TCL Breeva A3 Smart Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

Normally the middlings of a series would be forgotten, and the TCL Breeva A3 is easily one of them. This air purifier stays between its brothers, but suffers in comparison to the TCL Breeva A5. Okay, we should bring up our TCL Breeva A3 Review soon.

TCL Breeva A3 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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TCL is a Chinese-based company that designs, develops, manufactures, and sells consumer electronics products. However, the company is quite late in air purifier market, and the series of TCL Breeva air purifiers is expected to catch up with the low-range budget segment soon. Today, we will try its third entry model in TCL Breeva A3 Review.

TCL Breeva A3 Price

Of the three members of TCL’s new air purifiers line, the TCL Breeva A3 feels like the one that most people will forget about.

Though the TCL Breeva A2 isn’t that great, it is one of the few air purifiers on market that’s offering all smart features at very low price. It’s also small enough to put in small bedroom, and the performance isn’t actually far from the TCL Breeva A3.

And then there’s the TCL Breeva A5 with its little higher price but its performance is ready for the price range. Together with the premium design and smart features, the TCL flagship will interest those looking for a super-powerful air purifier at around $200.

At the price of $149, the TCL Breeva A3 is just only $20 lower than its bigger brother – the Breeva A5 (don’t know why TCL skipped model named Breeva A4, I guess it could be 4 isn’t a “good” number in Chinese). For that, the performance of TCL Breeva A5 is certainly more attractive.

Between those two air purifiers, the TCL Breeva A3 is easily to be forgotten. Not to mention many great air purifiers out there that can destroy the Breeva A3, like the Levoit Core 400S or Winix AM90. The destiny of the middling is it should be under the radar, and I don’t think the TCL Breeva A3 can escape such sad destiny.

Related post: Best air purifier 2023.

TCL Breeva A3 Design and Size

TCL Breeva A3 isn’t an air purifier with unique design like its little brother TCL Breeva A2, but it is still a design you don’t find much on market, especially low-range market. Actually I like the way it looks. The air purifier will come in white and black just like the two others of TCL. You can look for the TCL Breeva A3 in black color option below.

It is still divided into 2 parts, but the top of the TCL Breeva A3 looks even to its bottom. It’s hard to tell whether this is something that’s primarily functional or just a change to the design language, to emphasize that this is a new air purifier.

Overall, it’s an upgrade in size from the Breeva A2, with dimension of 18.9 inches in height and 9.8 inches in width. The TCL Breeva A3 isn’t far from the size of the TCL Breeva A5, explaining why they share the same air filter.

It’s also unconfirmed whether the top design allows for better fan power. The fan power of the TCL Breeva A3 will be mentioned in the later section. However, this TCL Breeva A3 just runs the same bottom-to-top air flow system concept with a 360° air inlet.

The touch control panel is inherited from the predecessor, with 1 more button. TCL Breeva A3 also returns the Nightlight feature, which is a light ring between top and bottom parts.

Our today air purifier weighs only 8.4 lbs, so it is still suitable for portability. However, its size is not as good as the Breeva A2.

Related post: Best air purifiers for bedroom.

TCL Breeva A3 Filters

To decide the performance of one air purifier, normally we check the quantity and quality of the air filters, as well as the air filter types. The TCL Breeva A3 features a new 5-stage air cleaning system, in only one set of filter. It is also the air filtration system used in the TCL Breeva A5.

1. Pre-filter – The fine preliminary filter traps large particles and floating matters like large dust, plant fibers, pollen.
2. True HEPA filter – The H13 HEPA filter can capture 99.97% of any particles down to 0.3 microns, like fine dust, pet dander and other PM 2.5 particles.
3. Activated Carbon filter – Traps smoke, odors and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
4. Ionizer – Negative ions settles other fine particles that escape previous filtration.
5. UV-C light filter – Destroys bacteria and other microorganisms like viruses or mold spores.

TCL Breeva A3 upgrades the current air filtration system of the little Breeva A2 with an additional UV-C light filter. Now this air purifier can deal with viruses and mold spores more effectively, together with the built-in ionizer. The TCL Breeva A3 is certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to meet ozone safety standard.

Source: Amazon.com

In the same test as the TCL Breeva A2, the TCL Breeva A3 shows obvious improvement in performance, cleaning 99.9% of airborne particles down to 0.3 microns in 150 square feet, 1 hour. However, the air purifier only matches the performance of the cheaper Levoit Core 300S. For larger room, the TCL Breeva A3 struggles to compete with other top-dog air purifiers.

We will use the new Breeva A3F for both TCL Breeva A3 and Breeva A5. The air filter annual replacement cost is quite high, because the upfront cost is $46, and the company only recommends to use the filter for 3 months.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

TCL Breeva A3 Room Coverage

TCL Breeva A3 is verified by the Association of Home Appliance (AHAM) to use in 270 square feet. The classic (no Wi-Fi) model of the TCL Breeva A3 has a slightly better fan power in the same AHAM test.

The ACH of TCL Breeva A3 is 5X. With this air changes per hour rating, the air purifier can clean your room every 12 minutes.

The CADR of TCL Breeva A3 is 163 Dust/ 173 Smoke/ 164 pollen (cfm).

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

TCL Breeva A3 Sound

The TCL Breeva A3 performs very quietly, just like any other air purifiers on the market now. It has a noise level of 26 decibels (db) at its lowest speed, which is a little louder than other devices of the same size. However, you will find the sound very relaxing when you go to sleep. It’s time to rest and breathe freely.

During a high-speed run, the noise level can reach 56 db. It is indeed noisier than many other air purifiers at the same fan power, so I recommend to keep run on Auto Mode.

Related post: Best air purifiers for baby.

TCL Breeva A3 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.

TCL Breeva A3 is an Energy Star-approved air purifier, which means it does a great job for the amount of energy it uses. It has a rated power of 29 watts, but when it’s not in use, it only draws 0.7 watts. It could be one of the best air purifiers that use the least amount of electricity now.

If you run the TCL Breeva A3 for at least 8 hours per day, you only pay $11 each year.

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

TCL Breeva A3 Additional Features

If you only want to use a traditional air purifier, TCL offers the classic model of the device at lower price.

However, the main reason you’re interested in this TCL Breeva A3 is for its slew of smart features, beginning with the indispensable Smart Sensor. The TCL Breeva A3 upgraded to laser air sensor, with both dust and odor air sensors to improve air quality detection. The TCL Auto Shield automatically detects and evaluates the air quality in your house and adjusts the fan speed to maintain a healthy indoor environment.

With its Smart control, the TCL Breeva A3 is comparable to the Levoit Core 400S. Connect your Breeva A3 to an Alexa or Google Assistant device for hands-free operation of your air purifier. Using only your smartphone, the easy app enables you to control your air purifier from any location. Additionally, you may check the status of the air purifier, view historical statistics on air quality, and modify fan settings.

However, the TCL Breeva A3 doesn’t have humidifier function like the TCL Breeva A2, but it returns the Nightlight function to better match your bedroom.

Finally, we have a “child lock” option that prevents your children from changing the setting accidently. Additionally, there is an LED that indicates when it is time to replace the filter.

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

TCL Breeva A3 Customer Service

TCL is a big corporation with great support for their products. If you have any trouble with their air purifiers, you can contact them easily at 1-800-825-6747 via phone, or email them at: support.tcl.com/contact-us.

At the moment, however, the TCL Breeva A1 isn’t registered to be an official TCL product in the U.S market, so perhaps TCL won’t support you. Remember that our below deal is only from a seller.

Our verdict

If you’re on a budget, you will look for the TCL Breeva A2. If not, the TCL Breeva A5 is the best device of the family, and it doesn’t cost too much more than the TCL Breeva A3, making it a preferable buy if your budget stretches that high.

So far, this TCL Breeva A3 is truly destined to be forgotten. However, it’s still a good air purifier to get for the price, if you can easily forget the A5 model.