Customer Reviews

Honeywell HCM650 4-Gallon QuietCare Cool Moisture Humidifier

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

It was hard to find a humidifier that wasn't terribly expensive and would get the job done. This is certainly one of them. It has worked great, and its interface is simple. Three buttons to set up power (lo, med, hi), timer, and desired humidity (from 25% to 65%). It comes with a ProTec cleaning cartridge, which protects against Bacteria, Mold, Fungi & Algae. Filling up the humidifier is not difficult, but you do have to do it everyday, as it only has a 4 gallon tank. One thing to mention is that it is not as quiet as I expected it would be. At full power it emits sound like a regular fan, and at low power you can still hear the fan, but it's low enough to sleep with. This feature almost made me put 4 stars instead of 5, but I must say that all in all, this is a good humidifier.

Overall, this is a good humidifier. We have one of these humidifiers, a Honeywell "warm mist" humidifier, and an Air-O-Swiss ultrasonic humidifer to humidify our 2,400 sq ft home in Phoenix, which has very low humidity especially in the winter time. This is the third season we've used this unit.

Mode of operation: This humidifier works by a filter being constantly wetted by the water in the water tank. A fan draws air through the filter, and then blows out it through the filter again. This type of filter is also referred to as an evaporative filter.

Ability to humidify: Of all three of our humidifiers, this is the king. It can raise the humidity in about half of our house between 10-25 percentage points.

Noise: Basically, think of this humidifer as a fan. At all three speeds, you can hear the fan, but it's nice quiet noise at the lowest speed, and fairly loud at the highest speed. We run it at high speed over night, low speed in the evening while we watch TV, and medium speed throughout the day.

Hygrometer accuracy: Of all three of our humidifiers, the digital hygrometer is spot on, matching the humidity on two of our stand-alone hygrometers.

Type of water that has to be used: Evaporative humidifiers are nice in that you can use straight tap water without any types of problems. We have softened water, as Phoenix water is normally pretty hard.

Ease of cleaning: Pretty easy, actually. Every couple of weeks, I just wash the tank and the base in the dishwasher (on "gentle"). There is no scale or mold, etc., to be cleaned off.

Consumables: There are two consumables: the Protec cartridge and the filter. The Protec cartridge I replace every 30 days per directions, and it's supposed to decrease the chance of mold growing in the unit. The filter I replace just every season. It *can* get really dirty, as this unit effectively acts as an airwasher, washing the dust out of the air.

I bought this humidifier for my son's room, primarily because my Voronado was having a qlitch (fixed - LOVE my Voronado!) and it was less expensive and said "quiet." Now, I am not sure who thought this was a quiet humidifier, compared to turbine engines it could be considered quiet, but nothing close to the quiet of my Voronado.

It does do the job of humidifing the room, and I like the digital setting for the percent humidity. It is easy to refill, and it does make a great white noise machine for sleeping - if you don't mind the loud noise.

This humidifier works quite well, is easy to operate, and not bad to clean. It comes apart easily enough and cleaning takes very little time. We go through a tank full of water each day on the lowest setting. Unfortunately, it is a little noisy, so its turned off at night. The noise isn't so noticeable during the day. We're all breathing easier though, so I'm glad for the purchase.

The good news is that it's as quiet as advertised and does a good job at maintaining humidity. It runs through water very quickly, and needs to be refillled several times in a day.

And there's the bad news - one removes the water container and unscrews the release valve - and you suddenly discover the sleek design is very tricky to hold. Worse when full of water. Once the screw cap is tightly back on, there is a slot which can act as a handle - but be aware that this is perhaps not for everyone.

Agree, it's not that quiet, but not as noisy as a hunter humidifier I tried. Easy to take apart & fill. Have to soak filter in sink full of water every day for a few seconds, which is a nuisance. But otherwise a low maintenance item. Base never seems to get dirty (unlike my Hunter), & the filter lasts 2-3 months. As far as capacity, it's adequate for my very large master bedroom (about 12 x 22) with a cathedral ceiling.

After about a week of using the humidifier..the fan stopped working.
I tried to return it to Amazon but their buyer would not accept it back because I openend the package. I called Honeywell and they tried to help me fix it over the phone, but could not. I ended up having to ship it back to Honeywell and paid $20.00 for shipping! I am still waiting to get the replacement after a month. Also, you can not refill in your bathroom sink becasue of the way the water tank is designed. It goes on/off during the night depending on the humidity in the room, which would wake us up.
We will have to see how the replacement is...From now on, I will only buy products that are "fragile" in a store where I can exchange or return it directly to the buyer without having to pay shipping cost.

Although the "QuietCare" name is a joke, the HCM650 is a good humidifier, and we have found that it's benefits outweigh the noise, especially if you turn it down to low or medium at night. The tank is large enough to keep it running for about 24 hours, and we highly recommend using filtered (or distilled) water instead of plain tap water to keep the filter from getting clogged with mineral deposits. Even so, you should expect to replace the filter every 3-6 weeks, so be sure to buy some HAC-504 replacement filters so you won't run out.

It is simple to use and very quiet to operate. Its doesn't put out as much as I thought it would, based on its description. But overall, I do like the product.

Update 1/21/2010 When I wrote this review, the price was about $50. Now it's about $60. As the price increases, the expectations increase as well, and the stars go down if the expectations are not met. At $60 I'd knock of a half star if I could.

You get what you pay for. Selling for about $50 this unit merits 5 stars. If the price was $100, I would have expected more and would have assigned fewer stars. See below.

What I Like: Adjustable fan speed; Adjustable humidity level; Adjustable run time, Large water tank; It displays the humidity level.

Things I would have liked to see, but did not take off stars considering the price: A low water shutoff or standby mode; Better water tank design for filling.

Additional thoughts:

To its credit, the unit has an adjustable humidity setting. When the unit reaches the set humidity level, the fan shuts off and the unit enters standby mode. When the humidity falls below the setting, the fan starts again. Keep in mind that the humidity sensor is inside the unit and will tend to read higher than a humidity meter elsewhere in the room and adjust the unit higher accordingly. In my case there is about a 10% point difference.

If the unit was any more expensive, say in the $70 to $90 range, I would have deducted a star for the absence of a water level sensor. The fan continues to run even if the water in the tank has run out.

Have a care when refilling the water tank. It has a nice carrying handle, but when the tank is turned over and set down as is necessary for filling, the rounded top causes it to tilt to one side rather than resting straight up without tipping. When full of water it did not tip over on its own when carefully set down on the handle. But, if it was accidentally bumped, I can see where there could be a problem. For me, this not a serious concern because my kitchen sink is deep enough that I can fill the tank there. On the bottom of the tank is a large combination lid and valve. After filling the tank and screwing the lid back on, I always hold it over the sink and turn it over to make sure the lid does not leak. If it doesn't drip, the tank can be carried by the handle back to the unit. The manual suggests holding the tank with both hands.

As to noise, quiet vs noisy is pretty much in the mind of the listener. The unit has a fan. The noise level reminds me of a window air conditioner, or a fan one would buy for cooling purposes in the summer. I have my unit in a 12' x 18' room off the back of my house that has large windows on three sides and several house plants. When I am in the room for a while, I shut the unit off.

When the unit is turned off, the adjustments return to their default settings. That means when the unit is turned on again the fan is set to run continuously at the highest speed setting, the humidity sensor is at the almost impossibly high setting of 56% and the timer is turned off. The settings do not change if the unit switches to standby mode because the humidity setting has been reached.

I expect that every 6 to 8 weeks I will need to soak the wick material in the cheapest vinegar I can buy at the grocery store for an hour or two to dissolve the minerals that get left behind, being careful, as noted by the manual, not to crush the wick material. At the same time I will wash out the base with soap and water to remove any algae that may have started to grow.

The HCM650 is listed as a 4-gallon unit. That means that under ideal dry laboratory conditions an output rate of 4 gallons per 24 hours is achieved . In real life, as the humidity in a room increases, the actual output rate will decrease. However, the output rate becomes much less important once the room humidity reaches the level that has been set and the unit goes into standby mode. As I measured it, the water tank held not quite 7 quarts.

The HCM650 is listed as a "Honeywell" product. As reported on the user manual, "The Honeywell trademark is used by Kaz, Inc. under license from Honeywell International Inc." Not to worry. Google Kaz, Inc. It's a huge company with many well known brand name products. But if you had a choice between two humidifiers, what would it be; a Kaz or a Honeywell?