For my desktop area in my cubicle at work, I have for years used one or two of the inexpensive fist-sized desktop humidifiers such as are sold by Amazon and other retailers; those typically can hold perhaps one cup of water in their little tanks, and they simply 'mist' using an ultrasonic vibrating metal disk about the diameter of a pencil eraser. These are usually run from a 'wall wart' AC power supply, or from USB power. In my experience, these always work well initially, but don't seem to continue working well after a few months of use. That, and their small size means they have to be re-filled two or three times during a work day, and since they don't really put a lot of water into the air, I need at least two going at the same time within a couple feet from where I sit at my desk in order to be effective during those dry winter month here in the northern midwest. By contrast, at home I use a Vicks brand local area humidifier on a table next to my bed, to keep the air around myself reasonably moist as I sleep.....I have a whole-house humidifier on my furnace, but these only work when the furnace is actually heating, and at night the furnace does not run very much of the time since I set the thermostat low at night. But my experience with that Vicks unit convinced me to look at their product line again for something I could use on my desktop at work. Note that there are several ways that smaller humidifiers work: - Put a spinning plastic cone into the water basin, and the water wicks up the sides of the cone until above the water line, where centrifugal force flings the water off in a fine spray, and a fan sucks air through this spray before blowing it out into the room. This is pretty old technology, and if you use hard water, your room will soon be covered in a fine white powder of calcium dust. - Rotate an absorbent screen through a basin of water, then blow air through the screen as it exits the water, and the humidified air blows out into the room. These tend to build up scale and crud on the filter, they then dot be for use with entire rooms, not just a local area, and they can be fairly large. - Feed water from a tank into a crucible where it is boiled by an electric heating element, and the steam exits into the room; these are often fan-assisted to get the steam exiting to disperse over a wider area more quickly. These have an advantage that their high temperature kills or disrupts any bacteria and/or most viruses. But if you have any minerals or sediment in your water, you will need to periodically clean the scale from the heating crucible and associated parts. This is the kind I have in my bedroom, and even though I only put distilled water into its two tanks, I still have to clean it a couple times each season. - Dribble water from a tank onto an ultrasonically vibrating diaphragm (or wick water from a tank into the surface of the diaphragm), which instantly mists or 'atomizes' the water into a cool mist. Smaller units of this type just let the mist drift away on its own, better/bigger units use a small fan to blow air into the ultrasonic misting chamber, which then propels the mist forcefully out into the room. If your water has any solids (sediment or minerals), it can clog up the works or build up on the diaphragm which prevents it from functioning correctly. This is the kind of technology use on the Vicks humidifier being reviewed here. Once again, I use only distilled water in this kind of humidifier to virtually eliminate most cleaning. I use a home water distiller which I bought from Amazon, and it makes a gallon of distilled water from tap water every few hours, up to about three gallons every 24 hours. OK, so this particular Vicks "Mini Filter Free Cool Mist Humidifier" has an attractive look, sturdy all-plastic build quality, and simple, easy to use operation. Its water tank holds about 1/2 gallon, which is about enough to last for a typical 8 hour workday with the unit's humidity setting turned full-up ( which is the recommended setting....you only turn it down if the air is already so humid that water starts beading up on the unit). Every morning, I lift the tank off the unit and turn it upside down, open the filling hatch and pout in a half gallon of distilled water, close the hatch and replace the tank on top of the units' base. This opens and automatic water valve that lets water from the tank dribble down to the ultrasonic chamber. A small electric fan in the base blows air up into the ultrasonic chamber, picks up the atomized mist, and blows it out the discharge hole in the top of the humidifier, where it shoots a couple feet up and away before dissipating into the air. Below the humidity setting knob is a small hatch where you can optionally insert any of the recommended 'scent' packs, which are basically like little odorizers. I think one free pack came with the unit, but I threw it away without looking at it (or using it). It was probably a Vicks eucalyptus pack, or something similar. If you need to clean the unit, you remove and empty the water tank, switch some white vinegar around and then rinse and drain. Then also put white vinegar into the ultrasonic chamber, let is sock for a while, then drain, rinse and drain again. I don't need to do this often since I use the distilled water. This unit is powered by plugging it directly into an AC outlet or outlet strip. Since it has no heater and neither the small fan or ultrasonic element take much power, it is pretty energy efficient. Its size allows it to sit nicely on my desktop, without getting in the way. I found the unit to be whisper quiet, although the closer you position it to where you sit, the more fan noise you can expect to hear. I expect this unit to last for many years, based on my previous experience with Vicks brand humidifiers.
