Customer Reviews

Venta Sonic VS205 Cool and Warm Mist Ultrasonic Room Humidifier

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

WOW! Finally one that WORKS and doesn't wake the neighbors!

We have been through just about every type/brand of humidifier in our quest for the perfect one over the last 15 years. So when I pressed the "on" switch on our new "Venta Sonic VS205" I knew our quest was finally over. Out came an unbelievable "fog cloud" of humidity that gently wafted over the room. Later as the humidity level rose - monitored by the nifty LCD readout on the front - the unit suspended "cloud formation" and waited patiently until the room percentage had dropped below the set level and then resumed.

Pros::

1) Absolutley soundless!!! Many of the other brands worked fine but were so noisy we couldn't sleep.
2) Runs at least 24 hours on a fill (depending on what level you set it on - ours is 45% - 50%)
3) Instant gratification - monitors the humidity level in your room - not many actually do this - you just have to guess and never really know - so this is big.

Cons:

1) The only one - it's a bit tricky to fill. Have to turn the tank upside down and unscrew the filter. As an Industrial Designer I could come up with at least 3 better ways to do this - one being simply have another fill cap on the top. But this is really not a problem since the unit has so many other admirable features (AND - you only have to do this once a day!!)

Having tried many different types of humidifiers to help ease the dry winter weather, I like this one the best.

1. Unlike evaporative humidifiers, there is no wick. After a few weeks, the wicks develop a moldy odor and need to be replaced.

2. It's very low maintenance: I've had 4 units now for several months (one in the master bedroom, one in each of the kids rooms, and one in my office) and the most I've had to do is wipe the base with a towel and clean some scale off the oscillator with the included brush.

3. It's easy to operate. Two knobs (humidity setting/spray power) and one button (mist temperature). It doesn't have a built-in humidistat, but that's an advantage as far as I'm concerned, since most reviewers say the ones that do are inaccurate anyway. $20 buys you a good hygrometer that you can place anywhere in the room. (I've got the Honeywell TM-005X)

4. It's very quiet. Really. You can barely hear it.

5. I was reluctant to buy an ultrasonic humidifier because, as others have noted, the mist only goes a short distance and it mainly humidifies the floor in front of it. But this unit has a pretty good kick to it. And here's a tip -- buy a small fan (I use a Vornado Flippi V8) and use it to waft the mist up into the room. The Vornado on it's low setting is also barely audible, looks great, and takes up minimal space. The Venta-Sonic/fan combo will set you back considerably less than the Vornado humidifier with the built-in fan. Vornado V8 Flippi Personal Fan, Medium, Black
6. Yes, you have to turn the unit upside down to fill it up. Big deal. Don't you have to do this with every water tank?

7. Most important -- it humidifies. It easily raises the humidity level 10 to 15% in a very large 15x 20 foot bedroom with a high tray ceiling.

I have had a Venta VS205 for several months. It does not have an LCD indicator on it -- I think the VS207 has the LCD gauge. I think the picture on the web is incorrect. I live in a very dry climate. I have found the VS205 a delight. It is very quiet, works well, needs to be refilled about once a day. I operate it at about 1/2 speed in a 315 square foot second floor bedroom. At half power it raises humidity from 2% to 30%-35%, then maintains humidity at that level. No "white dust". The warm mist is not very warm, but I rarely use that function since I am more interested in the energy efficiency of cool mist operation. I like the removeable tank. At first I found flipping the tank over to fill it inconvenient, but I having filter access on the fill cap is an advancage. I am going to buy a second one for my first floor.

I purchased the VS-205 at BB&B last Christmas; I paid about $85. I have had excellent results with this unit-- it is the quietest and most reliable humidifier I have ever owned. I had used many different brands of bedroom humidifier over the past 20 years, mostly cool-mist "wick" varieties-- and those are messy to clean and costly to maintain. I had been avoiding ultrasonic because of the "white dust" issue. But this unit has no such problems-- it emits clean clear vapor, is whisper quiet, and requires no chemical additives. I find it easy to fill: just turn it upside-side down in the sink & fill with tap-water. NO cleaning needed, except at the end of the season. NO costly filters or wicks to replace.
The only CON: I discovered that I prefer the "warm" setting which heats the water before spraying & helps warm the air in the room (adding moisture helps make the air feel warmer, too). But it is NOT steam like a Vicks vaporizer; this is just warmed humidified air.
As I indicated: I used this unit all of last winter, let it sit over the summer, and then started it up again this fall without a hitch-- you can't ask for anything more! (In fact, I went back to BB&B last week to try to buy another one for my son's apartment, and was sad to discover that they no longer sell Venta-Sonic; but they had lots of expensive Air-O-Swiss, etc.)

I have just started using a VS205, very impressed. Over a number of years I have used every type, from a fan pulling air through wet straw to real wicks, furnace mounts, and ultrasonics. The VS205 is doing very well so I have got online to see if I can find them cheaper. I then started reading reviews.
People you must use clean water. The white dust, slimes etc. are whats left after you remove the water from the source. White dust is from dissolved minerals. Slimes and algaes are either in your supply water or pulled out of the air they are everywhere. Mineral sediment can be cleaned with vinegar, its an acid which redissolves the minerals. Slimes and algaes can be killed with household bleach, you may have to scrub their residue to delay regrowth.
I have various qualities of water in my house as I use untreated for toilet flushing, then filtered and softened for dishwasher and clothes washer, then taste and odor filter for kitchen and bath, to reverse osmosis for drinking, cooking, and HUMIDIFIERS. Reverse osmosis removes dissolved solids which is what is causing the most problems and work with these units. All my humidifiers are more effecient and cleaner with the cleaner water. Wicks don't calcify as quick and I expect the Venta-Sonic to live a long life with RO water as it's supply. No, I am not affiliated with reverse osmosis sales, I purchased one for spotless rinsing of my motorcycle. I went ahead and piped it to refridgerater and kitchen sink. I decided to use it in humidifiers as it would reduce wick replacement. They can only be cleaned twice before deteriating too badly.
This is the grain of salt to take to other reviews. Enjoy!

My wife and I thought we could better than the $20 Vicks V-745A that we have had for two years. The Venta sure does show alot of smoke coming out of the machine, but our humidistat in our bedroom has the Vicks winning hands down. It easily raises the humidity of the room where the Venta doesn't really seem to do much at all, but like I said you would think you would wake up soaking wet with all the steam that it emits.

Lastly, the other feature that was important to us was the warm air humidification, much better and less germy than cool mist. This humidifier says it is warm air but it really doesn't get very warm, not nearly as warm as the Vicks. If you put your hand close to where it come out of the spout it is kind of warm, but by the time it hits the air it becomes cool instantly, so you just don't get the feel of a true warm mist humidifier.

The things I like are the fact it has a filter which so far seems to work and keep the unit free of minerals and soot and the room of white dust, and the build quality is fairly solid and it operates quietly. Water capacity is good too, holds more than enough for one night at full blast.

Overall, this doesn't seem worth the money since it doesn't live into everything it says it will do, and other much lesser priced models do. It is NOT a warm air humidifier, so buyer beware in this respect. I went back to the store to test the display and make sure I didn't get a bad unit, it does the same thing, doesn't get really warm. To me this is basically a cool mist humidifier, especially if you have experienced a true warm air humidifier. It seems to spit out alot of smokey humidity and our VIcks doesn't, but the humidistat doesn't lie, the Vicks wins everytime. At the end of the day, this a decent humidifier that is not warm air, and not worth the high price when you compare and consider the performance. It is however better than the Vicks as far as cleaning maintenance.

I've had one of these for 3 years in my bedroom and am still pleased. Purchased another last winter for my daughter's room (she was home from college for a year) and now use it in the living room. Easy to fill, easy to clean, easy to use, easy to move, very quiet. It does click on and off when it reaches the set humidity, but I always want more humidity so just turn it up a little and it stops clicking. Don't use the heated mist at all - haven't any reason to if the humidifier is used continually, so can't comment on that. One suggestion about cleaning -- you can rinse/swab it out with white vinegar, then rinse the vinegar out.

I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy an Air O Swiss that received very high reviews on this site. They didn't have any, but I had a twenty-percent-off coupon that I had to use, so I bought the Venta instead, with reservations. Those reservations were unfounded. This thing is quiet, and by quiet I mean it makes very little sound. When I think ultrasonic, I think of one of those jewelry cleaners that makes a high-pitched squeal as it cleans. This machine makes no sound other than a hard-to-hear hum as it runs. One poster stated that theirs made the floor in front of it damp before they put a fan in front to disperse the water vapor of theirs, because of this I put a towel in front of mine to protect my cork floor, and the towel wasn't even damp after a full night of humidifying. I'm sorry I didn't buy one of these things years ago.

This machine came highly recommended by a family member. We bought two. One did not work upon opening the package and was returned. The humidity and the output was great, but even with the filter, everything in our entire home including all windows soon had a foggy film on it, and a coating on all dustable surfaces. If I had known that hard water and this machine do not mix, I would never have bought it. A call to customer service for possible remedy brought no suggestions or help. The family member who recommended the machine had a water softening system which would make a difference.

This unit worked well enough for 10 months and then stopped fogging. I called the service number as it is still under warranty but they refused to take it back or offer any option other than return it to point of purchase. BB&B no longer sells these and insists that my only option is to contact Venta who loops me back in circles. Very poor service as others have stated so I replaced this for half the price from Lowes with a Hunter 33257 Hunter 33257 Carefree Humidifier Plus with Permawick with the new Permawick system that only requires a cleaning once a year instead of replacing the pricey filters every few months. While the Hunter produces much more noise on high the low setting is fine for sleeping. In addition the evaporative system does not produce any of the white dust that the Venta did. I live in Colorado and we have some of the purest water in the US flowing out of the Rockies so I don't feel there is any hope in an ultrasonic unit not producing copious amounts of white dust. We also have some very dry air and the Hunter also humidifies a larger area better without leaving the puddles that the Venta did. I'm going to call the parent company in Germany as I've found EU companies tend to care about the quality of outsourcing vs.US firms. I'll see how that goes and will revise this if a decent warranty solution is provided by them.

Stay clear of the Venta's for now though, take a look at the new Hunters with the Permawick, and save yourself some time, money, and frustration.