Dry air and allergies can wreak havoc on your body and mind. Uncomfortable air can keep you awake all night, especially if your home’s air circulation isn’t top-notch. A humidifier helps by keeping the air moist, but not just any humidifier will do the trick. Before buying one for your home, office, or bathroom, check out the best smart humidifiers of 2020.
We consider some of the best new features of smart humidifiers, like automatic humidity sensing and ultraviolet cleansing technology aimed at killing off bacteria.
Pure Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier
The Pure Ultrasonic is one of the most popular humidifiers, and for good reason. With a 1.5-liter tank, it’s perfect for bedrooms, offices, and medium-sized rooms. The top-mounted clear tank lets you easily view its water levels, allowing you to keep track of your next refill time. However, considering Pure designed it to last sixteen hours on a single tank, you shouldn’t need to replenish the humidifier very often.
The 360-degree nozzle offers quick and convenient speed and directional mist adjustments. The unit also shuts off automatically if it runs out of water, so you don’t have to worry about wasted energy if the humidifier empties while you’re out. The device doubles as a nightlight, too. Simply activate the nightlight, and the Ultrasonic produces a gentle blue glow that serves as a perfect nighttime ambiance in the bedroom. However, if you need a humidifier for larger rooms or the entire home, you’ll need a more powerful device. Due to its shape, the device can be difficult to clean if you don’t stay on top of the recommended weekly cleaning. Fortunately, it comes with a brush to make cleaning a bit easier.
Honeywell HCM350B Germ-Free Cool Mist Evaporative Humidifier
The Honeywell HCM350B is another solid option. This unit boasts three separate speed settings, allowing you to more aptly control not only humidity levels in your home but also the noise level of the device. The Honeywell HCM350B has a handy QuietCare Performance setting that minimizes the annoying drone often associated with humidifiers.
With this device, the antimicrobial design is the real selling point. Unlike many humidifiers, the Honeywell HCM350B uses a wicking filter to remove impurities such as germs, bacteria, and mold from the water it dispenses. The tank holds enough water for up to a full day of use between refills, too, and uses a wide opening for easy, spill-free refilling. Despite its antimicrobial design, you’ll still want to regularly and thoroughly clean it. The water tray and reservoir are dishwasher safe, making maintenance much easier than a lot of the competition.
While its matte-black finish and gentle contours represent nice design touches, the Honeywell HCM350B is still rather cumbersome for a unit not suited to humidify your entire home. If you need a humidifier for the whole house, we’d recommend shelling out a few extra bucks for something more powerful.
TaoTronics Ultrasonic Humidifier for Babies
While this might not be the most attractive TaoTronics humidifier on the market, the features are top-notch. The nano-coasted unit produces less than 27 decibels of sound and doesn’t produce any bright light, so it won’t disturb you while you sleep.
The 4-liter tank allows the unit to run for between twelve and fifteen hours, but the humidifier is not overly large. The humidifier will also shut off automatically when the tank is depleted. It has a 360-degree nozzle, so you can choose exactly where you want the mist to go. You can even adjust the mist output between 60 and 300 ml per hour using the dial.
Cleaning the unit is easy, as the nozzle is removable. Plus, there’s a dust-proof sponge to prevent dust particles from entering the unit’s base.
Aircare MA1201 Evaporative Humidifier
The AirCare MA1202 is the no-frills, all-business humidifier on our list. The device isn’t going to take home any design awards, but when it comes to efficiently humidifying the air in your entire home, the AirCare Ma1201 is our utilitarian choice.
This device offers humidity control for 3,600-square-foot homes, and a set of wheels lining the bottom allows you to move the unit around with ease. A digital readout on the top of the device incorporates refill and “check filter” indicators, too, helping to eliminate any operational guesswork. The 4-gallon tank humidifies your environment for up to 36 hours. This particular humidifier also adds moisture to the air by circulating dry air through a saturated wick filter. As a bonus, this filter also traps mineral deposits.
Let’s be frank, the AirCare MA1201 looks better suited for an infirmary than a living room. For the price, however, there are few units capable of humidifying your entire house without daily refills.
Dyson 303117-01 AM10 Humidifier
Looking for a humidifier that does double duty? This one by Dyson works to humidify your home year-round, but it can also release high-velocity cold air to keep things cool in the summertime. The device also utilizes Ultraviolet Cleanse technology to destroy 99.9% of the bacteria in the air, keeping your home clean and helping you breathe easier.
After killing the bacteria, the device releases hydrated air, and the long-range mist projection feature helps to distribute the mist evenly throughout the room. This Dyson humidifier is also ideal for asthma and allergy sufferers, as the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has deemed this unit “Certified Asthma and Allergy Friendly.” It received the Quiet Mark accreditation from the Noise Abatement Society. Want to monitor the temperature of your home as well? This humidifier has Intelligent Climate Control that can measure the temperature and moisture in the air, helping to ensure your living environment is comfortable and not too humid or too dry.
Elechomes UC5501 Ultrasonic Humidifier
With a 6-liter tank, this unit can humidify areas up to 750 square feet. It has three different mist-strength levels, and it serves as both a warm mist and a cool mist humidifier. The UC5501 has smart humidity sensing. It displays the humidity level on the LED display screen, so you know how much humidity you need to reach the right level in the room.
It has a sleek, high-tech design, and it comes with a remote control, so you can change the settings without getting up. There’s even a built-in aromatherapy box, so you can add a few drops of essential oils and sit back and relax.
Proscenic 5.5-Liter Humidifier with Alexa
Make way for Alexa and Google Assistant. This 5.5-liter humidifier by Proscenic features smart controls by way of the two popular voice assistants, as well as the ProscenicHome app (for iOS and Android). Use voice commands to power the humidifier on/off, adjust settings, and more. With the ProscenicHome app, you can create customized humidifier schedules. Set it to run all night, netting you the good night’s rest you’ve been dreaming of, then have it power down in the morning.
The humidifier also has a number of presets you can cycle between in-app or remote. There are options for warm and cool mist, a baby mode that automatically adjusts for your infant’s utmost comfort, and a memory function that remembers your last settings. The device’s 360-degree spray nozzle means no corner will go un-humidified, and there’s even an aroma-therapy canister for adding fragrant essential oils.
Some customers have reported that the unit is a big better than they expected. At 9.06-inches wide and 13.78-inches tall, the Proscenic may not be compact enough for certain bedside tables or shelves, but it’s not overly obtrusive either. If you do have to pop it on the floor, the automatic nighttime screen will keep the unit from flashing LED readings around your room while you’re trying to sleep.
Editors’ Recommendations
