Winix XLC Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

Winix XLC opens the door to big and smart air purifiers without the extra cost, but it won’t turn your head from the flagship Winix XQ. The Winix XLC is a great option for those after an air purifier for large room, with a design, performance and smart features that are all excellent, if a bit last-generation. However, does that mean you should automatically buy this air purifier? We will find out, in our Winix XLC Review.

Winix 9800 ranks B+ in our air purifier ranking list. We give the biggest and most thorough database of air purifier reviews in the world.

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Winix wrapped up the last year with the new lineup of air purifiers, suitable for every price range possible. The Winix XLC is a very important model that the company expects to win the mid-range competition, and it does have strengths as well as weaknesses. In this Winix XLC Review, you should ask yourself which section you should focus on more to get this air purifier.

Winix XLC Price

When it comes to high-performance air purifiers, the Winix XLC gets the gold in the mid-range segment, but its annual filter cost hold it back. If you’re picking the Winix XLC, you’re looking for the air purifier with top-class performance, proving time and again, with its high-quality HEPA filter and exclusive PlasmaWave technology.

If you’re a Winix fan and you aren’t swimming in cash to buy the Winix XQ, definitely get the Winix XLC. It is only $499 for nearly the same performance, design and smart features. That’s said, the Winix XQ is the new best-in-class air purifier to beat, but it costs far more expensive.

If you want the Winix XLC badly enough, I expect the company to reduce the price of its filter set, resulting in better “Annual cost” ranking in Breathe Quality. Still, you’ll be able to make the most of this air purifier – it offers a sturdy and durable build, up-to-date smart features and one of the best powers for the price I’ve ever seen on a mid-range air purifier.

For the average user, though, the Levoit EverestAir and Rabbit MinusA2 are still better option. An air purifier is a long-term investment, and even though the new X2 filter is nearly identical to the flagship, it had better not cost too much.

Related post: Best air purifier 2023.

Winix XLC Design and Size

In our time with the Winix XLC, it makes me remember the very old Winix T1 that had been discontinued long ago. Both are big, very big, still the Winix XLC is smaller if I recalled correctly. If you’ve used the old Winix air purifier, it’s likely you’d find the same. The Winix XLC has dimensions of 30.6 x 14.6 x 14.6 inches, though I don’t have a Winix XQ to test, I believe both air purifiers are similar in size.

This isn’t the most stylish air purifier Winix has ever released. In fact, the company made the Winix XLC as common as possible, and you will tell it is an air purifier easily. In my opinion, the predecessor Winix 9800 is more unique.

The Winix XLC runs a bottom-to-top airflow system concept, and it doesn’t even need to resize the perforated holes which is the same as the Winix C535 or AM90, so you’ll feel the Winix design language on sight. It has a 360° air input, thanks to its high fan power, and it can maximize the dual air filtration.

The top control panel of this Winix XLC has as few buttons as possible, because the air purifier is rarely controlled manually. Also, the small control panel allows the air outlet’s space to be larger, thus improve the efficiency. There is a real-time air quality display in color codes, from blue, orange to red.

Source: Amazon.com

The Winix XLC weighs 30.6 lbs, so we really need the hidden casters to move it from room to room. It is a convenient design feature that should be common in big air purifiers, and I give the Winix XLC praise.

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Winix XLC Filters

Winix XLC continues the Winix legacy with the same air filtration system, including of 4 stages:

1. Pre-filter – The polluted air must pass through a mesh pre-filter. This pre-filter will capture the large objects of contaminants, such as pet hair and even some kinds of pet dander and skin. It is washable.
2. Activated Carbon Filter – The air filter can adsorb household odors from cooking, pets, and smoke and reduce VOCs.
3. True HEPA filter – The True HEPA Filter that captures 99.97% of as small as 0.3 microns allergens, virus particles, pollen, mold and fungi particles.
4. Winix PlasmaWave – This technology is somehow an ionizer, which can further reduce the amount of pollutants. Can be switched on/off.

Winix XLC is tested and verified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), so its ionizer is safe to use without emitting high concentration of ozone. Time and again, Winix air purifiers show that they can keep up with the latest flagship air purifiers from rival brands. There is no need to repeat the process of Winix PlasmaWave technology, as we have a detailed writing about it here.

The Winix XLC has top-notch performance, as it powered with a good fan that I’ve seen in the old Winix T1. I found it to be just as speedy as other top-end air purifiers, cleaning 99.95% of all airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns, in a room 400 square feet for 1 hour. Such performance can go head-to-head with the Oransi mod and Medify MA-112 easily, and it is better than the Alen BreatheSmart Classic.

However, why Winix can ask for $149 for the new filter X2 of this Winix XLC? Yes, I know, Winix XLC uses dual filters to improve the 360° air inlet, but the Blueair HealthProtect 7470i does it at far less, and the aforementioned air purifier are considered to be the more expensive air purifier. I hope that Winix can reduce the filter cost further for its customers, as the device’s other rankings are top-class at the moment.

It could be the reason why Winix doesn’t upload the filter product on Amazon. We will see in the near future.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

Winix XLC Room Coverage

The Winix XLC is verified by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) as one of the best large room air purifiers. You can run it fully confident in any room of 620 square feet. I believe it can even nail the room coverage up to 2000 square feet easily.

The ACH of Winix XLC is 4X. The air purifier will clean an AHAM-verified room size every 15 minutes. Actually, Winix marked the 4X ACH rating for a room of 750 square feet.

The CADR of Winix XLC is 355 Dust/ 400 Smoke/ 400 Pollen (cfm). Such CADR rating of the Winix XLC can even try to take the crown of the Blueair HealthProtect 7770i, so I must say that I’m very impressive with this latest Winix air purifier. Other brands should be careful.

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

Winix XLC Sound

For a long time, the Winix air purifiers have featured good fan motor to stabilize and trim down the noise level to as low as possible. Though the technology isn’t as good as its rivals, mainly Coway, the Winix XLC can have a low noise level at around 27 decibels (dB) on its lowest speed.

However, it runs noisily on its maximum speed, considering its high CADR rating. Yes, the noise level of this Winix XLC can be as high as 63 decibels, and it’s worth noting that it is the same as your dishwasher. That’s why the Smart Sensor is really important to keep the horse calm, more on it later in “Additional features” section.

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Winix XLC Power Consumption

One of our most FAQs is “Do air purifiers use a lot of energy?” In fact, air purifier must be used for a long time to be efficient. And power consumption is one important criteria to review if this air purifier is good or not.

Winix XLC is an Energy Star air purifier, which isn’t a surprise for any Winix air purifier. However, it is even better than its predecessor, most notably the Winix 9800, with higher performance/power ratio. You should be surprise, because the rated power of the Winix XLC is only 90 watts, even better than the smaller 9800.

If you use the Winix XLC at least 8 hours per day, the annual cost would be $32. It is only behind the Winix XQ’s annual energy cost.

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

Winix XLC Additional Features

Smart flagship air purifiers are competing around the $500 price range, and the Winix must stay with the competition. Winix is debuting its Wi-Fi enabled feature on its old lineup of Winix NK105 and Winix HR1000, but the company suddenly discontinued these products. However, it seems the company is redoubling its efforts in the latest Winix XLC, and the Winix’s smartphone app is also better than it was in the past.

However, it seems the Winix XLC is limited to only Alexa at the moment. If you’re using Google Home to utilize voice commands, perhaps that’s the elephant in the room with the Winix XLC, and for many it’ll be reason enough to avoid this air purifier at the moment.

Well, I still recommend the Winix XLC because its dual air sensors are so accurate. For most people, the Smart Sensor is the most convenient and necessary smart feature in an air purifier, as it can help detect the indoor air quality. Not for show-off, obviously, as the Auto Mode can adjust the fan power according to the real-time air quality. It can help lower the energy consumption, as well as the noise level.

Winix XLC also has a light sensor, so its Sleep Mode will activate whenever it detects less ambient light. The Sleep Mode keep the air purifier running on its lowest speed, and turn off the PlasmaWave by default.

There is a LED indicator for filter replacement, which is common between all Winix air purifying units.

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

Winix XLC Customer Service

Established over 40 years ago, in 1973, the Winix company is truly an expert in the air purifier industry. It has many headquarters, not only in South Korea but also in both the U.S and Europe. You can reach its customer service from 9 a.m to 5 p.m, Monday through Friday, via phone or email. If you have trouble calling its service, you can email Winix America at info@winixinc.com.

On its official website, the company is selling both new and certified refurbished air purifiers, of course with free shipping in the U.S only. The Winix limited warranty is two years for most of its products. During the warranty period, Winix will repair or replace the product if it fails because of a defect in material or workmanship, as determined by Winix. Remember that this warranty will be null and void if the product is used for purposes other than home, consumer purposes.

Our verdict

The Winix XLC is only one step to be the best air purifier, and I hope that the company will make revision upon reading Breathe Quality’s review.