Excellent: Quiet, Efficient, Humidifies

We love our Honeywell HCM645 humidifier. Before purchasing we read consumer magazines on humidifiers and did much comparison shopping. Reports indicated that many humidifiers are very noisy, so the quietness of the HCM645 was important to us. We also wanted to humidify without having white dust on everything--definitely a problem with the older style humidifiers.

The HCM645 performs exactly as advertised. It is indeed quiet. We run it on the maximum of the three fan speeds, and are barely aware it is running. The humidistat works great and the lighted settings are easy to see, even in the dark (I definitely would prefer this to the less expensive model with a turn dial). When it is warmer and more humid outside the unit doesn't go through much water. We live in "cold" country, where it can get below zero. When it is cooler and drier outside, the unit runs until it reaches the setting. We can almost judge outdoor temperature by how much water the HCM645 puts out. We haven't had frost on the insides of our window, thanks to the efficient humidistat. We have a fairly large living room, dining room, kitchen with an open plan. The HCM645 is in the living room, and it handles the large space well.

The large, 4 gallon capacity is another benefit, for the HCM645 doesn't have to be filled nearly as often.

Some reviewers have complained that the HCM645 will slosh water out of the bottom tray if it is moved; however, the instructions clearly state that the HCM645 should not be moved when it is full of water. I am sure it will slosh as per the reviewers comments, because the tray that holds the water is fairly shallow and does have slots--but, follow the directions and you'll be okay.

When filling the water reservoir, it must be turned upside down in the sink. It is true that the bottom is not flat, but we have no problem setting the reservoir against the side of the sink while it is filling. The reservoir has a large opening and you can easily get your hand inside for cleaning--many humidifiers have a much smaller fill opening. The reservoir is large--holds quite a bit of water, so I'd only be comfortable having it "in hand" anyway.

When transporting the reservoir from the sink to the unit, the unit does sometimes drip from being filled. This is solved easily by carrying the reservoir with the fill cap "up" rather than by the handle. I cannot imagine carrying it by the handle anyway. Filled with water it is fairly heavy, and I would always use two hands, one under the unit (at the handle) and one at the top of the unit (over the cap).

Our unit sits on a hardwood floor. When we first bought it, not knowing how it would work, we put it in a shallow tray. We've left it in that tray, though the tray has never had water in it.

The HCM645 is fairly expensive, retailing at $49.99. We were fortunate to buy our unit with a 20 per cent discount.

If you sit directly across from the unit, it makes a cool breeze. That is hardly a negative, as it would be true of any humidifier with a fan.

My son has a history of sinus congestion and he believes the HCM645 has helped him. In fact, he sometimes sleeps on the living room floor to get the full benefit. This leads to our only complaint. We want to buy another HCM645 and, after checking all the stores in our town, have not been able to find another one. We're going to have to travel 60 miles to some big box stores, or pay top dollar and shipping on line.