LG Puricare Wearable Air Purifier – Whatever you do, don’t look down

Stuff frequently gets to test unusual gear, including that wonderful new facial accessory that’s become so popular. But LG’s Puricare Wearable Air Purifier is a whole new level of medically-paranoid.

Announced last year, at the very height of COVID-19 globally (which hasn’t gone away but has become kinda normal), we got our hands on one of the very first units to make it into SA and we’ve been using it for about a month. The short verdict? It’s an exciting piece of tech but it’ll probably be priced out of reach for most South Africans.

But let’s take a closer look at this plastic gizmo we have on our hands. Faces. Whatever.

Face it, it looks kinda cool

One of the first things we thought when we saw these was ‘LG should offer these masks in different colours’. It’d go extremely well with a set of Sub Zero or Scorpion sleepwear (not that we have either of those things on the third shelf of the cupboard) if it were available in the right blue or yellow. There are also cases to be made for pink, green, a different sort of blue, red, purple… basically, the entire Mortal Kombat spectrum.

In terms of build, the Puricare is a single hard piece of plastic, with a few connecting bits that make it all work. On the interior is a removable soft rubber cup that hosts a paper/fabric filter (you get a pack of these in the box). Outside, there are two removable filter boxes that each fit a single H31 HEPA filter (two are included with the package). The right-hand box also hosts the lone button. Press it and the mask powers on. There are two more levels, for fan speed, and the fourth press turns the Puricare off again.

The mask slips over your ears using sturdy adjustable elastic strips and there’s also a weird strip of plastic that lets you save your ears the mask’s 126-gram weight. What you do is clip the elastic strips over the plastic strip and let the band around the back of your head support the weight. We didn’t use it, but it is an option. Also included is a very premium carrying bag, made out of a (probably mock) sheepskin-like material.

However, it is a little bulkier than you’re expecting. So much so that looking down while wearing it will see your feet (and much of your torso, unless you’re really fond of beer) being basically invisible. Long story short, make sure you know exactly where you’re putting your feet. You certainly won’t be able to see what it is you’ve just stepped in.

Best use case

So it’s attractive and it looks like it can do the job. Does it? That’s the R2,500 question. We use this sum because that’s what you’ll pay for them in the markets where they’re available, so it’s the cheapest you can expect to pay if the Puricare ever launches in South Africa. The answer is: yes, it does the job. But the job may not be worth the money, at least in the South African market.

Inside the outer edge of the mask are two fans, capable of moving up to 55 litres of air per minute — which is a grand statistic, but that air isn’t blasting right into your lungs. You’re snatching it as it comes past. There’s an audible noise as you inhale, which makes you feel a little like Darth Vader at times. The air you do grab — which is more than enough unless you’re out jogging — does feel cleaner. Like you’ve got an air purifier running in the room which… yeah, you kinda do.

So you’ve got your own personal supply of cleaner-than-average air. There’s an 840mAh battery inside the Puricare that’ll run for between four and eight hours. You’ll get the max uptime at the lowest setting, meaning you could get through a full workday next to Smelly Dave, if you had to. But if he was smellier than usual, you’ll only get four hours on max settings. Then it takes two hours to top up again, via the included USB-C cable.

But the question is: do you need it? Not… right now. Perhaps one day we’ll all need to slap on an air purifier before we venture out into the smog-destroyed cities we’re apparently intent on creating, but right now it’s very much a choice to wear one of these masks. And that choice depends heavily on how much you’ll pay for one. We don’t have a figure, but we know it’s not cheaper than R2,500.

LG Puricare Air Purifier Verdict

LG’s wearable mask/purifier hybrid is an interesting exercise in miniaturisation. The average air purifier is considerably larger and is nowhere near this portable. But strapping two fans onto your face, no matter how good their accompanying filters are, is always going to limit your movement. If you’re strolling through a store or heading from the parking lot to your office, then the Puricare is a wonderful way to feel safe. Ditto if you’re sitting through one of those sulphur dioxide fogs Johannesburg has been afflicted with of late. But anything more strenuous and you’re sucking for an air supply that isn’t there, even if you’ve got the airflow maxed.

But the price is the major factor and that’s something LG hasn’t announced. Globally, the mask will cost anything between R2,500 and R4,500 and we actually understand the pricing. This is an air purifier that you wear on your face, that weighs in at just 126 grams. That sort of compression doesn’t come cheap. But you can achieve similar results and, arguably, greater safety with a cloth mask like Under Armour’s excellent effort. Or something that costs just R150 and is made right here at home. The Puricare works, but you’ve got to want and, more important, be able to afford one.