Philips Air Performer AMF765 air purifier with fan (review)

21/12/2022
By Ray Shaw
In Reviews

The Philips Air Performer AMF765 is an air purifier and bladeless fan. The key advantage of a fan, especially bladeless, is that it purifies the whole of the space instead of just sucking in the immediate air surrounding it.

No fan cools. It circulates air and, in the process, can cause heat exchange between a perspiring body – it helps evaporate perspiration. Bladeless means no whirling dervishes to chop inquisitive fingers off.

But there are different types of fans. Some blow a gale, some rotate said gale, and this one is more a gentle breeze up to 350° (adjustable) around it. Until recently, Dyson held the patent on bladeless fans, but that appears to be overcome as many new bladeless designs all look a little ‘Dysonish’. We will compare the two later.

Before you buy a purifier, please read Breathe easy this spring (air purifier guide).

Australian Review: Philips Air Performer AMF765 air purifier with fan

Website	Range Product page Manual
Price	RRP $799
From	Harvey Norman, David Jones, or wherever Philips appliances are sold
Warranty	2-year ACL
Country of manufacture	China
Company	Philips (Est 1891) is a Dutch multinational with interests in lighting, consumer lifestyle, consumer healthcare, and commercial health equipment.
More	CyberShack’s Philips news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First impression – It is huge – Pass

It is 1062 high x 260 mm round x 7.3kg. To put that in perspective, most kitchen benchtops are 800-850mm. It is predominantly UV-stabilised white plastic with grey trim. It should last many years.

We will compare it to Dyson later, but it towers over Dyson’s 770mm. And I guess that will be part of the purchasing decision process. Do you have the space?

It has a remote (coin battery) that magnetically clips to the top of the tower (as does Dyson).

Fan/Oscillation – Pass+

It has a 10-speed fan, which is good and not so good.

The unit can oscillate through 0, 45, 90, 180, 270, and 350°, which is perfect for changing settings wherever you locate it. Air can expel from the Front (default) or front/rear.

Now we can’t be sure, but we don’t think that this unit utilises the Coandă air multiplier effect (Dyson does). Again, we cannot test that, but we could feel a perceptible difference in Dyson’s stronger airflow at 5m on fan speeds between 5 and 10.

Cleaning efficiency – Pass+

A few things you need to know. All air purifiers use the highest fan speed (in this case, 10) as their claim. Frankly, you will seldom use it as it is a little noisy. We test on the Auto fan setting.

Oscillating fans are the most efficient as they better circulate the room air. Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) is an appropriate measurement, except that oscillating fans are even more efficient.

It has a (CADR) of 270m3/hr. Philips state it has approx. 4x air turnover (above 2x is fine, so you can use a slower fan speed) in a 70m2 room (approx. 6 x 5m room with standard ceilings).

Its airflow from the fan is 1579.3m3/hr and from the front/rear reaches 1730m3/h.

We don’t have the scientific equipment to test this, so we use a simple test of Canola spray at 5 to 6m (and more) from the unit and see if it responds (it should take the indicator light to red). With oscillation off, it does not respond, but when on, it reacts in about 8 seconds. We think Philip’s claims are correct.

Filter FYM860 – Pass+

It is a three-layer with NanoProtect (a marketing name) comprising a Mesh pre-filter (vacuum clean every two months or when you get a notification), a HEPA filter, and an Active carbon layer.

Philips claims 99.97% to 2.5um, which is pretty good. Only a sealed system can get higher. It claims 99.99 removal of viruses, but it is based on specific test parameters that are not relevant at home.

NOTE: A Virus is much smaller than 2.5um – as low as .03um. It will catch most viruses if they are attached to dust and pollen and pass through the filter.

A replacement is $99.95 and lasts about 4000 hours (half a year at 24 hrs/7 days) but typically two years at 8/7.

App – Pass

Philips Air+ works with all its Wi-Fi-enabled purifiers. Overall, it adds value, but the purifier does not need it to function. And we suspect it needs more development.

It requires Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz (not compatible with 5GHz or WPA3, so make sure you have WPA2 or earlier).

We could not link to Google Home (or Alexa or HomeKit). We suspect the Philips Air+ App is not yet compatible.

AI – Auto+ is interesting – not rated

The standard Auto mode relies on internal AeraSense sensors for PM, temperature and humidity.

The enhanced Auto+ (Beta test) combines external air quality data and internal sensors for the best filtration outcome and lowest energy use.

Timer – Pass

You can set it to operate for .5, 1, 4, or 8 hours.

Noise – Pass(able)

The noise depends on the fan’s speed and distance from the fan. We measure from 1m (dB decibels).

There is a sleep mode (claim 20dB), but at 1m, it is more like 40dB (fine for sleep)

Power – Pass+

This depends on fan speed. At Fan 10, it uses around 35-40W and at Fan 5 about 15W. Standby should be <1W.

Its use is negligible at 30 cents per kilowatt (1000W) hour.

Child safety – Pass

At over 1m tall and with convenient handholds, it is not recommended for use around toddlers and crawlers. It could fall on them.

It has a child lock.

OK, compared to Dyson

Both are bladeless air purifiers. The Dyson Purifier Cool TP07 is $899 in white/silver and Black Nickel.

Both share (Philips differences in brackets)

2-year warranty
10-speed fan
Used Coanda effect for 10x air multiplier for 11,448m3/hr (Philips states maximum front and rear vent of 1,730m3/h).
350° oscillation
Timer up to 8 hours
Auto mode
Sleep mode
Forward or diffused backward air low (Philips forward or forward/back)
Remote control magnetically clips to the tower
HEPA 13 and Carbon filter sealed to 1um (Philips not sealed removes down to 2.5umn).
Real-time reporting on the machine of PM2.5, PM10, HCHO, VOC, NO2, Filter status, and air quality over the past few hours and 24 hours. It also shows the room temperature, humidity, Wi-Fi setup, and fan/airflow speed (Philips gives PM colour bar, temperature and humidity).
Dyson rated for 81m3 room (Philips 70m3)
Filter $99 (Philips $99.95)
Wi-Fi App with Air Quality
Voice Assistants (Philips unable to get it working)
Available as Hot and Cold for $999 or Hot and Cold Formaldehyde for $1099 (no alternative models yet)

The Dyson is more elegant, a little shorter and slimmer, and in our tests, meets or exceeds the Philips for real-time reporting, filtration and room capacity.

CyberShack’s view – Philips Air Performer AMF765 air purifier with a fan is a good start

Dyson has been making air purifiers for many years, and with its engineering focus, it is natural that it has excellent products.

This is Philip’s first bladeless fan/purifier. It has done a great job focusing on what you need regarding the controls and App. While you can’t go wrong, I suspect that if you place it beside the Dyson TP07 and make a closer comparison (as we have), you will spend the extra $100. However, you will be happy with either.

Rating Explanation

We will inevitably use the Dyson TP07 as the reference.

Features: 85 – it has basic real-time and App stats but is reasonably far from the Dyson stats. I like that the Dyson has a combo Heat+Cool version.

Value: 90 – The bladeless purifier category has been almost solely Dysons, and the Philips at $799 shows that it does cost that to build one. However, Philips is subject to more event specials.

Performance: 90 – On fan speed 5, it is similar in performance to the Dyson, but it makes more noise as you increase fan speed.

Ease of Use: 90 – The App adds value, and some features are only accessible via it (Auto+ and Turbo).

Design: 80 – Trim it down, lose the baby fat and improve the external finish. The Dyson wins hands down here.