NewAir AF-310 Electric Tower Fan

This fan has been nearly perfect for what I needed it to do, but at the same time didn't "wow" me or exceed my expectations (which is fine). My room had previously been much hotter than the rest of my shared apartment because of my massive amount of electronics, so I needed a way to cool my room independently of the apartment's AC/heater settings, and this fan helped in that regard.

It does indeed shoot a breeze that feels cooler than what my other (non-cooling) fan does, and is much quieter. Because of the way evaporative cooling works, the cooling performance may vary depending on factors such as humidity (will work better with lower humidity, as this allows for more evaporation). If you use this in an enclosed space for a long period of time, the humidity will increase, causing it to be less effective, and even making the air feel hotter (your sweat works in the same way, so high humidity makes you feel hotter). That being said, I've used this overnight several times without noticing these potential negative side effects. Read the Wikipedia article for "Evaporative cooler" to better understand how it works so you can know beforehand whether or not it will be beneficial to you.

Pros:

-Cools air in a non-humid environment

-Generally quiet (on low)

-Easy to use

-Unlike an air conditioning unit, this will cool in an enclosed environment--as long as it has water and as long as the humidity doesn't get too high.

-Humidifies the air (good if the air is too dry).

Cons:

-Humidifies the air (bad if the air is already humid).

-Can't adjust vertical breeze direction, so I need to place it on something for it to reach me on my bed.

-The tone of the fan is kind of annoying on High and Medium speeds. Low does enough for me, so it isn't an issue. My previous fan, while louder, had a less annoying tone.

-When cooling is enabled, one can hear water dripping. This is fine for me, and is actually kind of soothing (sounds like my mini fountain that I have for background noise), though it is something to consider. This is not an issue when you are just using it as a fan without turning on the cooling.

OK folks, I'm going to sum this up in one sentence for anyone rating this product under 5 stars, those who don't think this product works.

*** EVAPORATIVE cooling only works when the air is dry, when the air is already saturated with moisture, not much cooling can happen. ***

IF you get that simple concept, and have dry air, then these coolers can drop the temperature in an average sized room up to 25 degrees F.

You might think that humid parts of the country would be bad places for such coolers, right? WRONG!

If you have dry air INSIDE the home they can still drop your temp in a room 10-15 degrees with very little additional energy used.

WHY? Your air conditioner takes the humidity out of your home, when you mechanically force water to evaporate it absorbs HEAT that drops the temp of the air in the room.

I bought one of these products for use INSIDE my home in GA. I found all the above to be true for a loft area that just always stayed hot before this unit worked great.

Then I bought 2 more. One for the office, and one for the bedroom. I can't believe how much more comfortable I am, and the AC actually runs less than before!

One thing to remember: Fans work by blowing the heat away from you, they do not cool a room but can blow the sweat off your body dropping your temperature through evaporation. If you aren't being blown by the fan it cannot cool you. In contrast, an evaporative cooler will cool a room whether you are in it or not. They actually drop the temperature in the whole room. I leave mine on all the time, just like I leave the AC on.

My power bill is lower, my house is cooler, and it's refreshing in the middle of a hot Ga day to come home and say to yourself "the house is too cold".

When the warning that it's out of water goes off, I refill them otherwise I'm just running the fan for no net cooling.

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It really works nicely. It is not as good as an AC (do you really expect it to be?), but it is better then just a fan. The freezer gel pack helps get things cooler. It is also nice because it is pretty quiet, especially compared to the SPT swamp cooler I bought two years ago. I would recommend this for small rooms. We use it for our bedroom and we have extremely hot summers.

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I just got this thing today july 22nd 2009. Its pretty good. Its basically like a super fan. It will make your room a little cooler than a fan, but it wont make it really cold like a portable ac. I put alot of ice in there and it made it a little cooler. It has an ice box with ice gel inside. Basically you put that in your freezer and put it back in the box, and it keeps the water cold. The gel would keep it colder longer than ice. I didnt get to try the ice box yet, but itll definitely help For $99, its a great fan, but if you want it to be really cold, youll need a portable ac. if a fan is 4/10, then this would be a 6 or 7 with lots of ice, and a portable ac is 10/10. Im going to play with it more and see if I can get it to blow colder with the ice box. I think thatll make it alot better. hopefully this helps. If you buy at air-n-water you get free shipping on it and ANYTHING else you buy as long as its in your cart. I saved $50 on shipping my portable ac because I bought them together. I paid $89 for this with the code summer. Im pretty happy with it and im buying 2 more tonight, but ill stick with my portable ac in my room at night for some real "alaska" cold haha.

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This unit has a tray at the bottom to put ice cubes and/or water along with the plastic thing they give you to freeze and make the water cold. it works good more as a humidifier than an actual coolant. it's def not an air conditioner but it has some good points i like the design which is attractive and not a major eye-sore and the remote is a nice feature. i don't like the fact that when you initially turn it on WATER SPITS out (FRONT AND BACK) and you have to get a rag to clean up the mess on the floor...that is def annoying!

overall, it's been an "ok" purchase but it's nothing to rave about unfortunately.

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Holmes HM5305-UC Warm Mist Humidifier

I believe this item has received unfairly low ratings from other purchasers. Perhaps these reviews are from purchasers who have never owned a humidifier before, or who didn't bother to read the directions. I have owned three different humidifiers over the years, and this one has been overall the best.

I would agree the tank shape could stand some redesign. Like most humidifiers, you turn the tank upside down to refill, thus the top of the tank is best designed to conform to the shape of a tub or sink, so that it stays upright on its own while filling. This one does not do that, but it is still possible to prop it against the end of the tub to refill.

As for the other comments that have been made, of course it makes a gurgling noise. Water is dripping down into the base in order to be converted to steam. I have had the unfortunate experience of owning a humidifier that sounded like an 18-wheeler driving through my house--and believe me, this one is QUIET.

The only knocking noises I've heard were when the tank emptied while I was asleep and I didn't shut it off, AND I hadn't cleaned it in a very long time.

And of course the heating element is going to be hot right after you turn it off, and yes it could char a piece of wood if it came in contact with the heating element. The instructions CLEARLY STATE you must allow the heating element to cool before cleaning or refilling. I cannot imagine why someone would set something wet down on a wood table, or how the heating element came into contact with wood of one reviewer, as the heating element has a surrounding plastic framework that makes it difficult if not impossible to place anything directly against the heating element. Perhaps the user modified this plastic housing in some way.

Also, the tank cap has a mechanism that, together with the humidifier base, controls the amount of water that flows out of the tank. The only way this could malfunction and send water everywhere is if the cap was not screwed on properly (and just like a bottle of soda, if you don't screw the cap on properly, the bottle will leak), or if it is not placed on the base securely.

I have not found the recommended cleaning to be an issue. But then, I use the recommendations as a guideline, not a requirement. How much you cleaning you have to do depends on the condition of your water and your performance expectations.

The recommended "daily" cleaning is basically to remove the base reservoir and dump out any water and accumulated sediment. I actually only do this about once a week, and I have very hard water (lots of clay sediment and calcium. I cannot drink tap water, its that bad.) The recommended "weekly" cleaning is to fill the base reservoir with vinegar and soak for 20 mins, and wipe down the heating element and surrounding housing to remove any calcium deposits. I actually only do this about every 3 months. Sometimes I actually have to chisel off the calcium from the heating element! And with all this obviously poor maintenance, I have noticed no diminished performance!

I'm not sure what the 'reboot' requirement is, stated by one reviewer. The instructions clearly state that you should turn off the humidifier when you remove the tank for refilling, or when you are cleaning. This makes sense. Leaving it on without the heating element resting in a reservoir of water is like putting an empty pan on a hot stove burner. It will damage it. But turning it off for the few moments required for filling or cleaning is sufficient. No further effort is required. And I really don't understand how one is personally offended by an inanimate object.

As for the size of tank, and how long it lasts, that all depends on the settings you use, and the size of your room. The 36-hour timeframe advertised by the manufacturer is at the unit's lowest setting, as most manufacturers do. I keep mine set on low speed, with the humidity percentage at about 60%. This lasts 24 hrs. I definitely notice a humid feeling when walking into my bedroom where I keep the humidifer. My bedroom measures about 12' x 18', but I keep my bedroom door open always so the humidity isn't just staying in my bedroom alone. The packaging states accurately that this humidifier is intended to serve a medium-sized room, not a whole house or very large rooms.

I really love the fact that this model does not require filters. I've had humidifiers that require filters, and of course you can never find the filter when you need one, and they are often very expensive. I've also had a humidifier that advertised no filter required, then upon reading the fine print inside the box, learned that while a humidifier was not REQUIRED, it really needed one to function properly.

I replaced my last humidifier with this one because the lat model I owned had no controls other than on/off, and pumped out so much mist it soaked everything around it, and was a cold mist model that did not keep the calcium deposits inside the reservoir--everything that got soaked by the mist ended up with calcium residue on it that was impossible to remove.

All in all, a very good model. The only thing I would like better is a domed-top model that could rest easily in the tub for refilling.

This product has gotten a LOT of negative reviews. I'm not sure why.

We bought this humidifier from a local store...the ONLY humidifier we could find in town. We needed a humidifier for our newborn, since he was getting some dry sinuses (poor little man!)

The model had obviously been returned, as it was repacked terribly and had no manual. No worry, though; the design is so simple that I figured out how to get water into it and get it working in about 3.5 minutes, even without the manual. It did drip a bit of water as I went to fill it, but is that REALLY a big deal? Maybe for some folks; not for us.

Anyway, as to the comment about "dead lifting" a gallon of water...a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds, which, let's be honest, isn't that much. I had to cringe when I read the "injured vet" comment; agreed, filling this tank would be very hard with one arm, but I imagine that a one armed person would buy a different model (say, one of the 30 others that Amazon offers). Could Holmes have made it better by making it top filling? Possibly, but in all honesty, this design works just fine.

Is it noisy? That depends on what you mean by "noisy". Let's attack the question a different way: is it silent? No, it's not. It makes (what my wife and I find to be) a nice gurgling sound, very similar to the humidifiers my mom used to use when I was little. However, I sleep better with a small amount of white noise, so those of you who are very light sleepers and/or need total silence might look at other models.

As to the comment about not producing enough moisture to get through the night...how much do you SLEEP? We fill the tank when we go to bed, and 8 hours later, it's just about empty. That's on the highest setting on both dials (max humidity and max fan), AND we live in a high desert area with hardly any ambient humidity to speak of. Just last night, we ran it on max fan and half humidity (our son's sinuses are getting better) and the tank was still half full after 8 hours of sleep. I suppose if you sleep for more than 8 hours, or if you're trying to humidify more than one room in the house, this might not be the one for you, but come on! It tells you right on the box that it's good for A bedroom.

As far as the melting of the tanks I've read about...that's terrible, but ours hasn't done that.

I'll give this humidifier 4 stars, not because it didn't come with a manual, but because after calling them multiple times, Holmes still hasn't sent me one (even though they've told me they will, and even given me other websites to check dedicated to replacement manuals which...surprise...don't have the one for this model). Also, I agree that the "power down" "feature" IS stupid and, not having a manual, I thought I had broken this thing at first. However, one you know you have to do it, you just do it. it's like turning off your PC: I bet we all thought it was silly to go to "start" and select "shut down" to turn them off...but we all do it now, don't we?

Could it be better? Maybe, but I have no major complaints with it. You put water in, you turn it on, the room gets moist. Isn't that what a humidifier's supposed to do?

Just thought I'd post this, since it looks like the reviews are mostly one sided up to this point!

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Thanks to my cold, dry apartment, I have chronic sinus infections. I bought this humidifier and it has been amazing the air is pleasantly un-dry and my nose is very happy! I definitely notice a positive difference now that I run this particular unit, and I can tell when it has been off all day (I only run it at night). :) It is easy to fill, easy to clean, and I kind of like the soft water sounds it makes as it 'percolates'. :) There was a lot of belly-aching about this product on other sites, but with proper use and care, it is a really worthwhile product.

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I bought this humidifier a year ago. I like it because there are no filters to mess with. It's easy to keep clean and sanitized. It takes just a few minutes to heat up and start steaming. It does make a little noise, but not enough to be bothersome at night, at least for me. Since using this humidifier, I've noticed my skin is not as dry in the winter and it has been really helping with my sinus infections. A year later and it still works great.

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Regret buying it for my bedroom because every 60 seconds it sounds like a boiling teapot, only pours out mist like a volcano every 60 seconds, meaning it is not a steady QUIET flow...My old one lasted two winter seasons then broke...I am not very confident in the quality of Holmes Products since they seem to break every other season...

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Quality Importers Cigar Caddy Deluxe Humidifier, Large Foam Humidifier, Round

I've tried a lot of types of humidifiers for my 30 ct, $40 wooden cigar box. This open stone, low cost, device seems to hold my % humidity between 65-70 percent more reliably than other more expensive items I've tried.

Here's Why:

My low cost humidor was Very difficult to season. And being able to oversaturate this stone helped maintain the humidity level. The bags and pillows just wouldn't keep up.

If I only use distilled water this remains usable for months, and months.

I found that even after seasoning the box, the pouches and pillows couldn't keep up with how often I open the lid (up to twice a day). I did have success with pillows and pouches when I left the lid down for at least a week at a time.

I like these because I can vary the water amount to compensate for differences in humidity levels easily and quickly. You can't throw it in an forget it, but it doesn't cost a fortune either.

I bought a few of these for 2 humidors I keep only partially stocked. My joe-brand ones had quit helping out long ago and you can really tell the difference when your humidifiers are putting out the right amount of water. The junky ones these replaced wouldn't hold 1/2 the water, so now I'm doing a lot less maintenance and the humidity is right where it should be.

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works as advertised in my cigarette humidor. easy to use, easy to mount, does the job. What more could you want?

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I bought this to add additional humidification to my Humidor. The one that came with it was not cutting it. Once I added this one, I was getting the proper Humidity. I recommend this.

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The humidifier was brought into my humidor to help keep it at the right numbers as my collection grew. It was very inexpensive, but the humidor has never been better! Conditions are great

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Cigar Oasis XL Short Refill Cartridge

I like this short tank because it fits in the top tray of my humidor. I've had a cigar oasis for over 10 years now and it still works great. Can't have a humidor with a cigar oasis. The cigar oasis keeps my stogs in great condition.

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Kaz Incorporated V3900 Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier

We used to have a Crane duck humidifier (that worked really well) in our toddler's room, but it broke when I dropped it earlier this winter. I bought this Vick's humidifier as a replacement because it "Sanitizes the water with UV Technology while reducing up to 99.9% of bacteria, mold, and spores". This was a big selling point for me, and I thought it would be worth the cost. We have been using this humidifier for 2+ months, and I am very disappointed for the following reasons:

1. We need a humidifier because the winters are very dry here. My son's skin tends to be dry, his nose especially. It does not seem like this humidifier is helping at all. His skin and nose are just as dry. This humidifier puts out "invisible, moisture-balanced air", so it just feels like a cool fan blowing, and you can't actually see the mist. I'm not sure if being able to see (or not see) the mist makes any difference, but something isn't working because it is still too dry in his small room.

2. There are three levels: High (max moisture), Medium (moisture maintenance mode), and Low (sound sleeping mode). So yes, this humidifier is pretty quiet, but only on the "Low" setting. I thought I could just crank it up to "High" to put more moisture in the air, but on that setting the humidifier is too loud and my son is unable to sleep through it. So I tried "Medium", which is a little loud, but still not helping with the dryness. I have tried "High" during the day/"Low" at night, and also "Medium" all the time, but it is still too dry in his room.

3. We use a sound-only baby monitor in our son's room. When the humidifier setting is on "Medium" or "High", we are unable to hear anything through the monitor except the humidifier. It's not that big of a deal for us (because we don't really need to use the monitor for our toddler), but take this into consideration if you are buying this for an infant's room.

4. This 1-gallon tank is supposed to last for up to 24 hours. It does, but only if you leave it on "Low" all of the time. When left on "Medium", it has to be refilled every 16 hours, approximately.

On the plus side, it is easy to fill, and the reservoir does seem to stay cleaner than the Crane did. These are the only reasons that I did not give it 1 star. I really wished that this worked better for us because the idea of a humidifier that helps to reduce the amount of bacteria in the air is really appealing.

When I received this humidifier, I was very pleased with the design, how efficiently it used water, and the fact that the UV light killed 99.9% of the germs. The noise emitted from the humidifier was minimal, but I found the blue light on the dial annoying. Still, that complaint was minor. All things appeared well until I awoke this morning to find that the towel the humidifier was sitting on was soaking wet. I've always been careful with placing a humidifier on furniture and never had a problem with one leaking. That all changed with this unit. Not only do I have a faulty unit, but now the top of my good wood furniture is ruined! I believe this humidifier hasn't been out too long, and I would recommend waiting to purchase it until all the kinks have been worked out!

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Bought the Vicks 3900 humidifier (with the UV light) and used it every night. The instructions suggest replacing the filter once every 1-3 months. The filter developed mold and dirty buildup within about 1 month. The unit began to to emit a moldy smell soon after. The humidifier basically becomes a mold growing and spraying unit unless you keep up with cleaning and buying new $12 filters every few weeks.

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Bought one of these for baby's room, had it for a year, no problems. Just bought 3 more. Have a humidistat, these do in fact raise the humidity, I've measured it. Though keep in mind a humidifier is not going to cure your baby's nasal/respiratory completely and may not help at all...but these do provide humidity. Never had any problems. Some reviews mention "leaking"...the only way this will leak is if you somehow get water in the fan assemble inside, then it drains out some holes on the bottom(did this accidentally while cleaning it--there are signs telling which way to drain it to avoid this), otherwise there is no logical way these can leak...it has to be user error.

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We have gone through a bunch of humidifiers. This one si great. It isn't totally silent, but quiet enough that our 20 month old sleeps through it. The tank is also one of the easiest I have seen to fill. The filters are relatively cheap. $20 for three at amazon.

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