Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own many Air-O-Swiss humidifiers and was about to order another 7135 Digital ultrasonic when I noticed this new model. Here are my observations after using this humidifier for 2 weeks: Pros: - Most hygienic way to put moisture into the air - Doesn't require those expensive silver ion sticks or demineralization cartridges used by other Air-O-Swiss units. - Water tank is easy to fill up (finally), and doesn't drip all over the place when you remove it like it does on all other Air-O-Swiss models (note to Air-O-Swiss: this is a really annoying problem and something your designers should look at) - It boils the water, which creates real steam. This means you don't get that white powder residue that utltrasonic humidifiers create. - No expensive water filters to buy - Less calcium build-up to clean - It has a handy "cleaning" (aka de-calcification) mode - Even though it's boiling the water at the bottom of the unit, the steam exiting the top of the unit will not burn you (it's warm, but not scalding - safe for children) - Automatically dims the brightness on the digital controls based on ambient light CONS - LOUD. This thing is quite a bit louder than the other Ultrasonic Air-O-Swiss humidifiers. This may or may not bother you - it's kind of white-noise that you forget about after a while, like an air conditioner, but you'll definitely hear it. When running at the lowest setting it sounds like a low fan with a bubbling cup of water. At the highest setting it sounds like a white noise machine... I don't mind it, but my wife wants to move this unit to the living room due to the noise. - Even at the highest setting, it doesn't seem to put as much water into the air as quickly as the U650 or 7135 Digital. - Unlike Air-O-Swiss' other humidifiers, this one does not allow you to direct the flow of steam exiting the unit. It just floats straight up out of the top. This is probably due to the steam vs ultrasonic technology, but it still means you have to mindful about not putting this unit too close to drapes, or walls, etc... - Water level indicator window is difficult to see (though it doesn't really matter since the unit shuts off automatically when empty) Overall I'm still giving it 4 stars (despite the noise, slower humidification rate, and other minor gripes because I like having actual steam humidification (I'm less worried about mold), and appreciate not having to buy those expensive silver ion sticks or demineralization cartridges. I do recommend this humidifier, but you should be aware of the louder noise.