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Airthings Wave Plus Clean Radon Air Quality Monitor

Last updated: November 27, 2023


Consumers will appreciate how easy this air quality monitor is to use. Once you set the unit in the room you want to test, it will begin checking radon levels, humidity, temperature, pressure, carbon dioxide levels and the presence of any toxins or chemicals. Then, all you need to do is download and check the app for results.

Airthings Wave Plus Clean Radon Air Quality Monitor
$180 at Amazon $220 at Walmart

We looked at the top Air Quality Monitors and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Air Quality Monitor you should buy.

Airthings 2930 Wave Plus - Radon & Air Quality Monitor, Battery Powered (CO2, VOC, Humidity, Temp, Pressure)

Airthings 2930 Wave Plus - Radon & Air Quality Monitor, Battery Powered (CO2, VOC, Humidity, Temp, Pressure)
BUY ON AMAZON
$229.99

Product Details

Key Takeaway: If you have a smart home, you'll love that this air quality monitor is compatible with both Alexa and Google Assistant.

In our analysis of 63 expert reviews, the Airthings Wave Plus Clean Radon Air Quality Monitor placed 2nd when we looked at the top 14 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.

From The Manufacturer

We spend 90% of our time indoors where the air is often 2 to 5 times worse than the air outside. Continuous monitoring of indoor air quality is key for minimizing negative health effects, preventing illness and increasing productivity, energy and good health. Airthings, air quality specialists and experts in radon, created the Airthings Wave Plus as the first smart air quality monitor with radon detection. Wave Plus has since won multiple awards for consumer electronics and innovation and was among the 2019 TIME Magazine inventions of the year. It is the perfect solution for homeowners to gain full visibility into six indoor air factors; radon, carbon dioxide (CO2), airborne chemicals (TVOCs), humidity, temperature and air pressure. Airthings Wave Plus includes a free app to connect to your smartphone (iOS/Android) via Bluetooth and an online dashboard with advanced analytics. Battery operated allowing you to install anywhere, with 16 months battery life. Please allow for a 7-Day settling period for the sensors to adjust to their new environment. By monitoring daily and continuously, you can avoid radon side effects, get the best indoor humidity level, low voc levels and low carbon dioxide levels. Made to the best indoor air quality standards, Airthings Wave Plus is essential in every home.

$180 at Amazon $220 at Walmart

Expert Reviews


What reviewers liked

Airthings is a well-regarded, Norway-based manufacturer of air quality monitors, specializing in radon detection.
- New York Times Wirecutter
Real-time radon detection. Additional sensors track CO2, TVOC, and air pressure levels. Simple and intuitive app.
- TechHive
Airthings Wave Plus is a battery-powered sensor that detects Radon, CO2, TVOCs, humidity, temperature, and air pressure. Radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, so it’s very important to know if there are high levels of this invisible, odorless gas in your home.
- The Gadgeteer
THe battery-powered monitor can also detect harmful chemicals, as well as monitoring the general quality of your air. Simple to install. Clean and friendly app. Radon siren.
- Trusted Reviews
The real strength of AirThings Wave Plus is the ability to gather data and display it in a beautiful, easy to understand manner. A big aspect of this is the color-coding. Both on the summary screen and individual trend graphs, sensor data is displayed according to predefined recommended levels.
- Make Use Of
The Wave Plus measures not only radon – and has a radon alarm to let you know instantly of any danger – but TVOCs (total volatile organic compounds), carbon dioxide, humidity, temperature and pressure.
- Tech Advisor
The device has a very simple system for showing you how good your air quality is. Wave your hand in front of the monitor and a small inner ring glows green when things are going well; orange is a warning and red indicates danger.
- The Irish Times
The design makes me think of it as a fancy smoke detector given the circular shape and the color, and I believe that was done intentionally. It’s a very nice looking device with a good build quality that will not look out of place in anyone’s home. Most people will either not notice it at all, or if they do, will think it’s some sort of home appliance or sensor. To me, that is a success for the designers at AirThings.
- Gear Diary
Airthings can track six different factors of air quality including chemicals (VOCs), CO2, humidity, pressure, and temperature. It also sports a built-in radon detector, differentiating itself from the competition. On top of monitoring the stats in a companion app, notifications let you know when humidity rises and the like. Alexa and Assistant integration allow you to bring the stats into your smart home.
- 9 to 5 Toys
It is the first smart and battery operated total IAQ monitor with Radon detection. Everyone from homeowners, landlords, tenants and even employers and building managers can finally have full visibility into six indoor air components: Radon, carbon dioxide (CO2) airborne chemicals (TVOCs), humidity, temperature and air pressure.
- Architecture Lab
The Wave Plus uses the new Senseair CO2 sensor Sunrise which is ultra-low-power and this is the reason the device can operate up to 16 months with just 2 AA batteries. It features the well known BME680 sensor for temperature, humidity, air pressure and VOC measurements. Finally, I think the company uses a custom made Passive Radon Diffusion Chamber – Alpha spectrometry using digital detector technology. They take Radon very seriously.
- See The Air
What sets the Wave Plus unit apart from similar sensors is that ability to measure Radon, a radioactive element which under normal conditions is a gas and easily inhaled. According to Wikipedia that means it’s “the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking”. Not having a power hungry Wi-Fi chip on board means it can be battery powered and Airthings say the 2 AA cells (included) should provide around 16 months of use before they need to be replaced.
- Automated Home
The Airthings Wave Plus* is the first battery-operated indoor air quality monitor to include radon detection. Designed for all populated spaces, its discrete appearance allows it to easily blend in with any décor. Users of this product praise the super-easy setup of the unit. They also consider it to have had a positive effect on the quality of the air in their house.
- Tech Imperatives
Set up is easy, just download the app, create an account and follow the instructions. You will then need to leave it for 7 days to allow it to learn about your current air conditions. I had no radon issues, but I assume if there were an excessive amount of this it would warn you immediately.
- Mighty Gadget

What reviewers didn't like

But none of their many devices measures particulates, a requirement for inclusion in our tests.
- New York Times Wirecutter
More expensive than conventional radon testing methods. Andoroid app setup was buggy.
- TechHive
I do want to mention that I’ve had issues with the app losing data when adding a 2nd device and once when I hadn’t synced in over a week due to being away on vacation. Since the unit uses Bluetooth instead of WiFi to sync, this could be an ongoing problem.
- The Gadgeteer
App only updates when in Bluetooth range. No particulate matter sensor.
- Trusted Reviews
If you were hoping to walk around the house and identify problem areas, that’s not possible. The Wave Plus must be placed in one location and left alone for at least a few weeks to gather any meaningful and reliable trend data. After this, you can change the location if you want, but you should change this in the app so the sensors are recalibrated.
- Make Use Of
As a general air quality monitor, however, it's not flawless as it doesn't measure particulate matter and its other features are a bit limited. The illuminated ring is also of limited usefulness, as, if the air quality isn't perfect, it doesn’t tell you at a glance which of the monitored air quality factors is affected.
- Tech Advisor
The anxiety caused by the glowing orange ring. Until you open the app, you aren’t sure if it’s carbon dioxide, the dinner fumes or the radon that is coming for you.
- The Irish Times
It takes 7 days, 7 days, for the sensors to calibrate so basically you need to wait a week before you are supposed to really take the data coming out with any seriousness. This isn’t too crazy but one thing to keep in mind is if you bought this with say a 14-day return policy then it might take half of that time to even truly try it out properly.
- Gear Diary
The device needs a smartphone in order to upload the measurements to the web so it is mandatory to install the app as there isn’t a WiFi chip inside.
- See The Air
However, not having WiFi built-in also means that you can’t easily check on the device when you are away from home as it only updates when your phone is within Bluetooth range.
- Automated Home
Some are disappointed by the lack of WIFI, which means that you need to get quite close to the device to establish a connection via Bluetooth.
- Tech Imperatives
Quite likely due to the aggressive battery management on my Huawei P30 Pro, whenever I loaded up the app, I had to do a manual sync. This doesn’t always work perfectly, I noticed if my Bluetooth was off, it didn’t warn me, it just tried to sync then not update. Similarly, with Bluetooth on, quite frequently it took two attempts for the data to refresh.
- Mighty Gadget

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View our Air Quality Monitor buying guide for in-depth advice and recommendations.

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