Xiaomi Mi Smart Water Purifier Review: IoT-Enabled Water Purifier For Smart Homes

Design- Clutter-Free Minimal Design

If you have a flair for good design, the Mi Smart Water Purifier is the best-looking water purifier you can buy today in the Indian market. Unlike the conventional water purifier systems that mostly sits behind a wooden compartment due to their cluttered design, the Mi water purifier can be simply kept in open. Its elegant design perfectly goes in sync with a modern kitchen environment.

The Mi water purifier is built on the company's well-known home-ecosystem design philosophy which focuses on clean and minimal design. There are no visible wires, drainage pipes or filters as everything is conveniently placed behind a removable panel.

While the design is minimal and clutter-free, the Mi Smart water Purifier can aggregate smudges over time. The all-white surface of the Mi water purifier in Indian households can develop a yellowish layer over time due to smoke, dust and water droplets.

Easy Setup And Filter Replacement Process

The installation process is pretty simple; however, we would still recommend you to let service engineers perform the setup operation. Like all other conventional water purifiers, the Mi water purifier can also be wall-mounted. Interestingly, you can replace filters easily on your own, which can save you the regular maintenance charges. Xiaomi calls it ‘DIY (Do it Yourself) Filter Replacement'.

Simply pull off the panel behind the tap that covers the three filters. Twist the filters to pull them out from the holder to replace with the new ones. The Mi water purifier also has a 7-litre tank to store the water, which is a decent capacity to hold the water. A lid at the top covers the tank.

Water-Purification Process

The Mi Smart Water Purifier works on RO+UV water purification system. The purifier has a five-stage purification system which is achieved by the three aforementioned filters.

Stage 1 & 2- The untreated water is first fed to the PPC filter that intercepts large and visible particles. This essentially forms the first two steps of water treatment. Xiaomi claims that the built-in PPC filter deeply adsorbs residual chlorine, color, odour, organic matter and other harmful substances in the fed water.

Stage 3- The RO filters out heavy metals, scales, and organic matter with a 0.1nm precision.

Stage 4- The PAC filter then further removes odour and organic substances in the treated water.

Stage 5- Lastly, the Mi water purifier also comes equipped with UV sterilization. A UV light is fitted in the 7-litre water tank that kills bacteria and viruses with a claimed rate of up to 99.99% efficiency.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Smart Water Purifier is claimed to offer an RO purification accuracy of 0.0001 microns to convert hard undrinkable water into safe drinking water.

Xiaomi's website also mentions that the Mi Smart Water purifier (RO+UV) is tested and passed as per Indian Standards IS 10500:2012 (Drinking Water), IS 14543:2004 (Packaged Drinking Water) and IS 14724:1999 (Water Purifiers with UV disinfection).

Filter Cost And Availability

The PPC (Polypropylene Cotton + Activated Carbon) filter is priced at Rs. 1,299. The PAC (Post Activated Carbon Filter) filter costs Rs. 899 and the RO (Reverse Osmosis Filter) is priced at Rs. 1,799. At the time of writing this review, the filters were running out of stock on Mi.com/in.

TDS Levels

We fed the treated water from the old water purifier (TDS level - 141) and the tap water to the Mi purifier to evaluate its TDS counter. The Mi water purifier was able to bring down the TDS level of the tap water supply from 1400 to 039. Some parts of the Delhi NCR have reported even higher levels of TDS, close to 3,000.

As per the Bureau of Indian Standards, the acceptable level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in potable water is 500 mg/lit.

Overall, the TDS level is not going to be an issue with the Mi water purifier. The purification system is pretty capable to keep it in check.

As far as the taste is concerned, I did not experience a drastic change as the previous water purification system was already doing a good job. But since the water quality and taste is subjective, you will experience different results depending upon your location and water quality in the area.

Mi Smart Water Purifier Smart Features

Like the company's other IoT-enabled products, the Mi Smart Water Purifier (RO+UV) also connects to the Mi Home app. The companion application allows you to monitors the TDS level, the quantity of water purified and the filter life of each of the three cartridges in real-time. The application also notifies you when a filter replacement is required. Once again, the filter life depends upon the water fed to the system.

In general scenarios, the filter could last about eight to nine months. You buy filters directly from the Mi companion application.

Should You Buy The Mi Smart Water Purifier?

A good quality water purification system is a must for Indian households, especially where the water quality fails to meet the consumable drinking standards. The Mi Smart Water Purifier's Penta-stage purification system (UV + RO) can effectively maintain clean drinking water standards.

The company has priced it competitively and the smart features to provide important information on your smartphone is the icing on the cake. We can now expect other manufacturers to join the league to offer similar smart features on their products.