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by Laura Moser
Laura Moser tests seven humidifiers in her own apartment, each for five 24-hour periods, and ranks the results with a numerical score based on performance, maintenance requirements and overall… attractiveness. The Kenmore 15408 8-Gallon humidifier is top-rated. Though Moser notes some personal reservations about warm-mist humidifiers, the Honeywell HWM-450 scores highly and "trounced" the other warm-mist humidifier tested. Two ultrasonic humidifiers, the Germ Guardian Manual Ultrasonic H2000 and Air-O-Swiss 7142, also rate highly. Though the write-ups on the individual humidifiers are not especially long, Moser does a good job describing the pros and cons of each humidifier and the testing methodology and criteria are well explained.
by Editors of Good Housekeeping
Engineers at the Good Housekeeping research institute scrutinize 21 room-size humidifiers, rating them on appearance, energy cost, user friendliness and how long the units take to humidify a room. Editors… cite the ultrasonic Air-O-Swiss 7144 as their "splurge-worthy pick." In the cool-mist category, the Honeywell HCM-300T is top-rated while the Enviracaire Germ-Free EWM-211D is the warm-mist pick. The Good Housekeeping article doesn't state how long they tested the humidifiers, nor do they reveal which 21 they checked other than the featured five. Their write-ups on each humidifier are just two to four sentences long, but they do list some drawbacks as well as praise.
by Editors of Allergy Buyers Club
Allergy Buyers Club sells humidifiers and other health-related equipment, so the only ratings here are for models that the retailer actually carries --humidifiers from Air-O-Swiss, Germ Guardian, Graco,… Ecor Environmental and Desert Spring, as of our most recent visit. It appears that these humidifiers are indeed tested and there are notes regarding noise level, ease of cleaning, etc. However, because the site's scope is so narrow, we don't know how the many other brands of humidifiers stack up. In addition, only higher-rated humidifiers ("very good" or better) get more extensive discussion.
by Editors of AllergyConsumerReview.com
Allergy Consumer Review, a sister site to Allergy Buyer's Club, has additional helpful "consumer expert" reviews of humidifiers, as well as advice on choosing a humidifier from President Mercia Tapping, who… suffers from allergies herself. If you poke around on this website, you will find constantly updated reviews and comments on a wider range of products, including Bemis and Hunter, which are no longer sold by Allergy Buyers Club.
by Editors of Consumer Reports
by Editors of Consumer Reports
by Contributors to Amazon.com
by Contributors to Sears.com
The consumer-written reviews here are limited to Kenmore and Holmes, but Sears does carry a few other brands. There are not a great number of owners posting here, and Kenmore models receive the best… ratings. The 8-gallon Kenmore 15408 gets the highest rating of any humidifier with 20 or more reviews. We did see some older complaints about the difficulty of finding filters for this Kenmore humidifier. A few newer reviews report that the fan is noisy on its highest setting.
by Contributors to Buzzillions.com
by Editors of Purity Planet
by James Dulley
James Dulley is an environmental engineer and syndicated columnist. His free online report gives a good introduction to humidifiers. For a fee, you can also buy his more detailed report. The longer report… includes brands not mentioned in other expert reviews such as Duracraft, Windchaser and Lasko. But this report has not been updated in several years and many discontinued models are listed. No humidifier ratings are furnished but there's a good buyer's guide, including a chart to help you determine the output capacity you need for your home.
by Vincent Iannelli, M.D.
Pediatrician Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com's Guide to Pediatrics, offers his top five humidifier picks for children, though he doesn't refer to any testing in the brief write-ups. The Vicks 3100 Mist… and Vicks Ultrasonic models are included. The Ultrasonic gets middling ratings by owners on user-review sites, however. Iannelli also warns parents to avoid warm-mist humidifiers to eliminate the possibility of a child being burned. (Note that ConsumerSearch and About.com are owned by the same company, but are independent editorially.)
by Editors of ConsumerGuide.com
Consumer Guide's humidifier reviews don't offer much useable guidance. Air-O-Swiss, Holmes and Hunter humidifiers get Best Buy recommendations, but those reviews were written several years ago when Consumer… Guide gave some type of recommendation to virtually every product mentioned with scant evidence of any real testing. More recent ratings of a trio of Kenmore humidifiers are more measured, but discussion is brief and offers little that could not be gleaned from reading product literature.
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 Honeywell HCM-630 QuietCare 3.0 Gallon Cool Moisture Humidifier  from Amazon.com New: $38.88 In Stock.
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 Air-O-Swiss AOS Ultrasonic Humidifier - 7135 from Amazon.com New: $146.07 In Stock.
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