Medify MA-18 Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

The Medify MA-18 has a new design, a heap of power, the H13-grade True HEPA filter and an attractive price tag. What’s not to love? Let’s find out in Medify MA-18 Review.

Medify MA-18 ranks D+ in our air purifier ranking list. We give the biggest and most thorough database of air purifier reviews in the world.

UPDATED: If you need an air purifier for larger room, you should look for the Medify MA-40, or the flagship Medify MA-112.

In Breathe Quality, we have reviewed all air purifiers under these sections. Also, we guarantee that:

• We do give honest reviews (both pros and cons) so anyone will guarantee to have the wisest choices.
• We do not (and never) exaggerate one product just to let you click the links and buy that product blindly.

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Medify Air isn’t an air purifier brand with long history like many others, but they are having a massive lineup of products that even some big brands can’t match. Though not being certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Medify MA-18 will get the certification in near future, as many other products under Medify Air name have already passed the test. Let’s read our Medify MA-18 Review to see if it’s worth the Levoit‘s challenger.

Medify MA-18 Price

The Kickstarter startup has improved on a number of issues fans had with its predecessor, wrapping the Medify MA-18 in a new premium suit and managed to keep the price low enough to worry the established names in the market.

If anything, Medify Air was a victim of its own success, as expectations for the next installment went above, especially when the Medify MA-14 and Medify MA-40 were really good. This small firm needs an air purifier with better performance, while keeping the price tag as low as possible.

Here we go with the Medify MA-18, the flagship killer, and while it fell way short of living up to that boast, it is still a worthy air purifier to buy. The official price tag of Medify MA-18 is $179, down to only $99 in Medify Air website. However, you should check the Medify MA-25, because its discounted price is even better than Medify MA-18.

Also, the newest Medify MA-15 is available, and it’s really difficult to get your hand on one Medify MA-18, especially when the cheaper has similar performance and more handy additional features.

This air purifier is a capable competitor of the Levoit LV-H133 – one of the top Amazon’s Choice at the moment. If you fancy the high fan power, the Winix 5500-2 and Winix AM90 are also available at this price point.

Related post: Best air purifiers 2023.

Medify MA-18 Design and Size

The first biggest advancement from the Medify MA-14 to the Medify MA-18 is the design. I forgave the original cubic looks, but the trending design at the moment is cylindrical shape, and thankfully Medify Air has answered fan’s calls for this more premium design.

The result is pleasing, Medify Air looks a lot like the Levoit Core 300, only without the clean perspective from predecessor. It uses two white plates to cover the black body, as well as the air intake grills. The 360° air intake is also a plus for having the Medify MA-18, as it can utilize the fan power at maximum.

It is only 11 inches in height, and 8.4 inches for both width and depth. The unit is really lightweight to move from room to room, as it weighs only 5.3 lbs.

Medify MA-18 uses a common bottom-to-top air flow system concept, which becomes trend after the highly popular Levoit LV-H132. As you can see from the top, the air outlet is quite stylish with wavy sunburst grills.

Source: Medify Air website

This air purifier is also a simple device, with access to all functions using the touchscreen controls.

Related post: Best air purifiers for bedroom.

Medify MA-18 Filters

Medify Air is well-known for their use of high-quality HEPA filter, and even in a low-range device like Medify MA-18, we will have a 4-stage air cleaning system in an all-in-one physical filter.

1. Pre-filter – A layer of pre-filter covers the True HEPA filter, to prolong the life time of the core filter, by trapping the large objects of pollutants like fur, hair and large dust.
2. True HEPA filter – The True HEPA Filter (graded H13) that captures 99.97% of as small as 0.3 microns allergens, virus particles, pollen, mold and fungi particles.
3. Activated Carbon filter – To adsorb odors, harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and other toxic substances such as formaldehyde or common household odors from cooking.
4. Ionizer – Produces negative ions to freshen the air. Can be switched on/off.

Medify Air claimed the H13 True HEPA filter to be their best selling point, and they got a point. With so many low-key HEPA filter in the market, like Holmes or Envion, the Medify MA-18 offers much better performance.

Source: Amazon.com

It also includes of a carbon filter that has been missing from Medify MA-14, so the Medify MA-18 can trap the odor and chemicals easily. Moreover, Medify MA-18 is the only air purifier in this family with ionizer option, to enhance the air filtration process.

However, the ionizer isn’t tested and certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), so maybe it can trigger asthma or other breathing issues. If you want an air purifier with such certification, you should look for Medify MA-Smart or Medify MA-40.

I used the same test for Medify MA-18 like its predecessor, in a room of 100 square feet and under 1 hour. To compare the performance, I used many Chinese new air purifiers like the Hathaspace, Okaysou AirMax8L, Elechomes EPI236 and Inofia PM1619 in this test, too. With better fan power and additional ionizer, the Medify MA-18 easily won the test, with high efficiency of 99.95% for trapping any particles down to 0.3 microns. This result is even better than other American air purifiers like Vornado AC350 or Vornadobaby Purio.

You only need to purchase an all-in-one air filter with the same cost as the previous model – $39. Medify Air asked you to change the genuine filter every 4 months, so you can enjoy the lifetime warranty from the manufacturer.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

Medify MA-18 Room Coverage

This Medify MA-18 is recommended in a room of 380 square feet by the manufacturer, but if you check its fan power, you will know the Medify MA-18 is quite under power.

The ACH of Medify MA-18 is 1X to 4X. If the Medify MA-18 does only one exchange in 1 hour, it can cover a space of 800 square feet.

The CADR of Medify MA-18 is 88 cfm in general. It is an upgrade from previous model, but it is still a lot lower than the fan power of Winix or Coway devices at the same price.

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

Medify MA-18 Sound

With such fan power, Medify MA-18 doesn’t give any information of noise level on their landing page. Well, the Medify MA-14 has a quite noisy operation, and we shouldn’t expect the Medify MA-18 to be better.

You won’t have any trouble running the Medify MA-18 on lowest speed, but when you run it at the highest setting, the noise level is 60 decibels (db). It is the first threshold of what called “noise”, and you should be aware of it.

Related post: Best air purifiers for baby.

Medify MA-18 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.

I’ve already talk about the low power consumption of Medify MA-14, so I’ll great straight into the power consumption of Medify MA-18 here. It is just impressive with a rated power of only 35 watts at maximum. In fact, it should get an Energy Star rating for such power consumption.

If you run the Medify MA-18 for 8 hours per day, it would cost you only $12.5 each year.

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

Medify MA-18 Additional Features

The Medify MA-18, again, is just only a classic air purifier, without any additional features inside. If you fancy these features, you will love the Levoit LV-H133 or Coway AP-1512HH more.

Luckily, we will have a LED indicator for filter replacement, to check if your air purifier has run for 2000 hours or not.

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

Medify MA-18 Customer Service

Medify Air is a well-known air purifier company, especially in Amazon for some obvious reasons, and one being the excellent customer service. They provide easy access from both phone at 302-659-8104, and email at info@medifyair.com.

Medify Air also guarantees your air purifier to be free of defects in material or workmanship for a lifetime period. To start the lifetime warranty, you need to submit a warranty registration within first 30 days, and commit to change genuine Medify Air’s filter every 4 months, 6 months or 1 year (depending on the product), as well as strictly follow the manual guide of Medify Air.

If you want to return the product, you must do it within 30 days of purchase with a valid receipt. Remember to include the original box and packaging materials.

Our verdict

The Medify MA-18 actually has a decent performance, just like its brothers. However, its downfall is made of both its lacking of features, as well as its high annual cost.