Coway Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH Review: A Breath Of Fresh Air

If you live near a busy highway, an area that experiences wildfires, or have certain health issues, chances are you've considered purchasing an air purifier to tackle the different types of pollution that are probably in your home, including smoke, odors, pollen, pet dander, dust mites, mold spores, and more. One air purifier you've likely come across a few times is Coway's Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH, which launched about a decade ago and has been a popular choice among homeowners ever since (it's also been recommended by several publications throughout the years.)

This product retails for $239.99 and claims to purify up to 1,748 square feet in 60 minutes, but it maintains pure air in rooms up to 361 square feet. Essentially, this means it can cycle the air in a room of this size once every 12.5 minutes. According to Coway, this model should be especially helpful for tackling seasonal allergies, pet dander, and wildfire smoke. The Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH does this by utilizing a four-stage filtration process — it pulls air through a pre-filter, which catches the bulk of hair and dust, a deodorization filter that eliminates odors, and a HEPA filter that tackles particles from mold, pollen, and more. The fourth stage, a bipolar device (also known as an ionizer), is optional. This unit constantly monitors the air quality in the room, relaying that information to you via an indicator light, which shines blue (good) purple (moderate), or red (unhealthy).

I received an Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH from Coway free of charge in exchange for an honest review. Would this "mighty" air purifier really live up to all its selling points and it's 4.7-star average? Only time — and a little sensor light — could tell.

How does someone test an air purifier in a way that doesn't seem purely subjective? Since Coway recommends this for a bedroom or calm living space, I decided to let the Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH run for a full 24 hours in my kitchen-living area, which measures about 14 by 29 feet (406 square feet). Then I moved it to the bedroom for another 24 hours, which measures about 12 by 13 feet (156 square feet). To make sure it wasn't hindered by corners or surrounding furniture, I placed it roughly in the middle of the room, with its back close to a wall or bookshelf. During general daily use, I considered the user interface, buttons, lights, noise, and the air quality as perceived by the sensor light and what I could smell. I also played with other features including the ionizer, timer, and eco mode.

Outside of the regular daily functions, I put some of its major selling points to the test. To discover how well it detects and clears wildfire smoke or other heavy pollutants, I lit some strong Nag Champa incense and moved it increasingly closer to the air intake, timing how long it would take for auto mode to boost the power level once it sensed the smoke. After moving to the bedroom, I dusted the furniture to see how the device responded to a sudden increase in airborne dust and pet dander, again paying attention to the indicator lights and power mode.

Around 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, I powered on the Coway Airmega Mighty AP15-12HH, then left it on auto mode to do its thing overnight in the living room. I spent time in the space the next day, and by 12:30 p.m., I noticed the room felt fresher. Occasionally, one of my cats will emerge from the litterbox and drag a wave of stink behind them — cute, right? This air purifier seemed to handle that very well. The living room stayed stink-free all day.

Coway estimates a noise range of 24 to 53 decibels for this model, which is somewhere between leaves rustling and a dishwasher, according to the American Academy of Audiology. For use in a living space, most modes seemed quiet enough to me. However, I would argue that level 3 could be loud enough to want to drown it out by turning up the volume of the TV.

With the help of a convenient handle on the back, I moved the air purifier into my bedroom around 7:30 p.m., then once again let it run on auto mode all night. We don't get a lot of air circulation in our back bedroom, so we've practically accepted stuffy noses as part of our morning routine. I was curious to see: would this de-stuff our sleep? My partner and I both slept well, and the air purifier wasn't loud at all on auto mode. The big blue air quality light can be turned off manually. However, I noticed that the small green lights stayed on. That might matter to someone who needs to sleep in total darkness, but I'm sure one could improvise. In the morning, the room felt a little fresher and cooler than usual, so I was pleased overall with the general performance.

I am fortunate that I don't have to consider wildfire smoke very often where I live. However, I still wondered how well the Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH filters harsh and harmful pollutants. I couldn't burn a campfire in my living room, but I could burn an incense stick. With the device on auto mode, I set the incense on the floor about 5 feet away from the air purifier, then lit the end and started a timer.

After five minutes with no change, I moved the incense just 2 feet away. Surely that would trigger the auto mode to kick things up a notch, but nothing happened. I found it hard to believe that my heady Nag Champa wasn't powerful enough, so after three minutes, I moved it closer again. Just 1 foot from the air purifier. Even with smoke billowing directly into the face of the machine, that stubborn blue light shined on. It didn't turn purple or red, and the "odor" light didn't come on either. The fan power didn't budge, and after letting incense burn for over 11 minutes in total, my living room was starting to feel like a hazy Woodstock gathering. I began to wonder if my fire alarms would go off before this thing did, so I extinguished the ember. Either my experiment had failed, or the Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH wasn't actually very good at detecting smoky pollutants.

With a headache coming on, I switched gears and turned the Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH up to level 3. It only took about five minutes for the air to feel breathable again, and about 15 minutes for the strong incense odor to fade. This checks out, considering the spec sheet claims to clean 361 square feet in 12.5 minutes, and my living room measures about 406 square feet. Still, that little blue light never flinched, which made me feel somewhat skeptical.

This is a little embarrassing to admit, dear reader, but in the name of science, I'll let you know that it's been roughly four months since I thoroughly dusted my bedroom, despite knowing the hidden hazards of dust in your home. Our cats are also persistent snugglers, ergo: pet dander. While the Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH was already set up in my bedroom, it seemed like a perfect time to kick up all that stagnant dust and dander. Since the incense test was a failure, I figured my ultra-dusty bedroom might do the trick.

Following a similar method, I started a timer, then began wiping dust off the ceiling fan, bed, and dressers. With the Coway Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH set to auto mode, I peeked over frequently to see when the air quality light would change, or if the machine would amp up its suction. As I moved around the room, I was practically throwing dust toward the air intake, but the auto mode never responded, nor did the air quality light change color. I returned with the vacuum cleaner to suck up clumps of dust on the floor, but that didn't stir any reaction either. Finally, I manually clicked on level 2 to help clear the room.

Thinking maybe I'd missed something, I cracked open the manual, which mentions that the product is set to standard sensitivity at first. In my opinion, any "standard" setting should have detected the copious amount of smoke and dust I stirred up. Nevertheless, I adjusted the device to its most sensitive setting, double checked the filter alignments, and quickly re-tested my incense experiment in the bedroom. Holding incense directly in front of the intake still didn't trigger anything.

While trying to test the air quality indicator and smoke filtration, my smoky incense experiment didn't provoke any sensors. Kicking up layers of dust in the bedroom didn't seem to register either. In the end, there was nothing besides my own nose to tell me that the air quality was getting worse. If your home is subject to highway emissions, wildfire smoke, dust, or pet dander, you might not know just how polluted your air is — and I wouldn't count on this device to tell you.

Although the auto setting and air quality sensors seemed like a bust, that's not to say this machine doesn't work. After running my experiment, the incense-filled room cleared pretty quickly once I turned the machine up to level 3, which circulates an astounding amount of air. Level 2 also cleared up the bedroom post-dusting-spree, and I didn't notice any litter box stink while this was staged near the cat room. So I will say that Coway's Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH was speedy at removing odors and contaminants when prompted. This is marketed as a good device for bedrooms and calm spaces, and I think it can work in any room, but level 3 is loud and the machine itself is highly visible.

If you want to circulate great quantities of air or get rid of smoke smells in your home, the Coway Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH shines with these qualities. However, its "smarter" features didn't impress me much, so I wouldn't recommend the product if you want to know the details about your air and trust a device to adjust itself accordingly. On the bright side, maintenance seems easy and the filters are long-lasting; just change the deodorizing filter every six months and the HEPA filter once a year. So if nothing else, at least that much is a breath of fresh air.