The short answer
- About $1,049 to own over five years: $844 to buy, $205 in electricity, and nothing at all in filters.
- The filter is rated for five years, so inside our window there is nothing to replace. That is why the dearest machine here is not the dearest to own.
- There is no AHAM CADR listing. The 400 CFM figure is airflow, which is not the same measurement.
Who this is for
Buy the HealthMate if you would rather pay once than pay every year, and if you can accept a machine whose cleaning rate you cannot check against anyone but its maker. It is the clearest illustration on this site of why sticker price is a bad proxy: it costs $844, more than any other machine here, and over five years it costs less to own than the $799 Alen.
The reason is a single line in the model below. Austin Air rates its filter at five years. Inside a five-year window, that is zero replacements and zero dollars, against $396 for the Alen and $356 for the Airmega 250.
What the specifications actually say
Here is the finding that matters, and it is an absence. Austin Air does not publish a CADR, and we found no AHAM listing for it. The 400 CFM that appears in its specifications is airflow at the high setting, which is the volume of air the fan moves, not the volume of clean air it delivers. The two are not interchangeable and the difference is the whole point of the CADR test.
Because there is no CADR, we cannot calculate an honest coverage figure for this machine the way we do for every other page on this site. The manufacturer’s 1,500 square feet is stated without a basis. We are not able to check it, and we are not going to repeat it as though we had.
What Austin Air does better than anyone here is power. It publishes draw at all three speeds: 135 W high, 83 W medium, 56 W low. Our model uses the medium figure, because that is a defensible everyday setting and because we finally have one to use.
| Specification | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CADR | Not published | No AHAM listing found; the absence is itself the finding |
| Airflow (high) | 400 CFM | Manufacturer specification; airflow, not CADR |
| Airflow (medium) | 200 CFM | Manufacturer specification |
| Airflow (low) | 75 CFM | Manufacturer specification |
| Power draw (high) | 135 W | Manufacturer specification |
| Power draw (medium) | 83 W | Manufacturer specification |
| Power draw (low) | 56 W | Manufacturer specification |
| Filter life | 5 years | Manufacturer specification |
| Replacement filter | about $200-230 | Dealer listings, retrieved 31 Aug 2026 |
| Warranty | 5 years parts and labour; 5-year pro-rated on the filter assembly | Manufacturer warranty terms |
| Manufacturer room size | 1,500 sq ft | Manufacturer specification; basis not stated |
| Price | $844 | Merchant listing at publication |
The cost nobody quotes
Five years, at the US average of $0.17 per kWh, running eight hours a day, at the published medium power draw.
What it really costs over 5 years
Total$1,049
| Cost | Amount | How we got it |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | $844 | Street price at publication |
| Electricity | $205 | 242 kWh/yr at $0.17 per kWh |
| Total | $1,049 | $210 per year · $0.07 per session |
Running costs are 20% of the 5-year total. The sticker price is not the decision.
Electricity priced at $0.17 per kWh, the US residential average. Change the rate in the settings to match your utility. Consumable costs come from the manufacturer's published replacement schedule.
Eighty per cent of what you spend is the purchase, and almost all of the rest is electricity: 242 kWh a year, about $41, $205 across the five years. It is the highest electricity bill in this group, and it still does not come close to what the filter subscriptions cost elsewhere.
One honest caveat on the horizon. Stretch the window to six years and a replacement filter at roughly $200 to $230 lands in it, which puts this machine back above the Airmega 400. Five years is where it wins, and five years is the window this site models.
Certifications, and what they cover
Frequently asked questions
Does the Austin Air HealthMate really need no filters for five years?
Austin Air rates the filter at five years under normal residential use. Inside a five-year window that is zero replacements, which is why its five-year cost is lower than machines that cost less to buy.
What does it cost to run per year?
About $41 in electricity at $0.17 per kWh, running eight hours a day at the published medium draw of 83 W (83 W x 56 h/week x 52 = 242 kWh).
What is its CADR?
There is not one. Austin Air does not publish a CADR and we found no AHAM listing. The 400 CFM in its specifications is airflow at high speed, which measures a different thing.
Why do you not test these yourself?
We are a research publication, not a lab. We verify third-party test data, publish the source next to every number, and calculate the costs manufacturers leave out.
