Appearance and Size

GermGuardian ac4825

Both of these air purifiers are of the tower variety. They are mostly black with grey accents. The blue that you see in the pictures is from the uv-light that can be turned on and off. Overall, I’d say that they look good enough for what they air. Not that aesthetics is super-important in determining which air purifier to buy, but I have seen ugly air purifiers. No one wants to look at an eye-sore.

They both have kind of a triangle shape. This should make it easy to locate on in a corner or other tight spot. This gives you the option to tuck it away.

The 5000 is larger, it is 28 inches tall, while the 4825 is 22 inches tall.

UVC-light

Both of these air purifiers have UVC-lights. It works with Titanium-Dioxide to kill airborne bacteria, viruses, and other germs that could be floating through the air. My basement air purifier has this feature, and just leave it running all-day every day. The air always smells fresh and clean.

CADR Rating

CADR stands for Clean Air Delivery Rate. This is a measurement, in square feet, that tells you the amount of air that can be cycled through your air purifier in an hour. The germ guardian 4825 has CADR of 100 while the 5000 has a CADR of 125. On the product description, it states that the 4825 is perfect for medium sized rooms, up to 155 square feet. On the other hand, the 5000 is best for medium to large rooms - up to 193 square feet for best results. Your experience may vary but in my experience there is a little wiggle room here.

Filters

Both of these machines come with a two filter system; a filter and a pre-filter. Here’s how it works: the pre-filter is used to catch the larger stuff link lint, hair from you or your pet(s), and common household odors. This pre-filter also serves another purpose as it will preserve some of the life of your HEPA filter.

The HEPA filter is very efficient. It catches the tiny stuff. The stuff that you would never know was there like dust mites, mold spores and pet dander. HEPA filters are able to catch stuff as small .3 microns in size. Doctors recommend HEPA filters to reduce indoor asthma and allergy triggers.

To get you started, both of the filters are included in the box. But you will need to replace the HEPA filters about once every 6 to 8 months. Both have a filter replacement indicator light. This is so convenient because you won’t have to guess when to change it.

Noise Level and Speed Settings

GermGuardian AC5000

I grouped the noise level and speed settings together because they work hand-in-hand. Well, these machines will produce the same noise level. There are three speed settings. On the lowest setting you probably won’t even notice that it’s on, but as you increase the speed you will hear it more. I keep my basement purifier on the low setting and run it all-day. I only notice a light hum like a fan when I enter the basement and I forget about soon after.

Warranty

I surprised to see the warranties for these machines. You’d be surprised at all of the expensive products that I come across that have warranties of one year or even less. The ac5000 has a 5-year warranty and the 4825 has a 3-year warranty.