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: Review of Venta VS207 vs Venta 370 vs Enviracaire EWM-220
Summary: 4 Stars
Review of Venta VS207 vs Venta 370 vs Enviracaire EWM-220, January 13, 2008
By Venkat (PA) - See all my reviews
I recently purchased three different humidifiers (Venta 370 @$200, Venta VS207 @$100 and Enviracaire EWM-220 @$90) for various rooms in our house. Below are pros and cons of each of these three units:
VENTA 370:
Pros: Quiet operation - perfect for bedrooms, vaporizes tank contents in approx 24 hours to provide ideal humidity, flexibility of cool or warm mist operation
Cons: Leaves a white dust like residue on objects nearby(perhaps an unwanted side effect of ultrasonic vaporization), Expensive $$$, Heavy on refill.
VENTA VS207:
Pros: Quiet operation (like Venta 370), vaporizes tank contents in approx 24 hours, Significantly less expensive than VS370 for comparable performance, Has cool vs warm mist options.
Cons: Heavy on refill, No handles for convenient handling during refill. Leaves a white dust like residue on objects nearby.
ENVIRACAIRE EWM-220:
Pros: Two separate water containers with side handles - convenient to refill water, Vaporizes both tank contents in approx 24 hours, UV light and boiling supposedly destroys germs/microbes in water (can't verify manufacturer's claim).
Cons: Noisy (continuous sound of boiling water from the unit - feels like I am sleeping with a kettle on the stove nearby) - I kind of got used to it after a while, but may be a problem for light sleepers. Unit warns of hot steam emanating from the unit - can potentially be hazardous with little kids in the house.
Overall, for price and performance, the Venta VS207 is the best product. Only wish it had more convenient carrying handles.
Customer Review: Mixed experience
Summary: 4 Stars
I just bought this model (VS207 DIGITAL HUMIDIFIER), and I also own the less expensive model (VS-100), which is the same size and capacity, but does not come with the digital hygrometer.
Both models work fine and operate very quiet (which was an important criteria for me).
I selected this model despite the 50% higher retail price, because I thought it would be nice to have an accurate display of the current room humidity and also select the target humidity more precisely, the 'smaller' model has the same functionality but uses dials instead of a digital display. The hygrometer seems to be precise enough, about 2, 3 % different from my external units. But the 'current room humidity' displays only values of 30% and more, so even though your room humidity may be 20%, the unit will show 30%. That is somewhat disappointing and makes a target humidity value of 30% obsolete, the unit will shut off even though the actual humidity could be far less.
But aside from this flaw the unit works very good, so does the VS-100 for 6 months now and I consider buying another one of those. I would not spend the extra money on this 'upgrade' again.
UPDATE 12/24/2006:
I used the unit for a few weeks now. The hygrometer settings and accuracy are still giving problems. I sent a mail to Venta customer service asking about this, but they chose not to answer at all.
Also, the 'hot mist' function does not seem to work on this unit, but I had nothing to compare it with. Now I am looking for a replacement and tried a Air-O-Swiss unit, and that one is really producing a 'hot' mist ...
I cannot change my original rating, otherwise it would go down to 2 or 3 stars ...
Customer Review: EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!
Summary: 1 Stars
We bought the VS-207 last year. First, we couldn't get it to produce mist without continually shutting down. Numerous calls to the manufacturer were not helpful as we had what seemed to be sales people trying to give technical advice. Finally, someone told us to trim the gasket on the filter cartridge with a nail clipper since the gasket was a bit too large! That solved just one of many problems. The filter medium then broke through the top of the cartridge, spilling the filter medium into the tank. Another annoying problem was the production of white dust, contrary to the advertising claim that the nanosilver medium would produce "no white dust". Granted, this humidifier produced less white dust than any other humidifier we have tried (about four others over the years), but we did have to dust the furniture weekly and the TV screen every couple of days. Our attempts to reduce the white dust involved our trying distilled water, filtered tap water using a Brita filter, and straight tap water. We couldn't detect any difference on the white dust production regardless of the type of water we used. Also, the controls are essentially useless; we gave up trying to set a given humidity level since it never reached even the lowest setting. We just set it on "continuous" and let it run all the time. The only good thing about this humidifier is that it is very quiet. However, overall, the numerous negatives far outweigh this one positive. Last winter, we were totally frustrated with this humidifier. This winter, we have accepted the fact that we have a lemon and are resigned to living with lemonade. It goes in the trash after this winter.Customer Review: Overall a good product but could use little improvements
Summary: 4 Stars
I am glad I picked this model over the others available based on the reviews . Overall I am happy with the performance. The thing about the unit not starting up on the first fill (or after cleaning) is only because you need to give it time so that the water flows down into the lower compartments where the ultrasonic device is situated (this is also explained in the user manual if you care to read it).
Pros:
* Overall good design and built. Water container is built of heavy plastic and feels well constructed.
* Water filter cartridge is a plus and is easy to install and remove (don't forget to dip the new cartridge in warm water before using as explained in the manual)
* Electronic controls are easy and intuitive to use.
Cons:
* Humidity sensor could be improved. The unit's humidity displays jumps about a lot as if confused about the actual humidity levels. This could also be due to the fact that the mist tends to fall down towards the floor and is dense around the unit thus confusing the sensor. It could really use a remote sensor.
* Low hysteresis makes the device stop/start frequently around the set humidity (also a side affect of having sensor problems above)
* Filling water could be little tricky particularly for elderly or weak. It could use some holding scheme (like little recess for digging in fingers to hold the reservoir while filling) to make it easy to fill water. I always fill this unit using the bath tub tap as I can let it rest on the bath tub floor while it is filling up.
Customer Review: Far superior to cold-mist (wick) units
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm another New Englander who needs serious winter humidification. My warm mist unit broke after 3 years of use, so over the summer I got a cool-mist unit: the Vornado. But after using it for about a month, it became clear that it didn't work. That is to say when you want higher humidity in a room, a wicking humidifier doesn't do the job. We have a tightly sealed dormer bedroom that's bone dry - the vornado made it comfortable for being upstairs for a short amount of time, but overnight humidification was too challenging.
I figured I'd try an ultrasonic humidifier, and the Venta VS207 wasn't too expensive. In a nutshell, a humid fog just pours out of the machine and is instantly absorbed into the air. You can turn on the heat button so the humidity doesn't pull the ambient temperature down too much. The humidity control helps out by letting you set the optimal moisture level, and saving some electricity when that point is reached.
After one night of use, I slept the better than any other night in a month. It's also way quieter than a wicking/fan humidifier, which some people care about.
Honestly, the real test is how long this unit lasts. If it breaks after 2-3 years, then it's probably a better value to just buy and replace a warm mist humidifier every few seasons. I noticed that Venta's newer models have a 10-year warranty, but the filters are $30 a pop! So for now I'm waiting (not anxiously!) for the VS207 to give out.