18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AOS 2071, January 5, 2005
I purchased the AOS 2071 because I wanted both air purifier and humifidier in one unit if possible. I live in a high desert valley in Colorado - beautiful but dry and often dusty. I am overall happy with the unit. The air purifier works great, the humidifier ok but doesn't get humidity as high as I would ideally like. Maintenance is minimal, with infrequent filter changes and cleaning of the water tray. The room air feels "refreshed", similar to walking out after a rain.
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26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointment, December 26, 2006
After reading numerous reviews on different humidifiers and their downfalls, (white dust, bacteria growth, frequency and difficulty of cleaning) I stumbled on this "gem". On paper it looked impressive. No cleaning, good design for water tanks, low noise, infrequent filter changes and many more, small but "useful" features. On top, not only did it promise to humidify but it was also a purifier. What a great concept! So, I forked out $200 large for the promise.
Upon receiving Air-O-Swiss 2071, I was a bit shocked by the size of the box. Granted the specs are listed on the site, it seemed bigger then I anticipated. But not to worry! I usually like to fill up my bedroom with huge, plastic, robot-like things regardless of the fact that they take away more and more of the useful space, leaving you crammed in your tiny bed (no space for a big bed) wondering about the real definition of claustrophobia.
The assembly was fairly easy. Placing two HEPA filters, one carbon filter and the front plastic cover does not require an engineering degree, though apparently, it would be useful to have the mentioned degree for the implementation of the water tank's design. While the fill up is easy, the transfer of the tanks from the sink to the unit calls for a towel (not included). That is unless you like wet carpet, and lets come clean - who doesn't?. You see, the bottom of the water tank consists of a rubber seal held in place by a spring. When you place the tank in the machine, the seal is pushed up, which allows the water to flow freely. The only problem with the concept is the fact that the spring is so weak , the weight of water alone does not close the seal tightly enough to prevent dripping during the transfer. But again - that's not a problem. I have plenty of towels!
The real beauty shows when the Air-O-Swiss 2071 is turned on. On the 'low' setting it is reasonably quiet. Apparently, low buzzing noise is something people get accustomed to fairly easily, so I must be an exception because after 2 hours of tossing and turning I had to turn the thing off. The following night was less disturbing as I preemptively turned it on full blast, hours before bed time (preemption is the healer of all world's ills). To say that the AOS humidifies the air to the detectable degree is to make an overstatement. While it probably does humidify the air somewhat, I could not tell right away after crossing the bedroom door line. The air felt cleaner but I attribute that more to the purification properties of the machine rather then the humidifying ones. It definitely did not do nearly as good of a job as stand alone humidifiers do.
This brings me to the reason I bought the thing in the first place. Stand alone humidifiers are troublesome to maintain and often require your attention on a daily basis. What AOS promised is care free humidification. Change the Evaporative Cartridge every 2-3 months and you'll be in good shape. The only problem with that statement is the fact that the air coming out of the 2071 unit started to emit a funky smell after 3 weeks of use. At first I could not figure it out. The purifier part of the AOS is supposed to purify. What's with the smell? Upon an inspection of the Evaporative Cartridge, the cause was found. The cartridge had mold growth. Nice black and gray, round shapes on the yellow, water soaked filter paper. Just what I wanted to breathe in. And who knows how long the mold has been growing in this pleasant environment? I have an idea.
So much for the low maintenance part! It would probably be cheaper to hire a middle school neighborhood kid to clean a stand alone humidifier than pay $20 every three weeks for the overpriced, out of stock Replacement Evaporative Cartridge. And as far as air purification - AOS is a good item, but then again, you could buy a cuter, smaller, quieter purifier for much cheaper. My advice to you is to get a humidifier that was designed for humidification and nothing else. Otherwise, you might end up with this over priced, over sized, over hyped, useless plastic monster.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack-of-all-trades, October 28, 2006
I've been using traditional ultra-sonic humidifiers for 3 years. I was always not happy with ultra-sonic because of following reasons.
1. It spews out white dusts
2. It's difficult to clean & maintain
3. It's get broken after a few years.
I was looking for an alternative, and this Air-O-Swiss humidifier solved the above three problems at once.
I'm overall pretty satisfied with the product. I've been using this for a few months now, and here're some pros & cons.
PROS:
1. No more white dusts -- yay!!!
2. Very easy to clean and minimal effort is required.
3. In addition to humidification, it purifies air at the same time.
4. Very quiet (on "low" setting)
CONS:
1. Evaporative mechanism -- which is not as powerful as ultra-sonic when you want to increase humiditity level high
2. It comes with HEPA, but I'm not sure if its Air Purification capability is really good.
3. Also, I think this product is a bit over-priced.
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