I don’t understand, the cheaper IKEA purifier (FÖRNUFTIG) uses its entire front side, covered with fabric, as the pre-filter. To clean it, you stop the purifier and vacuum clean the front side, which takes 15 seconds.
The more expensive round one (STARKVIND) doesn’t use its fabric covered front as the pre-filter (it’s actually solid) and instead has a separate fine mesh (not that fine though) layer underneath. To clean that, you have to take the front side off first, which takes a bit longer.
Thanks, see the sibling comment response below. I use the Wirecutter's Coway unit recommendation mostly. I have not tried the larger IKEA unit but at least it seemed to mitigate what I mention there. I did try washing the article's unit "prefilter" but it didn't seem to catch anything vs. the Coway.
The more expensive round one (STARKVIND) doesn’t use its fabric covered front as the pre-filter (it’s actually solid) and instead has a separate fine mesh (not that fine though) layer underneath. To clean that, you have to take the front side off first, which takes a bit longer.