Got this for dealing with dust in a small room remodeling project. Really brought down the dust level, and even on high it is so quiet that you forget it is going.

As others have already said this is very quiet even on high. The timer function is very handy. It can be mounted on the ceiling however it's not really designed for that so if you do, everything is upside down. This is basically an industrial box fan (moves a lot more cfm than a household box fan) with an electrostaticlly charged screen.The more crucial part is how effective it is. Unfortunately I don't have a meter to measure wood dust particles over time so I have no quantifiable way to say it works or it doesn't. I can say however that after using it I do not have any dust on my work surfaces the next day even when using a table saw with poor dust collection capabilities. So based on that it seems like this is capturing the fine dust in the air. Having said that I plan to get a Jet AFS 1000-C with an aftermarket MERV 17 pocket filter to make sure I'm breathing clean air. It's probably overkill but I've learned the hard way not to mess around with wood dust. Financially it might be smarter to go with the bigger, better filter system by itself.

I use a dust collection system and a ceiling hung air filtration unit in my workshop, but since adding this device there is far less fine dust hanging in the air. This is true even when I do not turn on the ceiling unit. It is clear from the amount of very fine dust that collects on the screen of this device and from there being far less fine dust settling overnight on surfaces in the shop that this device is far more effective than what I had been using.That it appears to clear the air very well is most important, but it is also pleasant that the device is very quiet. I will qualify this by saying my hearing is not what it was, but at its highest setting this unit is barely noticeable to me even though I like to have it close to where I am working. It is also easily portable, so it is not difficult to have it close by me. Build quality seems high, as one would expect of Powermatic. It is expensive for me, but I'm very glad I bought it.

This unit is Ineffective based on empirical measurements using a laser particle counter, especially compared to the current model PM1200, which is very effective.When the PM1250 runs (on high), I can not measure any meaningful reduction in shop air particulates using a Dylos model DC-1700 air particle counter, even when placed directly in the filter's 'clean' exhaust stream. By contrast the model PM1200 is has a measurably clean exhaust stream, and is very effective at quickly reducing shop air particulate count.In technical terms, I believe what is happening is that the PM1250 has very 'low efficiency'. In other words, it removes only a very small fraction of the particulates each time air passes through it. By contrast, the original PM1200 removes a high percentage in each pass.If a filter has good efficiency, and passes a good volume of air, it can be extremely effective overall because it can move ALL of the shop air through the filter many times per hour. If it doesn't get all of the dust on the first pass (like a HEPA filter) because it will get it on the second pass.By contrast, this new model PM 1250 fails on BOTH counts: It moves a comparatively low volume of air, and it removes a comparatively small fraction of the particles in each pass. I couldn't measure any reduction with my equipment (even if there is SOME). This results in a sort of double-whammy, the net result being its inability to reduce the ambient particulate level at a rate fast enough to be of any practical use.Due to the unit's use of electrostatics to clean the air, I wondered if I could measure effectiveness at removing the really, really fine stuff (i.e. leaving the larger stuff behind to settle to the shop floor), however my particulate counter does not support this.I really wanted to like this machine because it is smaller and quieter than PM1200 unit. Sadly, it is NOT the holy grail of quiet and effective. Actually, I can't think of ANY scenario for which this product would be of any practical use.I suspect most reviews here report good feelings about their purchase because it quietly blows air, which they *assume* is clean. I felt the same way until I did actual measurements. It's possible that the unit I purchased is defective. If someone has empirical results contrary to mine, please share. If Powermatic wants to send a evaluation unit, I'd gladly re-test, and post here.

I use mine in my wood shop, it runs 6-8 hours a day, and it pulls the extra fine dust that I would normally breathe into my lungs or have it settling all over my shop. My only room for improvement, is for some company to make a decent aftermarket replacement filter, $134 for an air filter is way overpriced.

I have a box air cleaner that works well but is heavy, bulky, and noisy. Thus I was attracted to the PM 1250’s advertised footprint, long filter life and its low db rating. It comes delivered in a monstrous box (which I left on my porch after assembling the unit, to entice porch pirates). It is basically a three speed fan wirh a timer, a high tech filter, all in a plastic shroud, and a bolted 3 part metal stand. It does run quietly, even at the fans highest speed. But the sheet metal frame that is its base is heavy, weighing almost as much as the fan and filter. As the support frame has a broad base, I wish it were all made of aluminum rather than steel ( or considering the price tag, titanium!) I would prefer a hooped handle atop the fan’s shroud rather than the cut out in the plastic as a means of carrying. It does hang off balance in your hand using the provided handhold. The machine screws that secure the baseplate to the metal side wings of the base are metric. I had to chase down a metric tap to rethread the borings, which had heavy burring and which would not allow complete insertion of the screws. Retapping the borings readily solved that but never should have been necessary. As a hobbyist woodturner, I hope this filter will capture all my fine sanding dust and minimize airborne woodburning residue. If it does this and has operational endurance, I will boost my rating to 4 stars. And if the price came down by 50%, maybe to 5 strs.