Product test

Testing the Ible Airvida: fewer «achoos!» thanks to ions in front of your nose

16.5.2022

Translation: Katherine Martin

Elegant and futuristic, this wearable air purifier is said to protect you from bacteria, dust and pollen. But how does the roughly-200-franc gismo really fare? I’ve tested it to find out.

I sometimes shout «me!» in the wrong places. It was the same story when Ludo, a colleague from our Category Management team, thrust a new product under my nose. «Interesting», I thought, and it all sounds innovative, too. So, I agreed to put it through its paces. Not long afterwards, I got my hands on the Ible Airvida L1 and M1.

Air purifier

CHF169.–

Ible Airvida L1

Air purifier

CHF167.–

Ible Airvida M1

The first version is for women, the second for men. At least, that’s the way it’s marketed. The «men’s» version comes as a braided leather necklace a la suntanned surfer dude and has a magnetic catch. Though the black, plastic ion diffuser isn’t as flashy as a shark’s took, it’s not exactly ugly either.

More elegant, and downright futuristic, the «women’s» version of the L1 comes in Apple-style white. The metallic bits on each end house the core of the gadget – the two ionisers. At first, I felt the impulse to put it over my eyes and wear it in the style of Geordi La Forge from Star Trek. Which is, of course, wrong. It’s supposed to go round your neck.

Big promises from the manufacturer

It dawns on me that the Airvida has posed a hefty challenge as a test device. The technology, which supposedly purifies the air around me, is tricky to understand. What’s even more difficult, though, is that its day-to-day impact can’t be measured objectively. I can’t say with total certainty that I have fewer hay fever symptoms as a result of wearing the Airvida. Still, there is some indication that this is true.

The futuristic air purifier makes lofty promises. It’s supposed to get rid of pretty much every harmful particle from the air before you breathe them in. How? With the help of a chemical process called ionisation. Put simply, this means an electron breaks away from a molecule, becomes negatively charged and partners up with another atom as quickly as possible.

Technology and impact

To understand the principle behind the ioniser, you need to know some chemistry basics. During ionisation, one or more electrons are removed from an atom or molecule. The atom or molecule left over for a fraction of a second is the ion. This ion attracts harmful air particles such as pollen, bacteria and dust, creating a new, heavier compound which quickly falls to the ground. Supposedly, some particles, such as viruses and bacteria, are even broken down and rendered harmless. The ABC of Air Purifiers page (in German) explains the process in more detail with the help of graphics.

In simple terms, having a high ion content in the air is a good thing. There are loads of ions to be found in the air around waterfalls (70,000 ions per cubic metre) or mountains. In your average office, the figure drops to a considerably lower 100. Lucerne University is one of a number of institutions to measure this in a study (linked content in German). Here’s where Airvida comes in. It actually generates up to two million new ions every 0.6 seconds. If the advertising is to be believed, this gives the air you breathe the freshness of forest air.

Ozone, or O₃ as it’s known in chemistry, however, is produced by the ionisation process, too. Compared to O₂, which is inert, O₃ is much better at bonding. As a result, it’s a trusty micro-dust collector and supports other negative ions. On the other hand, [the ozone produced by air purifiers is controversial] because it’s a pollutant (https://vitalhelden.de/luft/ratgeber/ionisator-luftreiniger/) (linked article in German). Ible points out that its Airvida device only generates 0.006 parts per million (ppm), which is just 10 per cent of the limit set by the EU Commission’s standard.

In spite of all this, the device obviously doesn’t produce air smelling of moss, pine needles and prancing deer. It’s a technical process which involves reactive ions being «produced» through electricity and friction within the tiny chambers of the Airvida. The result you get from that as the wearer is a barely noticeable flow of air coming from the opening with the carbon fibre brushes.

Handling and design

The basic difference between the L1 and the M1 is how you wear them. The L1 is a neckband which, thanks to rubber coating on the inner side, is a soft, gentle fit. On the other hand, it’s less pleasant to wear while doing sport or working up a sweat. Going jogging with it isn’t a good idea. On sweat-dampened skin, the device quickly feels sticky. Mind you, at least it can easily be wiped clean. The air ducts for the negative ions are found on the front of the device at either side of my chin. This is where their anti-pollen, anti-bacteria, anti-everything benefit takes effect.

With the M1, the men’s version, the ion diffuser is part of the neckband, like a pendant. It’s definitely the less noticeable version.

Both devices can be turned on and off via a simple button. On the L1, there’s a blue LED light. You can check it’s working by pressing the Ible lettering on the device. This causes a soft whistling sound to come out of the openings at the front. M1 doesn’t have a light, so you need to feel the effect, as shown in this manufacturer’s video.

The video also explains how to clean the activated carbon fibre brush so that it doesn’t get clogged and prevent new negative ions from being diffused. To do this, you get the metal bit from the box and gently stroke above and between the bristles. It’s a bit like combing the mohawk of a very, very, very small pet.

If the brush cleaner looks familiar to you, you’re probably an Apple stalwart. The little compartment housing an iPhone SIM card is opened with exactly the same tool used to clean the Airvida brush. (I’ve tested it myself.) They may well come off the same assembly line in the same Taiwanese factory.

The cleaning tool is designed for the carbon fibre brush. At the same time, it can also be used to open the SIM card slot on an iPhone.

What Airvida unfortunately didn’t crib from Apple is its charging port. Instead, it’s equipped with the unpopular Micro USB port. Five volts flow directly into the band of the women’s version. Men, on the other hand, have to take the ion generator off the neckband first, shimmy it into a charger and plug it in. On both Airvidas, a red light tells you that the device is charging. When it’s done, the light turns green. What you don’t know, however, is how much juice the ionisers have left: there’s no battery life display.

Charging on a detour: the M1 version of the Airvida is supplied with power by a kind of charging station. Incidentally, my photo proves that I was using the Airvida on a high pollen count day. All those dots are the result of rapeseed blossoms.

When it comes to battery life, there’s not much between the two versions. According to the packaging, it’s 28 hours for men versus 32 hours for women. Which pretty much tallies with my experience. The L1 pays for those extra four hours by having a considerably higher weight of 70 grammes. In contrast, the male version is a flyweight at 20 grammes.

You’ll become aware of your neck apparel, however, if you bend over often, say when you’re tying your shoes. It could well be the case that I have a weird neck width to chin ratio. Either way, the 50-centimetre-long band dangled around my chin just enough for the carbon fibre brushes to have a tickly rendezvous with my skin. In a super annoying way. Our shop sports longer and shorter versions of the neckband – likely with guys like me in mind. You’ll pay a princely sum for them, though. Ible justifies this with the fact that the titanium necklace provides far infrared radiation, which is supposed to stimulate your circulation and metabolism.

Ible Replacement collar for Airvida M1 (45)