Xiaomi Mijia Smart Air Purifier 6 review: Big, effective, good enough for Delhi pollution

After months of speculation, Xiaomi finally brought its Mijia brand to India a few months ago. One of the new products is Mijia Smart Air Purifier 6. In its India Today Tech review, we find it is big, effective, and good enough for Delhi pollution. Though a bundled remote would have been cherry on the cake.

It is that time of the year again in Delhi NCR. The time when the air turns a shade of brown and grey, full of smog. The AQI goes up, the air starts smelling and morning walks start doing more harm to lungs than good. It is also the time to bring out any air purifier you may have, or for people like me, who write on tech, to put to test any new purifier that has hit the market. And today that happens to be the Mijia Air Smart Purifier 6.

Mijia might seem a new brand to you but in a way it is not. That is because Mijia is a sub-brand of Xiaomi. Under this sub-brand the company sells smart appliances and it has already seen sizable success in several countries, including in China. For long there had been speculations that Xiaomi would be bringing Mijia to India. A few months ago the company did. The brand arrived with two air purifiers -- Mijia Smart Air Purifier 6 and Mijia Smart Air Purifier Compact. The Air Purifier 6, which is meant for bigger spaces as well as densely polluted air, similar to what we are beginning to see in Delhi NCR, has the starring role in this review.

The MRP of the Air Purifier 6 is Rs 24,999 but, as it happens often, it sells at a much lower price of Rs 17,999. At this price point, the Purifier 6 is one of the most powerful air purifiers you can buy in India. And it is this powerful motor that makes it so very effective, although there are a few aspects of it that could have been better.

Attractive enough, shaped like a tower

This is not the first rodeo for Xiaomi when it comes to air purifiers. The company sold them earlier as well, although under the Xiaomi brand name. When you look at the Mijia Purifier 6 you wonder what's in the name. And then you answer -- nothing. That is because the Mijia Purifier 6 looks similar to the previous Xiaomi air purifiers, complete with the same rectangular tower design and similarly perforated shell. Only the size is different because the Mijia one is bigger.

But despite the size, it is a fairly light and manageable piece of equipment. Its weight of around 5.6 kgs is significantly less than that of hulking Dyson purifiers. You can easily pick and move it and slot it in a small corner of some room.

The reason behind the more manageable weight is the plastic used in the purifier. It is strong, and has the right kind of matte finish, but it is definitely middling in its heft and thickness. This is one way you can get an air purifier of this size and capability at prices that are half or a quarter of what Dyson and some other brands may charge.

Irrespective, the Purifier 6 is durable and strong enough to do its job with ease. It has been put together extremely well with no obvious loose panels or flimsy parts. The removable panel to access the large round filter -- refills cost Rs 3499 -- opens with ease and then fits back in securely. When you are running the air purifier, even at its maximum speed, its noise is relatively lower compared to other air purifiers in its class.

The whole design is quite minimalistic, making the Purifier suitable for any room where you want to slot it in. It fits well enough in the drawing room, and ditto for study or bedroom. The air intake is through the vents on sides while the clean air is pushed out from the top vents. Overall this is a good design.

The Purifier 6 has a small round LCD display on its front. Within that display there are also, cleverly hidden under the glass, two touch sensitive buttons -- power on and off as well as one to change the modes. The rest of the display is used to show information. There are five sensors in the Purifier 6 -- PM 1, PM 2.5, Dust, Temperature and Humidity. Although I am not sure how different the Dust sensor is from PM 10 or PM 2.5. The data from all sensors, as well as features such as negative ions and UV sterilisation is displayed on the LCD screen.

I like everything about the Purifier 6 design and functionality except one aspect -- no remote. It's not a major issue but is an issue nonetheless because it forces users to download the Xiaomi Home app and then create an account on it. Xiaomi is not alone in pushing its home app. All companies do it and make extra effort to nudge or force users to download their apps, which then also require fairly extensive data permissions, including ability to map WiFi networks, bluetooth devices and fine location details. But just because everyone does the same, it doesn't make it right. And I wish Xiaomi had given users option to use the Purifier 6 through a remote (digital but local or physical).

As the name suggests, the Purifier 6 is a smart appliance. That means you can control it through the app once you have set it up. During the setup process, like almost all appliances, it requires a 2.4Ghz WiFi. This too is one of my bugbears. It is not a problem for users, but I would like to see companies move their appliances to 5GHz for simplicity's sake. Of course speed of 5GHz is not needed for smart appliances but such a support makes setting them up easier because a lot of people nowadays -- like me -- don't even keep their 2.4Ghz open.

Irrespective, the setup process is easy. Making the Xiaomi account too is easy and if you are using an iPhone, you can even use Apple login to avoid sharing email ID and other details. Once you have the Xiaomi Home app in your phone, you can control the Purifier 6 as well as see its key information, including filter status, with ease.

Powerful and made for large spaces

Unlike a phone or a computer, an appliance is a simpler device. It has one core functionality and to be considered good or bad, it needs to perform on that one aspect. In the case of Purifier 6 that happens to be its ability to clean air effectively and quickly. It does that very well.

Like I said, the pollution level in Delhi NCR air is rising nowadays. But the Mijia Purifier 6 has so far kept air in my drawing room, or rather the small-ish condo, fairly clean. The best bit about the purifier is how quickly it cleans and relatively how silently it works.

One morning I turned on the Purifier 6 after cooking had finished in my kitchen. Cooking, as you can smell, adds pollutants to air inside a kitchen as well as the house. The pollution reading showed an AQI of around 250 in my drawing room. To see the effectiveness of the Purifier 6 I ran it at its maximum speed. Within half an hour the AQI was less than 20, even though I had kept the drawing room door open and the air was circulating through the house. This also meant the Purifier 6 was not just good enough for keeping air clean in this specific room of around 180 sq ft, but it was capable enough to keep air in the entire house (around 1000 sq ft) breathable.

This effectively means that when Xiaomi claims the Purifier 6 can keep a space of around 960 sq ft pollution free, that is not a tall claim. It is close to reality.

In addition to its core functionality, the Purifier 6 also offers two unique features. One is the ability to turn on UV sterilisation. This happens within the filter where the air purifier activates UV light and tries to sanitise air it is pumping out. I do not know if it really manages to make a difference or not, but the feature is there.

Similarly, there is a feature that adds "negative ions" to the clean air. This makes the air fresher by making it smell like what you get high up in mountains. I am not sure if the smell is from mountains or beaches, but when I turned on this feature I did smell different air. It was sharper on the nose and freshers but not entirely natural the way my nose knows it. Again, I do not know if it really makes a difference in terms of health and well-being but the feature is there.

As noted, for its size and performance I find the Mijia Purifier 6 fairly muted in terms of its fan noise. At higher speeds, it sounds loud enough to be heard from a different room. But drop the speed to less than 50 per cent, or turn on the Sleep mode, and the machine is barely audible.

Mijia Air Purifier 6: Worth buying?

At a price of Rs 17,999, I will definitely recommend this. The Purifier 6 is not in the league of what Dyson sells but then it is also not priced like one. In fact, given its performance, its price is more than reasonable. The filter too has been priced reasonably well.

It's a no-nonsense air purifier with a minimal and delectable design. And it effectively does what it is supposed to do -- that is clean air in a fairly decent size room. I wish Xiaomi had bundled a remote with it. But I believe remotes for smart home appliances are out of fashion nowadays because all companies want their users to install an app. In other words, it is what it is.

Overall, the Mijia Air Purifier 6 is a solid product that checks all the right boxes. It is large, easy-to-use, has the right kind of features, fantastic performance, and a reasonable price. Go for it if you are looking for something that will let you breathe cleaner air in your house, particularly if you are in Delhi NCR that is about to start coughing and wheezing due to inevitable winter pollution.