Best Humidifier (Review) in 2020 – Top Picks and Complete Guide

While we may not think too much about the air quality inside our home, it has a huge impact on our health and productivity.

For example, you may have noticed you or your family members suffer from a sore throat, chapped lips or sinus infections every winter season. Do you wonder why it gets so bad during this time?

When the winter season takes over, the humidity level drops. We try to warm up our home by running a heater or sitting in front of a crackling fireplace, causing the air inside our home to become even drier.

Dry weather is a perfect condition for viruses and bacteria to thrive in. We get infected by different airborne germs and become sick.

You can take a break from all the cold meds you are having by purchasing a humidifier for your home! By adding the right amount of moisture, the best humidifier will make your home a comfortable place to live in.

Top Rated Humidifier Choices 2020

If you want to maintain a healthy environment inside your home, the ideal humidity level should be kept within 35% to 50%. By purchasing a humidifier, you are not only protecting yourself from cold and allergy symptoms but also reducing your heat costs, as humidifier balances out the temperature inside your room.

There are lots of humidifiers available on the market that come in different types, design, control settings etc. Before purchasing one, take a look at all the options that are available and find out which one meets your needs and preference.

Top Humidifier Comparison Chart

Our 10 Picks For The Best Humidifiers

Pure Enrichment MistAire | Best Humidifier For Nursery

If you have a toddler at home who seems to suffer constantly from a runny nose, then it might be a good time to install a humidifier in his room. Pure Enrichment MistAire has the perfect size to cover your toddler’s room.

With 1.5-liter water tank capacity, it is capable of covering a 250 square feet sized small area. This Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier has a compact design. You can just pick it up and carry it to your room as it fits easily in one hand!

You might underestimate its power based on the small size until you realize this miniature product can humidify the indoor air up to 16 hours at a stretch even on the highest settings. You can also control the direction of the mist with the help of its 360-degree mist nozzle.

Its transparent design allows you to see the water level easily. When the water level drops below a certain point, the humidifier shuts off automatically.

The device comes with a blue nightlight for your child’s comfort and convenience. However, if you think the light is too bright for your eyes, it has an option to turn it off.

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Bottom Line

Clean the tank regularly by making a mixture of vinegar and water. Add crushed ice to the mixture to clean the water tank without making any scratch. This product is an ideal choice for you if you are looking for the best infant humidifier.

Honeywell HCM350W Cool Mist Humidifier | Best Evaporative Humidifier

From medium-sized room to large bedroom, Honeywell HCM350W air humidifier has you covered! Having the capacity of humidifying up to 500 square feet of area, this product is the best bedroom humidifier in our list.

The evaporative technology of this device allows it to adjust to the indoor air quality easily. It can hold 1 gallon of water, which can last for a whole day on low mist output. The water from the tank is sanitized by UV-Light technology to destroy 99.9% of bacteria and then the clean mist is released into the air.

Honeywell offers you three-speed options. At high speed, the device operates quite loudly.  However, you can always choose from the medium and low speeds, as they make little to no noise at all.

The water tank can be separated from the unit and it has a large handle attached to it so that you can carry it to the kitchen while refilling. The tank and the base of the unit can be washed easily with the help of a dishwasher.

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Bottom Line

Change the filters every 2 months to get the optimum performance out of your humidifier. Also, use distilled water instead of hard or tap water to increase the lifespan of the filters.

URPOWER MH501 Humidifier | Best Ultrasonic Humidifier

Some of us are hesitant about buying a humidifier because honestly, filling up the water tank so often seems like a boring job!

A compact humidifier with 5L water tank capacity sounds much better, right? Keeping that in mind, URPOWER MH501 has brought this product to meet your expectations.

This Ultrasonic Cool Mist device has a 5 liter water tank that can run for 14-17 hours continuously and shuts off automatically when the water level drops below a certain point.

The humidifier has easy control settings. There is only one power button for every operation. You can choose from low, medium or high mist outputs by short pressing the power button.

Sleep mode can be activated if you long press on the same button and it will turn off all indicator lights and provide you with middle mist output for the rest of the night.

The black, matte color gives this device a stylish look, so you can keep it as a decorative object in a corner. Ultrasonic Vibration Technology in this device enables it to use less electricity and conserve energy.

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Bottom Line

Check to see if the internal circular float of the unit is displaced and reset it to solve this issue. With a few maintenance and regular cleaning, URPOWER MH501 will serve you for a long time and help you to stay healthy.

LEVOIT Cool Mist Humidifier |Best Baby Humidifier

LEVOIT Cool Mist Humidifier is another product that requires fewer water refills. In a much simpler blue and white design, this device has a 4.5-liter water tank that can humidify your room up to 40 hours on the lowest mist output.

If you want to reduce stress, anxiety and depression from your life, aromatherapy and essential oils are known to be effective tools for that.

With the LEVOIT humidifier, you can enjoy the essence of this therapy. Just add a few drops of oil to the tray and enjoy the whole day with a relaxed mind! The brand itself has some organic essential oils that you can use in your humidifier.

The device can be a perfect bedtime companion for your baby as it operates almost silently using its Ultrasonic Technology. Thanks to the one-touch button, the product is easy to use and ideal for nighttime as it comes with a built-in nightlight.

The rotating mist nozzle of this device lets you control the direction of mist spray. The indicator light turns red when the tank needs to be refilled. To conserve energy, it automatically shuts down if you fail to refill in time.

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Bottom Line

To maintain a healthy environment, it’s important to clean the humidifier regularly. You can use a long-handled bottle brush to reach every corner and clean the water tank thoroughly.

Homasy Humidifiers | Best Humidifier For Dry Skin

People who suffer from dry skin and parched lips in the winter season can be benefited a lot by using Homsay Humidifiers. With 2 liters of water capacity, the device can operate up to 10 hours at a stretch.

The device has a specially designed stone filter, which purifies water from pollutants with the help of maifan stones.

This mineral rock has an anti-bacterial property and is used for curing different types of skin diseases. It contains a lot of essential elements like calcium, zinc, copper, iron and absorbs the heavy metal ions and toxic chemicals in the water. By using this stone filter, Homsay Humidifiers provides you with clean air without any impurities.

The water refilling process of this product is quite simple. All you have to do is to remove the top part and add cold water into the device.

You can choose from its three different mist outputs by pressing the power button one, two or three times. If you activate the sleep mode, all indicator lights will turn off instantly.

This device will give you a relaxed environment by working quietly at only 28 decibels. Its ultra-quiet nature will let you carry on working without any disturbance.

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Bottom Line

This device is a great choice for someone who is suffering from airborne skin problems. Although you need to get it refilled twice a day, it’s still worth your money as it provides you with a healthy and clean environment.

Honeywell Cool Moisture Console Humidifier | Best Humidifier For Cough

Coughing constantly can often lead to serious diseases like asthma or chronic bronchitis. If cold meds aren’t helping you much, you can try installing a humidifier in your house.

Honeywell Console Humidifier is an excellent choice for relieving allergy symptoms, as it takes away the harsh effects of the winter season by adding moisture to the air. It is the best whole house humidifier that can cover a large area of 2300 square feet.

The two separate water tanks are easily washable as they have large openings in front of them. The product comes with a 3-gallon capacity, so you need to refill the tanks only once in every 24 hours.

The device helps to maintain a well-balanced humidity level inside the house. The evaporative technology uses a wicking filter to remove pollutants from water and deliver clean mist output. It has a humidistat that automatically turns the device on and off according to the air quality of your room.

With three adjustable mist output, the humidifier keeps the indoor moisture level within 40% to 60%. This ideal humidity level also encourages plants to grow well.

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Bottom Line

Although it’s a heavy product, you can easily transfer it to from one room to another with the help of its caster. This portable, compact device also helps the plant to grow healthily by providing them with enough moisture in the air.

AIRCARE MA1201 Evaporative Humidifier | Best Cool Mist Humidifier

AIRCARE MA1201 is another product in our list which is capable of humidifying a medium-sized house of 3600 square feet. With 13.63 liters of water tank capacity, it maintains the moisture in your house for up to 36 hours.

This cool mist humidifier comes with a digital humidistat to observe the indoor humidity level. The machine shuts down by itself when the water tank is empty or the air has reached to a recommended point.

If you are a pet owner, then you may have been fighting to get rid of all the dander and dust in your room. AIRCARE can help you reduce these particles by adding the right amount of moisture to the air.

Have you ever noticed your wooden door and furniture shrink down a bit in the winter season? By installing this device, the furniture can retain their structural shapes as the humidity will prevent them from losing water.

You have the option to choose from its four operation modes with varying speed. The device has a portable design for easy transportation. You can move it from one room to the other with the help of its rolling caster wheels.

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Bottom Line

Instead of buying a new filter every time, you can wash it regularly to lengthen the lifespan. Whenever you see water residue inside your device, make a mixture of warm water and vinegar and keep the filter in that mixture for an hour. After that, the filters will be as good as before, ready to use.

AIRCARE EP9 800 Digital Humidifier | Best Humidifier For Snoring

Is your snoring partner keeping you awake at night? Well, you are not alone. A lot of people suffer from nasal congestion and allergy symptoms, which cause them to snore while sleeping. By preventing your indoor air to become too much dry, you can solve this problem.

AIRCARE EP9 800 humidifier can help reduce snoring by adding moisture to the air until it reaches an optimum level. Available in a deep brown color, that matches the espresso in your mug, this humidifier is capable of covering a small-sized room of 2400 square feet.

The device can be used as a decorative piece and you can also keep things on top of it, as it has a pedestal-style design. It has a digital display on the front, which shows you the actual and recommended humidity level of your home.

With 9 different fan speeds, you can choose your desired mist output. It has a humidistat to measure the moisture in the air accurately. With 4 gallons of water capacity, it can balance out the humidity in your home for up to 60 hours at a stretch.

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Bottom Line

The noise depends on the speed of the fan. Adjust the fan speed below level 3 or level 4 to enjoy a quiet environment while maintaining a proper moisture level in your house. It is the best air humidifier for your home to prevent dryness in the winter season.

VicTsing Cool Mist Humidifier | Best Humidifier For Allergies

A big-sized machine doesn’t necessarily mean the best choice for you! While you are shopping for a humidifier, look for the one that has the same size of coverage area like your room to avoid over-humidifying it.

If you have a small-sized room of 100-270 square feet, VicTsing Cool Mist Humidifier is an excellent choice for you. With a 2-liter water capacity, it can moisten your room for up to 10 hours at a time.

This cute, little humidifier weighs only 2.45 pounds and has a transparent sky-blue colored front cover that lets you see the water level inside it. Its user-friendly dial knob system lets you choose easily from 7 different mist outputs.

This device uses Ultrasonic Technology to humidify your room. As it doesn’t require any fan, it can operate a lot quieter than other devices at only 32 decibels.

You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to check on it. The machine automatically shuts itself down when the water level goes down. Its indicator light goes red until it gets refilled again. The device comes with an anti-slip handle that lets you have a strong grip on it while cleaning.

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Bottom Line

Although you might need to check the water level and refill it every 10 hours, it’s still a money worthy product. The portable size and whisper-quiet operation make it the best room humidifier for people of all ages.

PurSteam Cool Mist Humidifier | Best Humidifier For Winter

The most renowned brand “PurSteam” is famous for its world-class steamers and humidifiers. The cool mist humidifier provides you with the highest variation of mist controls. You can choose from any of their 11 settings and enjoy the mist continuously up to 17 hours.

Built with high-quality components, the device has got a stylish design. It fits perfectly on a nightstand and can be used as home décor. With 2.2-liter water tank capacity, this device can cover a medium-sized room of 30 square feet.

You can safely put this device in a child’s room. With the help of Ultrasonic Technology, it makes no noise at all letting your child sleep peacefully. The base of the unit is padded with anti-slip material to prevent it from falling and getting scratched.

The product comes with an adjustable nightlight with a dim tone. The auto shut-down function of this device keeps the desired moisture level through day and night.

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Bottom Line

Within the affordable price range, PurSteam cool mist humidifier is an excellent choice for small-sized rooms and children’s bedrooms. Since it comes with a solid infrastructure and top quality components, you can expect it to last for a long time.

Related Post: Humidifier vs Dehumidifier : What you need

How to Choose the Best Rated Humidifier

Type

Humidifier moisturizes air using different technologies. You can choose to buy a warm mist humidifier if you are suffering from allergy symptoms.

Warm mist humidifiers have a built-in system to boil water, which kills all harmful bacteria and releases the clean steam into the air. Some of these devices capture water deposits with the help of mineral filters.

Sounds expensive? Don’t worry! These filters are super cheap and require occasional changing.

If you are looking for a humidifier within an affordable price, then a cold mist humidifier is the right option for you. It adds moisture to the air by using three different models.

Impeller humidifiers are the most expensive among these three, which uses a rotating disk to spray a fine mist to the air.

An Evaporative Humidifier operates by using a fan to blow over a wet wick and moisturizes the air surrounding you.

An Ultrasonic Humidifier uses a vibrating nebulizer to create water droplets and releases them into the air.

Size And Weight

Humidifiers come in different shapes and sizes. If you are thinking of getting a small, compact-sized device for your room, make sure the specs match your requirements!

Humidifiers have the capacity of covering a certain size area. If you intend to purchase a small-sized room or office, then go for a warm-mist humidifier. To cover a large room or, say, an entire house, you will need a large cool-mist humidifier.

Make sure to choose an appropriate model for your room, as over-humidification can mess up your air quality and encourage the growth of mold in your environment.

Related Post: Air Purifier vs Humidifier : Differences and Similarities

Noise

The humming sound of a humidifier is usually tolerable. But if you are super-sensitive to noise and want to have a peaceful environment, then you should choose from one of the ultrasonic humidifiers.

Large-sized devices with high-speed settings tend to make the loudest noise. Some people say that the white noise of a humidifier masks all other noises from their surrounding and let them sleep peacefully. The evaporative and warm-mist humidifiers work best for this purpose.

Humidistat

We have told you before how important it is to maintain the optimum humidity level in your house. Humidity above 55% will make you sweat and your hair frizzy. Harmful bacteria and viruses grow in the air that has more than 60% humidity in it.

To avoid getting sick, maintain a proper balance in air quality. But how would you know the current status of humidity in your room?

To help you with that, some humidifiers come with a humidistat to shut the device off when it reaches a certain level of humidity in a room. If your purchased device doesn’t have one installed on them, you might have to buy a hygrometer to observe the humidity level of your house.

Timer

A timer is a good option to have on your device. It gives you the flexibility to keep it on for a certain period. After that period, the device will shut down.

If you are planning to go out and want to have a warm and toasty environment when you get back, you can set the timer and prevent your home from being over-humid.

Read Also: Best Car Air Purifier (Review)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why Do I Need A Humidifier In My Home?

Answer: Humidifier takes away the harshness of the winter season by boosting up your indoor air moisture level. You should install a humidifier in your home if you or your family members suffer from allergy, runny nose, sore and scratchy throat, dry and itchy skin, cracked lips etc.

2. Can I Use An Air Purifier And A Humidifier At The Same Time?

Answer: Yes. It will even increase the productivity of a humidifier. Air purifiers work to remove any dust and pollutants from your room, while humidifiers maintain a certain moisture level in our house to provide a healthier environment.

3. What Is The Ideal Humidity Level?

Answer: The ideal humidity level is between 40-50%. You can measure the moisture level in your house with the help of a hygrometer. Most of the humidifiers have built-in humidistat for your convenience.

4. What Is This White Dust Around My Humidifier?

Answer: When the mist spray lands on an item of furniture near a humidifier, you can see some of the dried up deposits of minerals in the forms of white dust. These are not usually harmful to the human body. However, you can avoid it by using distilled water in the tank.

5. How Often Do I Need To Clean A Humidifier?

Answer: The manual that comes with your product should have clear instructions on it. Generally, you should change or refill the water in the tank every day to prevent the growth of molds and mildews. The device should be cleaned thoroughly once every 2 weeks.

6. Which Humidifier Is The Quietest?

Answer: It depends on the humidifier’s model. Generally, Ultrasonic humidifiers are quietest as they operate by making a high-frequency wave, which is inaudible human ear. Other types usually come with different fan speed settings to help you control and reduce the noise level.

Final Words

Home is the place where we create our happy memories. To make the memories last longer we should invest in making a healthier environment.

While you choose a humidifier, make sure it comes with the capacity to cover your room or the house. Turn it off as soon as your room reaches the desired mist level. Over-humidifying can cause serious health problems.

By purchasing the best humidifier, you can take a step towards eliminating all the stale air from your home as well as conserve the energy of your heating devices. The upcoming winter season will suddenly feel a lot more enjoyable with the warm atmosphere inside your home.