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10 Best Cool Mist Humidifiers: (Reviews & Buying Guide 2023)
With kids at home during summer, most of their time is spent in outdoor activities while rest of it is utilized at home. It is a good idea to keep your windows open for fresh air but it is not possible to do so all the time due to inflow of intense heat. With too much air conditioning, dry air results in nasal blockages, sinuses and stale skin. Some people also suffer from headaches, dry eyes, throat and nose problems. It is definitely nice to have air conditioner inside your home or office but excess of it can negatively impact your work performance and health. For these reasons, it is crucial to get a cool mist humidifier to keep humidity level in check and maintain healthy air quality at home.
According to environmental protection agency, an average US citizen spends 93% of time staying indoors during a lifetime. While an air conditioner does provide relief from the daily grind and torching heat in summer, it does have some negative effects. It tends to remove most of the heat and moisture from air, but you do need keep some percentage of moisture for optimal indoor comfort. In such situations, humidifiers come in handy as they also help to neutralize air borne bacteria, viruses and mold spores present in the air.
With this buying guide, we aim to help you find the right cool mist humidifier for your home and office needs. We tested and reviewed dozens of products out there on the market to find something of top-quality machines to fit everyone’s budget. When shopping for cool mist humidifiers, you need to keep in mind a number of factors to make the right buying decision. Stay with us while we explain all these key aspects in our reviews and buying guide.
Comparison Table: Best Cool Mist Humidifiers of 2023
Here we’ve summarized all models that are deemed worthy of our top 10 cool mist humidifier list. We’ve arranged these products from top to bottom based on their overall built-quality, features and value for money. This same order is also mirrored in our review section, so that it is easy for you to reference when you scroll down.
Welcome to our reviews section. This is our curated list humidifiers by popularity category currently available. Year after year, these units have rose to the top in demand and are cream of the crop. We constantly research and update our pages every month, so that you’re always looking at the freshest product selection from the market.
1. Levoit Cool and Warm Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier
Quick Features:
Run Time: 36 hours
Tank Size: 1.5 gallons
Dimensions: 11.3 x 7 x 10.5 inches
Weight: 4.92 pounds
Essential Oils Usage: Yes (comes with a dedicated tray)
Warranty: 1 year but extendable to 2 years
Among dozens of products out there on the market, the Levoit Cool and Warm Mist humidifier remains our hot favorite model. For many good reasons, we continue to rank this machine as top-rated humidifier in all of our other reviews as well. The coolest thing about it is being a hybrid machine with capability of both cool and warm mist functions. When looking for a top-notch product with all bells and whistles turned on, it fails to disappoint us in any of the departments.
With Levoit cool mist humidifier, you get a large 6 liter water tank to keep running this for straight 36 hours. Furthermore, you can also set a timer based on your requirement to continue to run this unit for even longer. On top of all that, you get an integrated humidistat to show accurate readings of current humidity levels and auto-switch off the unit when desired levels are reached. For those interested, the Levoit humidifier also acts as an effective diffuser. All you need is to add few droplets of your favorite essential oil in the aroma box and start to enjoy the relaxing fragrance inside your room.
Fortunately, the humidifier also comes with a remote control to adjust settings from anywhere inside the room. We also love the easy to operate touch sensitive buttons and smart LED screen to show precise humidity readings. Apart from all this, the humidifier shows higher built-quality with ABS plastic used in its manufacturing. This make the unit less prone to breaking and leakage in the long run.
Before using this humidifier, it is recommended that you read all the important precautions. It come with a solid one-year warranty which is further extendable to 2 years. If you encounter any issues with the product, it is easy to report and get them rectified. Overall, there aren’t any deal breakers or downsides when buying this product. It is one of our most favorite humidifiers of all time and performs a decent job across the board.
PROS
6 Liter Large ABS Water Tank
Whisper Quiet Operation
Built-in Diffuser and Hygrostat
Includes Remote Control
Hybrid Warm and Cool Mist
36 hours run time
Auto Shut down
LED screen can be turned off
Extendable Solid Warranty
CONS
No dedicated button on remote to turn off LED display
There’s a lot to love about Everylasting Comfort. We were impressed by the amount of mist it puts out and how long it lasts. It can even last for up to 50 hours without needing a refill. It also has an automatic shut-off feature, and an essential oil tray lets you enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy as well.
Our only real gripe with this humidifier is how inconvenient it is to fill. Many users agree, and a bit of a redesign could have this machine contesting for our top spot. In addition, if you have hard water, we’d recommend a water filter for at least one of your faucets. It will essentially help to eliminate the possibility of white mist emission.
If you are looking for an elegant looking model that does an excellent humidifying job, go for the Boneco Air-O-Swish 7147. Just like the Levoit, this model also works in dual mode to switch between warm and cool mist mechanism. It can store up to 3 gallons of water to keep the humidifier running for up to 24 hours.
The unit is considered ideal for rooms of 600 sq. ft size or less. However, if you want to cover even more space, you may need to look at higher models from the manufacturer such as AOS S450 or AOS U700. For people who are extremely noise sensitive, the unit effectively operates at barely audible noise levels. This helps to keep you and your family undisturbed without waking you up from sleep.
With auto mist technology, the Boneco cool mist humidifier automatically adjusts humidity levels to maintain optimal indoor environment. We also love its construction and overall design to easily match with the home décor. Its nicely designed digital display shows all key stats that are manually controlled with touch sensitive control buttons.
Besides this, the unit features a hygrostat to show you accurate levels of room humidity. This feature is necessary especially if you are conscious about measuring humidity percentage inside a room. We also love the accessories included with the complete package such as demineralization cartridge, hydro cell and EZCal cleaner. All these accessories aim to effectively clean and maintain the unit to ensure its proper function.
The only downside of this unit is the slight humming noise, that can probably disturb few people. However, this can be significantly reduced by placing a thick sponge or cushion under the tray. We also don’t like the absence of remote control and diffuser to facilitate users even further. Other than these minor issues, the unit works perfect and we’ve no complaints about its basic operation.
If you are looking for a cool mist humidifier that is capable of moisturizing large rooms yet comes in an affordable price range, MistAire XL is the right choice. With its 1-gallon water tank and two set of nozzle options, you can run continuous operation up to 24 hours on lower settings. It is perfect for home and offices with room sizes up to 500 square feet. However, there is a tradeoff between affordability and high-tech features. Don’t expect this humidifier to provide humidistat, diffuser and remote control functions as they are trimmed down to make it economical.
There aren’t any deal breakers when buying this unit. It offers all the basic functions and performs a good job at humifying large room. You may have to compromise on the features mentioned above but this also makes it very wallet-friendly. It does come with an auto-shut down feature and offers multiple color settings such as green, red and blue. This makes it a relatively good lamp for people who like to have dim colored lights at night.
The MistAire XL is an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier that run smoothly without creating much noise. We were really impressed with its whooping 5-year warranty, which is the longest in industry. The most common complaint about the unit is about its handle which is a bit delicate and feels like breaking away. We also hate the refilling process where you have to turn the unit upside down. In our opinion, this area could have been improved and better engineered for extra user’s convenience.
Apart from all this, if you need a perfectly working unit with no-frills then this is the one you should buy without hesitation.
Roolen BR01 is one of the most aesthetically pleasing cool mist humidifiers on our list. It offers a unique and elegant looking design to easily merge in any home or office decor. Despite of a compact looking design, it still offers an ample tank size to operate for 24 hours. With this humidifier, there are relatively lower operative costs and higher efficiency that result in reduced electricity bills.
When using humidifier on auto mode, it automatically detects and adjusts itself according to surrounding environment. There are three lights that display different colors of light for each function. For instance, you get very green bright light on high settings, white on automatic mode, green on low and red-light indication when water runs out. For someone interested in least complicative controls, there is just one touch button on the humidifier that controls everything. It also offers a whisper silent operation and emits invisible mist to keep you undisturbed throughout its operation.
We were also delighted to see how easy it was to clean after removing the reservoir. If you are looking for something to cover an average sized room at home or office, it’ll turn out to be a perfect fit. However, we do not recommend it for larger rooms or areas more than 450 square feet.
This model has a 1-gallon tank, which allows for 24 hours of continuous operation on low settings. Germs are combatted by passing water under a UV light bulb before it goes through the filter. This isn’t a cure-all for dirty water, but it works nicely to combat odors.
The Honeywell is a bit larger than you may expect from images online. It handles large rooms quite well, but is also ideal for bedrooms and nurseries too. We like the ease at which the tank can be removed, carried via a handle to the sink, refilled and then replaced. It also comes with a smart humidity monitor that display both humidity and temperature. In order to ensure optimal performance, the humidifier is equipped with honey well replacement filters to prevent 99.9% of mold growth on the filter. We also like the Protec Cleaning Ball that helps to auto clean the humidifier to last even longer.
The biggest issue with HCM350W is the cost of the filter coupled with frequency at which the manufacturer recommends you change it—about every 45 days or so.
TaoTronics is an affordable cool mist humidifier and does offer good value for money. It relatively quiet but makes tiny gurgle sounds that are almost negligible. The design of the unit makes it easy to carry to the sink for refilling and then back into your nursery or bedroom. It operates for up to 30 hours—or 12 hours on high—on one full 4-liter tank. It features an integrated humidistat and timer, and you can set the precise humidity level that you want. However, you cannot use essential oils with the unit as it leads to leakage problems and damages the machine.
Fortunately, the unit does offer an integrated filter for water hardness, which you can clean with vinegar. It helps but isn’t a solution if you have very hard water. On top of all that, it also includes microporous cartridge filter to combat microorganisms and bad odors. This requires changing about two to three times a year that can be annoying for some people. One of the downsides is small opening of the tank which makes it difficult to clean it from inside.
The coverage is a bit lacking in larger rooms. The manufacturer lists the product for use up to 322 square feet, but in our experience, that may be an optimistic estimation.
If you are looking for a cheap, compact and extremely portable cool mist humidifier, you can pick PureGuardian H920BL right now. Keep in mind, this unit only works for a small period of time before it finally runs out. You can’t operate it for more than 10 hours even on lower settings.
What we really love about this machine is the silver clean protection on tank surface to fight growth of mold and mildew. Since, the PureGuardian H920BL is also an ultrasonic humidifier so it is also virtually silent. With ultrasonic feature, the unit needs no fan to create water particles. In fact, it creates one-micron diameter particles using high frequency vibrations that immediately get absorbed in the air.
The humidifier features two speed settings that are simply controlled using a single button. Although, you may not like pressing this button multiple times to switch between settings. It does offer a bright night light that glows pleasantly in the room. However, if this light is annoying for you, you may also turn it off. The only thing we do not like about this unit is not being able to operate for greater number of hours. We hate refilling a humidifier multiple times a day but it’s not necessarily the same case with other people as well.
For the money, it’s an awesome cool mist machine that gets the job done.
PROS
2 speed settings
Auto shut off function
Sliver clean protection
Optional night light
Very Compact
Highly portable
Space saving design
Easy refilling
CONS
Really short run time
Need to repeatedly press same button to change settings
The Crane USA is another excellent option for the money. It features a removable 1-gallon tank that easily fits under most sinks and can provide 12 to 24 hours of continuous operation depending on how high you have it set. It also features an aromatherapy pad that you can use for essential oils or medications. It’s also very nice to have the option for warm mist when the weather—or how you feel—calls for it.
On the downside, this humidifier cannot handle water hardness well at all. There is no filter option, and using hard water will make this product very difficult to clean. Filtered or distilled water is preferable when using the humidifier.
10. Victsing Ultrasonic with Smart Humidity Monitor
Quick Features:
Run Time: 10 hours
Tank Size: 3.0 liters
Dimensions: 12.2 x 7.7 x 10.6 inches
Weight: 3.92 pounds
Essential Oils Usage: No
Warranty: 1 year
What puts the VicTsing at number 10 spot on our comparison chart is its build quality at current price point. This isn’t the most sophisticated humidifier, but it’s built to last and performs really well. It’s quiet enough to use in bedroom, indicates low water with an LED light and can operate continuously up to 24 hours on a full tank. On top of that, it also comes with an antibacterial component, which must be replaced over time but is optional.
The biggest knock against this cool mist humidifier is that it’s not particularly well-designed for cleaning. Some aspects are inaccessible, so soaking vinegar in it is the only option. Another issue is the irritating red light that turns on when water is low. If you forget to fill your humidifier and the light turns on at night, it can light up a dark room.
Before answering this question, we would like to say that it is generally better to buy an ultrasonic humidifier that provides both cool and warm mist functions. With dual operation capability, you can easily switch between whatever you feel best under a certain situation. However, it is also true that greater number of features equate to a much higher price. So, if you are someone who likes to save money and just want to keep things plain and simple, you can buy a cool mist humidifier without warm mist function.
So finally, who wins and which type is the better option? Well, both humidifiers are equally effective when it comes to moisturizing the air. However, the winning trophy goes to “Cool Mist Humidifiers” as these are usually considered safer for children, cost-efficient, less noisy and easier to clean as compared to warm mist humidifiers. We will explain all these key points one by one in our in-depth guide below:
Safety:
The cool mist humidifiers are absolutely safe around babies, kids and children in general due to one basic reason called “heat”. Since there’s no need of vaporization required as with warm mist humidifiers, so there’s no risk of getting burnt due to spills, touch or accidental tilt over of the device. This is why cool mist units are usually common in nurseries, schools, rooms or places where kids are around.
Temperature:
With cool mist, the temperature of your room remains unchanged. Even better, it helps to lower down temperature a bit as moisture tends to absorb heat. On the other hand, warm mist unit works by emitting vapors in the atmosphere as a result of heating element in the device. So, it definitely moves up temperature a little bit in either summer or winter season. In hotter months, it usually becomes irritating to use a warm mist humidifier due to such reasons.
Energy Efficiency:
Both cool and warm humidifiers require electricity to operate, however, when it comes to electricity bills, the cold mist units are a clear winner. It is because they do not require any heat element to vaporize water within the tank, however they do need electricity to operate fan and other built-in components. With less energy requirements, you are likely to see pared down electricity bills due to higher efficiency of cool mist machines.
Buying Costs:
When it comes to shopping for a humidifier, there are a wide range of prices for multiple models out there on the market. On one hand, there are well-reputed brands that charge you a great deal of money for their products, while on the other extreme side you see lesser known brands that cost you a lot less. For top notch quality and fancier features, you may need to spend a pretty penny. The upfront costs will be definitely high but such products perform better and give better value of money in the long run. When compared to warm mist, the cool mist products are more affordable as they are less complicated machines with no heating element required to work.
Noise:
All humidifiers produce some kind of noise, and cool mist humidifiers are no exception to it. With warm mist, you experience bubbling or gurgling sounds due to water heat up. This level of noise is relatively less as compared to cool mist units. When using cool humidifiers, a fan starts to work by pushing microscopic particles water out of the unit. This definitely creates some sort of noise but it’s not high enough to disturb your sleep or others. However, in case of high-quality humidifiers, the noise levels are negligible even when operating on full throttle.
Cleaning:
No matter what type of humidifier you choose, you ultimately need to clean it. Again, the cool mist humidifiers also scored in this category when it comes to ease of cleaning. The importance of keeping your unit clean is critical in order to prevent growth of molds, bacteria and harmful germs.
Living in Humid Conditions
What if you live in a state such as Louisiana, Florida or Texas where humidity levels stay high all around? Do you still need a humidifier if there’s already so much moisture in the air? The answer is “it depends”. If you spend most of your time indoors with air conditioning turned on, it is probably going to kill even the healthy humidity levels within your home or office. As explained earlier, there is always a certain percentage of moisture required to maintain healthy quality of indoor air.
With over-zealous air conditioners, you and your family are at risk of developing health issues such as dry eyes, nose, throat and even headaches. The gradual and even output of moisture is necessary to maintain healthy and perfectly humidified indoor air. You don’t want to be bothered or become sick with the dry and stale air-conditioned air to get in your way of getting rest or doing work.
How We Tested the Top Cool Mist Humidifiers
In order to determine the best cool mist humidifier, we tested many different products manufactured by top brands on the market. Our team tested these subjectively—as how they made us feel—and objectively—as how accurate integrated humidistats worked and how efficiently these humidifiers operated in general.
It’s worth mentioning that we didn’t limit ourselves to cool-mist-only humidifiers. We also tested ultrasonic models that could perform both functions. When testing these, we focused on the cool mist aspect of the product but ensured that any other modes also achieved at least adequate performance.
Who Should Use Cool Mist Products?
Anyone can benefit by using a cool mist humidifier. The proper relative humidity helps you to feel comfortable at lowest possible temperature. It also makes it easier to breathe, hydrates skin, can diminish and even alleviate symptoms related to allergies and various breathing conditions.
If you’re reading our reviews in order to determine the best quality product for a baby or to use around children in general, then cool mist humidifier is an ideal fit. Warm mist does present a burn risk and is therefore not advised for use in nurseries or around children. [1]
Is cool mist or warm mist humidifier better? Well, it’s a matter of climate too. Warm mist works more effectively in cooler climates and vice versa. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use cool mist when it’s cool. You can, but if you’re striving for optimal efficiency, then you should opt for cool mist vaporizer when it’s warm outside.
What are the Important Factors to Consider When Buying a Cool Mist Humidifier?
Before you rush out and pull the trigger on the most expensive cool mist humidifier, there are some important factors that you need to consider. A pricey humidifier does not necessarily the best option on the market. Why spend hundreds of dollars if a cheaper model can still fulfill your humidifying needs. For these reasons, we’ve put together an informative buying guide for you to pick out the one option that’s right for you. When purchasing cool mist products, the key thing is that it must work well and should last for a long time.
Here are some critical things that you should factor in to make the right buying decision:
Budget:
Determine your budget up front. If you need multiple humidifiers for multiple rooms and purposes, plan that as well. Ask yourself: is cool mist or warm mist better? It depends.
Room Requirements:
If you’re still here and have a budget in mind, it’s time to consider the room requirements. Almost every cold mist humidifier will be rated for square footage based on the amount of mist it is able to deliver. As for room type, consider usage. For bedroom use at night, noises and undimmable LED lights are probably a no-no, and for a living room, you may want something that actually serves as a bit of decor.
Whisper Quiet Operation:
The best part about buying a high-quality humidifier is its whisper quiet operation even when operating at the highest speeds. With cool mist humidifiers, there is always some sort of fan noise while its running. Some people seem to tolerate it, while others easily get irritated. When buying humidifiers, you should look for a better-quality machine to minimize noise levels to a greater extent. Some people also prefer to use white noise in background to mitigate sounds of humidifier.
Tank Size:
Imagine if you have to refill humidifier tank after every few hours, would you like it? None of us would like to repeat this activity after short time spans for sure. For these reasons, select a cool mist humidifier that comes with a large water tank. It should be big enough to store few gallons and work for at least 12 hours before it finally runs out of water. Ideally, you should be searching for a humidifier that gives you 24 hours of run time before you need a refill.
Adjustable Mist Controls:
With such a huge range of humidifiers on the market, there comes multiple levels of controls and comfort for the users. For instance, few humidifiers allow users to adjust high, medium and low settings, while there are others that only run on medium settings or continue to emit vapors in even quantities until the water tank finally runs out. With adjustable mist levels, you can get much better efficiency while using cool mist humidifiers.
Diffuser:
If you are looking to get pleasant therapeutic benefits of essential oils, it is best to buy a humidifier with built-in diffuser function. Although, both these devices can be bought separately from the market, but it is always smart to buy an all-in-one product that performs a decent job across the board. With this convenient function, all you need to do is to drop few droplets of your favorite essential oil in the tray or water tank and let it do the work. Overall, we love diffusers and prefer humidifiers that support this feature.
Humidistat:
Among all the features, humidistat is one of our top favorites. Also known as hygrostat, it effectively helps to monitor and maintain desired levels of humidity in the air. It also comes as standalone devices, however having one of these built-in within your humidifier by default is even more useful. The device automatically adjusts itself when preferred levels of humidity are reached in the environment. With cool mist humidifiers, the humidistats functionality is crucial to prevent over-humidification.
Timer:
Having a cool mist humidifier with timer means greater efficiency and more convenience for you. This means you can set a specific time and duration for your unit to run, so that you don’t have to turn it off manually. It can surely help to save water and energy costs, since you are running the machine efficiently. Unless you have a large water tank that runs for 24 hours straight, this feature is considered pretty handy for majority users.
Auto Turn Off:
With all types of humidifiers, health and safety are two of the prime concerns for most people. With this useful feature, the unit turns itself off automatically when water is about to deplete. This ultimately ensures safety of your machine, your home and most importantly people residing it. The auto shut down functionality is even more critical with warm mist humidifiers due to their heating element.
Maintenance:
Finally, you need to think ahead about maintenance. There may be replaceable filters for water hardness, microbial contaminants and so forth. Additionally, it matters how difficult a cold mist humidifier is to fill and clean because you’ll be completing these tasks on a regular basis for as long as you use it.
Can Cool Mist Make You Sick?
When humidifiers are not maintained properly, they can actually make you sick. Too much low or high humidity can have negative impact on your health. It is important to keep humidity levels in check and clean the machine regularly. Dirty humidifiers are breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. If you are someone with allergy symptoms or asthma condition, you should check with your doctor before opting for a humidifier. [2]
Nevertheless, there are some concerns to note. The first involves overuse of a humidifier. A cold air humidifier can add a lot of moisture to the air. When left unchecked, it can create an ideal environment for mold, which can affect your health or at least diminish indoor air quality.
The biggest risk is air contamination. Even the highest quality humidifiers can foul your air if it is left uncleaned. This is why we recommend products that are easier to clean and feature an antimicrobial agent. You must also clean the unit and change out any unused water on a regular basis.x
Final Thoughts
Well, there you have it. A lot of research went into these top 10 best cool mist humidifier reviews, and we hope that you find this information useful. Let us leave you with one final piece of advice. While we do prefer cool mist humidifiers over warm mist for a variety of good reasons, we’re particularly in favor of humidifiers that feature both type of functions in one unit. This not only gives you more control but also a lot more affordability in terms of overall features.
Paul is a compulsive tinkerer and inventor who loves writing about latest machines technology. He is especially inclined towards home improvement, exercise and outdoor equipment that every sports enthusiast and house dweller would love to get their hands on.
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