8/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDNo Wi-Fi needed. Purifies an impressive 1,800 square feet in one hour. Compact design. Filter set lasts up to 12 months. Inexpensive price point for the cleaning power.TIREDNo connected app. No remote. Awkward to maneuver with no wheels. Color-coded lights could be confusing. Limited settings.As the pet tech writer here at WIRED, a former Californian who lived through a decade of some of the worst wildfires that state had ever seen, and a current Brooklynite who deals with industrial exhaust on a daily basis, I'm no stranger to bad air. Plus, I'm testing at least two automatic litter boxes at any given time and live with two cats and a roommate with pet allergies. So, every day is a battle in my small apartment to lessen pollutants, fine dust from litter, pollen levels, and smoke from my not-well-ventilated gas stove.
As I begin revamping our guide to the best air purifiers, I wanted to test the highly anticipated Coway Airmega Mighty2, which launched at the end of March. Its predecessor, the Coway Airmega Mighty, has been our reigning Best Affordable Air Purifier for years, but it can only clean a 361-square-foot room while exchanging the air the recommended 4.8 times per hour. The Mighty2 is the new-and-improved version—it can purify more square footage in an hour and features a larger, longer-lasting filtration system. I tested it for three weeks in various rooms in my apartment to see how it stacks up against its predecessor, and whether it's worth the upgrade.
Photograph: Molly HigginsNuts ’n’ Bolts
The original Mighty had a HEPA, a deodorizing filter, and the prefilter that lasted six months before needing to be cleaned. The Mighty2 has a similar three-stage filtration system: a prefilter to catch larger particles, a carbon filter to capture odors, and a HEPA filter for microscopic airborne pollutants, but it's larger than the previous model. The latter two filters don't need to be replaced for 12 months—double the time of a typical air purifier filter. The Mighty2, like other Coway models, is CARB-certified, meaning it meets the California Air Resources Board's stringent requirements for portable indoor air-cleaning devices sold to people or businesses in California.
While the original Mighty had rounded corners and came in black or white with a glossy finish, the Mighty2 is square with pointed corners and edges, and comes in matte white or cream. Without the glossy finish, there's less of a propensity for hair and fur to stick to the outside like with the previous model. The Mighty2 is 5 inches shorter and 3 inches less deep than the original model but weighs almost 3 pounds more. It also has more openings for air circulation, at the center circle and on each of the sides.
The OG Mighty has a quality indicator but didn't provide an exact particle count like this model, which has a real-time AQI and MegaScan laser to detect a full spectrum of particles, with readings for PM 1.0, 2.5, and 10, for everything from microscopic virus particles to smoke to pet dander. The Mighty2 also now has smart mode, which intelligently adjusts fan speed based on air quality, and if it detects no light in the room for three minutes, it'll enter into sleep mode. It also has timer settings from one to 12 hours, whereas the previous model only had timer settings for one, four, or eight hours. The carbon and HEPA filters are combined in this model as well, and though they last a year now, most people in a nonsmoking house won't need to replace carbon filters as often.
Mighty vs. Mighty2
Courtesy of CowayTo access the filters, just unlatch the plastic front cover to reach the first air-filtration panel: The prefilter, which is 22 percent larger than the previous model, slides out from the right side for cleaning and helps capture larger particles like pet hair and dust. Along with displaying filter life in percentage on the top display, the machine also has two indicators that count down using a percentage system of how dirty the filter is, indicating when it's time to clean the prefilter and/or replace the HEPA/carbon filters, respectively. When a number reaches zero, it's time to be cleaned—a very helpful reminder for a household task that's often forgotten. The prefilter needed to be cleaned about once a week. I used a handheld vacuum and a moistened cloth to easily wipe off those bigger particles.
When the unit arrives, it's already assembled: All you need to do is pop open the front using the slits on both sides and strip the protective plastic coverings from the filtration system so the filters are exposed and can do their job. I was a bit disappointed that the new model didn't come with wheels for easier mobility, as it weighs 15 pounds and is a bit of an awkward square shape.
The touchscreen panel, which is sort of dimly lit, has controls for various modes: smart, which automatically changes speed depending on air quality; eco, which stops airflow when air is clean; turbo, the fastest and most powerful air purification speed for when air quality is poor; and sleep, which automatically changes airflow speed when it senses that the room is dark. While in smart mode, it will detect the amount of light and switch to sleep mode when the space is dark for three minutes. Along with the mode button, there are buttons for a filter reset clock, a timer (hourly, 1 to 12 hours), fan speed and power, and a button to adjust the display light brightness.
I didn't love that it didn't come with a remote or connected app. I like being able to track my air quality over time and watch the air purifier adjust its settings in real time when air quality is poor. Although this is happening internally in the Mighty2's smart mode, other models I've tested, like the cheaper Levoit Vital 200S, have an intelligent auto-detection mode and intuitive app to keep connected, while the pricey and massive IQAir HealthPro Plus XE has a historical log of air quality within the app.
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Photograph: Molly HigginsPutting It to the Test
The Airmega Mighty2 claims it can clean the air of up to 1,800 square feet in one hour (based on one air exchange per hour), and for smaller spaces, 900 square feet in 30 minutes (so, either one or two exchanges per hour, depending on room size). The Coway Airmega Mighty2 has a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of about 240 CFM (cubic feet per minute) of airflow for smoke, 242 CFM for dust, and 249 CFM for pollen.
A CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) test measures how effectively an air purifier removes particles while maintaining airflow through its filters. My bedroom is about 155 square feet (roughly 1,860 cubic feet), and for a room that size, a minimum CADR of around 103 cubic feet per minute is ideal. While typical recommendations for bedrooms (200 to 300 square feet) suggest a CADR of at least 150, the Mighty2 significantly exceeds that with its 240 cubic feet per minute. In terms of air changes per hour (ACH), where four to five is generally recommended, the unit is rated to clean a much larger space at one ACH; in my smaller bedroom, it achieves roughly 10 air changes per hour, providing well above the standard level of air purification.
The Mighty2 has a built-in AQI (air quality index) monitor and a MegaScan laser sensor to automatically detect three distinct air particle sizes: bacteria and microplastics; fumes, smoke, allergens, and fine dust; and dust mites, pollen, pet dander, and mold. The monitor can quantify in real time how much pollution is in the air, including large and ultrafine particles.
Coway uses its own air-quality color-coding system, but the Mighty2 uses different colors from the OG Mighty model. Now the air quality light flashes blue for clean air, green for moderate, orange for unhealthy, and red for very unhealthy. Coway's color-coding system is a bit confusing, considering that it differs from the US air quality index standards of green for good, red for unhealthy, and purple for very unhealthy. At a glance, I was often confused by what the color was signifying about my home's air. Using the built-in air sensors, the Mighty2 automatically adjusts its fan speed (in auto mode) to most effectively purify the air in response to air quality changes.
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Photograph: Molly HigginsWhen I tested, I mostly used it in my bedroom near my cats’ litter boxes; near my living room window, which has lots of outside exhaust and pollutants; and in my kitchen while cooking on my gas stove, which doesn't have proper ventilation. I tested this model for several weeks, moving around my home and letting the air purifier automatically adjust for various situations where air quality periodically became unhealthy. Although I most often used the auto feature, I also tested the timer and sleep features, which worked as expected every time, and I appreciated the auto-enabled sleep mode when dark, when I forgot to change settings at night.
For all air purifiers, I manually test the air with my own air quality monitor in various situations, and use a decibel monitor to measure how loud the purifier is on the highest setting. I also use a sealed tent and smoke pellets to see how quickly each air purifier clears the pellet smoke (and returns the air to healthy quality) inside the tent when in auto mode. For the smoke test, the Mighty2 took 50 seconds for the smoke to visually clear, and another three minutes and 20 seconds for the built-in air quality sensor light to read that the air was back to healthy on auto mode (from red to blue indication light). In a test with the slightly cheaper Levoit Vital 200S, the smoke cleared in about 40 seconds and took another four and a half minutes to read back as healthy air. Although the statistics are comparable, the Mighty2 was a bit faster overall. However, I really appreciated having the Levoit's app to check air quality and purification through my phone (since the purifier was visually covered in smoke), and the app notified me when it had reached clean air status again.
Video: Molly HigginsAccording to my decibel reader, the Mighty2 hovered around a moderate 65 to 70 dB on the highest fan setting, and was about 35 dB on sleep mode, not even registering on the reader above the ambient noises of my home. For reference, the hum of a refrigerator is somewhere between 40 and 50 decibels, and a conversation is around 60 decibels. Even on the highest setting, it didn't feel egregiously loud and provided white noise. Ideally, an air purifier should be able to clean the air in your room five times an hour without reaching the noise levels of a conversation. On auto modes and sleep mode, the fan noise was virtually undetectable.
If you're a fan of Coway's air purifiers, or want to upgrade your air purifier from the previous model, the Mighty2 is a solid choice. It's only $30 more than the previous model, can effectively purify more square feet per hour, and its filters last twice as long as the previous model's. The upgrade to the Mighty2 will pay for itself in a year of use through filters alone. It's easy to clean and disassemble, and the purifier helped to keep the residual dust from my cats' litter down, reduce dander during shedding season, and improve the overall quality of the air around their toilet/general living space.
There are still things I wish were different with this model: wheels for easier moving, a connected app, or a remote for hands-off control. However, I appreciated that the smart settings adjusted themselves without much intervention from me, which is what I'm looking for in an air purifier for my home—I can set it up and know it's working without constant adjustment. Plus, it was able to clear pollutants and get back to healthy air quality in four minutes when in a vacuum-sealed tent with smoke. If you have a smaller living space like me and don't need an uber-powerful (and expensive) model like the IQAir HealthPro Plus XE, the Mighty2 is a solid choice and has a very affordable price point for its capabilities.
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$270 at Amazon$270 at Coway
