Vornado EVDC500 Energy Smart Evaporative Humidifier with Automatic Shut-off, 2 Gallon Capacity, LED Display & MD1-0002 Replacement Humidifier Wick (2-Pack),White

I really like this humidifier. It looks good, is easy to use, and is effective. It even has tank lights, that are just bright enough to see the water level in the canisters, looks kinda cool at night, and may be just enough to prevent you from stumbling over it in the dark. The canisters are easy to fill (it won't fit in the sink, though), and there's no spillage when I remove or install the canister. I don't even have to turn it off to replace a canister. I was surprised at how much water this unit can put into the air in a short time for its size. At high speed it can easily evaporate 3 gallons a day. (If you need more than that, then you need a MUCH bigger unit.) But even more surprising to me was how effective it is at slow speed. It put a half gallon into the air overnight while running at its slowest possible speed, set to 45% humidity, energy smart mode, with the fan running so slow it was barely turning. At that speed it is totally silent and difficult to tell it's even running. Occasionally the fan would speed up slightly as needed, and sometimes it would stop. Yet it still put a half gallon into the air in 12 hours.Unlike ultrasonic humidifiers, the air coming out of this humidifier is not a cloud of atomized water droplets that hopefully will finish evaporating before they descend onto your furniture. And any impurities that were in the water are left behind in the wick, which is why you have to change the wick from time to time. Like other Vornado products, this unit does a good job of circulating the air. You can feel the vortex several feet above the unit when running at medium speed. The air is cool (I measured 60 degrees Fahrenheit), the natural result of evaporation. Although not mentioned in the manual, this unit actually has two automatic modes. After selecting Energy Smart mode, you can still select Hi or Lo fan speed. Hi speed results in tighter humidity control; Lo speed is quieter (virtually silent). Both speeds are variable, in that they speed up or slow down as needed to maintain the set humidity. One of the tanks tends to empty before the other one. One side may even drain almost completely before the other one even starts. Turns out, it is very sensitive to leveling. Placing a very thin magazine under one side will cause that canister to empty preferentially. Although it may be aesthetically pleasing to have both canisters drain at the same rate, it doesn't affect the operation, and may actually be less convenient. It is easier to top off one canister than to have to top off both of them. I deliberately unleveled mine slightly for just that reason.Update:I like this humidifier so much I am ordering another one.Additional Thoughts: After doing some research, and some math, I learned that 10,000 cubic feet of air holds almost exactly 1 gallon of water at 75° Fahrenheit at 60% humidity. So in theory, if I start at zero, I should be able to raise the humidity of the air in my 30,000 cubic foot home to 60% by adding 3 gallons of water. (Mine is a typical house with about 1500 square feet of living space plus vaulted ceilings plus a full basement, recent construction). With this humidifier that should take about 24 hours - maybe longer because the furniture, walls, and carpet will also absorb some humidity. But in reality I find that it takes about a gallon a day just to MAINTAIN the humidity. That means my house must be "leaking" humidity - exchanging it with outside air (or maybe the furnace is using it up somehow). The amount of exchange must be around 100% of the air daily, or more, because the humidity outside isn't zero. I suspect that (A) this is rather typical, and (B) there is a very large variation in how airtight a home is, as well as large variation due to weather. The conclusion is that predicting how much humidifier you need, or how much water you need to add to the air daily, or how much area a given humidifier will cover, is very difficult and is at best only a wild guess. Only trial and error can determine the capacity needed. (I suspect the only reason a coverage area is even advertised is become someone started making such a claim and everyone else has to follow suit or be perceived as inferior.) The practical strategy is probably to buy one, and if it isn't enough buy another, or look for an alternate solution. The standard of measurement should be how much water can the humidifier put into the air in, say, 24 hours. This is easy to determine - how much and how often do you have to refill it - and it's usually stated with reasonable accuracy in the advertised specs. (It will vary somewhat with the ambient humidity and temperature.) If I try to maintain a certain humidity on a long term basis using an ultrasonic (cool mist) humidifier and tap water (which contains impurities and some salt from the water softener) I soon get a light grey salty deposit all over everything, particularly immediately around the humidifier itself. All those impurities in the water are now on my furniture and carpet. (And some of it feels kind of sticky - yuck!) It is therefore necessary to used distilled (or very pure) water or else use an evaporative type humidifier, such as this one, which traps the impurities in the wick - and either wash or replace the wick periodically. (Another reviewer explained that the wicks can usually be washed a few times if done very gently.) Obviously, there is a cost trade-off between paying for pure water or paying for wicks, and the pureness of your tap water is a big factor. Ordered 2nd unit. This one is slightly different from my first one. It has 3 fan speeds instead of two. The third speed is only available in manual mode (not energy-smart mode), and on the box it says 4 gallons per day instead of 3 gallons per day maximun output, presumeably because of the extra high fan speed. I'll probably never use the highest fan speed because it's rather noisy and I don't really need it. Power usage.With a cheap meter (Kill A Watt P4400) (I won't guarantee its accuracy) this is what a I measured: Unplugged 0.0 watts (sanity check). Plugged in, off 0.4 watts. On, without fan running 0.5 watts. On, Fan LO, economy mode 0.7 to 2.1 watts. On, Fan HI, economy mode 0.8 to 4.6 watts. On, Fan HH 7.3 watts.Electricity costs (first order rough approximation) about a dollar a watt per year if run 24/7. (This is precisely accurate at 11.4 cents per kilowatt hour). So typical usage will be $2 - $4 per year if you run it all year. My observation is that economy mode probably saves energy because the unit is remarkably efficient (gallons evaporated per watt-hours used) at very low fan speeds.

UPDATE 3: It's now been 3 years since Vornado replaced my original defective tanks which were causing my units to leak. I've had no problems since. Upgrading the rating to 4 stars now that long term durability and reliability has been established. I also want to update the original review to note that I always use the eco mode now. I can't verify whether it uses less energy - but it's a lot quieter.UPDATE 2: My machine is no longer leaking after Vornado replaced all 4 tanks on my two machines. There needs to be no air inside for them to work properly, and once there's an air leak, they will drain themselves without stopping, causing the water leak. The plastic these tanks are made of is not strong enough to handle the weight when filled, so I expect this to happen again. I'm raising my rating for to 3 stars because of the excellent customer service, but the design is still flawed, so this will never get the 5 stars in my original review. Vornado said they will replace tanks indefinitely even past the the warranty, which tells me they're aware of the flaw. But at least they stand by the product. So if yours leaks, call for new tanks. I still like it despite all this.UPDATE: I purchased two of these in January 2018. As you can see below, I originally gave it a glowing 5 star review. That's now down to 2 stars. Why? Because I'm having the same leaking problem so many others are having within both units. It's happening to far too many people to be a random manufacturing defect. It's a design defect. I can no longer recommend this product until Vornado sorts this out.I rarely give 5 stars unless a product approaches perfection. This one does. After having had ultrasonic humidifiers, I can definitively say I'm not going back after owning this model. Evaporative is definitely the better technology. The ultrasonics will spew bacteria in your air unless you clean them daily. And they will leave white dust all over the place unless you exclusively use distilled water, which is expensive and impractical. Any evaporative model eliminates all that. Traditionally, the knock on the evaporative models has been they are loud and thus not appropriate for bedrooms. This model is whisper quiet on the low speed - you can barely hear anything. High speed is loud, but you only need to use that if it's been turned off and you want to raise the humidity as quickly as possible. It can operate most of the time on low and maintain your preferred humidity.This model is on a pricier side, but it's worth every penny given the superior features, design, and build quality compared to the competition. It includes a humidistat that has a setting range of 40-60% humidity. When it comes reaches your set level, it'll turn off and come back on again when needed. This is a mandatory feature in any humidifier in my opinion - and many cheap ones lack it. The electronic display is photosensitive and will darken as your room does, which is huge for us sleepers sensitive to light. The two 1 gallon tanks are easy to remove and fill. They won't fit in most sinks though. Either use your tub or a sink with a hand sprayer faucet. The tanks have a very subtle backlighting that will blink when both are empty. This feature is defeatable if it annoys you. Don't worry, you can't really see it in the dark. The best part is the DC motor for the fan. These are far more energy efficient and durable than the typical AC fan motor - as evidenced by the 10 year warranty you get on the motor. Lastly, it is easily comes apart for cleaning thanks to good design.Cons are few and really nitpicking more than true flaws. There's an eco button that supposedly provides better energy efficiency. From what I can tell, this is a dubious claim. It basically allows the fan to run in various speeds as needed beyond just high and low. But when my unit was off because the set humidity was reached, hitting the eco button resulted in the fan coming on and staying on - albeit at a speed slower than the normal low speed. I don't see how causing the fan to run when it otherwise wouldn't is more efficient. So I leave that feature off. My other issue is the lack of an on board hygrometer, which is a readout that tells you what the humidity in the room currently is. Finally, the fact that this requires two filter wicks means you have a consumable that incurres a lifetime recurring expense to operate this. They run about $13-$14 a pair and the manual states they'll last 6-8 weeks on average. That will add up over the years, and they can be tough to find. Two are included to get you started.In conclusion, I highly recommend this evaporative model over ultrasonics. No white dust + no bacteria in the air = yes please. And I recommend this Vornado because it's high quality. It's relatively expensive, but you get what you pay for. They have a cheaper 1 gallon model with the DC motor, the EVDC300. They also have some even cheaper models with AC motors and varying water tank capacities if you want to save more. I'll conclude with a piece of advice: if you use an evaporative unit, get some bacteriostat solution to add to the water. It'll keep the unit and water clear of microorganisms and will greatly extend the life of the filter wicks beyond the estimated 8 weeks. I consider its use mandatory.

Compré el humidificador hace 1 semana y ya está $600 pesos más barato.El producto como tal funciona muy bien.

I found this item to be very quiet. It was easy to use and accomplished what I wanted it to. The air here (Alberta) is exceptionally dry. I am now able to put moisture in my air.

The variable speed fan used to move the air is a noisy, vibrating monstrosity, and you can tell it's a piece of junk just from a glance. Nearly 50% of the fan diameter is hub - it looks like the kind of cheap CPU fans you got back in the 486 days. (It's the one pictured on the left.) Despite the modern standard 12cm diameter, it's thicker with a non-hub fan area of only 74cm², driven by 7 stubby, aggressively pitched blades. They didn't even bother mounting it with rubber grommets.I replaced it with a cheap computer case fan from an ancient bulk order (still hard-bolted on without vibration dampening), and while now it only works at one speed, it move about as much air as the medium speed, while being quieter than the previous low speed. And of course it is - this standard, off-the-shelf mass-produced design has a non-hub fan area of 93.5cm², driven by 9 gentle curved blades, moving high volumes with minimal turbulence at any speed. And keep in mind, this isn't a Noctua or some such - it's something I bought in a 4-pack a decade ago because it was cheap and useful to keep on-hand for occasions like this.I'm keeping mine now that I've fixed it, but if you don't plan on doing the same (and factoring in the aftermarket fan cost - you'll need a 3-pin, and to shave down the plug to fit as it uses a more generic type of PCB plug), give this company a pass.This kind of sloppy corner cutting is why no one cares any more about your product being "designed in America."

Last year, I bought EV100 which went straight to recycle bin because of technical issues - wick wouldn’t get wet no matter what!Apparently, it was a known issue based on reviews on Amazon (US)! But, we threw out the box before using it for first time!This time, even though there are tons of complains with small cracks on its tanks, I decided to give it a try - without throwing the box!Thankfully, everything is 100%. No cracks and wicks get water perfectly.However, it’s ugly! I liked EV100 / 200 design more than this one! It was unique and kind of reminded me of Star Trek stuff! LOLThis one is not that bad though. I can live with it as long as it works. The energy saving feature is nice to have considering Vornado’s smallest fans use over 20W!The wick is kind of expensive and this one requires 2 = around $12 ~$18 depending how seller feels like!! I bought 5 pack for $12 and good to go until Spring!I wish we could fill the tanks from top instead of removing them completely and take them all the way to sink! Many similar products have switched to top filling.Closing the tank’s lid, you must be extra careful and don’t overtight them or - YES, you will break them - or cause those tiny little cracks = water leakage!All in all, I recommend this product. If your room / entire space is about over 600 SQ, get this one. If smaller, the EV300 should do. Those numbers advertised by manufactures are not accurate.My apartment is about 1200 sq (2 bedrooms) and humidity is about 35% - default setting + energy saving enabled.Also, keep in mind these stuff are much safer and cleaner than ultrasonic humidifiers. Most important, you don’t get white stuff all over your furnitures or your hair!We still use ZeroWater to make sure filters last longer, less cleaning and safer air to breath!

It’s a hard-to-clean design, a difficult-to-open water tank. While it has some positive features, such as being noise-free, its drawbacks make it a less desirable option for purchase.