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- Quiet in operation
- Compact enough for small nurseries
- Easy to set up, with an intuitive app
- Display is tricky to read
- Slow to detect improving air quality
The Levoit Sprout has huge appeal for new parents looking for an air purifier that’s suitable for a nursery. That’s because decorating a nursery takes time, effort and money. And if your child has allergies to airborne particles, you’ll want something that looks right at home.
Unlike many air purifiers, the compact and neat-looking Levoit Sprout boasts an appealing blend of additional features which could help settle your little one, such as a gentle night light and a range of soothing sounds.
But it’s no good looking and sounding pretty if it can’t purify air efficiently and effectively and remove a wide range of pollutants from the vicinity, which is why we’ve put the oddly named Sprout through our rigorous series of tests to see if it’s one of the best air purifiers on sale. And crucially, if it’s the one to buy if your child has respiratory issues.
What do you get for the money?
There are a lot of air purifiers on the market, but relatively few that cater for the specific needs of young children. Step forward, the £280 Levoit Sprout.
I was immediately impressed with the Sprout even before I’d begun testing its air-purifying efficacy. That’s because it packs a lot of useful nursery-friendly features into its small frame, including a night light with adjustable brightness and colour temperature, which can remain constant or pulse to mirror baby’s breathing patterns.
Lighting isn’t uncommon in air purifiers, but the Sprout also has a range of soothing sounds to help your little one drift off, plus a tilt switch that’ll deactivate the unit should it be knocked over.
Unlike some more expensive air purifiers, the Levoit Sprout will filter PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10, as well as volatile organic compounds, plus it’ll monitor CO2 levels, temperature and relative humidity. It has a clear air delivery rate (CADR) of 144.5m³/h (smoke), 152.9m³/h (dust) and 185.2m³/h (pollen), clearing a maximum room size of 30m². They’re not stellar numbers in raw terms, but should be sufficient for most nurseries.
The three-stage filter comprises a pre-filter, a HEPA filter and an activated carbon filter. According to Levoit, the HEPA traps upwards of 99.97% of particles of 0.3 microns, which includes fine dust and smoke, through to pet dander. The activated carbon filter deals with smoke, odours and fumes, as well as compounds such as benzene and sulphur dioxide. Levoit makes no claims about testing against Covid-19, although HEPA filters are regarded by many to be effective.
The filter, which costs £30 to replace, is designed to last between six and eight months, although the unit and the app will signal when the time has come.
Basic functionality such as fan speed and nursery sounds are operated via gently-lit capacitive buttons on the top and there are coloured bars which clearly indicate air quality as well as an air quality index (AQI) display which provides a little more granularity. The all-important child lock button is here, too.
It’s important to note that the expelled air exits vertically from the top of the unit, reducing the chance of making baby cold when it’s operating.
How well does it work?
In my filtration tests, which involved spraying deodorant in a small room, it took just over 91 seconds for the air to drop from an unhealthy PM2.5 peak of 135 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) to our safer benchmark of 25µg/m³. Given the unit’s compact size and comparatively modest CADR ratings, that’s pretty effective.
There is a “but”, however. And that’s because, unlike other air purifiers that step down once the air quality improves, the Sprout continued to operate flat out, with the air quality index display massively overreading until the unit was unplugged and turned on again. While this happened during our extreme tests, I found the unit would also turn itself to maximum attack for several hours when my cat walked nearby. However, in more regular use, it worked precisely as expected.
It was quieter than most in its slower fan speeds, and I recorded a little-more-than-background 32dBA. And while it’s a fair bit louder at its fastest fan speeds, its mid-range is quieter than almost all those we’ve tested, at just 38dBA. This noise can be masked by the range of night-time sounds which include rain, lullabies, breaking waves and birdsong. Baby’s five favourite sounds can be accessed via a button on the unit, although more can be added to this playlist through the app.
While the Sprout is gentle in operation, so too is its power consumption, using a relatively inconsequential 3.5W in its slowest setting, and 15W flat out.
I like that the basic controls are very simple, although I also found that the illuminated buttons were very difficult to see in direct sunlight, so I had to shield them with one hand to identify what’s what: that includes the power button, which is also very dimly-lit when the unit is switched off. Because the unit is cylindrical and there aren’t many obvious markings indicating which way it’s facing (just the plug socket on the back and Levoit logo on the front), it’s hard to even guess where the power button might be.
The app, on the other hand, is very easy to use. The default display shows the basic AQI readout, but graphs showing trending particle levels plus temperature, CO2 and humidity are a tap away. Controls for the light and sounds are a further tap away, and it’ll alert you to unclean air even if the unit is off.
The app can control other Levoit smart tech too, which is useful, although the 385MB file size is a little chunky if you’re only using it to control the Sprout.
It’s very easy to change the filter, though: the lower part of the unit twists off, and there’s a handle underneath the Sprout to give extra purchase. The filter simply lifts out. While there is a handle for this, the filter’s size and shape, and the superb access that the Sprout’s design affords, mean that it’s largely redundant.
What could be improved?
While the unit will undeniably slot straight into any nursery, the blue colourway may not suit all tastes, and it’s a shame no alternative colours are offered. Yet perhaps the biggest thing to fix is the way the buttons and displays fade into obscurity in bright sunlight. Increasing the luminosity would really improve usability, as would a permanent label showing the position of the power button.
I was also rather surprised by the Sprout’s reluctance to shift down the gears once particularly polluted air had been cleaned, although I should stress this only occurred after exposure to particularly high levels of contaminants.
Should I buy the Levoit Sprout air purifier?
While the Sprout has a couple of shortcomings, it excels when it comes to fulfilling its nursery-cleaning brief. It’s great to have tech that provides soothing sounds and a night light that can be timed or operated via an app, and features like an automatic shutdown if it’s knocked over show that real thought has gone into it.
Moreover, that it can handle PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10 – as well as VOCs – will be of huge comfort to new parents.
It might lack the outright punch of other air purifiers (for which you might need to turn to more powerful options such as the Blueair Signature) but most nurseries are small so this will be less of a concern. It’s compact in size, energy consumption and visual impact. After all, with the effort that’s invested in making a nursery the perfect environment for your most precious possession, the last thing you want is to plonk a Doctor Who relic in the corner of baby’s room.
