“For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us. They have suffered because of the haze for one month and they get upset”: Indonesia Vice-President Jusuf Kalla on 5th March 2015, as quoted in The Jakarta Globe.

HELLO? Tell me how to not get upset? (Come, I clap for you. ?) By the way, the haze problem has been dragging on for more than a month now – it is already halfway through October 2015.

Just when I thought it’s gone (the past few days was pretty breathable), the haze is back again… IN FULL-FORCE at 10pm, today! ?

Before that, I was relying on my good, old GoodAire™ Air Revitaliser that was bought eons ago during the SARS period in 2003. It’s still working well even though it’s been in service for more than 10 years.

It’s good, but simply not strong enough to clean the air of the whole living room. ?

I wanted to get another one, but I realised that the company which made this has closed down due to high volume of knock-off products affecting their sales. And I didn’t want to get the knock-off ones because honestly, they’re pretty ugly and the motor that’s used isn’t as good as the original one. ?

So I went on an air purifier shopping spree:

From shopping centers to stores to online malls, almost all the decent brands were out of stock due to the super hazy situation. Even those chapalang brands were priced at ridiculous prices (for example: $699 SGD for a relatively unknown brand in NTUC).

Just as I was on the verge of giving up, K asked me why not I just get the XiaoMi Air Purifier? OMG! His words hit me like a sudden enlightenment. ? So, I checked out the Official XiaoMi site in Singapore, but they only sold mobile phones and related accessories but nothing could stop my determination in getting one.

You know what? I went to onto the XiaoMi Official Website in China, ordered one and got it shipped directly to Singapore via express shipment!

Can you imagine other than the standard boxes and styrofoam pieces used to protect it from damage during delivery, it also came with a dust bag – just like some luxury bags & shoes.

DUST BAG.

Wtf. XiaoMi really knows to make their customers feels like they’re receiving a premium product which costs only a fraction of the price.

It’s pretty dummy-proof to set it up: Just open up the back of the XiaoMi PM2.5 Air Purifier, remove the plastic wrap and place it back into the purifier.

There’s even an easy diagram for you to follow, so even if you’re clueless or don’t know how to read Chinese, you’d be able to figure it out!

As the name suggests, it’s a smart air purifier so it comes with an inbuilt wifi transmitter in the purifier. All you gonna do is to download the Xiao Mi Home Appliances app (MiHome), connect it and you’re good to go! Not only you will be able to monitor the air quality but also control the settings such as changing the mode or even turn it off…

Do note that the app is only available on Android devices, though. I downloaded it in one of my family member’s spare phones which happens to be a XiaoMi Note. Lol!

To be honest, I didn’t really realise the haze came back because I was at home almost the whole day until I saw the XiaoMi PM2.5 air purifier’s light turns red. So, I went to check on the app and saw this.

Holy cowww~ ??

For a moment, I thought the app went haywire or the purifier was malfunctioning. Either way, it was not good news because it meant that my money was gone ? (touchwood! ?). I opened up social media and saw people kpkb (aka complaining) about the return of the haze, and I started to get worried about how bad the haze could get but also relieved that my XiaoMi is fine (and also that it’s really working!).

Overall verdict: It’s one of the best purifiers out in the market with the functions of a high-end purifier that’s priced super competitively. It costs about $300 SGD including express shipping which takes about 1 week or less depending on the customs and also your shipping provider.

The downside of ordering from China is that other than the waiting time, you need to take note that there’s a risk of goods arriving damaged or faulty and there’s simply nothing you can do about it (Ok, there is – but the added-up cost settling it might cost higher than just getting another brand in Singapore.)

So far I’ve ordered 5 sets for myself and my friends. More to come because words have spread and everyone wants one now. ?