Ahhh, winter in New England.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small, Decent looking design. Price

Cons: Requires frequent refills

The Bottom Line: 
This is a nice option if you have limited space, but will not work for larger rooms

Author's Review
I just bought the Bionaire CM1 Humidifier because the price was right, $20. I have been living in the Boston area for about 5 years and the houses here are very old. Most of the apartments are poorly maintained because they can be (the city is typically at 99% occupancy). Most of the old heating systems will really dry out the apartment. Usually this leads to dry, sore throats when waking up in the morning. But its not worth more than $20 to me, so until now I have dealt with it.

Hidden Humidifier
The price wasn't the only reason I bought this particular humidifier, the small size also swayed my decision. It is about 9.5"X10"x4", small enough to fit in a corner and not really even be noticed.

Traveling Humidifier
There's nothing worse than waking up at 8am on a Saturday, in a bed thats not yours AND having a dry throat. The small size of the Bionaire would also make it ideal to travel with (winter athletes rejoice)

Looks
I like Bionaire because they try to make their products look somewhat decent. This humidifier is a nice neutral greyish color. The design doesn't have any sharp corners or anything sticking out of it. It is compact and simple looking.

Beware
The small size of this unit does limit it to use only in 1000 sq*ft and smaller rooms. It also limits the time that the unit will run for on one filling to 8 hours (perfect for overnight). Even refilling every night can get pretty annoying.

Cleaning
The unit requires fairly frequent cleaning. It recommends almost daily rinsing with water, not too bad, but this requires unplugging the humidifier and dragging it to the sink everyday. I have been cleaning it weekly. Cleaning mostly keeps bacteria from collecting and being made airborne by the humidifier.

Noise
The humidifier will make a slight 'gurgling' noise when not cleaned at least once every 16 hours of operation. Its almost relaxing, though. If it is kept clean, a VERY quiet 'boiling' sound is heard as the heat element vaporizes the water, also relaxing.



So far this thing has worked great. I immediately noticed the dryness in my throat go away. I am concerned about the thread on the plastic water reservoir bottle. It already feels like it is stripping. Hopefully it will hold out. I will update if I encounter any problems.

Some other features include:

Bacteria free warm mist
on/off switch with indicator light
medication cup
triple thermostatic protection protects against overheating
0.6 gallon capacity
warm mist sterilizes the water
no white dust