LifeBasis Air Quality Monitor Indoor, 10-in-1 Air Quality Detector with Stand, Real-Time Air Meter Test AQI, PM1.0, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, TVOC, HCHO, Particles, Temperature and Humidity with Alert -White

Reliable readings
I wanted a portable air quality monitor, especially one that I can carry around. While most air quality monitors are relatively portable, they are generally not shaped in a way that allows you to carry it in your pockets without bulging out. This one, on the other hand, is relatively flat, and fits into a pants pocket with relative ease.One concern I did have with many of these air quality monitors are whether the sensors provide real numbers based on real sensors, or if they infer other values based on a single sensor (usually TVOC or organics based, since that’s usually the cheapest sensor available). On this detector, placing it near an ammonia solution only includes the TVOC values, and not PM2.5 or CO2, which is expected. On a low-quality sensor, typically the ammonia solution would significantly spike the CO2 readings.Putting the sensor next to water vapor only increases the PM2.5 and humidity reading but not TVOC or CO2. This is also the expected reading from a detector that has actual sensors built-in to detect these variations. The PM2.5 values also match up with my other portable and PurpleAir sensors installed outside. I also like the fact that this detector has a way to do CO2 calibrations, which is something that most detectors try to do on an automatic basis or not at all (this makes the reading somewhat inaccurate for those sensors if the sensor is inside a stuffy room constantly). The ability to calibrate manually is not something I usually see, so this is definitely a good addition.Considering the fact that most detectors that have real CO2 sensors generally cost close to $100 or more, this is actually a decent detector that is decently priced and provides good values. While you won’t be able to monitor the values online since it has no data export or Wi-Fi/BT capabilities, it does make a good travel sensor that you can carry around.

Accurate and easy-to-use air quality monitor.
This monitor is excellent for keeping track of indoor air quality. It’s accurate, responsive, and the color-coded display makes it easy to see at a glance which pollutants are present. The dual sound and visual alarms are helpful, and the battery lasts long enough for convenient use. Compact and portable, it’s perfect for home, office, or car use. Definitely a useful tool for healthier air indoors.

A pleasant toy that might help you choose how to make your indoor air cleaner than local outdoor air
This really is barely more than a toy. A real tool to do the job would cost many hundreds of dollars, but the documentation for this does claim it isn’t laboratory test equipment. OTOH, it is cheap and can be nice looking.I have a combination of 6 different brand/model combinations and there is no consistency in any of the readings between any pair. Readings on any two usually differ by far more than 10% for any property. CO2 readings across all six brand/models I have might range from 400ppm to 660ppm when 400ppm is about the average CO2 level for non-polluted outside air between sea level to over a mile higher. Sometimes the readings for one property will stick at some vaue and not change but power off/on sometimes recovers it.One approach to using something like this is to buy a handful of models each from a different brand, Many sold on-line are exactly the same device sold as a different brand, if it looks the same it probably is. Instead of being concerned with the “reported” air-quality by any one device consider the average reading of some air-property from about four different devices. The most useful thing you could really get is a sign that some air property is increasing or decreasing in value over several minutes, you should be able to spot a trend in any property (especially if the trend is seen on multiple devices). The update rate is not fast, maybe one or two updates per-second but that’s too short a time to determine anything useful about instantaneous air-quality given the true quality of the device, it’s a shame they don’t have an obvious rolling average type normalization to make changes less sharp and trends more obvious.For most users the best features to watch for in something like this is are probably rising trends in any of CO, CO2, PM2.5 and PM10 (most devices like this monitor CO2 but not CO). Use a proper home smoke/CO detector for actual personal home safety and leave the location if it’s alarm sounds. But, with a device like this observing a rising trend in CO or CO2 might indicate a source of pollution from fuel burning indoors, ventilate, stop the fuel burning or leave. A rising trend in PM2.5/PM10 might indicate outside pollution from vehicles/wildfires (reduce ventilation or filter the indoor air but leave the location if CO or CO2 is also rising, especially if a home smoke/CO alarm sounds). That doesn’t mean ignore properties like PM1.0, TVOCs and HCHO. You might live next to a source of any of them, but spray perfume or air-freshener will probably increase the PM1.0 reading.Don’t sit staring at the device tracking the immediate trends. Turn it on placed in an unobstructed location. Look at it casually over a few days to get a feel for where the levels tend to be. Even get government data for outside air pollutant levels in your area for comparison. Continue looking at the device casually and a “trend would be that a number is far from normal and stays that way for many minutes. Especially if the same trend is seen on models from multiple brands. But, there might be time-of day trends, e.g. when nearby road traffic is busy. Since the documented sensitivity of any property ranges a long way between clean air and unhealthy air it’s more likely any rising trend that doesn’t set-off a home smoke/CO alarm indicates you might benefit from using simple air purifiers. If a trend like that happens on only one brand it’s more likely the one device is innacurate and restarting it might help but stay cautious (the other three you didn’t see a trend on might be the innacurate ones). Always trust a home smoke/CO detector and public service annoucements before one of these but it can help you make other choices that will let you clean your indoor air to a better quality than outside air.