In the past, I have been very disappointed with humidifiers. Either they leak or don't seem to do much of anything. However, this Holmes U Tower humidifier is sleek in design and has a few nice features such as:
The two filters are easily accessible at the base of the unit.
The tank is easy to handle, fill, and not too heavy to carry. If you have a small sink, you can always fill this slightly long tank in the bathtub or by using a teapot or water jug.
You have the option to set the humdifier manually on low, medium, or high humidity continuously or you can set it to automatically go on at low, medium, or high at a pre-set humidity level. If you use the automtic feature, then the unit cycles on and off like a thermostat would (although it does that too frequently for my taste).
In addition, the display shows the humidity of the room the unit is in, which is a nice feature.
The humidity level increases pretty fast, which is not typical of other units I've experienced.
According to the manual (I haven't tried this feature), you also have an hour timer option of setting the unit to turn on or off after so many hours. This means, for example, you can program it to turn off 5 hours later or turn on 5 hours later.
The unit has a small footprint (see cavaet below), so it doesn't take up much floor space.
With regard to the operation of the unit, you must remember to press and hold the on/off button to turn off the unit. If you unplug the unit, the humidifier returns to its factory default settings so you'll have to quickly reprogram it every time. This is exceptionally easy to do, but some might find this annoying.
One very nice feature that remains in operation when turning off the unit from the front panel but leaving it plugged in is that the humidity of the room is always displayed. Obviously, you lose this benefit when you unplug the humidifier from the wall outlet.
When setting the unit to the automatic feature that enables it to operate like a thermostat, the unit may cycle on and off every few seconds or minutes depending on the humidity of the room, which means you'll hear the fan cycle on and off repeatedly. If this is likely to disturb you while sleeping, then just put the unit into manual mode as I find you can never have too much humidity in the winter anyway. Of course, make sure you have enough water in the tank to run all night. The tank is rated to hold water for 36 hours of continuous use. However, I have only been able to get 10 hours continuous use on a tank at the highest humidity setting so keep this in mind when leaving the unit unattended.
I ordered the wick filters from the manufacturer because they are hard to find elsewhere; even though Wal Mart and other local stores carry the Holmes line, they don't necessarily sell all the filters for every model. The filters arrived promptly within a few days.
The box says the unit comes with a 5-year limited warranty but the pamphlet inside says a 3-year limited warranty. I called Holmes at 1-800-546-5637 and they confirmed it was actually a 3-year limited warranty, so don't be swayed by the box advertising.
There is one caveat that you might consider important, although this would not deter me from buying the unit. Since this unit is a tower model, it is easier to knock over (especially on an unsturdy surface such as carpet). You might want to take this into consideration in case you have young kids that run around or large pets that might wreck havoc in your house--meaning you may have to alter the placement of the unit to account for this scenario. My observation is that the chances of knocking this unit over are somewhat higher than the squat-to-the-floor models I'm so use to and which have been so ineffective.
Overall, I am very impressed with the unit compared to the four other humidifiers I've had previously. I had a Vicks humidifier, a different Holmes humidifier, a Hunter humidifier, and another one whose name I can't remember. I've always been less than satisfied, so this is a nice change. I've been so pleased with this unit that over six months later, I ordered a second one.
Update October 2010 Finally one of my unit's humidity sensors failed. However, since I've had this unit for several years that is to be expected. I can still use the unit to increase the humidity in the room but I just won't know what the humidity level is unless I look at my second humidifier.
Pros:
displays humidity all the time
variable speed settings. 3 manual and 3 auto speed.
tower design does not take up too much space.
easy to add water and change filter.
Cons:
due to the size (length) of the tank, you do need a deep sink to add water. I use the bath tub.
the fan is loud even at lowest setting.
uses two filters.
Buy Holmes HM630-U Cool Mist Tower Humidifier Now
Love the unit itself, however after 3 days of running it only 8 hours a night, I noticed the filter guage was saying "Replace Filter"
So I called the company to say, "hey .. it's only been 3 days. I think the filter guage is broken" and they had me check the filter (it was yellow and crusty) and they said, "no .. it's your water. you need to replace your filter or use distilled water." Then she laughed and said they had customers that replace their filters several times a week because of their water
So of course I'm not going to replace my filter every 3 days and I'm not going to use a couple gallons of distilled water every night before I go to bed in this thing ...
so if you have hard water .. this may not be the unit for you. Buyer Beware.
Read Best Reviews of Holmes HM630-U Cool Mist Tower Humidifier Here
This product seemed to have been designed by someone who had never used a humidifier before. The water tank is nearly impossible to fill; there's nothing to hold on to once the tank is upside down, and the opposite end is sloped so you can't rest it against the bottom of your bathtub while it fills. Once it's full, a juggling act is required in order to screw on the tank lid, since you can't set the tank down anywhere. After trying twice and only succeeding in spilling water all over myself and the bathroom, I left this task for my husband to take care of, as he has very large hands and was able to fill the tank more easily, although he too complained that the tank was so poorly designed.
The tank capacity is too small; to keep my bedroom at a good humidity level, we have to refill the tank twice a day. Still, the thing did what it was meant to do--humidified the room--until after three weeks the full tank leaked all over the wood floor and area rug. We thought the top must not have been screwed on correctly, but it happened again, warping the wood floor. Leaving the full tank in the bathtub, it didn't leak at all, which made us think that something had gone wrong with the base.
I didn't waste my time trying to get this thing fixed. I returned it.
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Got one for our house and one for our cabin, very impressed!! Not to loud at all, has 3 speed settings as well as full auto settings adds humidity VERY FAST, hours not days.
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This filter is way too expensive. Vornado must live by the razor blade business model sell air filter units for cheap (well, not really) but charge obscene amounts for replacement filters.
