Humidifiers Reviews

The Hamilton Beach humidifier looked like a great product at first glance - digital humidity controls, easily carried water tank, easy cleaning and disassembly.

Unfortunately, the humidifier did not perform as well as I had hoped. Here's why:
1) In order to maintain more than 25% humidity in my relatively small room, I had to keep the fan speed on high.
2) With the fan speed on anything above "whisper," the humidifier was too noisy to sleep.
3) The wicking filter did not pull water up into the airpath very well - half the filter remained dry during operation.
4) The water reservoir emptied in less than four hours.

This humidifier might be good for someone hoping to increase humidity in a mildly dry environment, but was certainly not adequate for my apartment in New York this past winter.

I bought this humidifier about a year ago and overall have been very pleased with it. My apartment is upwards of 1,000 square feet, which puts it near the top end of the unit's rated capacity. Nonetheless, I have found it more than capable of reaching and maintaining a comfortable humidity level on even the driest days. For large spaces, I recommend running the unit at high until a comfortable humidity is reached, then switching to the quiet setting to maintain that level.

The dishwasher-safe tank and water tray are a snap to clean, and cut down substantially on required maintenance time versus other units. In addition, the large fill hole on the water tank makes refilling a snap.

Another reviwer mentioned a problem with removing the cap to refill the water tank. I have encountered this as well, but have found that the cause is typically a difference in air pressure inside vs. outside the tank. Simply pressing down on the plunger in the center of the water cap before opening resolves the problem quite nicely.

My only complaint about the unit (and the only thing keeping this product from earning 5 stars) revolves around the construction of the water tank itself. About 11 months of moderate-to-heavy use from when I purchased the unit, a hairline crack developed in the tank near the handle. This crack was enough for air to enter in through the top, which in turn allowed too much water to trickle out the bottom into the tray, and overfilled the tray (therefore overflowing the unit). That said, Hamilton Beach stands behind their 3-year warranty, and a few minutes on the phone with customer service (the phone number is printed right on the unit) was all it took to get the ball rolling on a warranty replacement.

Bought this for the baby's room several months ago. Very quiet on lowest setting and works great to maintain humidity level that you set on the digital screen. Only wish that the digital screen was backlit to see at night.

Previously had a Hunter unit which got very loud after a few weeks. Returned that one and bought this. Been happy ever since.

If you run this item on high for 4-5 hours & stick your nose up to the vent you MAY detect a odor of menthol....maybe.

I bought this at Walgreens a year ago. I wish I hadn't. The humidifier seems OK at first with the mentol because you can easily detect menthol. But really this isn't doing much at all. It doesn't push moisture in the air whatsoever when my Sunbeam did. The difference was that you can feel the water on the Sunbeam, and on the Halls version you couldn't. This means that all your getting is a menthol treatment that you could easily get from a cough drop or two. Not recommended unless you just have a cough, not a cold.