Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier - Air Humidifier for Bedroom, Home & Large Room, Baby, Kids and Adults Soothing Steam Vaporizer for Cough, Congestion, Allergies & Dry Air, VapoSteam Compatible

After much research on a warm mist vs. cool mist humidifier, I chose the Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier with Auto shut-off. Actually, I had done my research (for home and small office) and narrowed my results down to the Crane (tear-drop one) and this one. While the Crane has tremendous reviews, one negative factor kept coming up: that it had many "fiddly bits" to clean, while the Vicks does not. So I was prepared to get the Vicks ...Just before I ordered the Vicks though, I was at a warehouse store and saw a Bionaire Humidifier on sale. Since I was there, I just picked up 2 without paying much attention - perhaps thinking that it was good just to grab something at a store instead of waiting for it to arrive online. I realized it was an Ultrasonic Cool Mist, but thought to give it a try anyhow. After ~2 days of running the Cool Mist most of the day, we noticed a white film on all our dark furniture in our home. Unfortunately, true to the nature of Cool Mist humidifiers, everything in your water becomes dispersed into the air (minerals, even potentially bacterial, fungal spores, etc) and we definitely saw the mineral "film" all over our bedroom. We switched to Reverse Osmosis (RO) water from tap water after that, which seemed to help a little bit, but it just seemed to take a few extra days before we still got a slight film. At my office, it took longer to observe the white film, but there is a different water source at that location. (THIS PARAGRAPH IS NOT ABOUT THE VICKS, BUT A COOL MIST ONE!)While cool mist humidifiers are easier to clean in the long run, the quality of water you put into the tank matters (if you are concerned about what may be dispersed into the air for you to breathe in). So I returned the Cool Mist ones and promptly ordered the Vicks Warm Mist on Amazon.The Vicks Warm Mist, as many people have pointed out, is more therapeutic in a cold, dry climate (such as Colorado). Since warm mist humidifiers boil the water, the water that is dispersed into the air is clean/distilled! There is no white film build-up anywhere (even after running it all day and/or all night for the past 3 weeks).The auto shut-off is necessary so that if the water runs out, the whole unit doesn't overheat. I run the humidifier in the office at night (with the treatment room doors open) when no one is there to properly humidify the office - while the Vicks can run ~18 hrs on low, it has run out of water before (I just didn't fill the tank completely thinking it would be good enough) and the auto shut-off has been helpful.As for cleaning, if you follow the directions and let the base air out when not using it (i.e. when my office is closed on the weekends, I drain out the water in the base & tank, keep the tank open [cap off] and the tank off of the base for the whole unit to dry), there really isn't a problem. While it is recommended to soak the base (heating elements) weekly with vinegar to remove any scale/build-up, I haven't had to do this yet after 3 wks of continuous use. We use RO water at home & at the office, so there is very little scaling on the heating elements. I plan to use vinegar once I begin to notice any build-up, of course.The only small negative is the built in "nightlight" around the dial. In an office during the day, the nightlight is insignificant. In a bedroom at night, however, the nightlight is annoying if one prefers darkness in the bedroom. It would be lovely to have an option to turn the light on/off, rather than just assume that everyone wants a nightlight attached to a humdifier! We cover the dial/light with a piece of thick paper everynight to mute the glow of the nightlight.Otherwise, the Vicks is quiet (there is always going to be sound from the water heating & occasional drip noises) enough & puts enough humidity (clean moisture) into the air for a unit at this price level. Is it nice to have a humidifier that has a humidity control (to set it to run until 40%, 50%, etc), or that is truly "whisper quiet," or that can run 24 hrs continuously? Sure! But those units typically cost 5x the price of the Vicks. So for what we were looking for at this price, this Vicks Warm Mist works superbly.Lastly, one of the tank caps came without the gasket/rubber o-ring to prevent the tank from leaking. We just tightened the cap on very tightly, but were afraid to crack any part of the plastic. I tried to go on Amazon to replace the missing o-ring, but after going through the options, it appeared as if I had to return the whole unit as the only "fix" for this. I didn't want to go through the hassel of shipping it back to Amazon for one missing rubber o-ring (& I didn't want to be without the humdifier in the middle of an extremely dry winter in Colorado), so I called Vicks about the missing o-ring. The o-ring is part of the tank cap, so they just sent me out a new cap+o-ring piece immediately. That is all we needed and we're good to go!

Works perfectly in my large bedroom. A bit noisy on the high setting, but it's a boiling sound that's more like white noise. As other reviews have stated though, the unit needs to be cleaned often as it develops a lot of scale, especially if you use tap water. After every 1-2 weeks of use, I take it apart (which is simple BTW) and pour an 80-20 mix of tap water and CLR to the top of the heating element. Then I reassemble the smaller vapor chamber to the unit and let both soak for about an hour. I then disassemble again, brush the scale away with an old toothbrush, and rinse. Now it's clean and ready to use for another 1-2 weeks. Easy and much cheaper than having to deal with filters and humidifier treatments. Also...no leaks, at least on my unit.

I was looking for a humidifier which DIDN'T make white dust everywhere, the way cool air ones do. This one is it! It's warm humid air, and runs about 10 hours on a full tank at max power.After about a month, I noticed it was getting more and more difficult to clean. It doesn't take long for lime to build up on the heating element, and it's positioned such that it's hard to scrub. I tried using distilled white vinegar, but it didn't come off very well as promised in the documentation. I ended up having to scrape it quite vigorously. Some sort of flexible cover for that element would be nice, which one could pop off and break away the brittle lime, then replace. I'm trying to come up with a solution for this and may post more info with my progress.It does a great job of humidifying though, so there's that!

Very very very very very very very good purchase. I have sinus issues during the winter, and this solved them immediately. During the rest of the year, I use this to make the air in my home more hospitable (i.e. less dry), which allows me to grow air-root plants. It also helps me to reduce the static shocks I get in the winter.The rest of this review looks like a lot of work, but it really really is not. The actual cleaning takes maybe 20 minutes of your time. The rest of it is just waiting for the white vinegar to do its work. I made my instructions very specific, so that is why my review is long.WORD OF WARNING:As with ANY warm-air humidifier, you need to own up to the fact that it will require regular cleaning. that come with it. You NEED to read the instructions that come with this product. Think of the humidifier like your phone, and think of cleaning the humidifier like charging your phone. Alternatively, think of the humidifier like your dishes, and think of cleaning the humidifier like cleaning your dishes. Using your humidifier will allow mineral build-up from the water you use to fill the tank (even if you use filtered water, like me, which GREATLY minimizes the mineral build-up). Using your phone will drain the battery, and using your dishes will make them dirty. If you want to use your phone, you need to charge it. If you want to use your dishes, you need to clean them. Don't expect some magical fairy to clean your things for you or charge your phone.The mineral build-up occurs because there are particles in your water, some of which are natural. Because this is a warm-air humidifier, the heating element will heat the water to create steam (i.e. evaporation). Whatever cannot evaporate will remain on the heating element. It's like taking salt water and leaving it in a pot under the sun. Eventually, all that will remain after several hours is the salt because the salt couldn't evaporate. The minerals cannot evaporate and will remain on the heating element. If you leave the mineral build-up on the heating element, the heating element cannot heat the water properly, and it also provides a very good environment for bacteria and mold to grow. You do NOT want bacteria and mold growing on your humidifier, because spores can become airborne, and you absolutely do NOT want to breathe that in.Here are a few tips:1) Use ONLY purified water (get a cheap Brita water pitcher) in the tank. This prevents you from having to clean it LITERALLY every time you fill the tank up. In other words, if you use unfiltered water, you will need to soak the heating element EVERY time your tank runs dry.2) If, like me, you use filtered water and you have let the humidifier run through 3 or 4 tanks-worth of water without cleaning it, you will want white vinegar, which comes in a huge 2-gallon jug at your local grocery store.3) When wiping off the heating element in your humidifier, use a soft cotton wash cloth or a paper towel. DO NOT USE A SCRUBBER or HARSH CLOTH ON THE HEATING ELEMENT. Rough/scrubby cloths, sponges, etc. will scratch and create grooves on the heating element, which provide more surface area for the mineral build-up to occur. (You'll see this reminder again later)How to clean it after you've filled and used up 3 to 4 tanks of filtered water:[note: "chamber" refers to the concave area around the heating element. "Tank" refers to the blue water tank that says "Vicks" on it.]1) For the love of all that is good in the world, UNPLUG the humidifier before you even begin cleaning. Then, let the heating element cool down for an hour.2) Remove the water tank and rinse it out (believe me, the tank can get dirty too, even if you use filtered water). Then remove all the removable parts (sounds stupid when I write it but once you get this humidifier in your house, you'll understand). You'll see this round, gray thing. That's the heating element.3) Fill the area surrounding the heating element with white vinegar, making sure you cover the top of the heating element. Let it sit overnight. The instructions say 20 minutes, but I have found that it's better to let it sit overnight or even over two nights, especially if you can see any white residue on the heating element. If, after a few hours, you see the white vinegar in the chamber turning cloudy, then empty the vinegar into the sink and replenish the chamber with fresh white vinegar.4) Drain the white vinegar into the sink and have tap water running while you do this.4) Rinse the heating element area (and anywhere that had white vinegar) with tap water.5) Use a soft dish cloth or Bounty paper towels (not the kind that you get in public bathrooms) to wipe the sides and top of the heating element.** Rinse with water. Then use a chopstick or a spoon to gently slide the towel or dish cloth down the sides of the chamber so you can wipe and dry the hard-to-reach parts of the humidifier. Rinse with water again.**DO NOT USE A SCRUBBER or HARSH CLOTH ON THE HEATING ELEMENT. Rough/scrubby cloths, sponges, etc. will scratch and create grooves on the heating element, which provide more surface area for the mineral build-up to occur.6) Thoroughly dry the humidifierUse again.