Overall, this is a great humidifier.
SIZE: The tower shape of the unit makes it perfect for environments where there is more wall space to consume than floor space. It's fairly large: as a point of reference, it rises a little higher than the arms of my living room sofas and it's rectangular shape is about the size of a magazine, plus about 1.5" on each side for the two tanks.
CONTROLS: The digital controls makes it pretty easy to operate. It's a simple, two-button interface with an easy-to-read display. The automatic humidistat can be set from 25-65% (at 10% intervals). The current and desired humidity level are shown side-by-side on the display using indicator bars. When set a desired humidity level, the automatic humidistat will run the unit until the current humidity reading is 10% higher than your preference, then turn it off until the current reading drops to 10% lower than your preference. This is a pretty nice feature - it saves power and conserves water so you don't have to refill the reservoirs as frequently. You can also choose to run the unit continuously by not setting a preferred humidity level.
FAN NOISE: There are four fan speeds. The first three speeds are all very quiet and wouldn't be disruptive (or even noticeable) in most settings. The fourth and highest setting is more noticeable, sounding something like a microwave oven but slightly softer and quieter. It might be enough to make you turn up the TV a little while watching the news, but really no worse than that.
DISPLAY: The display also has a green power indicator and a red indicator to let you know when both reservoirs are empty (the unit will stop when this is the case until at least one reservoir is refilled). I did find it kind of odd that the product uses LED bars to display the humidity levels and two-digit numeric readout for the fan speed (even though the highest speed setting is only 4). It almost seems to me that these should be reversed, but that doesn't really reduce the effectiveness of the unit and the interface is still pretty easy to read and use as designed.
SETUP & USE: The unit is fairly easy to setup and maintain. The two wick units and the plastic grill covers that enclose them can be a little cumbersome when snapping them in and out of place. This is not a particularly big problem, since the wick units only need to be replaced at the beginning of each season to avoid mineral buildup.
The two reservoirs, on the other hand, are very easy to remove and replace while the unit is operating. Each is the full height of the unit and about 2 inches thick with a simple click-latch fixing them snugly to the unit's sides. Despite their large and odd shape, they're surprisingly easy to fill even at a small bathroom sink. They each can hold a little more than their rated 1.5 gallons when topped off and the fill-caps hold this amount without leaking. The instructions say that the water level in these tanks is "easily visible" from the sides. The water level can be seen from the sides, but I wouldn't describe it as "easily"; the dark tint makes it pretty difficult to see from any distance. I often have to gently rock the unit a little to find the surface of the water move before I can judge.
When this unit is running continuously at full speed, it can run through both reservoirs twice in a single day (that two times each, or 6 gallons total). Unless your environment is *extremely* dry, I think that's about the max. With more practical and conservative settings, they only need to be filled every 2-4 days, which is a much more relaxed refill schedule to keep.
The unit does work well even for larger, dryer spaces. You'll be able to notice an immediate difference in the air near the humidifier as soon as you start it, and the effect radius grows pretty quickly - especially on the highest speed setting.
SUMMARY: All in all, this is a nice multi-room humidifier that looks good, fits easily, works well and is easy to operate with a nice feature set for it's price range.
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Essick Air D46 720 4-Speed Tower Humidifier, Titanium CharcoalProduct Description: This attractive tower unit is cabable of humidifying multiple rooms while taking up minimal space. It's digital controls offer precise humidity monitoring and control. Humidifies 1300-square feet with 3-gallon total water capacity. Uses dual super wick model 1040 for high output and long lasting.
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