Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After spending an inordinate amount of time here on Amazon studying the various types of humidifiers, their ratings, and the corresponding complaints, it seems that humidifiers generally get a bad rap. It's as if the manufacturers are incompetent or completely unwilling to fulfill their customers' needs. Perhaps that truly is the case. But it seems that most of the complaints fail to recognize the difficulty of the job a humidifier is asked to do, i.e., turning mineral-laden tap water into pure water vapor. It's probably safe to say that the mineral content of tap water (whether supplied by a municipal system or from a well/spring/pond) tends to vary greatly from location to location (see, e.g., www dot mgwater.com/mgrank.shtml#ordered). But one way or the other, when that tap water is used to fill a humidifier, those minerals will make themselves apparent, either as scale build-up inside the humidifier body, clogged filters/wicks, or white mineral dust dispersed all over the room. Because the amount of minerals dissolved in any given consumer's tap water is far outside the control of any humidifier manufacturer, the burden of the solution reasonably can't (and therefore shouldn't be expected to) fall on the manufacturers, but rather on the consumers, who are free to avoid mineral issues by using de-mineralized (de-ionized) or distilled water (instead of tap water) to fill their humidifiers, albeit typically at great cost. So we're left with a trade-off. Either spend a fortune (for most of us) on mineral-free water, or deal with the consequences of separating those minerals from the water the humidifier vents into the room. From a long-term cost-of-ownership perspective, I find the warm moisture humidifiers to best meet my needs, particularly given that there are no filters, wicks, chemical treatments or other costly (and high profit margin) disposables to re-purchase. I choose to accept that my warm moisture humidifiers will gather mineral scale from my tap water (supplied by a municipal system in Virginia, whose tap water generally ranks relatively low in calcium and magnesium ions, the primary constituents of mineral scale), and therefore partially scrape them out at the end of each season. I also accept that at some point the scale will overwhelm each humidifier, causing it to fail and provoking me to purchase a replacement humidifier. Again, the mineral content in my water is probably somewhat different than yours (either higher or lower, I don't know), so your experiences are likely to differ from mine to some extent. With that background, compared to my past warm moisture humidifiers, and recognizing that they all have become scaled with mineral deposits, that their tanks have dripped a bit while carried between faucet and base, and that boiling water makes the expected sound at the expected sound volume, this humidifier seems very well designed. Sturdy handle. Easy to fill from our bathroom sink faucets. Well-functioning valve. Plenty of output for its size. Subtle yet effective indicator lighting. Reliable auto-off when water level is very low. Performance as expected + very competitive price = solid value. My only complaint is that Honeywell doesn't seem to sell the same humidifier in white (at least on Amazon). But I did find an otherwise identical Vicks model (Amazon product code B001FWXKTA) that comes in white, and I bought 2 of those as well. After several weeks, all 3 seem to be working just fine (knock wood), and given our history with warm moisture humidifiers, I expect these 3 to last at least several seasons (at which point the minerals will win the battle, as they always do (and must!)). Hope this helps. EDIT 11 January 2015: I've found that on the High setting, this unit cranks out a lot more vapor than our older units, frequently running dry within 8-10 hours or less. On the Low setting, one tankful of water lasts up to 24 hours. Both characteristics are beneficial for me, as sometimes I want to amp up the humidity in a room/area of the house quickly, and other times I don't want to visit the humidifier as frequently to re-fill it.