Venta VS207 Sonic Digital Cool and Warm Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier
by Venta
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Venta VS207 Sonic Digital Cool and Warm Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier
Customer Review: Quiet, Effective and Worth Every Penny
Summary: 5 Stars
Having looked around for more a month in preparation for the cold weather and our "dry as desert" heating system, we picked up this unit at retail. We walked into the store with the intention to purchase the Air-O-Swiss however after a litte hesitation walked out with the Venta as the Air-O-Swiss was out of stock.
First time setup was a breeze. We only needed to remove a couple of plastic covers, two pieces of tape, soak the demineralizer in warm water, fill the tank and in under 3 minutes, we were blasting at full steam.
The settings are easy to operate even though they are digital with single button operation for each function (a total of 4 buttons, one per function: on/off, vapor, warm/cold, and humidity level). Some people may prefer the older dials over the buttons as they are easier to operate. You won't have to keep pressing until you catch the right setting as you do with the single button feature.
When we first turned the unit on, we heard a noticable gulping noise coming from the water intake. As I had read about noisy operating humidifiers in my research, I was a little concerned that this would be the standard operating noise. Don't be alarmed. To my relief, once the intake was full within 2 to 3 minutes, the noise level was reduced to a minimal hum. Barely enough to hear, the noise is comparable to a small 4-inch fan operating at the lowest setting. There won't be anything to complain about even for the extremely light sleepers.
Also during the first couple of minutes, the internal hygrostat which monitors the current humidity level in the room jumped around for a while until it later settled and seems to now display a believably correct level.
Having left the unit operating at full warm vapor for 45% desired humidity on a high dresser, we did NOT wake up to find a puddle around or on the dresser or anywhere else in the room. This had been one of our fears as it had been mentioned in reviews for several other units. The unit however had gone through a full tank of water overnight. This more than likely means that it operated almost none stop through the night.
My wife mentioned having experienced a noticably better sleep and our 3 year old who sleeps in the same room with us and for who in fact we purchased this for, was not snoring as heavily as she normally does.
Upon refilling the unit for the second evening, I realized that the fill cap which is at the bottom of the water tank was a little tough to remove as I had tightened it well per the instructions in the manual. The fact that the cap is large and wet made it a little too slippery to loosen.
Once the unit is filled with water, it may not be a smart idea to keep moving it around as it needs to be level. The fact that there is loose water around the water intake in between the blue tank and the white units base may result in a spill and wet carpet, clothes, etc. (The blue part on top is the water tank and the fill cap is at the bottom; it separates from the white base and there is maybe a one or two cup full loose water on top of the base which I believe is normal during operation. It will not spill unless tipped.)
Overall, we are very pleased with the operation and the aesthetics of the unit. It has a modern look and in no way is an eye sore like some other units we looked at in the past. The price tag is a little above average however the added features definitely make it a worth while investment.
Pros - Easy Setup. Low operating noise, Correctly Functioning Internal Hygrostat, Aesthetically Pleasing Design
Cons - None
Customer Review: The Best, So Far
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the fourth humidifier I've used during the past 2 years. This one is the best. But the competition is such that it only takes a little quality to be the best. This one has its issues, but I am very glad I bought it.
Pros:
1) Lots of vapor; brings humidity up in the room fairly rapidly
2) Almost totally quiet.
3) The filter does a great job in removing particulates in the water. No white dust on any of the furniture in my room. Supposedly also kills bacteria, as well.
4) Has a warming feature; better than nothing but only raises the temperature of the vapor by a few degrees.
5) Looks like it will be very easy to clean. The instructions say to use no chemicals, bleach, or vinegar to clean, unlike most humidifiers. They even give you a little brush to clean the metal part of the ultrasonic unit. Nice.
Cons:
1) Needs a side handle on the water tank so that after filling the tank with water one can easily lift it and carry it back to the humidifier. With only a handle at the top (which is upside down after one fills the tank), it is very difficult to flip right side up especially since it now weighs 8 pounds with all the water in it.
2) As many reviewers have already stated, the humidistat reading is worthless. Get a hygrometer and then figure out what humidity level you need to set the humidistat to so that you can have a comfortable humidity level in your room. For example, my digital hygrometer reads 47% (I like the room humidity to be in the high 40s) and the humidifer's humidstat reads 40%. So I set the humidstat to 40% to get the humidity level I want.
*** Five Week Follow-Up Note: It started to leak the other day and I will exchange it for another one. Also, the humidity indicator started to not work correctly. I hope I have better luck with the second one. Pain in the you know where. Like I said in my initial review, this one was really great-- when it worked!
*** Five Week and Two Day Follow-Up Note: No, this is not my blog on humidifiers. So I got the second one the other day. I discovered that the vapor CAN come out warm. So the first one I got was defective in that the vapor was staying cold. Now the bad news-- the humidistat is so far off that the humidity in the room has to get to 52% before the humidifier will shut off! The humidifier "thinks" the ACTUAL humidity in the room is 35% (it is 17% off!). (35% is the lowest DESIRED humidity level you can select on the humidifier.) I will exchange it for another one tomorrow. It's the last one. After that one, I get my money back. I spoke to a nice enough guy at the customer support line for the Korean manufacturer; he agreed, there is a problem with their humidistat. He suggested I unplug the unit for one or two hours and then try it. Yeah, right, that'll fix it. Why don't I just unplug it for an hour or two when the humidity gets to the desired level in my room and then plug it back in? That will definitely work. Okay. There will be one more entry and then I will wish you the best of luck with this unit or whichever one you wind up buying.
*** Now 1 year later! It works just fine. Very happy with it. Ordered two new filters from an Amazon vendor that just arrived. Only $10 each and will last the entire season. Cheap. That's it. No more entries. Good product, worth a try.
Customer Review: awesome mist, quiet operation, slightly dubious humidistat, now in its 3rd winter
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had sinus problems in the past so I highly value my humidifier. I bought this several months ago and used it throughout the cold season and even up until a few weeks ago when it was still less than 40% humidity in my apartment.
The VS207 pumps out A LOT of mist. The lowest setting was more than enough for my 200 sq-ft bedroom and usually enough for the entire 600 sq-ft apt. during the day. I only needed the high setting a few times when I didn't leave the unit on during the day and my place was bone dry when I got home. Then it quickly humidified the air to comfortable levels (i.e. > 40% when ~65F inside) in a few minutes.
And it operates very quietly, apart from the occasional glug-glug of the water intake. Certainly quiet enough to not wake up a somewhat light sleeper like me.
The humidistat is somewhat dubious, though. In the 200 sq-ft bedroom I always kept it at 40/45%, and my Radioshack hygrometer 10 feet away (which I trust more than Venta's humidity estimation algorithm) consistently read 5% more. The discrepancy was more variant, though, when I used it in the living room (effectively the whole 600 sq-ft). The Venta would register anywhere from 3-10% lower humidity than the Radioshack. So if you get this then I'd recommend having a separate hygrometer to get a more reliable reading.
One last word of advice: always use filtered water (distilled, Reverse Osmosis, etc.) Numerous people complained about white dust in other ultrasonic humidifier reviews, and hard tap water is always the culprit. I use RO and have had zero white dust.
UPDATE 2008-12-18:
The VS207 is still going strong in its 3rd winter. I'm writing this because I accidentally got some water inside the base while rinsing it off during a tank refill. So I had to disassemble it to dry off the electronics inside. Thankfully it worked fine when I re-assembled everything the following morning. (I let it air dry overnight).
The only thing different is that I unplugged the water heater from the circuit board, since I never use it anyways and don't want to accidentally turn it on. I presume that some of the complaints of water leakage are due to the heater rupturing the pipe from the tank to the mister. Plus I've never needed warm mist, because properly humidifying my apartment makes it plenty comfortable even when the temperature is low/mid 60s.
And still no white dust since I always use RO filtered water. Plus my ultrasonic plate is always shiny and clean, whereas a family member always gets mineral gunk on theirs because they use tap water.
Customer Review: awesome mist, quiet operation, slightly dubious humidistat, now in its 3rd winter
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had sinus problems in the past so I highly value my humidifier. I bought this last winter and use it whenever the relative humidity in my apartment is less than 40%.
The VS207 pumps out A LOT of mist. The lowest setting was more than enough for my 200 sq-ft bedroom and usually enough for the entire 600 sq-ft apt. during the day. I only needed the high setting a few times when I didn't leave the unit on during the day and my place was bone dry when I got home. Then it quickly humidified the air to comfortable levels (i.e. > 40% when ~65F inside) in a few minutes.
And it operates very quietly, apart from the occasional glug-glug of the water intake. Certainly quiet enough to not wake up a somewhat light sleeper like me.
The humidistat is somewhat dubious, though. In the 200 sq-ft bedroom I always kept it at 40/45%, and my Radioshack hygrometer 10 feet away (which I trust more than Venta's humidity estimation algorithm) consistently read 5% more. The discrepancy was more variant, though, when I used it in the living room (effectively the whole 600 sq-ft). The Venta would register anywhere from 3-10% lower humidity than the Radioshack. So if you get this then I'd recommend having a separate hygrometer to get a more reliable reading.
One last word of advice: always use filtered water (distilled, Reverse Osmosis, etc.) Numerous people complained about white dust in other ultrasonic humidifier reviews, and hard tap water is always the culprit. I use RO and have had zero white dust.
UPDATE 2008-12-18:
The VS207 is still going strong in its 3rd winter. I'm writing this because I accidentally got some water inside the base while rinsing it off during a tank refill. So I had to disassemble it to dry off the electronics inside. Thankfully it worked fine when I re-assembled everything the following morning. (I let it air dry overnight).
The only thing different is that I unplugged the water heater from the circuit board, since I never use it anyways and don't want to accidentally turn it on. I presume that some of the complaints of water leakage are due to the heater rupturing the pipe from the tank to the mister. Plus I've never needed warm mist, because properly humidifying my apartment makes it plenty comfortable even when the temperature is low/mid 60s.
And still no white dust since I always use RO filtered water. Plus my ultrasonic plate is always shiny and clean, whereas a family member always gets mineral gunk on theirs because they use tap water.
Customer Review: Quality Ultrasonic Room Humidifier
Summary: 4 Stars
We have been using the Venta VS207 Sonic Cool/Warm Mist Ultrasonic Room Humidifier now for about two weeks. So far we are extremely impressed with the performance of this unit. We have installed it in our 16'x14' master bedroom, which gets quite dry durring the winter months. This humidifier was very easy to setup and was producing plenty of humidifying mist in just minutes. It raised the humidity level of our room by 10% within just a few hours. However, it also produces quite a bit of white dust on the front of our 32" LCD television, and was clearly visible on most other dark surfaces in our room as well. Using the "warm mist" feature helped a little but we ultimately had to start using distilled water (as recommended by other reviewers here on Amazon) in the Venta VS207 to eliminate the white dust. There is now virtually no dust seen in our room since we started using the distilled water (been using for about 1 week now).
As others have noted, the humidistat built into this unit is nearly useless. It was reading 50% humidity while the wall mounted Oregon Scientific temp/humidity station in our room showed just 38%. We have learned to set the humidistat of the Venta VS207 about 15 to 20% higher in order to achieve the desired humidity in our bedroom.
We are extremely happy with our Venta VS207 Ultrasonic Room Humidifier. Now that we are using distilled water we have no more white dust in our room, and we have found a work-around for the poor quality humidistat built into this unit. Our only other complaint is that the handle on the tank prevents us from sitting it on the counter, after filling, in order to screw on the cover. As the tank must be inverted in order to fill it, and since the handle is curved and does not allow the tank to sit flat while inverted, one must cradle the tank in your arm while screwing on the threaded cover with your other hand. I am afraid the weight of the full tank will crack the handle if we tried to balance it on the counter while replacing the cover. Still, this is a minor issue when compaired to the overall great build quality of this humidifier. It does its job well and is nearly silent during operation. I find it easy to recommend this model to anyone looking for a quality single room humidifier.