“The Havells Freshia AP-58 is apt for medium-sized living rooms or large bedrooms”

In many Indian cities which are choking with bad air quality, air purifiers have become a way of life than just gadgets. This is evident from the dramatic increase in sales of air purifiers in India, with brands such as Xiaomi, Dyson, Philips, Kent, and Honeywell, among others, all stepping in to help you breathe clean air. Havells India joined the bandwagon with its lineup of Freshia air purifiers back in November 2019. The top-end model of the lineup, Havells Freshia AP-58 – which touts a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of 500m3h and a nine-stage filtration process – landed recently in our lab. The device also comes with added benefits of a bundled remote, an attractive display, and a host of other features. Let’s take a closer look at the air purifier in our review:

Verdict

The Havells Freshia AP-58, priced at Rs 43,290, is a near-perfect air purifier for medium-sized living rooms and large bedrooms. It gets the job done quite effectively thanks to its nine-stage filtration process. The purifier looks good and is easy to use, but lacks the smart features that most of its competitors offer in the segment.

Design

Havells has done a good job with the design of the Freshia AP-58 air purifier. The machine comes in a rectangular form factor, with a clean and minimalistic look. The air vents that suck the dirty air are on either side of the purifier, while the fan that releases fresh air is on top along with a handful of buttons. The design ensures that the Freshia AP-58 won’t face any trouble even if it has its back touching the wall, thereby, occupying less space. Air purifiers with a squarish or circular shape, on the other hand, need to be placed slightly off the wall for effective functioning.

The fascia of the Havells air purifier holds an attractive display at the top right corner, plus a removable panel that comes off to reveal the filters inside. The machine has a long power cord at the back and is light enough to be carried from one room to another easily.

Filtration

The biggest draw of Havells Freshia AP-58 is its nine-stage filtration process, which is backed by SmartAir technology. The purifier has a CADR rating of 500m3h, which indicates that the unit can produce 500 cubic meters of air in an hour. Based on our usage, the Freshia AP-58’s air purification was nothing but effective. We can vouch for its efficacy as the machine brought down the down Air Quality Index (AQI) of our office’s conference room from 500 to under 40-50 in about 3 minutes. The Freshia AP-58’s fans, in auto mode, initially make a lot of noise as the device cleans the bad air in the surroundings, but once the air gets cleaner and LED AQI indicator switches from ‘red’ to ‘yellow’, then ‘blue’ and finally to ‘green’, the purifier hides its existence in the room with minimal noise.

The purifier is rated to eliminate airborne particles as small as 0.3-micron, and filter our pollutants up to 99.99 percent. In addition to standard pre-filter, anti-bacterial, anion producer, cold catalyst, and True HEPA filter, the Freshia AP-58 packs a humidifier, activated carbon, sterilising UV light, and anti-bacterial balls that trap toxic elements and airborne micro-bacteria. 

Starting with the Pre-Filter, it’s mainly used for filtering dust particles larger than 5 microns, including large dust particles, dander, and pollen, among others. The filter can be easily washed and used repeatedly. The Cold Catalyst Filter, on the other hand, is a formaldehyde buster that breaks down a variety of harmful gases. Apart from this, the machine has an Anti-Bacterial Filter that kills airborne germs and bacteria, along with a True HEPA Filter that removes germs, smoke, and dust particles bigger than 0.3-microns.

The Antibacterial Filter can trap particles with a diameter of as small as 5 microns, whereas Sterilising UV light kills a variety of airborne bacteria. The Anti-Bacterial balls and Anioin producer, meanwhile, take care of bacteria, particulates, microbes, and odour. As for the Humidifier filter, it allows the machine to adjust to the room temperature and prevent dryness of the skin while purifying the air.

The Havells Freshia AP-58 air purifier has a ‘Filter Replacement Reminder’ as well that alerts you when it’s time to change filters. The filters are said to have a lifespan of 3,000 hours that should last up to a year if you’re using the purifier for 10 hours a day. The set of new filters, including Cold Catalyst Filter, Hepa, and Anti-bacterial Filter, cost Rs 6,499 and are exclusively available via Havells.

Features

The Freshia AP-58 can be controlled using a remote, which is quite compact. It can power the device on/off, increase/ decrease fan speed, set timer, select modes, enable/ disable sterilisation and ioniser filters, and more from a distance. All these controls are also present atop the air purifier.

Additionally, the Freshia AP-58 has a child lock, which prevents the settings of the air purifier from being altered, and a sleep mode that turns the display off and reduces fan speed (and thereby, the associated noise) so as not to affect your sleep. The air purifier also packs a BLDC motor that is said to have a maximum sound level of 68.8dB, a manual timer setting, a dust sensor, and PM2.5 meter.

Final Verdict

The Havells Freshia AP-58 is a feature-rich air purifier, with its USP being the nine-stage filtration process. The filters not just clean the air, but remove bad odour, and prevent dryness of the skin. The purifier also comes with a remote control, multiple modes, and a nice little display with LED AQI indicator. 

However, the area where Havells Freshia AP-58 loses points is the smart connectivity options. Even air purifiers priced under Rs 10,000 – case in point Mi Air Purifiers – come with smart features, built in Wi-Fi and app support. The app allows users to not just control the air purifier, but view the AQI levels in the room, along with temperature, and humidity levels. That said, you will be hard-pressed to find an air purifier that is as effective as Havells Air Freshia AP-58 even in the premium segment. Despite its over Rs 43,000 launch price tag, the purifier is selling on Amazon.in with a discounted price of Rs 23,399 at the moment.

Editor’s rating: 4 / 5

Pros

  • Clean and minimalist design
  • Effective air cleaning operation
  • Remote control
  • Quiet operation

Cons

  • Lacks smart features and app support