Avalon Premium 5 Liter Ultrasonic Digital Humidifier - Cool/Warm Mist, Adjustable Humidity Levels, Remote, Filter, Nightlight,with Pure Silent Technology, ETL Approved

I received this unit a month ago and have used it every night since then. Bottom line first… Once I figured out its quirks and how to make it work for me, it does serve some benefit. But I purchased it on Amazon for $125 and do not feel it is worth that price, let alone the $199 price tag as of this writing. The concept has a lot of potential but this unit has some annoying and disappointing design problems. And though it works alright if the air isn’t too extremely dry and if the furnace isn’t running a lot, it will not achieve even 40% humidity by itself in a 12x15 room on a cold dry night.The Good, in no particular order:It runs quietly. I’ve never used any other “ultrasonic” humidifier so I don’t know how loud they normally are, but that is a frequent complaint in reviews of many other products. I keep this on the nightstand next to my head and the sound is almost completely indiscernible when running. It is quieter than a steam vaporizer for sure.It displays the current humidity at the unit’s location.You can set your desired humidity level and it will automatically kick on and off to maintain within 5% of that level.You can adjust the mist level and aim it in two different directions. So while it will not humidify the whole bedroom, I can at least adjust it to moisten the air right around my head.You can set a timer to shut it off automatically in 1-12 hours.The wireless remote is handy, if only because it is impossible to see or feel the buttons on the unit itself in the dark.The Not-So-Good, in no particular order:<i>Every</i> button press is confirmed with an absurdly loud beep. It is not ear-piercing, but in the quiet of the night it will wake up all but the deepest of sleepers, even in adjacent rooms. On a unit most likely to be used in a bedroom at night, this is a flaw.The brightness of the LED display is only selectable between ridiculously bright, still way too bright, or off. Even the “dim” setting illuminates the entire room. But if you turn the display off, you can’t see what the current humidity is, of course. On a unit most likely to be used in a bedroom at night, this is also a flaw.It does not save your settings when powered off. If you want a certain humidity and/or mist level, for a certain number of hours, and don’t want the also-too-bright night light, you have to reset these parameters every time you turn it on. For me, that amounts to at least 19 loud-beep-producing button presses. Better do it before my wife falls asleep. I use the same settings every time, so would be nice if I didn’t have to set them every time.The warm mist setting makes no detectable difference. Lots of people mention this in their reviews so I don't think my unit is defective.It is impossible to remove the tank and carry it away to refill without dripping at least a little water in the vicinity. If you’re not very careful, you will inadvertently deposit large amounts of water on the floor, table, bed, whatever is nearby. I’ve learned to lift it up a little and give it a shake and several seconds for the water to run off before removing it completely. But only holding a towel underneath will completely prevent drips on the way to the sink.The tank is awkward to refill. It must be turned upside down, and you have to hold the mist nozzle or it will slip out. When you set it down, upside down, it will rest on the mist nozzle. I will not be surprised if that part eventually breaks because of this, but it is also very awkward to hold while refilling so must be set down. When you pull the cap and attached filter out and set it down, it will leak about half a cup of water wherever you set it. I have learned that you can press the stopper to release the water before pulling it out of the tank, but there it still enough residual water to leave a puddle when it's set down. And the lack of a fill line on the tank means you have to learn and remember how full you can fill it before it will overflow when reseating the cap and filter.If the air in the room is still, the mist will fall around the unit, raising the humidity only in that one spot, and shut if off when it reaches the set level. Meanwhile, the humidity meter across the room registers no difference. Use of a ceiling fan helps mitigate this, but even then, the change in humidity across the room is negligible.The cleaning brush is hidden in plain sight. Like so many others, I thought it was missing until I accidentally found it essentially camouflaged on the bottom of the tank. There are so many mentions of the missing brush in the questions and reviews, they really should make it a different color, or find a native English speaker to rewrite the instructions and make clear its location.Overall….I’ve figured out how to compensate for most of the not-so-goods and make the unit work for my needs. I do usually need to use it in conjunction with a $15 steam vaporizer to maintain the humidity I want when I sleep. Using it is better than not using it and I don’t know that another product would be any better, thus I have not returned it. But for $125 (and now $199), it ought to humidify a room by itself without any special concessions or accommodations, and without the annoying quirks.

Just a couple of issues that I've discovered so far.First let me say it's very quiet and produces a lot of mist.It tends to cycle on and off due to the mist dropping down around the machine givingfalse humidity readings. I guess that's ok, just a bit strange.But last evening (first day of use) I discovered that our DirecTV remote triggers thehumidity setting every time I turn the TV on or off. The reverse is not true, the remote forthe humidifier has no affect on the TV.This is the first time I've had any remotes that interfered with something else.I tried putting a small piece of tape over what looked like the sensor next to the area above the readout that appears to bethe humidity sensor or a speaker perhaps. But it didn't prevent the remote from working, so I guess that's not the right place.I don't really need the remote, if I can figure out how to mask it out.UPDATE:I moved the unit to the floor (It was up on top of our bookshelf headboard) and the remote issues went away.Recently it's presented similar issues with other reports - the humidity display drops below the set level but it doesn't start up.Had it set at 50%, the display dropped to 45% with no mist being produced.Another minor point... when I pull the reservoir out to refill it, it tends to drip a lot. Not leaks, just drips from the fact that thebottom is immersed in water. A more remote reservoir would have been nice but that would require a design change andlikely a larger machine.

I looked all over for humidifiers. I have a lot of orchids in a room and need the humidity level to be pretty constant. The choices were limited. I wanted ultrasonic, it needed to have a large capacity, and I wanted to be able to set a level, turn it on and go. This unit pretty much does that. When it is running on high, it pumps a nice wall of mist into the room. When the reading on the internal hygrometer goes 5% below the setting, it kicks on until it hits the level you have selected. In the beginning, the hygrometer in the unit and my other hygrometer seemed off, but there is a level of accuracy that is unrealistic to expect in consumer level products like this. Additionally, it seemed to get better over time the more I ran, and I satisfied with its operation at this point. It certainly is an attractive unit with sleek lines and nice readout. It seems like the company and models have undergone some changes. When I tried to contact the provided customer service e-mail sent with the unit, it was not a valid address. However, the customer service through Amazon has been positive. Not sure how long this unit will be around, however, so you might want to stock up on filters. I really like the unit. Last thing is the price I paid I believe to be high ($200), but the market for what fit my needs was limited, so I got it anyway.Nobody paid me for this review, but I wish they had!!