This tiny Shark air purifier is a game-changer in my busy kitchen

If you're in the market for an air purifier—whether to use beside your bed while you sleep soundly or next to your desk as you're working from home— you might not want something big, bulky, or noisy. The market is now flooded with an abundance of great options, but even if you choose one of the best air purifiers you can buy, if it doesn't fit your room size, then it will struggle to do its job.

If it's too small for the room, it will take longer to react to allergens, odors, and pollutants. Or even worse: it might not register that they are there at all. On the other hand, if it's too large, it will be the first thing people's eyes draw to when they enter the room. After testing the Shark NeverChange Compact Pro air purifier in my three-bedroom home, I've been impressed by both its design and capabilities. If you want clean air without the eyesore, this is a sensible choice.

This air purifier is designed for smaller spaces thanks to its compact size, and it works best in rooms measuring up to 250 square feet. I've used it in my kitchen, my living room, and my bedroom, and it works fast to react to smells and smoke as they enter the air.

The best part? Its specially-designed HEPA filter. This filter lasts for up to five years of use, saving you the expense of regular replacements.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro Review: Price and Availability

The Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro is currently sold in the U.S. for $179.99. You can also buy it at Amazon for the same price.

Over in the U.K., you can buy this air purifier for £149.99. It's the same price at Amazon, too.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Design

This air purifier is small in size, at just under 12 inches high, meaning it's perfect for smaller spaces where you don't want it to become the focus point of a room. Handily enough for me, I reviewed the white one. With lots of my home decor being the same color, it didn't stick out at all.

This air purifier, unlike other Shark models, comes in a range of colorways. You can choose from dove, white, honeydew (which is a light green), quartz (which is light pink), and lilac. So, if you do want yours to pop, you can opt for something fancy!

There is the option to use it with an Anti-Odor Technology cartridge, which I did. This is very easy to fit, although not necessary to use the air purifier—it emits a subtle fresh scent while the air purifier is in use.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Set-up and use

The Shark NeverChange arrived inside a small, lightweight box. It was wrapped in fully eco-conscious packaging with minimal plastic wrap in sight—only around the filter, which you need to remove before using.

And on the box, it's made extremely clear that this wrap needs to be removed as it can be a hazard, and it's to prevent dust from reaching into the filter before you've even started using your purifier.

The setup itself was a total breeze. You really only need to find a place for it to sit and then plug it in. It requires 3 inches (or 8cm) of space around it, from walls and objects. Its cord is nice and long at 5 feet, too.

There's no fancy app that connects with this air purifier—everything you need to know is displayed on its screen, and it has 4 self-explanatory buttons that you touch to activate.

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The one thing I immediately loved about this air purifier was how lightweight it was. It weighs only 2kg/4.41 lbs and is so easy to carry up and down stairs or from one room to another. There isn't a handle designed into it, but it really doesn't need one.

Another thing I liked is that you can turn its display lights off while you sleep. You can also turn off the beeping noise it makes when cycling through settings by holding the Air Info button and the Fan Speed button at the same time, for two seconds.

It also has a child lock, but this isn't made obvious unless you read the instructions—press and hold the Brightness button and the Fan Speed Button for two seconds

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Performance

There isn't a fancy app for this Shark air purifier; instead, everything you need to know is displayed on its large, circular screen. As soon as the air purifier is switched on, its screen will display the air quality rating in percentage, out of 100%. This correlates to

• Blue - Good (between 85%-100%, or 0-25 air particles)
• Yellow - Fair (between 70%-84%, or 26-80 air particles)
• Red - Poor (between 0%-69%, or 81-430+ air particles)

Otherwise, it has a control panel on the top of its unit with four touch button options. From left to right, these are On/Off, Air Info, Brightness and Fan Speed. Press the Air Info button to switch between air quality views on its screen. So, as well as the baseline reading of air quality, you can also see:

• PM 1.0 - total particles that are the size of allergens
• PM2.5 - total particles that are the size of smoke
• PM10 - total particles that are the size of dust

When cycling through these modes, you'll notice each one has its scoring modes. These aren't explained, but you will notice that, depending on whatever your air purifier has flagged, each one will increase or decrease. For example, when I blew out a candle, the PM2.5 reading went crazy, as this tracks smoke.

As previously mentioned, there are 5 modes plus an auto mode. There is also an Eco mode but this cannot be enabled by the user. This will kick into action once the air purifier has reached 100% and stayed there for 5 minutes. This mode optimises filter life and is the most efficient mode.

After setting up the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro and turning it on, I checked the levels in my living room, kitchen, and bedroom.

Initially, my living room read 98%. In my kitchen, the air purifier read 99%. And in my bedroom, it said 97%.

In all of the rooms I used this air purifier in, it read 'Good', which is between 85%-100%, as a baseline. I mostly used it in auto mode while testing, but it does have 5 modes, with the 5th one being the most powerful and also the loudest.

First, I did some testing in my kitchen, which measures 140 square feet, which is smaller than the recommended room size for this unit. This room has two windows and is next to a slightly busy street. I wasn't shocked that the air purifier initially read 'Good' and had a rating of 99%.

All other readings were 0, too. I was shocked, however, that when I conducted the flour test—sprinkling flour around the machine and waiting for a response— the air quality level stayed the same. I even sprinkled some on top of the machine, into the grates, and still nothing.

While I was disappointed with the results of the flour test, this air purifier was left switched on in my kitchen for an entire weekend. During this time, we cooked everything from curry to fish fingers.

The air purifier recognized when I was cooking food, and it worked hard to banish smells from the air. In particular, while cooking and serving the curry meal, its air quality rating dropped to the mid-30s. During cooking, the other air quality views were fluctuating, too. The PM1.0 rating was in the 70s, the PM2.5 hitting almost 100, and the same goes for the PM10.

It took around 20 minutes to regulate itself back into a 'Good' zone.

The next test I tried was with a candle, in my living room. I turned the air purifier onto auto mode and lit the candle beside it. I waited for a change in the stats on the machine's screen. Nothing happened immediately as I lit the candle, but the more it burned, the machine was creeping from 98% towards the low 90s, so it knew there was a problem.

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Then, I blew the candle out. Within one second, the air quality rating began to decrease, eventually settling on 0%. The machine automatically switched itself to its most powerful mode. It managed to stabilize itself about two minutes later and began to creep up again, but when it hit the 60s, it was rapidly bouncing around.

Eventually, 7 minutes after I blew out the candle, the air quality rating moved from poor to fair. It stayed at the 70 mark for quite a while as it was clearly struggling to purify the air at this stage. I waited for it to reach 85% and show blue, and overall, this took roughly 45 minutes from when I initially blew the candle out.

At this time, the other statistics were going crazy. The PM 1.0 read 92 at its highest, the PM2.5 read 520, and PM10 was showing 631. After 45 minutes and when the air quality reading eventually read between 85% to 100%, these readings all read 0.

I used an upholstery spray for the next test, back in my living room. I positioned the air purifier on my coffee table and liberally sprayed an upholstery cleaner into the air. I sprayed it all over my sofa, the cushions, and the blankets. The air purifier barely recognised this spray being in the air. Its air quality rating did drop slightly, but only to 91%. It didn't change its mode and stayed at the lowest during this.

The instruction manual says that in order to check whether the air purifier is working and detecting changes in air quality, you should spray something towards the back of the unit. So, I moved it into my kitchen (where I had recently noticed it working well) and sprayed the same spray towards the back of the unit. It didn't react. I then tried a different spray, an antibacterial countertop spray, and it didn't react again.

I moved this air purifier upstairs eventually, to use while we sleep. Its reading mostly showed 'Good' while using it in this room, but I wanted to gauge a reaction. I used my dry shampoo spray while standing right next to the air purifier, and nothing happened. The numbers were bouncing around a little, but the air quality rating never dropped below 90%.

I then dug my perfume out of my nightstand and sprayed this directly behind the back of the machine. It was then that it instantly flagged, and the percentage began to drop. It only dropped to 73% and within just a few minutes, managed to bring itself back into the blue 'Good' zone.

Overall, for an air purifier of this size, that performance is about as strong as you could expect. But you might find it lacking for larger spaces or tackling specific issues as opposed to monitoring prolonged air quality.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Noise levels

Shark claims this air purifier runs quietly, but it doesn't claim that it runs at a specific decibel reading. I conducted my own testing, using a decibel monitor to gauge the noise level of each mode. The ambient room reading was 26dB.

• Mode 1 - 44-45dB
• Mode 2 - 47-48dB
• Mode 3 - 50-52dB
• Mode 4 - 56-57dB
• Mode 5 - 60-61dB

The overall noise level of the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro is quiet. It doesn't have a sleep mode, but mode 1 is very quiet. In fact, it's almost silent.

Mode 5 is the highest and does make the machine noticeable in a room. The noise it gives off would be easy to sleep through and is similar to a fan. You can still watch TV with it on, but when it hits the highest mode, you might need to turn the volume up.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Storage and maintenance

This Shark NeverChange Compact Pro is fitted with a specially designed HEPA filter that doesn't require replacing for up to 5 years. You can see the life of your filter when you cycle through air quality views, and it will be displayed last and as a percentage. At the time I finished my review, mine read 97%.

Other than that, the only real maintenance required is every two or so months. You'll have to check the DebrisDefense Filter. This will flag up on your machine when it needs doing, just to make your life easier. This can be removed from the machine with ease after opening up the door at the back. Either remove dust with a cloth or your vacuum, but never use water. This filter protects the large HEPA filter from dust, hair, and more.

In terms of exterior cleaning, it's recommended that every two months you remove any dust that might have settled on top of it. You can use a damp cloth, but it says to avoid chemical cleaners.

If you're going to be storing it away for whatever reason, it also doesn't take up much space.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: How does it rate online?

On the Shark website, this air purifier has 67 reviews. It's given a 4.7-star rating out of five. Most shoppers love it for their bedroom, and they comment on how quiet it is when in use. Reviewers love its compact size and that it takes up minimal space, and they rave about its 5-year filter. In particular, pet owners leave very positive reviews.

This month at Amazon, more than 700 people have bought this air purifier. It's highly rated at 4.5 stars with 2,000+ reviews. Overall, shoppers say it's great for pet owners, it reacts fast, and they love its 5-year filter.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: How it compares

How does it compare?

You can buy a range of air purifiers from Shark, but this model, the Compact Pro, is the cheapest at $179.99. Next up, pricewise, is the Shark Air Purifier with True HEPA at $199.99. The big difference between this and the Compact Pro is its size and the fact that it can cover a lot more space, up to 500 square feet. It's also heavier at 5.85lbs. It offers a child lock and four settings, plus an auto mode. You can also set it on a timer. The filter needs changing every 12 months, roughly. It's rated 4.7 stars out of 5.

Next, at $249.99, is the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier. This machine is larger, too, sitting at 14.9" high, and covers up to 650 square feet. It boasts Odour Neutraliser Technology and it's heavier at 7.3lbs. It has four modes plus an auto mode and a child lock, and you can set it on a timer. It has a 5-year filter and it's rated 4.3 stars out of 5.

The Shark Air Purifier MAX with True HEPA comes in at $299.99. It's similar to the two purifiers I've mentioned above in features, but it's best for larger spaces as it can purify rooms up to 1,200 square feet. It sits at 22 inches tall. Replacement filters are needed every 6-12 months. It's rated 4.6 stars out of 5 by reviewers.

Coming in as the most expensive Shark air purifier at $379.99, the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX. It's only half an inch taller than the above, but the main difference between them is the filter—this one lasts for 5 years. It can work in rooms up to 1,400 square feet, too. Reviewers rate it 4.3 stars out of 5.

The top pick in our best air purifiers guide is the Blueair Blue Pure 211+ Auto, which was awarded a 4.5-star rating. It's more expensive than the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro, at $300, while its recommended room size is slightly larger at 550 square feet. The Shark Compact Pro only covers 250 square feet. The Blueair model offers just three modes, plus an auto mode and night mode. When it comes to weight, the Blueair is a lot heavier, at over double the weight, coming in at 12.5 pounds.

Shark NeverChange Air Purifier Compact Pro review: Verdict

Truly one of the best air purifiers I've used in my home, this compact machine is small but mighty. It matches the room size for my living room, bedroom, and kitchen, which were the only three places I planned on using it, and it managed to flag most allergens and problems as they arose. Mostly, it was impressive at filtering the air to banish cooking smells and smoke.

It's very easy to use and convenient, as its buttons are pretty self-explanatory. I also really like that you can dim its brightness, you can turn off its beeping, and it has a child lock. Though simple to work, there are added extras like an Eco mode and the fact that you can use it with the special Anti-Odour Technology cartridges.

When it comes to design, it does come in different colorways, but the white one was best for me as I wanted it to blend in with my interiors. It's small enough to sit atop a kitchen countertop, a TV unit, or even a nightstand. It's also lightweight for easy moving around your home.

At $180, the NeverChange Compact Pro comes at an attractive price, especially since its filter will last 5 years of use. Some people might want an air purifier that connects to an app, for extra control, or they might prefer if you could set it on a timer, but that didn't bother me.