Shark HP153 NeverChange Air Purifier Review: quiet, low-maintenance cleaner for everyday home use

I’ve been using the Shark NeverChange HP153 air purifier mainly in a bedroom and occasionally dragging it into my home office when I’m working. I’m not an engineer, just someone with mild dust allergies, a cat that sheds constantly, and a house that gets stuffy pretty fast. I wanted something I could turn on and basically forget about, without playing filter-roulette every few months or messing with complicated app settings.

In practice, this model sits somewhere between "compact bedroom purifier" and "small living room helper." The brand says 650 sq. ft., but in real life I’d say it feels most at home in the 150–300 sq. ft. range if you want fast and obvious results. I’ve tried it in a larger open space and it helps, but it’s not magic — you’ll still smell cooking if you’re right next to the stove.

My first impression: it’s quiet, simple, and not ugly, which already puts it ahead of a lot of cheap boxes I’ve tried before. The big difference compared to my older purifiers is the NeverChange filter setup and the air quality display that actually reacts when I cook, spray deodorant, or start vacuuming. You can literally see the number jump and hear the fan ramp up.

It’s not perfect. The coverage claims are optimistic, the sensor isn’t lightning fast from every angle, and you still need to clean the pre-filter if you have pets. But as an everyday, plug-it-in-and-leave-it unit for a bedroom, office, or small living room, it does the job pretty well and doesn’t annoy you with noise or constant filter costs.

On value, I’d put the Shark HP153 in the "good but not dirt cheap" category. It’s not the lowest-priced purifier out there, but you’re paying for a few things: the long-life filter, the decent sensor, quiet operation, and the brand backing. If you compare it to random budget purifiers under $100, those often need new filters every 6–12 months and are louder or have no real sensor. Over a few years, the Shark can actually work out cheaper if the NeverChange filter really lasts.

Where it shines for value is if you’re going to use it daily in a bedroom or office and you don’t want to think about filters all the time. You plug it in, clean the pre-filter occasionally, and that’s about it. If you’re the type who buys something and then never wants to remember model numbers and replacement schedules, this setup makes sense.

On the flip side, if you’re trying to handle a huge open living/dining/kitchen space with one unit, I’d say this isn’t the best value for that. You’d probably need two of these or a bigger model. The 650 sq. ft. claim is technically true under lab assumptions, but in real life usage where you want faster cleaning and multiple air changes per hour, it’s more of a strong small-room to mid-room purifier.

Compared to other well-known brands in the same price range, it competes well on noise, long-term cost, and ease of use. It’s not the cheapest, and it’s not packed with smart features like Wi‑Fi, but if you care more about quiet, low-maintenance air cleaning than apps and bells and whistles, the price feels reasonable. Overall, I’d call the value pretty solid, especially if you plan to keep it running for years.

Design-wise, the Shark HP153 is pretty compact and neutral. It’s a white cylinder-ish box, about 15 inches tall, so it’s not some huge tower that dominates the room. I’ve had it on the floor next to a nightstand and also on top of a low shelf, and it doesn’t look out of place either way. If you hate big black industrial-looking purifiers, this one blends into a regular bedroom or office pretty well.

The footprint is small (around 10" x 10"), which matters if you’re in an apartment or a tight office. It’s also light enough (a bit over 8 pounds) that you can carry it around with one hand and move it between rooms without a workout. That’s been handy for me: I sleep with it in the bedroom, then sometimes move it to the home office during allergy-heavy days.

The top control panel is clear and not overloaded. Touch buttons respond well, and the digital display is easy to read from across the room. The colored ring around the number is actually useful: green = you’re fine, yellow = something’s going on, red = you kicked up a lot of junk. The nice part is you can dim or turn off lights at night so it doesn’t glow like a UFO in the corner while you’re trying to sleep.

My only mild complaint on design is that, because the air intake and sensor are on the sides/back, you can’t cram it right against a wall or under a desk and expect peak performance. It needs some breathing room. Also, there’s no handle built into the top, which would have been nice for moving it around more easily, but at this weight it’s not a dealbreaker. Overall, pretty solid design, not flashy, just practical and easy to live with visually.

Day to day, the HP153 is easy to live with, which for me matters more than the fancy specs. I mainly care about two things: can I sleep with it on, and do I have to babysit it. On both points, it does pretty well. In the bedroom, I keep it on Auto with the lights dimmed. On most nights, it stays on low or Eco, which is basically a soft background hum. I’m picky about noise when I sleep, and this one doesn’t bother me.

When something kicks up — like I open the door and the hallway air is worse, or I spray something — the fan ramps up, but even then it’s not harsh. It’s more like a medium fan noise for a short while, then it calms down once the air quality number goes back up. If you really want silence, you can just lock it to low speed and forget Auto, but honestly Auto has worked fine for me without being annoying.

Comfort also includes maintenance hassle, and here it’s pretty simple. The debris defense filter (the outer screen) catches hair, fur, big dust. With a shedding cat, that thing gets dirty fast, but it’s easy to pop it off and vacuum or rinse it. Takes a couple of minutes, and it keeps the main filter cleaner. I do this every week or two, depending on how hairy the week has been.

The controls are clear enough that even someone who hates gadgets could use it: fan up/down, Auto, Eco, lights. No app logins, no firmware updates. The only minor annoyance is you do need to remember to give it some space from walls or furniture so it can pull air in properly. But overall, in terms of comfort, it’s quiet, low effort, and doesn’t ask for much attention, which is exactly what I want from an air purifier.

From a build standpoint, the HP153 feels solid but clearly plastic, which is normal at this price. It’s not heavy-duty metal or anything, but nothing on it feels super flimsy either. The outer shell doesn’t flex much when you move it, and the filter compartment opens and closes without weird creaks. It’s not premium, but it doesn’t feel like a toy.

The big selling point is the "NeverChange" filter idea, where they claim you can go years without replacing the main filter and save a decent amount of money. In reality, how long it lasts will depend on how dirty your environment is and whether you clean the pre-filter regularly. If you have pets or live in a dusty area and never touch the pre-filter, you’ll probably choke the system faster. But if you actually vacuum or rinse that screen every week or two, I can see the main filter lasting a long time.

So far, no weird rattles, no fan grinding noises, and no random error lights. The touch buttons still respond like day one. The sensor window at the back is a dust magnet if you don’t clean around it, so if you want consistent readings, you’ll need to occasionally wipe that area. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.

Long term, the main question is whether you trust the "never change" claim or prefer to swap filters more often like with other brands. Personally, I like the idea of not buying filters every year, and Shark filters (OEM and even some third-party) aren’t insanely priced if I ever decide to replace it anyway. Overall, build and durability feel good enough for several years of normal home use, as long as you’re not abusing it or letting it choke in a cloud of pet hair.

On performance, I’d say the Shark HP153 is strong for small to medium rooms, decent but less impressive for big open spaces. In my 180–200 sq. ft. bedroom with the door mostly closed, it makes a clear difference in dust and smell. Less dust on surfaces after a week, fewer mornings with that stuffy nose feeling, and pet odors fade much faster when the cat decides to sleep in there all day.

The brand talks about 650 sq. ft., but that’s at one air change per hour, which is kind of the bare minimum. When I put it in a 400+ sq. ft. open living room + kitchen, it helped with lingering cooking smells, but not instantly. Think 30–60 minutes to really clear the air if you’ve been frying or using spices. It reacts when the air gets dirty (fan speeds up, numbers drop, ring goes yellow/red), but it’s not some industrial unit that erases everything in 5 minutes.

For particulates (dust, pet dander, light smoke), it does a good job. A friend used a similar unit for 3D printing fumes and said it helped, and I’ve seen the sensor jump when I light a candle or spray deodorant. The sensor isn’t perfect: sometimes it takes a bit to notice changes unless the source is near the intake side. If you stick it in a corner with almost no clearance, you’re basically choking it and the readings won’t be as useful.

Noise is where it really shines. On Eco or low, it’s barely noticeable, more like a soft fan noise. On medium, it’s still fine for TV or work. On high, you hear it, but it’s not a jet engine like some cheaper purifiers. For sleeping, low/Eco with lights dimmed is totally fine, even for light sleepers. So in practice: quiet, effective in realistic-sized rooms, but don’t buy it thinking it’ll handle your entire open-plan floor by itself.

Out of the box, the Shark HP153 is pretty straightforward: you get the purifier unit, a washable debris defense filter (basically a pre-filter screen), and the big "NeverChange" HEPA-type filter already inside. No assembly, no batteries, no app nonsense. You pull off the plastic, check the filters are seated, plug it in, and that’s it. Took me maybe 5 minutes including reading the quick start guide.

The control panel on top is simple and clear. You’ve got touch controls for fan speed, Auto mode, Eco mode, display brightness, and a readout that shows air quality as a number plus a colored ring (green/yellow/red). The number actually moves when something changes in the room: cooking, candles, spraying Febreze, even when I open a dusty closet. It’s not instant every time, but you can see it doing something instead of blindly humming along.

In regular use, I mostly leave it on Auto. During the night it usually sits quietly at a low speed with the lights dimmed. When I cook or my cat kicks up litter dust, the fan ramps up, the ring goes yellow or red for a bit, then settles back to green after a few minutes. I’d say odors from cooking and the general “pet smell” in a closed room drop noticeably after 20–30 minutes if the door is mostly shut.

Overall, as a product, it feels like a "set it and mostly forget it" type of machine. No Wi‑Fi, no app, no subscription stuff. The big promise is the long-lasting filter that you supposedly don’t replace for years, which is nice if you hate hunting for filter models every 6–12 months. You still have to clean the pre-filter screen, but that’s literally a quick vacuum or rinse job, nothing complicated.