Vicks 1.5 Gallon Vaporizer with Night-Light

Customer Rating:
Summary: finally ... the OSHA vaporizer
Comment: I bought this Vicks vaporizer because I needed something fast for my sick wife, and this model was the only thing around. I had to get something quickly because at the last minute I realized that it was just getting too hard to keep maintaining our wonderful Hankscraft vaporizer, from which we had gotten maybe 10 years of great service.

So finally this must be the OSHA vaporizer. Or maybe it's the the no-corporate-liability vaporizer, or maybe the "trial lawyers have won so let's all give up" vaporizer. Brand new out of the box, this thing puts out the smallest amount of the coolest possible vapor that I can imagine. Yes it will gradually humidify a room, but only gradually.

My head was really stuffed up today. To clear myself out, I usually put a towel over both my head and the vaporizer. I did this today with this unit, and it was barely able to steam up the air under the towel. Not much relief, I'm afraid.

I would buy this unit only as a last resort. I wish that Hankscraft was still around, making the truly powerful and maintainable vaporizers that got our family through years of head colds. This Vicks unit does have one redeeming quality, though. Neither you nor your kids could probably hurt yourselves with this thing, even if you tried.

Customer Rating:
Summary: I disagree
Comment: Living in the middle of the desert in a hard water zone and I disagree with most of these reviews... I don't think you are filling them enough. The first night I used it there was very little steam coming out. The second night i filled it all the way to the fill line (maybe a little above) and WOW what a difference. I can only run it a night or two in a row, otherwise everything is damp. I give this product two thumbs up. Because of my hard water i do need to rinse it out every time I use it.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Get this over an ultrasonic or cool mist!
Comment: I've owned an ultra sonic humidifier that cost 3X as much. And Even if it put out an excellent mist, it left a white film on my hardwood floors and in the end, only lasted one season.

I purchased this unit from my local drugstore and couldn't be happier. The key is to get the salt proportion right in the water tank based on the mineral content of your tap water. Once you get the right mix, this unit produces excellent steam.

Although not noted or recommended in the manual, I've found a little trick that works for me. Once I know I have the right amount of salt in the water by the steady amount of steam output, I let the unit run its course. When it gets down to about 1/4 full, I just top it off with more fresh tap water. No need to add more salt because the salt minerals are still in the remaining water. I'll dump it and do a complete cleaning maybe once every few days. No need to worry about bacteria because the water is boiled to create the steam. Don't waste your money on cool mist models. They require a filter change every so often. And stay away from expensive ultrasonic machines, they don't last very long.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful product for the price
Comment: I had to buy this for my 4 month old son who got a bad cold. It works great - enough that the windows and walls are a little damp in the mornings. A little advice after reading some other reviews.....don't use sea salt as it will clog up the steamer. If you find not enough steam is coming out, add more salt! The amount of steam is related to the amount of salt you add to the water. It can get hot so keep it up from young children. I live in a dry cold city, so it works great to warm up the room a little as well as adding some moisture to the air. So far, it's helped with the colds the whole family has gotten. The only bad thing I have to mention is it doesn't have an on and off switch which is a little annoying, you have to unplug the machine to turn it off. I would definately recomend this product. It works just as well as the expensive vaporizers and humidifiers.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Where's the steam?
Comment: This vaporizer worked great for the first 2 days. After that, we had to do the vinegar deep-cleaning procedure to get maybe 10 minutes' worth of steam out of it before it would stop again. We followed the directions precisely, including adding salt to the water. The vaporizer would get hot, but no steam would come out.