Ah, Now that's Better...

As I mentioned in another review, we live in a mobile home in Maine. It snows here a lot and it is wicked cold. Therefore we run our heat all the time. And it gets very dry in here, often making for dry, itchy skin, dry eyes and throats and just a general level of dry discomfort (not to mention vicious static electricity!).

We all agreed that we needed a humidifier. But which one to chose? There was a whole wall of choices at Wal-Mart and my first decision was the wrong one. See review on SunMark Ultrasonic Humidifier. After returning that unit, I looked again at the choices and chose this Honeywell.

Now, living in a mobile home, space is at a premium and this one is really larger than what I wanted, but I made room for it anyway. Good decision.

The features that attracted me to this model were the large capacity tank, the three speeds, and the automatic humidity level. I find that I fill this tank about every other day.

Upon the first fill, I set the motor to high and the humidity level to max. According to the instructions, I let it run for about an hour like that. On high, this puppy is LOUD. Fortunately, it was only about 7:30 in the evening and the humidifier is in the bedroom, where we weren't, so the noise was okay.

Per the instructions, after that initial hour, I turned the humidity level selector back until the unit shut off, and then turned it back up until the unit came back on. Everything worked perfectly and the unit came right back on, as it should. I let it run like that, but turned the motor back to medium speed. After a little bit, the unit shut off and the indicator light came on letting me know that "desired humidity level" had been reached. I then set the speed to low and went to bed.

I heard the unit come on once during the night, but the noise level on low is nearly non-existent. I only heard it because I'm a Mom and I hear all shifts in noise levels during the night. It didn't disturb me, and once identified, I went right back to sleep. My husband never stirred. I awoke the next morning feeling better than I have in months!

My skin is no longer itchy, my eyes weren't stuck shut, and my tongue wasn't adhered to the roof of my mouth. I also didn't wake up wanting a drink of water for the first time all winter.

As for the unit itself, it is lightweight (until filled) and consists of the motor, the base, and the water tank. When the tank is filled, it is then placed on the base next to the motor. Water runs from the tank and fills the base, thus soaking the filter. If you wait about 5 minutes after filling the tank before turning the unit on, you can eliminate the middle step of soaking the filter because it will take care of itself. Once you turn the motor on, it draws dry air from the room, passes it through the soaked filter and returns moist air through the fan.

As I said, the motor has three speeds. The high speed is excellent for getting moisture into the air quickly, but it is cumbersomely loud. The medium and low speeds are significantly quieter than high. I believe I could probably sleep with the fan on medium, but I tend to keep it on low anyway.

The humidity level is selected by a dial on the front of the housing. There are no indicators on the dial other than tick marks. I wish they had chosen to mark humidity percentages or something on the unit, but it is not that important. Once the desired setting has been achieved, the unit will shut itself off until the humidity drops below that level. This level maintenance was one of the most attractive features to me, and it works very well.

I have found that I need to fill the tank about every other day and that is acceptable. Filling the tank is quick and easy. However, due to the size of the tank, I can't fill it in the bathroom near my bedroom. I have to take it all the way to the kitchen. There is no "top fill" opening on the tank so you have to remove it from the unit, open the bottom, and fill it from there. I suppose I could use a cup and refill that repeatedly until the tank is full if I want to use the nearby bathroom, but a trip to the kitchen sink every other day is not that bad.

It reports to handle a room of up to 700 square feet. Our mobile home has approximately 900 square feet of internal space, but I only use this unit primarily in my bedroom. I suppose it could handle 700 sf IF that were unobstructed, open space. I would recommend at least three of these units to do a whole apartment or house of 1000 square feet or less.

Overall, I am very pleased with the performance of the unit, the sound level is acceptable and the maintenance level is not burdensome. It certainly makes a difference in the air quality in my home and THAT is what I bought it for.