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 helped me and my child sleep better Feb 10, 2009
the kaz liquid inhalnt did not seem to provied enough inhalant but the vicks one works great i have no problems with it
 QUIET, SIMPLE, EASY TO MAINTAIN, EFFECTIVE, AND CHEAPFeb 01, 2009
Sometimes the oldest, cheapest items are the best. This is true for this item. I bought it after my larger cool air humidifier broke. I tried a smaller cool air humidifier that was around $40. And I was annoyed by it because it made my daughter's room too cold. Finally I took a gamble on this one.
What I have found is that this one is better than all of the rest. Before I turn it on my daughter's room is 27% humidity. After it is on for one hour the room was 38%. It might not be as effective as one of those huge automated noisy units, but it is a whole lot easier to maintain. I bought one for my room, and for the living room as well after I have seen how well that it works. The trick is to use salt.
Buy it. It is cheap and it works. Not a lot of clean up. Also- it warms the rooms a little bit instead of cooling them.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 sewage smell!Jan 05, 2009
First one I tried I thought I had done something wrong. After plugging it in, the room smelled of sewage (no joke, literally like sewage). Couldn't figure it out until I realized it was this vaporizer. Exchanged it, and same problem. Don't know if that only happens the first X amount of tries but that is unacceptable!
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 It's the 21st century, and the manufacturing quality of vaporizers is going downDec 26, 2008
I got this Vicks vaporizer at the big, neighborhood, drugstore chain. I was annoyed that this was the biggest one they offered -- I think I had just thrown away a 2.5 gallon which had lasted many years.
However, just searching Amazon, and this is the biggest [old-fashioned vaporizer] they offer, also. What's with that?
I like vaporizers because they are almost silent and bacteria growth is not a concern.
The old, big vaporizer died of an electrical short, obvious when it started making burning-plastic smells. Did not wait for it to catch fire before throwing it out. It could put out a good quantity of steam for almost 8 hours without spitting.
The Vicks vaporizer has a few months of usage, so far. When it was new, by adding a few pinches of salt, I could get a good amount of steam output from the vaporizer without spitting. However, the water would only last about 4 hours, not enough to last the night. Lose a star for having too small a tank.
The Vicks is unable to generate the same amount of steam without spitting, compared to when it was new. And when the tank is less than 3/4 full, it's output is way down compared to when it was new. I assume the steam duct is clogging up with debris, or something, and the electrical elements are deteriorating already, even though I use Brita-filtered water. Lose a star for short lifespan.
I recommend getting a digital hygrometer (the other half of some digital thermometers) for about $20. I regulate the humidity in my apartment to between 45% and 50% by putting an appliance timer on the vaporizer, and having it turn on and off every hour or two, as required. (Higher percentages lead to mold, mildew, and "sick-house," and lower percentages should be used if condensation -- especially around windows -- threatens structural problems.) I monitor "dew-point forecasts" to roughly predict how I might need to adjust the timer -- if the dewpoint outside will be getting lower, you'll need more vapor supplementation to maintain the same indoor humdity. And when the little vaporizer isn't enough to keep up with really dry air, I supplement with a huge, noisy, evaporative humidifier, the Holmes HM3500 8-Gallon Console Humidifier. A small fan or ceiling fan helps to spread the vapor around a bit, and forced air heating suddenly becomes a joy when you can put your humidifier in front of its air intake to easily distribute the vapor throughout the house. Of course, then you'll need a few more hygrometers scattered around. No, but seriously, if you don't have a hygrometer, how can you know what effect the vaporizer is having?
Lose a star because regulating humidity becomes a project (you have to love it), and the Vicks doesn't have even a rudimentary humidity regulator (humidistat).
When the dewpoint gets really low, I leave the [relatively quiet] Vicks on continuously. Then, I supplement with the [relatively noisy] HM3500. The HM3500 turns on and off as its adjustable humidistat increases the humidity up to a regulated point.
I give the Vicks one star because it's been usable for a few months so far, and another star for operating quietly when it isn't spitting. How about a 3rd star for Amazon's price -- I'm sure I paid a lot more at the drug store.
In summary, if you're concerned about keeping your nasal passages from drying out, and you don't want the acoustic punishment or germ-culturing of the other types of humidifiers, I recommend this Vicks vaporizer, since there doesn't seem to be a better vaporizer available today. Faint praise...
Oh yeh: The electrical head of the vaporizer has a plastic tab sticking out of it, which makes it a nuisance to insert and remove from the tank. I think it's a child-safety feature; if children aren't a hazard around your vaporizer, feel free to break off the tab with a pliers. And the "nightlight" glows only strong enough to keep from tripping over the vaporizer -- not enough to see anything else.
Thanks; best luck.
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1/2/09
The vaporizer was spitting. If it were spitting clean water, I'd let it go since it's also putting out extra steam, but it's spitting salty water and making a mess.
When that happens, no matter what the water level is, I pour out half the water in the tank, which disposes of half the dissolved salt. Of course, that's easiest to do when the tank isn't full up. After removing half the salty water, refill the tank back to the Max line with fresh water.
No more spitting, which will last until the [natural] salts start to build up again.
Best luck.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Cheap, does job, no off buttonNov 26, 2008
Lots of choices between warm and cold humidifiers out there. So confusing. My son was sick and needed one. You could spend $10-$60 on humidifiers. I bought this one because it was cheap and if it was the wrong one (warm versus cold), it wasn't alot of money to spend. It does its job, is QUIET. CONS: No off button (although it does turn off automatically when water is low), otherwise I have to pull the plug out of the wall. Also, I have to add salt to the water (I didn't know I had to do this but after 10 minutes of no steam, the directions say keep adding salt until steam appears). There are NO FILTERS and NO SETTINGS. I didn't want to have to clean or buy filters. I'm not sure about the settings but so far it works, so the settings aren't that big of a deal to me.
Overall, works and is inexpensive.
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based on 18 reviews
