Levoit
For hair, odor, and allergens. Cleaner air in a home with cats.
Products marked “Japan-market model” (Sharp KI-RS50, Daikin MCK70Z) are built for Japan's 100 V grid. Their two-pin plug fits a US outlet, but the unit would run on 120 V, outside its rating and outside any warranty; in the UK it would need a 230 V converter. Levoit, Winix, Coway, Blueair and Dyson sell US and UK versions through local retailers — buy those, even where the model name is identical.
Japanese makers state room size in tatami mats (about 1.62 m² each); we convert to m². Multiply by 10.8 for square feet. Our CADR figures are m³/h; US listings use cubic feet per minute, so divide by 1.7 (400 m³/h ≈ 235 cfm). Compare against the floor area of the room with the litter box, not the whole home — a unit rated for a little more than you need can run on a low, quiet setting.
In the US, “True HEPA” means the filter captures at least 99.97 % of 0.3-micron particles; the European class “H13” under EN 1822 is 99.95 % — the same tier in practice. If you live in California, note that air cleaners sold there must be CARB-certified for ozone emissions, which matters for models with ionisers or plasma features. For cat hair, a washable pre-filter matters as much as the HEPA grade, because hair clogs the main filter first.
A purifier is a subscription to filters. US and UK versions of Levoit, Winix, Coway, Blueair and Dyson have replacement filters at local retailers; Japan-market models generally do not. Multiply the filter price by the maker's replacement interval over three years — the gap is often larger than the price difference between the machines.
HEPA + activated-carbon filters capture hair, odor and allergens. A washable pre-filter (e.g. Coway) makes hair cleanup easy and cheap.
Use coverage (m²) and CADR as a guide, and pick a bit more capacity than your room. Multi-cat or heavy-shedding homes should size up.
Minimum noise is roughly 20–27 dB. For a bedroom, check the quiet-mode noise figure.