Vornado EV100 Evaporative Whole Room Humidifier with SimpleTank, 1 Gallon Capacity, White

This type of humidifier works on a very basic principle, and as such it's a very simple device. It's a bowl of water with a sponge and a fan. The humidistat is the most advanced piece of tech in it, but this is literally something you can just make yourself using household items. Obviously this product is designed for optimal airflow and evaporation and noise and convenience and so on, but the underlying idea is just: let the water freely evaporate into the air. It doesn't heat the water, so it doesn't heat your room or consume much power at all. It doesn't vibrate the water, so it doesn't sprinkle mineral dust all over your room either. You can dump plain tap water in it, and the cost of upkeep is replacing the $14 sponge-like wick every couple months instead of buying distilled water constantly. It's quite good value for your money compared to other humidifier types. Of course it works. If you set a giant bowl of water out in your room, eventually it will all evaporate. This thing distributes a small amount of the water across the wick to increase its surface area, and then pulls air across it with a fan, which speeds up the evaporation process. It works. Of course it does. Ugh, reading humidifier reviews is so annoying, because all of the critical reviews say stuff like, "It used up a whole tank of water, but the air in my room didn't get more humid, so it doesn't work. 1 star." Where do you think the water went?? If you don't know, all of the objects in your room have to absorb humidity first, before the air can increase in humidity. The bed, the chair, the couch, the curtains. Wooden tables, cabinets, dressers, doors. The drywall that makes up the walls. They all pull water out of the air. And if your HVAC system is circulating the air in your room to other parts of your house, then you're trying to make this little thing humidify your entire house. It does work. I set it to 40%, it eventually brought my room to 40% and kept it there. I set it to 50%, it eventually brought my room to 50% and kept it there. It takes time for the moisture to distribute evenly throughout everything. I started from 13% humidity in a 9'x12' bedroom and it took two tanks of water. I also keep the door and window closed most of the time, so that I'm not humidifying the rest of the house, or the rest of the world. You'd need something a bit bigger for that. It's easy to clean. All the surfaces that touch water are curved with no corners. You can't throw it in the dishwasher, but you don't need to. Just wipe it down with some soap in the sink whenever you feel like it needs it, don't overthink it. Don't use stuff that scratches plastic, etc. It's not silent. It doesn't make the watery glorp noise every time a bubble enters the tank, but the fan is noticeable. It's a small fan inside a cylindrical housing that directs the airflow, but also works like a resonant chamber, so it makes a constant whirring noise while it's operating. If your house is completely dead silent, you will notice this thing turning off and on. But if there's normal background noise, you'll hardly ever notice it. I think the quality of the noise is quite comforting and soothing; it has a nice white noise profile that isn't harsh or distracting. There's no sudden click or attack when it turns on. You may even want to buy this humidifier specifically for the background noise to help you sleep. I bought a loud air filter for that, after all. The shape of the thing is elegant and modern, but it looks like a medical device, with its bright white body accented with gray. The white makes it easier to tell when there's algae starting to grow in it, so I understand. But the white is still kinda ugly. For the price and functionality, it's well worth it. My only point of criticism is that the UI uses the world's brightest blue LEDs. I will never understand why corporations feel like spamming blue LEDs into all of their products. They are very uncomfortable to look at, and I'm pretty sure you could use these ones by themselves to light your whole room. The LEDs dim after a few seconds, but they're still ugly and piercing. Buy some LED dimming stickers to put over them, you can get packs here on Amazon for like $4. This isn't enough for me to lower my score by a star, but I'm still gonna complain about it. Enough with the blue LEDs!!

I looked at reviews before buying and purchased even with the many problems reported. Almost all reported problems are not true, I'll address those below. In general, the unit works as expected, humidifying a small space effectively, but it's just too loud for my tastes. The only thing it's missing is auto-shutoff when dry if you're looking for that feature. Its lowest humidity level is 40% which is too high for freezing climates, causing excessive window condensation. Leaking: there is an entire page of the instructions dedicated to checking and testing your unit for leaks. Mine didn't leak and if yours does, it's either a cracked tray from shipping or user error (for example, the first time my spouse refilled it, they didn't seat the tank correctly into the base). Heed their warnings and test run your unit where it won't water damage the surface it's on if it leaks. Humidifying: the unit absolutely does work if you use it correctly. The reviews that claim it does nothing are clearly user error. The bottom edge of the wick must be completely touching the base because the water level is only 1/4" deep, if that. Second, it must be covering all the air intake slots--I found that I had to adjust it after it was wet (lift the white fan housing off but leave the grey housing on the base to adjust). The airflow doesn't bypass the wick and the wick doesn't flop over like two users claimed. Remember, this is an evaporative humidifier so if your ambient air already has high humidity, it's not going to work well, just like evaporative coolers don't work well in humid climates. One other thing to keep in mind if you use this on carpet, the full tank will make the unit tilt that direction so water won't adequately fill the space around the wick, therefore, you need to put something under the tank part of the base to level it out--I used a ceramic drink coaster. Blue lights: the two tiny LEDs for fan speed and humidity level go dim after 20-30 seconds and are very dim. Either other reviewers had defective units or Vornado addressed the issue in the newer iterations. These lights are not an issue unless you're looking directly into them. Cycling on/off constantly: mine works fine, cycling on/off at a reasonable interval. If yours is erratic, it's defective. Noise: this is the only issue I'd have to agree with other reviewers--it's too loud. I bought the smaller EV100 to use in our bedroom and even the low fan speed is way too loud. Our Vornado Evap40 on low is practically silent compared to the EV100 (it's not that quiet, but you get the drift). There is a definite change in pitch from high to low, but it isn't much. I've contacted Vornado support via email questioning this issue and I'll update my review if it was a defect or working as expected. If it is normal, I'll only run it during the day and shut it off at night. If you like white noise then it won't be an issue for you.

The humidifier works very well for small living space. It is an evaporative humidifier so it doesn't cause indoor air-pollution. However, the evaporative rate is slower than other kinds of humidifier and it is difficult / expensive to buy affordable wicks. I made my own replacement wick with one-time clothes and it works fine. I have been using it for a few years, no leak, still working well. I am giving it a 4/5.

TL;DR: The Vornado EV100 checks most boxes—evaporative, no distilled water needed, affordable, easy to clean/assemble, compact size, suitable for small rooms (up to 260 sq ft claimed), includes a printed manual, and has strong warranty/support claims. Assembly and setup were straightforward, fan noise is acceptable (like a PC tower fan), and lights are dim. However, after multiple troubleshooting attempts (reseating tank, flipping/soaking wick for hours, max settings), it still produces no noticeable humidity increase in a 168 sq ft room—even after days of running and confirmed water consumption. The wick stays partially dry at the top despite water in the base, leading to zero felt difference in air moisture (even sitting close). Bottom line: Great on paper and build quality feels solid, but ineffective humidification in my case so far. Planning to contact Vornado support per their "make it right" promise before returning. Will update if resolved. Not recommending until confirmed to work properly. UPDATE: Contacted Vornado, waited 5 days for a reply but no response. Returned the humidifier to Amazon for a refund. Detailed Review: On screen, the Vornado EV100 seemed to check all of the boxes except for one. In no particular order, here’s my personal list of basic things I was looking for in a humidifier: Evaporative: Yes Does not require distilled water: Yes (it does not) Affordable: Yes Easy to clean: Yes Easy to assemble: Yes Good physical size – not too big: Yes Suitable for a 14x12 (168 SQ FT) room: Yes (the box says up to 260 SQ FT) Top refilling: No The machine appeared to be a manageable size for me – that and reviews seemed to be favorable for the most part so I decided to give this one a try even though it was not top filling. I also purchased a 2 pack of replacement filters to have on hand. Unboxing: The humidifier arrived without the shipping protection of an outer box. It was also plain to all the busy bodies /would-be thieves what I bought. However, its own box arrived in pretty good shape and apparently; any would-be thieves didn’t need to have their den humidified. The 2 pack of extra filters that were ordered at the same time as the humidifier arrived separately on another day (and those were packed in an outer box). Printed on the outside of the box: “5 year guarantee satisfaction” and printed on the inner box flaps “We expect this product to be perfect. If it is not, we will make it right”. – Impressive! Doubly impressive was they included a printed manual (gasp!). Yes! An actual printed paper manual. The “We expect this product to be perfect …” statement is repeated on the manual. Very cool because I expect it to be perfect too (as I do with all of my purchases). Unfortunately now days it seems there’s a LOT of companies out there who don’t care about the quality of their products or their reputation as long as they got your $ so this was certainly refreshing to see. Assembly and Usage: It was indeed easy to assemble. The instructions on the “Getting Started” page say to check for leaks because damage due to shipping may cause that and a visual inspection might not reveal hairline fractures. I followed the instructions for that and my humidifier passed the leak test. I placed the humidifier where I needed it to be. I filled the water tank from the bottom of it (flipped upside down) using our well water that was filtered through a Zero Water pitcher (TDS measured 0 after filtering). I carried it to the humidifier, flipped it over and put it into place. A few drops of water did wind up on the floor but not much at all – no biggie. I put the settings on “High” and 60. The fan noise on high to me seems comparable to a large fan in a desktop computer tower. No rattling or buzzing sounds. For me, that’s fine. It’s a fan after all. I never had a fan that made zero noise. If a fan didn’t make any noise at all, I’d be checking to see what is wrong with it. The tiny blue lights don’t bother me. I have clocks that emit more light than this does. If you are sensitive to the light but you are otherwise happy with this machine, you could try putting a small piece of tape over them. So, I did the leak check, got it all set up and running and I waited. 24 hours later, the water level in the tank hadn’t budged at all and the moisture level in the room felt no different. I turned the humidifier off and checked the white tank and found the wick was bone dry and no water in the bottom. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that I hadn’t seated the water tank into the base correctly. My fault there. Once I reseated the water tank, it bubbled just a bit and some water flowed into the white tank. Ok so surely now I’ll get humidity into the room, right? Nope. The box says “Although you can’t see it working, you can certainly feel the difference.” 24 hours later using the same settings the water level did go down but there was no difference in the 14x12 (168 SQ FT) room. I inspected the wick again to see that only a bit of the bottom part of it was wet. The rest was bone dry. I flipped it so the wet part was now on top (closer to the fan) making sure the entirety of the bottom of it was making contact with the bottom of the base and tried again. Although the water level continued to diminish, 24 hours later there still wasn’t any difference that I could feel in the air. None. zip, zero. I inspected the wick again to see that the top part of it was drying out! I removed the wick and placed it into some water in the sink to soak it for a few minutes then I put it back into the humidifier again making sure the bottom of it was in full contact with the bottom of the base. This time, I kept the fan on “High” but turned the humidity level up to ‘Infinity”. The next day, still no difference not even with sitting approximately 2 feet away from the machine (except for feeling cool air blowing from the fan). I checked the wick and even though there was water in the bottom of the base and the water level went down (tank not empty yet though), the top of it was starting to dry out *again*! How in the world can the water be disappearing but the wick be half dry??!! By this time, I needed to filter some more water for the humidifier so I shut it off, removed the wick and submerged it in a large bowl of water for about an hour whilst waiting for the water to get filtered in my Zero water pitcher. While I do have the extra replacement wicks on hand I am not going to try one because this is supposed to be a brand new machine with a brand new wick included. I want to be able to return them for a refund should it come down to that and at this point, I’m thinking that’s what is going to happen. I shouldn’t have to spend *days* and put this much effort trying to get a new humidifier to work. I’m going to wait a few hours more to see if the extended soaking time helps any. I’ve done everything I could think of to try to get this thing to do its job. If it doesn’t humidify the air in a way that I can feel it after all of this, I will contact Vornado to see if they will indeed make it right. I will update this review when I get any more information for you. (Yes, I really will. Check my other reviews and you will see that I actually do that when the situation warrants it.) Other reviewers have shown photos of the humidifier so I won’t repeat that here. Instead, I’m including photos of what’s on the box and a bit of what is in the manual. UPDATE: Have contacted Vornado using the email address listed in the manual. 2 days and counting, so far all I received was an automated response. I'll wait a little longer but will not run out the days that I have before Amazon's return window expires. In the mean time, I have placed a coaster under the water tank and the wick stays wet now. However, the room is still not being humidified and little bits of the filter have crumbled off. UPDATE: Contacted Vornado, waited 5 days for a reply but no response. Returned the humidifier to Amazon for a refund along with the extra filters that I purchased.

Either you will have white dust to clean up if you buy a cheap humidifier or you can buy this Vornado and change the wick filters now and then and you'll have no white dust. This is my third Vornado humidifier. I also own the EVAP40 with 2 tanks but that one alone couldn't handle the entire 1500 square foot home. So I purchased this one for the master bedroom, which measures 15 x18 feet. It works fine and the fan on low is quiet enough I don't lose any sleep. I've had this a month and no leaking at all. I'm thinking the people who complain about leaking either don't read instruction manuals or didn't test for minute cracking after unboxing. The manual says to do this. Mine was fine, so I had it set up in less than 5 minutes. The water container is easy to fill and carry. I have hard water where I live and the wick filters last me 7-8 weeks. So depending on when I set the humidifiers up for the winter season, I only need to replace them once. Sometimes I can get by with only 1 set of filters by soaking them in vinegar and then replacing them back into the humidifier. BTW, the Vornado customer service is excellent. On my original EVAP40 I bought in 2008, the fan motor started making a strange sound only 3 days before the warranty expired (a 5 year warranty). I contacted Vornado and they immediately sent a replacement no charge. All they wanted in return was the cut off cord of the old unit. The EVAP40 I'm using now is 11 years old. I also have several Vornado air circulator fans that are almost 15 years old and even now, those work as new.