FRESH AND EASY
AirTamer A400 Auto Ionic Air Purifier

What if we told you there’s a device that can be plugged in to zap away odors from your car? We don’t mean cover up odors like a perfume. We mean banish them into thin air. Yes, there is such a device, and it’s called the AirTamer Auto Ionic Air Purifier. It works shockingly well—in more ways than one. Anti-bad odor devices for cars have been around for years. At Pep Boys, you can buy a dispenser that will cover up bad odors with another odor—everything from the traditional pine scent to peppermint to “new car” smell. The latter emits an aroma of vinyl, plastic and chemicals in order to emulate the not-exactly-pleasant smell of a new car interior from the 1960s and 70s (today’s new cars don’t smell as much). All these dispensers won’t get rid of odors. On the contrary, they dispense other odors to dominate and ultimately mask the original odor. Headwaters, a company out of Marblehead, Massachusetts, say they have a device that will actually get rid of odors. Plugging into a vehicle’s 12 volt power socket, the makers say the FilterStream AirTamer A400 Auto Ionic Air Purifier uses electrostatic technology to create cleaner air by producing negative ions that force airborne pollutants—including smoke, dust, mold, viruses, pollen VOCs, dust mites, dander and bacteria—away from your breathing space. The makers say the AirTamer works by emitting millions of ions that attach onto air pollutants—including atomic sized pollutants—and removes them from your cabin air. The recent winds in Southern California provided an ideal opportunity to test the device. The uncharacteristic (for California) winds blew down trees, shorted telephone lines, uprooted bushes, and generally created a major yard-cleaning job for the Southland’s residents and municipalities. Some cities gathered up the debris and offered “free mulch” to the local garden lovers. We went for two mulch runs in our company car, a 2004 Toyota Prius. The first run left the car smelling like mulch for a couple of days. For the second run, we plugged In the AirTamer A400 Auto Ionic Air Purifier, attached its Performance Boost Emitter to the car's air vent, turned on the A400 and the air conditioner—and the mulch odor was gone in a matter of minutes.

Just to make sure this wasn’t a fluke, we tried the AirTamer A400 on a newer MINI Cooper S. While the AirTamer didn’t completely rid the car of its stale air conditioner odor, it did reduce it substantially. As for any other odors, they were gone or rendered unnoticeable in minutes. Our verdict: The AirTamer fulfills its claim of reducing or extinguishing odors, not just masking them. While the AirTamer does what it’s suppose to do, it did a little more than we wanted. The Performance Boost Emitter actually interfered with our Uniden GPS-equipped radar detector, causing it to give out an almost constant false alarm. As soon as we unplugged the Performance Boost Emitter, the false alarm stopped. The Performance Boost Emitter also caused some aspects of the MINI Cooper audio system to malfunction (e.g., readouts went dark and certain controls ceased to work). Again, everything went back to normal after we unplugged the Performance Boost Emitter from the AirTamer. We mentioned at the beginning of this article that the AirTamer works shockingly well. We mean that in more ways than one. If you leave the unit constantly on, we notice that the car’s interior emits an increase of static charge—even more so if you use it with the Performance Boost Emitter. Consequently, our recommendation is to use the device when needed, but to turn it off otherwise. Too bad, because the AirTamer is really cool looking when on, with its velvet blue glow. In summary, the AirTamer works as advertised—with or without the Performance Boost Emitter. If your car’s interior lights and functions start acting up, just unplug the Emitter. If you notice too much static in the car, turn the unit off. For $49.99, the AirTamer A400 represents a good buy—particularly since you can use it for more than one car. - Roy Nakano For more information about FilterStream products, go to filterstream.com

VITAL STATISTICS Name of device: FilterStream AirTamer A400 Auto Ionic Air Purifier Manufacturer: Headwaters, Inc. Marblehead, Massachusetts Price: $49.99 Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.1 x 3.2 inches Weight: 3.5 ounces Source: Manufacturer review sample Available at Amazon.com