Customer Reviews

Holmes HM7306-U 4-Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Feature set is very appealing, quiet fan, automatic humidistat, carbon filters, air ionizer. Unfortunately the automatic humidistat is flawed, we returned it and got a new one and it still has the same problem. When it reaches the desired humidity it shuts off - but then if it instantly ducks below that number it instantly turns back on - and off - and on...you get the picture. Imagine having a machine in your room that turns on and off 10+ times a minute - not conducive for sleep.

Other than this fatal flaw it works great. It humidifies better than any of our other humidifiers, its quiet and easy to clean. If the above mentioned feature worked this would be a kick butt humidifier - but it doesn't. For the record, we have a Honeywell humidifier of the same size and with an automatic humidistat that doesn't have the same problem - we believe it's because the humidistat is more accurate and it has a built in 5% tolerance.

I agree with other reviewers about humidistat cycling on and off. I ended up not using the auto feature. Also, once the tank gets low, it starts to rattle a bit in the base and is no longer "whisper quiet." Finally, our house has old steam heat radiators and our room is 13x13 with 9 foot ceilings and the tank did not last the night during most of December and January when set to 40%. I did, however, find the replacement filters easily at Target. I would not recommend this humidifier.

I bought this humidifier on the recommendation of Consumer Reports. It's easy enough to clean and handles hard water well. However, it is as loud as a box fan and it leaves a puddle underneath itself. In addition, filters for this model are somewhat hard to find. Most noticeable among this model's drawbacks is that it constantly flips on and off when you put it into automatic mode ("Accu-Stat"). My wife and I are going to return it and purchase a quieter, warm-mist humidifier with no filters to replace.

Other than being a pain to clean regularly (which is true of all similar humidifers), I think this model works fine -- and I own three of them, so I don't think my experience is a fluke.

The wicks do a great job with hard water, which is why CR liked the model. The cool water evaporation is safer with respect to mold & bacteria. The fan isn't whisper-quiet, but it's not bad. The filters last months for me.

The humidistat is indeed a little flakey, but its use is not really necessary, since the low setting is meek enough to just barely maintain rather than drive up the humidity in a typical room. (I.e., rather than rely on automatic on/off cycling at high speed, just leave it set on low, and you get the same end result using about the same amount of electricity -- and it's a quieter and more consistent noise.)

I'm not sure what the problem is with the other reviewers of this product. This thing does have a 5% tolerance setting for the automatic humidistat. I usually leave it set at 40%, and when it drops below that, the fan kicks on and takes up to 45%. Huh, that would be 5% right? Weird how that works. Anyways, mine works fine, and luckily I wasnt going to buy this after reading the other reviews. I just figured I would post this to other people looking to buy a good humidifier. I got this for $45 from Wal-mart. Can't beat that with a stick.

The filters of the highly recommanded Holmes (by the Consumer Reports)stopped absorbing water after about 4 weeks of use. The company claims that the filter (composed of 3 small filters) has to be replaced every 6 weeks. This is unacceptable and an expensive operation!

Just bought this unit 3 days ago and was surprised to see pool of water under the base (very hazardous). Will return it and not really inclined to get the same brand as exchange.
Accdg. to Environmental Protection, cool mist/impeller types of humidifier are worse (than steam/warm moisture) in terms of microorganism infection though there is no concrete study to support this.

I read several reviews on this including consumer reports trying to find a unit with a timer. I found this unit to be noisy and water leaked from the base all over the table and floor the first time I used it - I returned the unit and would not recommend this unit to others.

I purchased 3 of the HM7306 by Holmes at Big Lots, and they all leak from the slots in the bottom surrounding the filter compartment. I called Holmes and they told me the model had been updated to correct this problem, and the old inventory sold to Big Lots.

I will return mine to Big Lots, and probably purchase newer models. Because the HM7306 is really neat otherwise.

It has a flat topped bottle, which is wonderful because you can just put it in the sink and leave it as it fills. The ionizer does not put out a noticeable amount of ozone, unlike the tower air cleaner units from Sharper Image (even one which was released about a year ago and has an extra big piece to suppress ozone; to us, it doesn't). And the various settings work well enough. The full on/off is more useful to us than the automatic setting.

Assuming this all goes well (the return, and purchase thru Holmes) I will re-review this model at that time.

I agree with one reviewer that the humidistat is regulated in a very tite range causing it to cycle on and off very frequently. I don't agree with the fan noise. I found it to be very noisy compaired to the two Bemis humisifiers I had for the past two years. I admit they don't have the air ionizer and other features but at least I can forget they are there. Oh and the wick is hard to find.