If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to keep tabs on the air quality in your home, Amazon might have just the ticket: a compact air quality monitor that plays nice with Alexa.
Slated to ship on December 8, the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor costs just $70, and it can keep tabs on indoor air quality as well as alert you of unsafe indoor pollutant levels via the Alexa app or voiced warnings from Alexa herself.
Powered by a micro-USB cable and measuring 1.77 inches high and 2.56 inches across, the cylindrical Smart Air Quality tracks five air quality factors: humidity, temperature, particulate matter (tiny particles and droplets that can be harmful when inhaled), volatile organic compounds (gases that are emitted by hairspray, cleaning fluids, and other common household products), and carbon monoxide.
The Smart Air Quality Monitor can transmit its findings to the Alexa app, where you can track a history of your indoor air quality or get a real-time snapshot.
If the device detects poor air quality in the vicinity, its integrated LED will glow red, and it can trigger a notification via the Alexa app. You can also set Alexa to warn you of unsafe air quality over your Echo smart speakers, while Echo Show displays can chart your air quality visually.
Amazon
When paired with an Echo Show, the Amazon Air Quality Monitor can display the nearby air quality on its screen.
While the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor is far more affordable than our favorite indoor air quality monitors, it also lacks some of their functionality. For example, the best air quality monitors can detect radon (the leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.) and carbon dioxide, as well as particulate matter as small as 1 micon (PM1) in diameter. The Smart Air Quality Monitor can check for VOCs, carbon monoxide, and PM2.5 (particulate matter as small as 2.5 microns), but it will miss particles smaller than that.
Still, for those who aren’t willing to spend $200 and up on an air quality monitor, the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor is certainly better than nothing, and because the monitors are so affordable, you could deploy multiple units throughout your home without breaking the bank.
Even better, Amazon is bundling the $70 Smart Air Quality Monitor with a fourth-gen Echo Dot (which normally costs $50 on its own) for just $80, while a bundle containing the monitor plus a second-gen Echo Show 5 (which has an $85 list price) will sell for only $90.
We’ll have a full review once we’ve spent time with a sample unit.
Updated shortly after publication to note that the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor can detect particulate matter as small as 2.5 microns.