Air-O-Swiss U650 Digital Warm & Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidification System

Pricey, Elegant, Functional
After having an infant addition to our family, I began looking for a humidifier especially with the Winter season fast approaching. I was looking at function, maintenance parts and prices as well as build quality and design. I didn't like how the various humidifiers looked like - too quirky, too plastic-looking, too generic.

Then this Air-O-Swiss U650 caught my eye. It had an elegant design and shiny white colour that would fit any contemporary home. It reminded me of our Rabbit Air purifier in both elegant design and price. If I were to add this to our home, it wouldn't be an eye sore.

FEATURES:

1. Digital Display. Easy to read display even from afar to spot check it's current setting.

2. Sensitive Touch Controls. No need to press oddly raised buttons. This one sits flush on the unit for a seamless and simple design.

3. Simple Amber Lighting. No multi-coloured tacky lighting. This reminded me of the old German car lighting that...

Save your penny for another product..
My experience with this humidifier is pretty much like the review "Beware" by MrJ.
This product is way overpriced and required more maintenance than I expected. It sure does look good with the high-tech display but that's all it has comparing to other humidifiers that cost many times less. For me, I have a need to use the humidifiers all Winter long every year. So, the decision to purchase this expensive Air-O-Swiss humidifier in hope that it can do better, last longer with less maintenance (because of Demineralization cartridge). Well, I was wrong. It made no difference with or with out the cartridge filter. I get even more white dust from this humidifier than any other humidifier I've used. The design flaw makes it hard to put the water tank back in and it drips a lot when remove it to refill every time. After the purchase of this A-O-S U650, I ended up using it a lot less than other low cost humidifier, which, btw is the Honeywell HWM-950. I like this Honeywell product...

high expectations, big disappointment
The highlights, which for me justified splurging $200+ on a humidifier, were supposed to be the humidistat, the demineralization system, the antibacterial defenses, and the high capacity.

I ended up disappointed with 3 of those 4 features:
- The humidistat doesn't work. It was stuck at 35-40% even when the humidity in the room got to 80%. Total joke. Perhaps I should have tried exchanging the unit, but based on other reviews I concluded this is likely a design defect and not worth the time to keep trying replacements.
- The antibacterial system is marketed as "4 band". As an engineer I automatically assumed this meant 4 bands of UV radiation. But I was wrong. The unit does not have a UV lamp at all. What they meant by 4-band and is explained in the manual, is: the pre-heating, the silver sticks, the ultrasonic tech, and special treated plastic together are the 4 things that kill bacteria. Perhaps my fault for not reading the fine print, anyhow, I'm...

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