have such a high performance:

Most air purifiers will have a triplet of prefilter, HEPA filter, and carbon filter. The key advantage Medify MA-15 has is that it has two packs of these filters. As you can see from this sketch, the airflow combing from grille covers on the left and right sides doesn’t combine and then goes through the filtration system.

Rather, each airflow goes individually through the filtration systems. Effectively, you could almost say you have a double filtration system. This is exactly why, as we will see further on, Medify MA-15 can have such a high CADR rating despite being such a small unit.

Here is a sketch of what that pack of filters (labeled as ‘TRUE H13 HEPA / CARBON FILTER’ in the sketch above) looks like:

Namely, Medify MA-15 employs three filters in that pack. Each of them has an important job in removing specific air particulates:

1. MA-15 prefilter will take care of larger air particulates. These include human hair, cat hair, dog hair, pet dander, and larger air particles. It is essential because it protects the all-important fine HEPA filter.
2. MA-15 HEPA filter is the heart of all Medify air purifiers. This is the advanced medical-grade filter that can capture more than 99.9% of air pollutants such as dust, pollen, smoke, mold, mold spores, mildew, and so on, that are as little as 0.1 microns in diameter. Compared to standard HEPA filters, Medify’s H13 HEPA filters can take care of tiny particles (down to 0.1 microns) as well. Those fine particles can cause allergies such as asthma. That’s why the MA-15 air purifier is very useful for allergy-prone people.
3. MA-15 activated carbon filter uses an adsorption process to take care of gaseous airborne pollutants. That includes various unwanted odors and smells, like the smoke smell, kitchen oil smell, and so on.

All in all, the Medify MA-15 double filtration system does perform much better than a standard single filtration system.

These Medify MA-15 filters will last up to 2500 running hours. That means that if you run an air purifier all the time (nonstop 24/7), they will last up to 3 months and 14 days. Of course, you don’t run an air purifier all the time. If you just run it for 12 hours per day, for example, these long-lasting filters will last for about 7 months.

The filter set (both 3-in-1 filters) cost about $40. That’s quite a good price (and you can even lower it by subscribing to Medify’s filter program by about 10%). The problem with these dual filtration systems is usually that you have to purchase two separate filters that can cost twice as much as ordinary filters. Because Medify sells filters as a set, you actually get both filters you need for about $40.

Medify MA-15 CADR Rating And Maximum Airflow

The No. 1 spec that AHAM independently measures for every tested air purifier is the CADR rating. CADR stands for Clean Air Delivery Rate; it determines how well does a Medify MA-15 perform.

Due to dual filtration system, the MA-15 has an above-average CADR rating for such a small air purifier. Namely, the average CADR rating of Medify MA-15 is 85 CFM.

Compared to similar air purifiers like Honeywell – HHT270WHD with a 63 CADR rating, Germguardian – AC4200 with a 74 CADR rating, and Rowenta – PU4020U2 with an 85 CADR rating, the Medify MA-15 comes on top with Rowenta air purifier.

Namely, the average CADR rating consists of three specific CADR measurements:

• Smoke CADR rating: 79 CFM. This measured how well does the MA-15 remove smoke particles sized between 0.9 and 1.0 micrometer. It can also be considered as a 1.0 PM airborne particulate removal rate.
• Pollen CADR rating: 127 CFM. This measured how well does the MA-15 remove pollen particles sized between 5 and 11 micrometers. It can also be considered as a 10 PM airborne particulate removal rate.
• Dust CADR rating: 97 CFM. This measured how well does the MA-15 remove dust particles sized between 0.5 and 3.0 micrometers. It can also be considered as a 2.5 PM airborne particulate removal rate.

As you can see, the Medify MA-15 can remove airborne pollutants relatively quickly. Of course, the airflow is the other part of the equation here. Given that the MA-15 is a small air purifier, it sucks in less air, compared to the standardly sized or bigger air purifiers.

Due to a superb dual filtration system, the CADR rating could be even higher if you would use more airflow here (such as is the case with MA-40, MA-50, MA-112, and MA-125 models).

This clean air delivery rate is used to calculate the coverage area of air purifiers. Here is the case for the 85 CFM CADR rated Medify MA-15:

Medify MA-15 Square Footage (Recommended Room Size)

It is important to differentiate between 2 and 5 ACH here. ACH stands for Air Changes per Hour. Most air purifier producers will specify the maximum air purifier coverage at 2 air changes per hour. However, if you are an allergy-prone person, it would be better to check 5 ACH coverage (air changing every 12 minutes).

Medify MA-15 has 3 fan speed settings. Each of them has a specified coverage area that we can calculate. The calculated square footages are summarized in this table:

As we can see, at top speed (Speed 3), Medify MA-15 can achieve a CADR rating of 85 CFM. That gives us 330 square feet coverage at 2 ACH and 132 square feet coverage at 5 ACH. Example: If you want a 5 ACH ventilation rate, you can use this unit in 10×10 and 12×12 rooms.

If you only need 2 ACH, you can run it on Speed 2 with 148 sq ft coverage (placing the air purifier in a 10×10 or 12×12 room, for example).

At the lowest fan speed setting (Speed 1), the MA-15 model will only have a 62 sq ft coverage (2 ACH) or 25 sq ft coverage (5 ACH). That means that Speed 1 is pretty much useless if you want to increase the indoor air quality (IAQ). However, it is useful if you already have a high IAQ and would like to sustain those levels.

Medify MA-15 Power Consumption (Wattage)

The power consumption of Medify MA-15 is minimum. Even when running at top Speed 3, this air purifier will consume 18 watts of electricity.

That means that running it at 100% output will only require 0.018 kWh per 1 hour. If you run it at this top speed for 24 hours, that’s 0.432 kWh (less than half of the kilowatt-hour).

If you take an average kilowatt-hour price of $0.1319/kWh, it will cost exactly $0.057 to run it at full speed 24 hours per day. That’s less than 6 cents per day. In short, Medify MA-15 is extremely energy efficient and you don’t really have to worry about electricity bills here.

Medify MA-15 Noise Levels

Noise levels are usually a problem with bigger Medify Air models such as MA-112 and MA-125. With this small MA-15 model, however, the noise levels are quite low (still above-average compared to similar CADR rated units, however).

At the lowest fan speed setting (Speed 1), Medify MA-15 will produce 35 dB of noise. At the highest speed setting (Speed 3), it will produce 51 dB of noise.

As we have seen in the coverage area section, you can’t really make a significant difference to indoor air quality if you run the MA-15 at Speed 1. So, you have to run it at Speed 3. With the 51 dB noise output, most people are not usually bothered by the additional noise the air purifier makes.

However, it is important to point out that some 85 CFM CADR rated air purifiers can have a lower noise output. In short, the MA-15 model is quite quiet because it is small; other smaller units can be quieter.

Medify MA-15 Special Features

As with all Medify air purifiers, the MA-15 model is also rich with extra features. Here are the included features in this model:

• Filter Indicator. This is probably the most useful feature of any air purifier. How do you know that you need to change filters? You can’t really be sure even if you take the unit apart and look at the HEPA filters. This indicator will tell you when you need to replace the Medify MA-15’s dual filters.
• Touch Controls. It’s quite easy to change the settings of the MA-15 unit because of these touch controls. Here you see the whole control panel with a child-lock button, 4 settings times, 3 fan speed settings, and the dimmer:
• Child-Lock. A basic feature that locks the touch controls to prevent the little fellow you have running around from changing the settings.
• Timer. You can set the Medify MA-15 to run for 1h, 2h, 4h, and 8h. It’s quite a useful feature many air purifiers have.
• Dimmer. This is basically sleep mode; you can dim the lights when you go to bed.

All in all, you will most likely not use all of these features. However, the filter indicator and touch controls are quite useful, as well as the 1-8 hour time.

Medify MA-15 Price

Due to the inclusion of H13 HEPA filters and a good reputation, Medify can command quite a high price. However, these smaller units like MA-14 and MA-15 are quite inexpensive.

The going price for the Medify MA-15 is about $130. That’s $130 for an 85 CFM CADR rated air purifier with H13 HEPA filters. In short, the price makes quite a lot of sense.

On top of that, you can take advantage of promotions Medify quite frequently has. Here are the current MA-15 sale promotions:

Medify MA-15 Sale

As mentioned before, the standard price of Medify MA-15 is about $130. However, you can knock a few dollars off this price if you check for sales.

We keep up with all Medify sales. You can check the current MA-15 sale here:

Check Medify MA 15 Sale

Final Verdict On Medify MA-15

Overall, Medify air purifiers have a very good reputation. As you can see in our assessment of Medify Air MA-15 model, the key specs are all there. Namely, you have a high 85 CFM CADR rating for such a small unit (with 7.5″ x 7.4″ x 12.2″ dimensions, this is one of the smallest air purifier on the market).

In addition, you have the advanced H13 HEPA filters. In fact, you have a dual filtration system from the left side and the right side. When running at full speed, this small Medify air purifier will be able to cover 330 sq ft (at 2 ACH) and 132 sq ft (at 5 ACH). This is due to the surprisingly high CADR rating; otherwise the small units are only useful as desktop air purifiers or air purifiers for a nightstand.

It is important to address the two things that are the usual cons for Medify: Noise levels and the price. If you check the noise level specs, you can see that the Medify MA-15 will run at below 51 dB noise levels. That’s great. The price is also very competitive and relatively low for a Medify air purifier. You, however, can’t really expect to run the MA-15 model on Speed 1 and expect a drastic increase in indoor air quality.

All in all, Medify MA-15 is much better compared to similar air purifiers made by Honeywell, Winix, and even Coway. It has dual H13 HEPA filters, is affordable, and has a below-average price and noise levels for a Medify air purifier.

Overall Medify MA-15 rating: