Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier for Small to Medium Rooms, White | Filter-Free Ope...

This humidifier exceeded my expectations! It’s very quiet, easy to set up, and works perfectly throughout the night. The mist output is great, and it helps keep the room comfortable without making everything feel damp. I noticed a big difference in the air quality, especially while sleeping. It also has a sleek design that looks nice in any room and is very easy to refill and clean. I’m very happy with this purchase and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a reliable humidifier.

There are some changes to the New Vicks Warm Miist Humidifier vs the Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier from years past. From the off, the mist has a strong metallic smell that is somewhat overwhelming which leaves a silver film that covers everything in its path. This film is not noticeable by the naked eye. I discovered it during routine cleaning a couple of hours after the device was being used. Let me explain. One of the items use frequently is an aluminum baking pan with an attachable coated baking rack. Prior to using the humidifier, I washed the baking pan, made and cooked some biscuits. The humidifier was delivered. I was excited and anxious to get it up and running so I left the kitchen to read the complete instructions to setup my new humidifier. Fun fact: I grew up with, raised a family, with and passed on the Vicks family of products to my families. Long story short, Vicks products is/has been a staple in my life so purchasing the item was a no brainer. Still excited with a huge smile on my face, my new Vicks humidifier was up and running. Spewing a strong stream of warm mist. I immediately noticed the metallic smell which was overwhelming! I immediately vented the area by opening my windows and turned on a floor Fan. This helped elevate some of the smell. Oh, forgot to mention that I live in a small one bedroom apartment. So charming. NOTE: I thought that this metallic smell may have been a due to manufacturing and would dissipate. It did after the second water refill. After dealing with the humidifiers smell, I went back to the kitchen to finish cooking. The biscuits completed baking and was placed in a covered warmer. I stated wiping down my baking pan and noticed a grey film covering my baking pan. My baking pan sat on the counter for while I opened the windows to help with the smell. The biscuits had already been placed in the warmer. I threw them out anyway for safety and made more later. After cleaning the pan, I noticed the same film on my kitchen counter other pieces of furniture. I cleaned everything thoroughly (it was cleaning day anyways). Incentive to deep clean. NOT TURNED OFF BY THIS! COME ON, THIS IS VICKS! Generations of taking care of the world's allergy safely!!! I turned off the humidifier, cleaned the element with vinegar and tried again. Refilled the reservoir, turned it on. No smell. No grey film. Problem solved. PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! TAKE THE TIME! (Not yelling! Emphasizing the importance before use) Before plugging in any newly received device! READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! Next, MY humidifier does not automatically shut off with low water level or any water level. I took a nap while humidifier was on. The reservoir had plenty of water in it and the air was comfortable. I used the high setting so the water dissipated quickly. Whe I woke up the display showed a red light and the reservoir was bone dry. The device was still running. The device did not automatically turn off. When I took my nap, I confidently thought, 'In the event the water level drops significantly, the device would automatically shut off, so no worries'! The device DID NOT AUTOMATICALLY SHUT OFF. Turns out, the automatic turn of is the red indicator light which warns of low water level. I/YOU have to actually turn off and unplug the device then reset the device by letting the device cool down (because of the warm steam feature), refill the reservoir with water, plug it back in and then turn it back on. This is what is considered the automatic shut off and reset. Laughing hysterically! Apologies! I guess actually seeing the low water level isn't sufficient to indicate a water refill is needed. MORE LAUGHTER!! Apologies again. Get this, there is actually the word "reset" on the heating dial. The instructions call it "the reset button". There IS NO RESET BUTTON! So don't waste time looking for one or pressinh the word "reset" on the dial repeatedly!! It is just the word painted/stenciled on the dial. Yes, I pressed the word "reset" repeatedly, as if I would make it so. You can stop Laughing at me now!! Okay keep laughing. So funny! Now to the GOOD BITS. Before I bought my Vicks warm humidifier, I bought an air purifier and cool humidifier (NOT vicks brand, shame on me)! The purifier is actually a nice surprise and works beautifully removing unwanted smells quickly. And once plugged in, after a few seconds (the automatic feature actually works). The device turns on and automatically calculates the configuration and removes unwanted smells quickly. The cool mist DID NOT perform as designed. However, if you lead a calm, stress free life and looking for a change. Get a cool mist humidifier. Your frustration level will soar, giving you the much needed change desired. More Really Good Bits: I SO LOVE this device. In spite of the initial quirks!!! The air is completely free of dryness. I breathe comfortably. I no longer experience dryness in the air, my throat, nasal passages, eyes, fingernail breakage, crunchy hair, dry scalp and more are now nonexistent. Try this device! Buy this device! Take care of this device after purchase and it will love you back! Thanks guys for reading my post! I hope this information is/was helpful for/to you! Katherine

This is a good design. The tank has a handle on the bottom, so that when you pick it up to go fill it, you flip it, and can hold it with the water inlet now facing up. Before you refill the water tank, I think it is good practice to rinse out the heating element. The unit is easy to dis-assemble, so rinsing every time can help prevent buildup. The heating element area can be easily accessed to clean with vinegar solutions and bleach solutions (mixture instructions in manual). Generally I use a 5% vinegar to water solution, and 1 tsp of bleach per gallon of water (in the tray, and inside the tank), to help clean and sterilize. I soak with the vinegar solution once a week, and sterilize with bleach every other week. Make sure to rinse several times after you use each solution. The big advantage to using a warm mist (boiling) humidifier is that the boiling process sterilizes the water on the way out, killing bacteria, and leaves sediment behind in the heating tray. Hypersonic humidifiers have a metal part that vibrates very fast, which turns the water into a mist for a short time. Bacteria growth is very easy in sonic humidifiers, and due to the material design of sonic humidifiers - you usually can not use bleach solutions. You can end up breathing in the bacteria and get sick. Sterilizing is difficult with sonic humidifiers. The other downside to a sonic humidifier is that is that unlike boiling, minerals can get taken into the air with the sonic mechanism. Often you may see deposits of powder on nearby furniture legs, or the floor. This means that you can also breathe this in if the airflow is moving enough. Sonic humidifiers that advertise a "warm mist" feature are really just heating up the mist a little bit on the way out. That action is not enough to sterilize against bacteria in the mist, and does not steralize the water in the heating tray to inhibit bacteria growth in the chamber. I've used sonic humidifiers before. After a few days, a pink layer started growing. Due to chemical limitations, and even design flaws with hard edges and even layers of plastic screwed together), they were difficult if not impossible to clean. This warm mist humidifier has no concealed edges in the water tray, so it is very easy to soak, wipe, sterilize and clean. It is a good design. I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 for a few reasons. 1) The water tank top should be squared off, so it would be easier to put on the counter to fill water instead of needing to steady it. 2) The water tank hole is small. This makes it harder to pour in water. A larger hole would make it easier and faster. 3) The o-ring in the water tank cap is loose and can fall out. You must remember to check that it is properly wedged into the cap before screwing it on, otherwise water can spill out once you flip it back over.

Long term update: I first bought this humidifier back in 2012. I have run it almost continuously every winter since. It has held up great. I just recently in 2023 bought another and I was VERY happy to see they have not changed a thing since 2012. If something ain't broke, don't fix it. This is a great and simple warm mist humidifier that will crank out warm mist for many years. ----- I think I read every review of every humidifier on Amazon. It seemed like every one of them is destined to leak, burst into flames or turn into a level 3 biohazard. In the end I decided that I agreed with another reviewer and it just made sense to buy one of the cheaper ones and see how it worked out. To start off this review I think I have to let everyone know a little basic biology. Any time there is standing water it is a potential breeding ground for mold, bacteria, etc. This isn't only true in your little Vicks humidifier--it is true everywhere on the planet. If you have ever had a leak behind a wall you know how quickly standing water can turn into a problem and fast. However, there is not an abundant food source in your humidifier so the risk is manageable with some precautions. I'm just going to list them in no real order of importance because they are all important: 1) Don't let water sit in your unit when it is off. This includes the water in the little reservoir below the big tank of water. Yes, empty that out too if you won't be using it for a while. 2) It is much easier to prevent a mold or bacterial overgrowth than it is to clean up once one starts. In fact if you get any serious overgrowth (which can happen to any humidifier) it probably makes sense to just throw it out and start over. 3) Clean the plastic on your unit with a thymol based cleaner. I use Seventh Generation Disinfecting Multi-Surface Cleaner, Lemongrass & Thyme 26 fl oz (786 ml) . It's great. It will leave behind just a tiny bit of thymol on the plastic parts and thymol is a natural germ fighter (derived from thyme). 4) Wash out the tank with bleach regularly. They say a tablespoon but I just pour in a bit of bleach and shake it. 5) Practice getting a good fit of all the pieces. There are, if memory serves, 6 pieces to this that need to all fit together like a Lego set. If you played with Legos as a kid this will be easy. If you didn't, don't panic, take a careful look and make sure you've fit all the parts together right. If you don't it will leak and you will be unhappy. If you feel like taking things apart and putting them back together isn't your thing you must look for a different unit. 6) There are only 2 settings--low and high. Low is really low and high is really high. In my roughly 10x15 bedroom the low setting will raise ambient humidity by about 13% with the door open and by about 20% with the door shut. So if I start at 30% humidity I'll get to 43% with the door open and 50% with the door almost completely closed. Note, I said "almost" completely closed. I find that in my size bedroom low will take the humidity routinely up over 50% if I close the door completely. That is too much moisture. 7) You need to also buy a humidistat. I like P3 P0270 Mold Alert Electronic Thermo-Hygrometer as it is responsive to small changes in the humidity level. Without a hygrometer you'll really have no way of knowing if you need to use high, low or just turn the unit off. Most people should be shooting for between 30-50% humidity. In fact when I get home most nights I don't even need to turn on the humidifier because the level will already be between 30-50%. Lastly on this topic you can't estimate the inside humidity by getting the % from the weather channel. It just doesn't work that way. The humidity inside your home will depend on a lot of factors beyond just what the outside humidity is. Do yourself a favor and get the hygrometer too. 8) Water has stuff in it. Even distilled water has stuff in it. So eventually you are going to have to clean the heating element with vinegar. When you do this it will be helpful to use an old toothbrush to scrub the metal part that heats the water as this will accumulate the most stuff. Also, don't blame Vicks for stuff in your water--talk to your local water department or building owner. 9) Don't ever ever ever use an abrasive pad to clean the plastic. Why? Because abrasive pads will leave tiny little scratches in the surface of the plastic. Those scratches make for a perfect home where bacterial colonies can get established. Only use non-scratch cleaning products to clean the plastic surfaces...nothing abrasive. So yes, that is a lot of rules and guidelines. There is just no easy way to have standing water in your living space. If you are going to attempt it you have to be vigilant and attentive to the care of your Vicks.

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.

The basic concept of this humidifier is great. Unfortunately, it is also highly impractical and expensive to operate. The first thing to realize is hidden cost. This is a water boiler with a heating element going 24 hours a day. The electricity cost alone of such a device needs to be considered. At 248 watts, this consumes 1kwh every 4 hours. That means if you run it 24 hours a day (as many will in the winter), at a standard cost of 10 center per kwh this unit will cost $18.60 per month to operate. That is almost double the cost of a standard filter-based humidifier of the same size. Then there's the deal-killer: calcium in tap water. This unit has no way to filter calcium and other hard minerals. The heating element isn't buildup-resistant, so it literally bakes minerals onto the heating element, requiring one to either use distilled water, or to take time every day to clean the unit. Few people have that much time, as it requires dismantling the unit and using a brush (not provided) to get down inside the small spots and scrub away what calcium has accumulated. If you don't do this, if you wait say, a week to clean it... the calcium builds up so thickly even straight vinegar won't remove it. My unit lasted about a month and a half before I had to just give up on it, as it got to the point that even with effort the mineral deposit removal became impossible. It was so encrusted that soaking it overnight in vinegar didn't help. If you use distilled water it works great. But this unit can easily go through 2 or 3 gallons of water a day... bringing monthly operating cost to well over 60 to 90 dollars just for water (in addition to sucking down electricity). All in all the unit simply isn't practical. If they had a way to remove the calcium and other minerals from the water, some kind of filter (as my replacement unit has), then it would be great. If they had used a heating method a bit less intense than 240 watts (one would think 100 watts sufficient), it would be less-expensive to operate. But as it is, this is a unit that will either cost a fortune to operation... or is doomed to failure as the calcium and other minerals encrust on the heating element beyond all fixing. I definitely do not recommend this unit. Vicks had a great idea, but didn't bother to address the problems of water contamination and power consumption. The idea of using distilled water is ridiculously expensive, and there's simply no way to keep it clean when using tap water. That they didn't include a cleaning brush is simply inexcusable.

I purchased this humidifier during the winter months for my bedroom since I kept on catching a cold and getting very congested and wheezing in my sleep. This Vicks humidifier was really helpful throughout the whole winter it lets out a nice amount of mist and you can really tell the difference its a great feeling waking up not as congested as before. I like that it has 2 settings on the high setting you can run it for around 8-9 hours which will last you the whole night on the lower setting it will last for around 19- 20 hours on average. I also love that it has a auto turn off so you dont have to worry about it staying on when the water runs out. Like any humidifier or anything that you let water sit in MOLD WILL GROW so dont flip out if you see mold whats good about this is that its very easy to clean out and with proper maintenance you wont have any major issues with mold or anything else like that. You can wipe it clean or use vinegar to kill the mold this one is very easy to clean. My only issue is that its just a little big so its hard to find the perfect spot to put it but thats just my preference so I cant take off a star for that reason alone. On the other hand a plus of having a bigger humidifier is that the water will last longer and will reach your whole room instead of just 1 small area. I also like that this is not to noisy its actually a soft soothing noise that helps me fall asleep. All in all this is a great humidifier it really works well does a perfect job easy to use easy to clean and a solid price point as well. If you found my review helpful it’d be great if you[...]. I am happy to leave reviews to help others make decisions prior to purchase and I enjoy reading your reviews to help me with mine

The humidifier I was shipped did not have the larger tank opening and cap as stated in the Product Description section, and as shown in the video on this page. (I'm going to the trouble of writing this review in case anyone else is concerned with those particular features.) I've owned a few of these Vicks warm mist humidifiers over quite a long time, usually 2 at a time, in different rooms, and I will say, in general, they have always been quite good, reliable, and long-lasting. So you won't really go wrong getting one. However, after many years of use, there were a couple of issues that made me want the model that specifically had the wider tank opening and cap as were shown in the video here, and described in the Product Description. All the models I had in the past had the smaller tank opening and cap (as you can just about see in SOME of the product photos here, as well as some customer photos, but NOT in the video.) Because of the small size opening into the tank, there were always parts of the tank I could not wipe out. Sometimes (after long periods of use) a pinkish film accreted in the tank corners and did not disappear with regular cleaning and bleach solution soaking and swishing process. The tanks really needed to be wiped with some pressure, but there was just no way my hand could reach in to access those areas of the tank firmly, nor could I find a brush or tool that was flexible enough to reach the inside corners. Since my hand could not fit inside the tank opening, I could not wipe any corners, really! (I did the best I could, contorting my hand and using chopsticks or spoons to drag a cloth or paper towel around inside, but it wasn't really satisfactory!) Additionally, because of the small opening and inability to wipe them out, the tanks would also take a really long time to fully dry out. If you are not going to use the humidifier for a few days you are supposed to dry it out, or when getting ready to store it at the end of the heating season. It would literally take 3-4 days for the tanks to dry... there was always a small amount of water left at the bottom of the tank that seemed to take forever to dry, no matter how much I would shake it, or try to wipe it with a cloth or paper towel inside, I could not reach it. So when I viewed the video and description shown here, I was delighted because it looked like the V745 now had a wider opening and cap that would solve these problems. (I assumed someone had figured out and designed this improvement.) Unfortunately, when I received the item, however, it had the same old small tank opening and cap. I called the Vicks Humidifer Co. to find out what model was the model with the larger cap, as shown in the video, but apparently both the large cap as shown in the video, and the small cap (as shown in some of the other photos on the page) are all labeled with the same model no. V745, differentiated only by the letters after the model number which simply denote the color of the product. Vicks Customer Service actually did not know whether one was a newer version or what, or even that there was any difference in the tank openings or caps in this model. (Hard to believe that they did not bother to differentiate in any way.) It seems possible, if the small opening is older and if the larger opening is a newer version, that I was simply shipped the older version, because Amazon still had it in stock. Without a different model or product number to differentiate, it seemed impossible to imagine that Amazon would be able to ship me the humidifier I wanted in exchange. (Someone would have had to open the boxes and check the tank opening before shipping until they found one with the wide opening; and that was not realistic to expect!) So I had to return the humidifier. I did appreciate that the return was really easy; I was able to drop it off at the Amazon return center in my local Whole Foods store.) I've ended up purchasing the Vicks Model VWM845, which does have the wider tank opening and cap, (and also has a "scent pad door" which I don't particularly care about and probably won't use much). I was able to get it at the same price as this model due to promotional discounts (at another vendor; it's a lot more here).

excellant product we receive it before the delivery date .same product we got what we order exactly..thank u for u excellant service

Good product. Used it while I have my radiator on and it helps makes the atmosphere soothing and relaxing.

It's getting the job done.

Like how much humidity it puts into the air. Don,t like having to clean calcium build up on heating element.

It's a nice product. Using it in my daughter's room. Working great.