Holmes HM1865-U Comfort Select Cool Mist Humidifier

Gets the job done nicely, but with room for improvement
I've had a number of humidifiers and this one fairs favorably to most. First, it uses a cool air wick rather than a sonicator (which puts the water contaminants on your furniture and in your lungs) or a heater (which is inefficient, gets horrible mineral buildup which is very difficult to clean, and can cause fire hazards). It has a huge tank. And it has a humidistat so you can just turn it on and forget about it, aside from refilling it every day or two. It will get the humidity where you want it - not too dry, not too humid. For these reasons, I recommend this unit.

The downsides: It is not as nice as the model it replaced (which I also have) which looks almost exactly the same. The controls and display are a little less obvious - they added more functionality with too few buttons. That is easily dealt with by deciding how you want to use it and then always putting it in that mode. I like to set the fan to low or medium (so it is nice and quiet and you hardly hear...

Powerful humidifier
For those saying they aren't sure if it humidifies their room, get a hygrometer. You know, those digital temperature/humidity sensors with the LCD panel. I have one from Honeywell. This humidifier is able to keep my humidity at 40% in a LOFT apartment in Nebraska winters. We're talking below zero, frozen and humidity in the teens without a humidifier. In a single level apartment, it can get us to 50% but I keep it at 45. It is about twice as capable as a warm mist humidifier that can't get the room above 30%. PLUS, the warm one requires about 230w of electricity to run vs about 30w for the fan in this one. PLUS, the heater block in the warm mist unit must be soaked in white vinegar and have the minerals scraped off of it periodically. Pain in the butt, and not worth it.

The downside? The filter must be washed in a bucket of soap water every so often or it accumulates pink/black mold and smells funny. It won't hurt you, but it is unpleasant. That's the only reason I don't...

Good for the price, but can become a chore
Pros:
-Humidifies large rooms for a low price.
-Auto humidity regulation (great for our guitars which need ~45% all the time)

Cons:
-I have exclusively used Brita distilled water on this, and the filter still needs to be cleaned/changed at least once a month.

Other thoughts:
-We fill the tank once every three days to keep a 300 sq ft room humidified at 45%
-We have three acoustic guitars that we can leave out and not worry about with the regulator
-We had to get used to the continual on/off's throughout the day because we run it on "Auto 1" at 45% humidity

Cleaning the filter:
-Place the filter in the sink or bucket, fill with warm water, add some bleach (and stir), let sit for 15 minutes, rinse with cold water, stick back in humidifier damp

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