Air-O-Swiss U650 Digital Warm

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 was easy to see and read. At night, you can dim the backlight for a non-annoying soft light.

4. Hygrometer. This is one of the reasons why I chose this unit. Unlike the cheap humidifiers that just keeps on spewing moisture into the air. This unit will alert you of the current humidity level in your room/home. From there you can make a sensible judgement if you still want to introduce more humidity by raising the desired level.

5. Auto Mode with an "Intelligent Temperature Compensation". Humidity levels change when the temperature changes. You can't just expect to keep on maintaining a certain level when it's not advantageous and healthy. By setting the unit to auto mode, it calculates the desired humidity level based on the current temperature. No need to second guess what level you should be at throughout the whole day.

6. Cool/Warm Mist. Both have it's pros and cons depending on the current condition and season. You'd want a warm mist on cooler days and a cool mist on colder days.

THOUGHTS:

Like any humidifier or product that involves water for that matter, you'll need to know how to best maintain the product to keep it functioning as expected and prolong the life of the unit. For this specific Air-O-Swiss humidifier, there are two parts to replace:

The Ion Silver Stick that eliminates bacteria in the water and is expected to be replaced yearly. Expensive, but at least just done annually.

Demineralization Cartridge that needs quarterly replacement depending on the usage of the unit. If you use tap water, this is important to prevent any white dust due to hardened minerals to form in the water. Upon first use, you will need to soak this cartridge in water for 24 hours. The work-around is to use distilled or reverse osmosis water. That way there are no minerals in the water and you won't need this cartridge at all. Of course the cost is now buying distilled water versus buying another part. Choose your poison. If you have a reverse osmosis filter for your home, then that is even better. You save on buying this part and you are helping keep the product in the best shape ever.

Although I'd love to have this unit be more compact and slim, I guess it's necessary to be this bulky to prevent frequent water refilling for at least a day or even days. Where I reside, it rains quite often so there is enough moisture in the air at times. Since the unit is able to read the humidity levels in the air, it won't operate unless needed. This in turn helps eliminate the water tank refills.

If you were to invest in a humidifier, skip the novelty of the others and the guessing game of humidity levels in your home. This will do the job. Quite elegantly, I must add.