Winix WAC9500 Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

When we are looking for the top performers in air filtration, the Winix air purifiers are one of those great candidates. Today, we will make a Winix WAC9500 Review to help Breathe Quality’s readers make better decision of buying a good air purifier.

The Winix WAC9500 is discontinued, so if you want a great performer at the same price point, you don’t need to find anywhere because the Winix AM90 is so great to be your best companion. Also the latest Winix 9800 is released, packing with more power.

Winix WAC9500 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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• We provide honest reviews (both pros and cons) so that everyone can make the best decisions.
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Winix is a Korean-based company focusing on home air quality with 40 years of experience for air filtration. Winix WAC9500 targets directly at pet owners and is attempt to bring mid-range features to the budget segment and keep up with the times. To know why in Breathe Quality, we all stood up and voted for this air purifier as one of the best air purifiers in 2018, let’s follow up in the Winix WAC9500 Review.

Winix WAC9500 Price

The budget segment is usually where the air purifier companies move the most volume, and in order to maintain its dominance, Winix has launched its Winix WAC9500. Together with other Winix air purifiers, we will have the low-range air purifier with a good and certified quality.

The Winix WAC9500 have packed a punch, just without upper-cutting your bank balance. The official price tag is $329, making Winix WAC9500 the worthy rival to the Levoit LV-H133, Medify MA-40 and Blue Pure 121, which are currently the best air purifiers for the entry mid-range. The Rabbit Air BioGS 2.0 is also an available option within this range, with beautiful design and an impressive room coverage.

However, depending on the status, the Winix WAC9500 could drop down to only $215, making this air purifier a more attractive option. At nearly the same cost as its brother Winix 5500-2, the Winix WAC9500 is a formidable contestant in the most aggressively competitive segment. It’s where Winix WAC9500 must win the customers’ hearts from the Honeywell HPA300 and Blue Pure 211.

Considering that the Winix WAC9500 comes with an unique PlasmaWave Technology, that’s not a bad price, especially when you get more value in this air purifier with our deal.

Sadly, the Winix WAC9500 is discontinued. The Winix 9800 is its newest successor, which competes against the Airmega 250, GermGuardian AC9600W and Levoit Core 600S directly.

Related post: Best air purifier 2023.

Winix WAC9500 Design and Size

There are two common design types of Winix air purifiers. Winix WAC9500 looks like, well, most other Korean air purifiers. Once being the key target in low-range market, the company has chosen materials to keep the price down. Winix WAC9500 is primarily made out of plastic and is built well.

On the front, we will have an user interface with a large LCD display to help you know what is going on in your home. There are two buttons on the machine to help you cycle through all the functions (Timer and Function). This design concept is as minimalism as possible. Problem is, many people said that the buttons are hard to press and cycle. Also, the on-device controls are not helpful to turn off the PlasmaWave technology, since not all of the users are happy to use an ionizer. You can find both dust sensor and auto sensor that’s tucked on the front as well.

Source: Amazon.com

The back of the Winix WAC9500 has nothing special. It is made of plastic and designed to hold the fan on it. From the front, behind the metal plate is the intake air vent to help inhale the polluted air into this machine. The fresh air will escape from the top air outlet of the Winix WAC9500.

With around 21 inches in height, the position of buttons is a really low for our comfort, especially when the control panel is on the front. Luckily, Winix WAC9500 only weighs 18.8 lbs, making this air purifier quite easy to move from one to other locations.

Related post: Best air purifiers for bedroom.

Winix WAC9500 Filters

When it comes to the internals of an air purifier, we must look for how many air filters and the air filter types are used. Compared to the 3-stage air cleaning process of the older versions, the Winix WAC9500 upgrades to a better 5-stage air filtration process:

1. Pre-filter – The polluted air must pass through a pre-filter. This pre-filter will help capture the large objects of contaminants, such as pet hair and even some kinds of pet dander. This filter can be washable to work permanently.
2. CleanCel Anti-Bacterial Treatment – Though this is not a physical filter, the treatment also provides a layer of protection to your air quality.
3. True HEPA filter – The True HEPA Filter that captures 99.97% of down to 0.3 microns allergens, virus particles, pollen, mold and fungi particles.
4. Activated Carbon filter – Made of high-grade granular activated carbon, this Activated Carbon filter will eliminate odors and smokes, also reduce the common household chemicals.
5. Winix PlasmaWave – This technology is one kind of ionizer, which can further reduce the amount of pollutants. Can be switched on/off.

Most of Winix’s lineup so far is proud to present the PlasmaWave Technology, but the Winix WAC9500 is powered with both the PlasmaWave Technology and CleanCel Anti-bacterial to help trap the smallest bacteria and virus. This is the best strategy to reduce the cost of a high quality True HEPA filter, however, it works. Winix WAC9500, along with the Coway AP-1512HH and Honeywell HPA300, is the best air purifier for performance rating in low-range segment.

I know, I know. You need a test to decide the performance rating of one air purifier, right? We’ve done a lot of performance test with a Winix WAC9500 as a sample, and today, I will put the Honeywell AirGenius 4 and Levoit LV-PUR131 to head on our Winix WAC9500. The test conditions are simple, all three air purifiers must run in a 200 square feet room for a full one hour. Within a more preferable room size, the Winix WAC9500 shows its beautiful power, with the highest efficiency of 99.93% for any particles as small as 0.3 microns and larger. The Levoit LV-PUR131 was the runner-up with 99.7%, while the Honeywell AirGenius 4 can only capture 92%.

Also, the Advanced Odor Control carbon filter can offer great odor protection against VOCs and household odors from cooking, pets and smoke. You can wash this activated carbon filter to extend the effectiveness of it.

Source: Winix website

There is a high concern of Winix air purifiers having ion generators in their structures, and therefore emitting ozone. The ozone emission could irritate asthma and respiratory issues. If you worry about the PlasmaWave Technology, you can turn it off anytime.

Finally, you need to replace the True HEPA filter annually. My only big concern is the bump in the cost of the Winix WAC9500’s filter replacement compared with the previous devices of this brand. The replacement cost is as high as some air purifiers in mid-range, like the Rabbit Air MinusA2.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

Winix WAC9500 Room Coverage

It is hard to find an entry-level air purifier with large room coverage. 284 square ft is the AHAM verified room size of the Winix WAC9500. While the room coverage is not too small, it can be defeated easily by other products at the same price range, for example the Levoit LV-PUR131 or Honeywell HPA300.

I ran a couple of benchmark to gauge the performance of Winix WAC 9500, and got some interesting results. Its power in High settings is 124 (cfm), and Turbo is 184 (cfm), which is perfectly suitable for a room of around 300 square feet. However, I must admit that for a larger room, Winix WAC9500 has not enough power.

The ACH of Winix WAC9500 can reach as high as 5X ACH. With high air changes per hour, this air purifier can clean your room as often as possible, once every 12 minutes.

The CADR of Winix WAC9500 is 182 Dust/ 183 Smoke/ 194 Pollen (cfm). CADR tells exactly how well an air purifier can clean the air within a particular size room. At the much lower price than the Rabbit Air BioGS 2.0, this CADR rating is still slightly better than the Rabbit Air opponent. Combining with a great 5X ACH, Winix WAC9500 will work at maximum capacity to help your home out of polluted air.

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

Winix WAC9500 Sound

With a high ACH rating like this Winix WAC9500, it is common to trade off the noise level with the capacity. This situation happens more often if you are fan of Honeywell air purifiers. However, the Winix WAC9500 managed to surprise us with its noise level. We have no serious sleep problems and we glad to have the Winix WAC9500 in our bedroom. However there are many negative reviews show that Winix WAC9500 is quite loud when running at the highest setting.

With 4 different fan speeds, you can run this air purifier at the lowest setting for a noise level of 26 decibels (dB). This noise level is just like the whisper, though it is still not as good as brands like Rabbit Air or Levoit.

Related post: Best air purifiers for baby.

Winix WAC9500 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.

When considering the power consumption, I expected that the Winix WAC9500 will consume a lot to run its fan. Luckily, I am pleased with the power consumption of 70 watts from the Winix WAC9500, which is also rated by Energy Star.

For 8 hours of using per day, it would cost you around $25 per year. It is reasonable for a good air purifier.

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

Winix WAC9500 Additional Features

Like other air purifiers in Winix brands, the Winix WAC9500 delivers good Smart Sensor to help detect the change in air quality. This function is great to save the energy in your home. Other common functions like Auto Sleep or Timer are found in this air purifier.

Out of the box, the Winix WAC9500 comes with a remote control. Well, I could live easier with this remote control, especially when the built-in buttons are so hard to press.

Also, you don’t need to remember the date to replace your air filters. Winix WAC9500 also features a LED life indicator to remind you.

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

Winix WAC9500 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

Winix WAC9500 has great performance for the price and it offers better performance than the air purifiers it replaces (the Winix 5300-2 and Winix 5500-2). The washable pre-filter and True HEPA filter works great with pet problems like pet hair and pet dander. Also, the activated carbon filter with 93% effectiveness is just unrivaled.

It would be viable at rank B+, but Winix decided to discontinue this Winix WAC9500. However, you have the Winix AM90 and Winix 9800 with the same great performance and much better features.