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

I have had my Vicks Humidifier for over 2 years now. I love it but haven't reviewed it until now that I'm buying another one for my 2nd bedroom I read so many negative reviews I felt compelled to put in my 2 cents.NOISE: I'm not sure what anyone expects from something that literally has to boil your water but to me it's pretty quiet. I hear a gurgle now and then but if anything the quiet hum helps me sleep and never wakes up my twins (i have 3 year old boys)EFFECTIVENESS: I usually work this on high in the boys bedroom. It works great, I see and feel the steam in the air. It warms up the room nicely so I don't have to heat the house so high throughout the night. The moisture is perfect, not too much. For those wanting less moisture you can put it on the low setting which also reduces the noise. Without this the air in my house is very dry and my son gets nosebleeds. He has NEVER gotten one if I run this humidifier. It's like magic. Without the humidifier he is SURE to get a nosebleed and this does the trick. What a difference it makes!Also, the auto shut off feature has not failed me yet which is a plus because I do forget sometimes.It does not overheat, has never leaked hot water on me. My boys have both touched it (if you have toddlers you know they will touch everything) and it does not burn and does not leak.MEDICINE CUP: I use the Vicks Vaposteam and that feature works great, it scents up the entire bedroom and keeps the boys breathing easy. If I run out of Vaposteam, another hint is to rub the VapoRub on the boys chests and the steam from the Humidifier actually picks that up and really makes it effective.CLEANING: In a nutshell, I am LAZY. With twins, I have little time but even I find the cleaning easy and worth the 15-20 minutes, which I honestly only do like once a week. I see alot of people use Vinegar, but you might want to consider what I use which I originally purchased when I had my first cool mist humidifier. Its the BIONAIRE CLEAN AWAY HUMIDIFIER CLEANING SOLUTION. I buy a big 32 oz bottle of this and it lasts a long time. I soak the parts for about 10 minutes and the lime and mineral crusts just falls apart. I use a brush lightly, rinse and voila! Perfectly clean that quick. For the tank, I throw some up in there with some water, swish it around, rinse a couple times completely and the tank is still clean with absolutely no stains after 2 years! So for those that don't like to clean, definitely try the Bionare, it will make your life easy. I buy it online.OVERALL: No performance problems after 2 years. I'm buying a 2nd one bc now the boys like to crawl into bed with me in the middle of the night, and I can't bother to take it out of their room to transport into mine in the middle of the night and hubby and I have decided we want to breathe easier this winter also.I wouldn't buy anything else for our bedrooms. If I needed one for the living room that is the only way I would consider getting something else simply because I feel this is suited for a medium size room, not large.But what this promises to do, it does. I love it and if you get it for the right reasons with the realistic expectations, you will too!!

I've owned several humidifiers over the years. None last forever and with a warm mist unit after 4-5 years they get pretty skanky and probably should be replaced anyway.The unit is small and stylish as humidifiers go. Does not have an adjustable dial to pick a certain humidity level, but any unit that I had in the past, I've just set the dial on the highest setting and left it there so having a dial is not a necessary option in my opinion.This unit has two settings, low and high. Low is as quiet as any unit I've used. On the high setting it does make a little more noise than any other unit I've owned. It is not obnoxiously loud but if you have it right next to your bed and you are a light sleeper, you'd either want it on low or this may not be the unit for you. Having said that, on the high setting this unit does push out a lot of moisture. There is the possibility it is louder because it pushes out more moisture than other units but I have no way to know for sure.A big plus for me is it is extremely easy to clean. The heating element is easy to get to and shaped in a way so you can easily get to every inch of it to get it clean.Bottom line, for the price this is a great little machine. If it breaks down in 2 years, I'll buy another and if that one breaks down in two years, I'll still have saved money over a more expensive machine that lasts four years. I've never used one more than that long anyway. Save your money and buy this.Water lasts as rated. On high it will last just over 12 hours. On low it lasts much longer. I bought two of them and they are both working great. If either breaks down in less than a year, I'll come back and add to this posting to report the problem. If there are no additional add-on postings here from me. Then the machines are working just fine.------------------**Update 10/16/2010**I used two of these last winter to keep my whole house moist. It is worth mentioning that these types of devices are electric hogs. I'm sure it is not just this brand but all warm mist humidifiers are like this. The electric use should be no big surprise as a warm mist humidifier is essentially boiling water the whole time it is turned on, but it would be nice if the manufacture had estimated electric usage on the box. How bad was it? We were running two of these every night at bedtime and turned them off during the day while out of the house. In an average winter month, the electric bill was just as high as it was when running the central AC during the summer. We were running them on high. This winter we will run them on low to see if we get enough humidity and save some money but paying an extra $60-90 a month on electric bills to keep our skin moist throughout the house was a bit much to swallow.

I’ve been using the Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier for a few weeks now, and overall, I’m really pleased with its performance. It puts out a steady, warm mist that helps a lot with dry air and congestion especially during cold and allergy seasons. The option to add Vicks VapoSteam is a nice bonus when you need extra relief.The unit is quiet enough for nighttime use and does a good job humidifying a medium-sized bedroom. Cleaning is fairly easy, though you do need to stay on top of it to prevent mineral buildup especially if you have hard water.A couple of things to note: the water tank could be a little larger it usually lasts through the night, but just barely. And while it’s not loud, there’s a slight bubbling sound that might bother light sleepers.