AirGradient Forum

Best indoor air quality monitor, Expert advice

#1

I researched the best indoor air quality monitor as I wanted something simple and reliable to keep track of the air inside my home. Lately I’ve been more concerned about indoor air quality (radon, CO₂ levels, dust, VOCs, and general air freshness), especially since I spend most of my time indoors during winter.
I went through reviews from trusted sources like Amazon customer reviews, Popular Mechanics, The New York Times and The Spruce, and after comparing many options these two kept coming up as the top choices:

Airthings Wave Plus – Smart Indoor Air Quality Monitor (radon, CO₂, VOCs, humidity & temperature)
https://www.amazon.com/Airthings-2930-Quality-Detection-Dashboard/dp/B07JB8QWH6?th=1

Airthings View Plus – Advanced Indoor Air Quality Monitor with color-coded display (radon, CO₂, VOCs, humidity & temperature)
https://www.amazon.com/Airthings-2960-View-Plus-Humidity/dp/B097YW5Q72?th=1

However, I’m having trouble deciding which one would be better for me and I would love to get your expert advice. I’m also hoping that maybe some homeowners or people who regularly monitor indoor air quality in their homes can share their experience on this. I mainly want to monitor the air in a small home (living room and bedroom) and I’m looking for something that is easy to set up, accurate, reliable, and not too complicated to use.
Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

#2

You don’t mention PM (Particulate matter), one of the important pollutants to measure, or did you count that as ‘dust’?.

Depending on exact requirements, I would say at the bare minimum you need a PM sensor as a top priority, followed by a CO2 sensor. I don’t know much about the reliability of VOC sensors, so I can’t comment on that - that might be a higher priority, likewise Radon.

I only have the AirGradient indoor and outdoor monitors which ,for me, cover my basic requirements for PM and CO2. TVOC are available, but not broken down into individual types, eg. gas, alcohol etc. Although I don’t really use the TVOC, it’s there if I want it as a general guide to VOC level.

I also have one of the new Sonoff Airguard monitors which just shows PM (plus the Temp and Humidity, which seems to be included with so many sensors as standard). Not bad, but not quite as acccurate as AirGradient and with a more limited range.