Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

(NOTE- This is an IN DEPTH review meant to help people who want a lot of detail previous to purchasing a product. If you want to read a quick summary, please refer to THE BOTTOM LINE section) I am torn here on how to write this review. On the one hand, the unit does what it says it will, but on the other hand, I wish it had a different setting and I will explain why later. My rating is two fold, which I also explain at the end of this review. WHAT IS THIS UNIT LIKE? The base is really nice contour so that it has four little pads that it sits on so it is not flat on the table top. The top unit is white cloudy plastic with an inside vent hole in it. It is a two piece cap that snaps together so that if you want to clean it after a while, you can. Then you can simply snap it together and it is good to go (as long as you make sure how it was in there to begin with). The plug goes in sideways which makes it fit into most outlets even on power strips. It does disconnect from the base of the unit so that you can take it to the sink to empty it out and wipe it out. Then you can plug it back again without having to unplug. The cord can go around the base in a variety of directions so you can adapt to your table space. The instruction book is well explained and laid out. The cup that it comes with is a 150ml measure which means that you fill it twice for a full capacity load of water. The buttons on the front are a bit tricky at first. The left button is pressed once to turn on the light. More on that later. The right button is the mist control. This is also a bit tricky. The base is sealed up with a small hole in it for the liquid to go through to the lower level. The top does not screw into the bottom, but is simply lifted off. It needs both hands though. Appearance wise this is really a beautiful unit. The wood grain looks like real wood and the shape and design are top notch. I really like how it looks- not cheap or tacky, but very stylish, especially if you have any oak toned wood in your room HOW DOES THIS UNIT PERFORM? It does not take long for the unit to start spewing a stream of mist after I turn on the unit. The left button turns on the rotating light show and if I see a color I like, I press it again and the color stays where it is. Then if I press it again, the color goes immediately to red and if I press again, it goes to brighter red. Then the next press, it goes to yellow, then another press is a brighter yellow. The progression goes lighter and darker of each individual color until I get to an icy blue/whitish color and then the next press is off. To get the rotating rainbow to come on again, I simply press the button after it is off, and it comes back. You can also bypass each individual color to turn it off by holding the button for a few seconds and then the light goes off. The mist button on the right is also a bit tricky. When I first turn it on, it beeps but then no mist comes out. I have to press the mist button for a few seconds and then it goes to the heavy stream with one beep. At that point, I press quickly once for 1 hr, another quick press and and it goes to 3 hours and lastly 6 hours. The next quick press is simply ON and then one more goes to off. Again, you can override this by pressing in the mist button until it goes off. HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS UNIT (WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN BEFORE PURCHASING) I am not sure how I feel about this unit. I wish I had thought this through a bit better when I got this unit. Essential oils are very powerful concentrated organic substances, but so is arsenic. You can take a bit to prod the body into wellness, but too much can hurt you. It is important to realize that if you plan to diffuse essential oils, if you have them on too long at too high of a volume in the air, you can get dizzy, nauseous, have a headache, and even get foggy minded. This is true of many oils and some people have a lower tolerance to them than others. It also has to do with the living space in which the oils will be used- ceiling height, open or enclosed walls, etc. After trying this diffusing unit, I realized that 1 hour is way too long for me to be running essential oils into the air. That means that I can only use it for a limited time - short periods. I think that this has to do with our low ceilings. We have 7 and a half foot ceilings and our rooms are not an open style, but have doorways into them. Having said that, I am not complaining about this unit. It does do what it says it will do. I only wish that it had a setting for intermittent spray. Getting up and turning it on and off a lot kind of frustrates me. But again, it is not the fault of the unit. It is only something I didn't realize until putting this unit into use. As for the mist, sometimes it shoots straight up in the air and other times it flows down over the unit like a haunted house movie and looks kind of cool. It is very quiet and the full setting is a nice solid stream into the air. The lighter setting does have a decent stream for smaller rooms but for some oils it is still a bit much for me. THE BOTTOM LINE As far as diffusing units go, this is a really beautiful unit. It does what it says and works very well. It is easy to clean and This unit did what it said it would do. The settings are a bit tricky at first, but trial and error will help you figure it out pretty quickly if you are not one of those people who study directions before you try to use something. If you like well laid out instructions, this will also meet your needs and explain things well. The plug that disconnects from the base and swivels in various directions. Whoever designed this unit did a great job. It was well planned and a very classy looking unit. If there was a setting for brief intermittent mist for five minute increments I would say that this would be PERFECT for my needs. But as it goes for what it says it will do- it lives up to expectations. If you have wide open rooms and higher ceilings this will most likely do well for you. I am only giving four stars because I wish it had an intermittent setting. NO DISCOUNT FOR THIS REVIEW I was NOT given this item, but purchased it as a customer of Amazon. I wanted to review this to prepare anyone who like me might have a need for shorter misting periods due to sensitivity to essential oils that are too strong as compared to others who are not as sensitive. UPDATE 4/26/16 I have continued to experiment with this diffuser and although I can only have it on short periods, I have worked my way up to 10-15 minutes at a time instead of 5 minutes. After that, my head is too foggy and I need to turn it off. I did want to mention that there are two brands of oils that I have used with this diffuser (genuine, not fake) from well known companies which tend to give me problems more than others. I don't have problems with them in other applications, just diffusers, so I tend to avoid them in the diffuser and stick with my other oils. I also wish that the light went out when the timer goes off. UPDATE August 21,2016 -WORKS WELL IN LARGER OPEN SPACED ROOMS WITH HIGHER CEILINGS I have since used this diffuser while traveling in a room that had very high ceilings and more wide open spaces than we have in our home. I found that I did not have the problems with the oils in it that I do at home. The stream of this diffuser is great in more open spaces, but in our lower ceiling homes, it is a lot of flow for some oils and does tend to give headaches with certain oils when the windows are shut. Iif you have a large open space room that you want to use this in, it would probably be perfect. If you have low ceilings and rooms that are more divided, then this might be a bit much for some people who are more sensitive to oils.