I purchased this humidifier three years ago and have had no problems. It keeps the humidity in my son's room around 50% and we live in dry Wyoming. Maybe that's why my floors are not getting soaked as others have commented. I like how quiet it is and how much vapor is emitted. I just turn the cap to blow the vapor up instead of out. The only problem I've had just recently is a gasket where the water leaves the tank has worn out from use, and there are no replacement parts for this unit unless I buy a new water tank. I will continue to use this machine until it dies, but after that (especially after reading the reviews/comments in this section) I will purchase a different humidifier.

I read the reviews on this product after I bought it. I crossed my fingers that I would not have the same problems, but no luck there. I had it about 4 ft off the floor, so no puddles, but yesterday it just quit misting. I cleaned it, but no luck. It really burns to have to throw this 'almost' brand new humidifier in the trash after a few months of use. Based on reviews on Amazon, I'm trying the Sunbeam Ultrasonic next. Don't buy it, because chances are you will have to replace it in a few months.

I have used this model of Holmes Ultrasonic humidifiers for years. One lasted about 5 years. It can be used with or without the cartridge filter (which is bacteriostatic, and a good idea theoretically.) I gave one to my mother, and that one is in its second year and working well. On the other hand, I ordered one directly from Holmes in January, and it came and NEVER WORKED. The company was difficult to deal with...said they would replace it if I paid $10, but then admitted it was back-ordered and it would be MONTHS until they could replace it. They wanted to give me a cool mist, wick-type unit which I did not want. They would not refund my money until I wrote to my VISA card and made a formal complaint against them. It took months for them to finally refund my money for the unit and for filters that they never shipped. So, do not buy directly from the company! -CB

I bought mine 6 months ago to put in the baby room and it is still working. However, I'm getting rid of it today...I tried so hard to keep this thing clean but it's IMPOSSIBLE! You can't put your hand in the tank and the sensor is stuck in a corner which makes it pretty much impossible to clean to base without bending the sensor...This is the worst humidifier EVER.

The unit is advertized as having a humidity control. It actually has an output rate control (not the same thing, because it will keep running no matter how high the humidity goes). The ultrasonic vaporizer on my unit died after only one week of use. This is apparently common with this unit. Amazon's great return policy enabled me to ship it back for free, and I bought a sunbeam unit, which has so far lasted several weeks and is still working.

This product looks nice, and like many other reviewers have stated, it worked well for about 6 hours, then died. I have two of these machines, bought extra filters, used deionized water and when they stopped working tried everything to repair them, but to no avail. The company is not sympathetic and is difficult to contact. In trying to seek help, i researched many sites and found that this product is panned in every review. It seems to me unconscionable to continue making and selling a product with such obvious defect.

It worked for about 2 weeks at lowest setting. Consider that the company has no local repair shop. You need to pay to send it to the company plus pay them to send it back to you... Sure nobody will want to do this as this cost almost as much as the humidifier. If I could have chosen less than "one star" for my rating, I would have done it... Life is too short to waste money on a bad product from a bad company!

We bought this humidifier and it worked great....for about 4 hours. Then it stopped producing mist completely. Now we are about to try the second one, but judging from the other reviews here, Im not expecting much!

Facts are well written in other reviews.
Mine worked for 2 months (what a good luck!!)
I just tried to clean the sensor (because it's the one that makes the problem) and finally broke it.

I would not try to replace it because it will cost me $10 and what I'll get for it will be another junk.

I have rarely seen such a thoroughly ill-designed and shoddily constructed piece of equipment as the Holmes' HM485 Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier. I couldn't tell you what the tank capacity is, because it doesn't say on the box or in any of the product literature. It looks like about 1.5 gallons. The tank has one handle on the top only, so it is difficult to turn upside down to fill. And the top of the tank is not flat, so setting it down is precarious. The cap that you remove to fill the tank gets stuck easily in the closed position, requiring Herculean strength to budge it. But cool mist ultrasonic humidifiers are difficult to come by, so I was willing to put up with poor design.

I bought my first Holmes HM485 Humidifier in the fall. It spewed a lot of mist and did a satisfactory job of humidifying my living room. But it drenched the floor with water, so I had to elevate it and put a towel underneath. Using it on a carpet was out of the question unless I wanted a soggy, moldy carpet. No ultrasonic humidifier I have owned in the past ever got the floor wet. Then 3 weeks after I started using it, the HM485 stopped working. The motor didn't die. The disc stopped vibrating, so no mist was produced. I called the company, and Holmes said they would replace the unit if I paid $10 shipping. I agreed, since it was past the date I could return the humidifier to the store where I bought it. I got a second HM485. It lasted 3 weeks. Same problem as the first machine.

I prefer ultrasonic humidifiers to evaporative humidifiers, because they don't grow mold as easily and don't require a wick that has to be replaced. It costs me about $100 per season to operate each one of my evaporative humidifiers, because I have to periodically replace the wick. They mold quickly and extensively. I once owned an ultrasonic humidifier that lasted 12 years before the motor died. It worked great and never got a drop of water on the floor, even though it sat on the floor. I even owned a Holmes ultrasonic model about 8 years ago, which only lasted 2 years, but at least it did a satisfactory job. So there's no reason an ultrasonic humidifier shouldn't last a long time and humidify the air as opposed to the floor. Just don't buy this one.

We bought three of these things for Xmas replacement for some older evaporative types types. The first worked about a week out the box, I thought that was a fluke. The second one worked only for the first fill of water before failing. The third is still in the box, but now I see all these recent December reviews that other are having problems too. CAN YOU SPELL CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. There is enough posting right here to prove a good case of bad product design. We want a refund, not an excuse and we want it from Amazon as the seller. They can deal with maker.

We purchased two units 6 weeks ago. One of them worked fine, but the second unit stopped producing mist after one day. We were able to exchange it for another new one. Both worked until a few days ago when one stopped producing mist. I cleaned the base but it didn't help. Knowing I had lost the receipt I decided to use Lime-Away on the base which made it start working again, but only about half of the mist it used to produce when new. The other unit is now producing about half the mist it should.

I am tempted to order new filters and a cleaning kit, but I figure I'll just end up sending Holmes even more money for a flawed product and find out it doesn't really help.

Any humidifier that works for only 5 weeks before you have to give it an overhaul is a poorly designed product to begin with. That would be like selling a car that had to have the oil changed every month.

Tried to contact Holmes on the Internet to see if they have any good suggestions for why these things don't work. No website. Instead just an 800 number that uses the worst recorded voice recognition system to gather your address and phone number, supposedly to send you information, but I'll bet money they sold my information to the world of spam by now.

Great features on this unit include the easy lift off tank, replaceable water filter and soft cool mist.

We use this in our daughters' room every day to offset the winter dryness produced by our forced hot air heating system. It has run flawlessly for over a year. It is very quiet, and runs a long time on the low output setting. If you turn the fan and humidity level to the maximum, it lasts approximately 12 hours in our house.

We have had no water leakage problems, and no problem cleaning the base (as we do monthly). It DOES NOT leave water anywhere but in the air, where it is supposed to.

Our kids get a kick out of the 'fog machine' in their bedroom.

Why not 5 stars? Filters get expensive in the long run - $8 each and should be replaced often. We replace ours every 2 months or so.

I bought two of these poorly designed, lousy humidifiers. Both ceased to operate after their first use. Stay away from this product. It stinks.

This unit is all looks no performance. It worked great for me for about 2-3 weeks then it just stopped producing mist. I assume it is made with very cheap electronic components. I believe the units fail when they run out of water and dont automatically turn off like they should.

This humidifier obviously has some design flaws. The first one I recieved would immediately leak all of the water out the back once you filled the tank. Thankfully, AMAZON.com has a really good return policy, and I got a replacement.

This one works fine. It's relatively matinence free, though I clean it every month or so. I keep it running continuously on the lowest setting and it keeps my 632 square foot apartment at 60-70% humidity in dry Colorado. I need it this humid for my plants. At this setting the tank needs to be refilled every day or so. If I turn it up, I do notice puddles of water around it.

I like the ultrasonic humidifier much more than the evaporative, as there is no wick that needs to be replaced. This model is relatively cheap for an ultrasonic. Just make sure you buy it from somewhere that you can return it.

I bought this product last year and it was a waist of money, first of all the mist did not disperse into the air, all the mist fell to the carpet. On the other hand, good luck trying to take the water out to clean the humidifier.

Compared to many reviewers here, I have been lucky because this humidifier worked for six months before it died today! I bought mine from a local WalMart, but should have checked the reviews before buying it. I had a Sunbeam ultrasonic humidifier for 4.5 years before I accidentally broke the tank six month ago. From now on, I will avoid Holmes brand.

i didnt like it it at all beceause it quit working after the 3 hour i had it

The transducer used in this thing is garbage. I have gone through two of these in less than 3 months. Same failure each time. The mist will stop completely. The mist was poor to start with, it would leave a puddle next to it in the morning. Buy a Sunbeam instead.

Zero is my actual rate for this nice-looking piece of crap. Our unit stopped providing mist the other day after two months of use. After many attempts to figure out why, we gave up, thinking that we must have done something to cause its demise. After reading the reviews, I see that we are NOT the only people to have it stop misting and to have had it wet the floor more than the room when it worked. $50 lost at no fault of our own. I considered contacting the manufacturer, but see that it's not worth it. I'll just have to buy a new unit. DO NOT BUY THIS THING!!!

My unit worked great for 30 days running from about 6:30 am til 10:00 pm every day. Then it quit. It's clean and the blower is working but no mist. I guess it really is junk as suggested by others.

This item is one of the worst I have purchased in years. The only think that this item humidifies is the floor. I got this because my room is dry and it the unit is very quiet. This item produces a mist that just drops to the floor. It does nothing for the moisture content of the room.

Major problem with this unit is the mist it creates falls to the floor and wets carpet or creates a puddle on hard floors. The only way I found to avoid this is to place the unit a few feet above the floor.

On the good side, the filter is cheap, around $5.00. It is fairly quiet. It probably doesn't take a lot of power to run.

I much prefer my warm mist humidifier that allows you to set the humidity you want the room to be, and there is no filter to replace!

Bought the first unit at sears, worked right out of the box and has been in constant operation for about 2 months. Finally a humidifier that I can sleep with in the same room.

Ordered 2 more from Amazon, one arrived broken in the box. Amazon overnighted the replacment and paid to ship the bad unit back. VERY happy with Amazon.com.

It raises the humidity in the room to 50% or so from my winter average of 20%. For the carpet wetting I problem, I turned the dial to about 20% of max and the carpet stays dry. IF I want to kick it up, I just put a fan in front of it. That is the reason for 3 stars.

Overall it is VERY worth the money because I don't wake up with cotton mouth and with a dry nose anymore.

I originally bought this humidifier because it was smaller than the Bemis humidifier I already owned and because it runs quietly (I wanted to keep it in the bedroom to run at night). While the unit fit nicely in the small space I had available for it, and while it was indeed very quiet, the mist this humidifier produces did not disperse into the air but instead fell to the floor--and soaked it. I tried it in three places: first on the floor in my bedroom (where I'd kept the other humidifier I was using), next on my nighttable, and finally on a table in my living room over a hardwood floor (in the hopes that a less absorbent surface would be less likely to soak up the mist). In all three cases, the result was the same: a puddle on the floor beneath the unit. I returned it today and bought a second Bemis humidifier to replace it.

This complete piece of garbage stopped producing mist after 3 nights of use. But that's o.k. because at least our carpet now has a chance to dry out since the thing simply soaked everything near it. Like someone else asked, "Has anyone at Holmes even tested this thing?" It's going back to Sears tomorrow.

The first of these I had worked flawlessly for three years of virtually continuous use (until I melted it by using it too close to the kitchen stove!); I'm on my second and it is going strong in it's second year. Very high output and very quiet in the bedroom. Anti-microbial infused in the plastic... no worries! Placed centrally, this unit raised the humidity of my 1200 sq foot house 30-40%! Tank holds enough water for 12 hours run at max setting; twice that on lowest setting. Superior customer service from Holmes corporate (NOT their service contractor). Cleans up easily with an old toothbrush. You will not find a better unit for anywhere near the price.

I bought this item and and was initally happy but after less than a month of use it stopped providing mist. I bought another as a replacement and it was dead out of the box. I called Holmes to have them replaced and they wanted me to pay $20 to have them replace THEIR defective products. After much annoyance they waived that fee and told me my replacements would be shipped in TWO months. Are you kidding me!!!. The product is a piece of junk and the company apparently doesn't care about customer service. If I never buy another piece of #@%^#$ from Holmes again it will be too soon!

I bought two of these when my two-month old twins had colds. The best thing I can say about this humidifier is it did help their congestion. Unfortunately, it completely drenches everything (babies, furniture, floor, rugs, etc.). I tried putting down vinyl cloths followed by every blanket and towel I own. Everything is totally drenched in the morning including our laminate floor. The laminate floor is now damaged despite all of our precautions. I went out and purchased the Vicks humidifiers which don't drench everything but don't seem to work very well either. I'm on the search for something else.

I have had two of these units break on me. The first broke within three weeks so I was able to exchange it under the warranty. The new unit then also broke in under three weeks. Its a waste of money and of poor design.

Got what we thought was a deal on this unit from WalMart (closeout at $10), too good to be true. Then, when something seems too good to be true...For the first 24 hours it ran quietly, looked pretty nice. Now it just looks nice, and smells bad (burning electronics smell), and has quit completely.It's going back today.

I recently purchased this Humidifier (about a month ago) and I have to say overall I'm very happy with it. I haven't had any of the problems other people are saying they had in here except for the soaking of the floor from it. I raised the humidifier about 6 to 7 feet from the ground (placed it on a shelf) and since then it hasn't wet the floor. From my experience, all Ultrasonic Humidifiers that shoot mist wet everything under it. I also have a Sumbeam 701 that does the same thing BUT overall I'm very happy with that also. If you place this (Holmes) humidifier in the right area and high enough from the floor, it'll work excellant. Overall I Highly Recommend this humidifier.

How long do you expect this thing to work? My anwser is: at least one year. However this stupid thing won't. Bad experience with the soaking problem and gauge of the tank. The small plastic gauge is always leaking.Conclusion: looks nice, but not worth your money, even a dime.

When the first unit we bought in December stopped working after two weeks of use, Holmes Customer service said we had to pay to ship it to El Paso, TX where they would exchange it at no charge for a new one. We paid the shipping, and two months later, Holmes said they process exchanges "in the order they are received"; "they believed our unit was in the warehouse"; but they "hadn't entered our return into their customer return tracking system", but told us "not to worry; it was surely in their warehouse and they would eventually get to it."So, since we need the humidity in the winter months, not the summer, we purchased a second unit, followed ALL the cleaning instructions precisely, buying ALL the Holmes recommended anti-bacterial, water-treatment, & cleaning products, only to have the unit fail (it stopped producing mist) after 6 days; this time we exchanged it at the hardware store, where it was purchased.We purchased another unit from AMAZON, since the price was significantly less than what it costs at hardware stores in our area.Ultrasonic humidifiers, compared to the sponge dipped-in-water type, are superior. But as, eight other reviewers have noted, the Holmes model is probably at the bottom; we have all the problems your other reviewers have found.HELPFUL HINTS: (1)We purchased the cheapest ($15.95) Holmes Hydrometer (which tells you the %Humidity in your room and placed it [it's 2"x2" in size] fifteen feet away from the humidifier); when it reads more than 55%, the room is too humid. WE SHUT THE HUMIDIFIER OFF!! until it falls back where it should be(40-55%). This reduces the white dust and drenching of nearby furniture. We NEVER rely on the "automatic" settings on the Holmes Humidifier that are built into the machine.(2)We keep the unit high off the ground, nowhere near furniture or electronic equipment when possible; at nighttime (when we have no intention or desire to check the hydrometer, we put it on the tray of our children's high chair. WELL THAT'S KIND OF EXTREME, but it does work.(3) Also, FYI, the warmer the air, the more moisture the air will hold, so if you are lucky enough to have a toasty warm room, you have to watch the humidity levels more closely.

.....the puddle around it is not big enough to swim.Hint: use sunday newspaper to save the carpet

It is pretty quiet and puts out a considerable amount of mist. But there are problems.1) Despite the fact that it comes with a demineralization cartridge that is supposed to eliminate white dust, there is white dust all over my furniture, and especially electrontic equipment.2) The unit is designed with many nooks and crannies that make it quite difficult to clean. And you will have to clean it regularly, since brownish gunk accumulates frequently. 3) The opening to fill the water tank is too small to insert a normal sized hand, so it is impossible to wipe clean inside.4) As other reviewers have noted, a lot of the mist simply falls to the ground around the unit.5) Do not under any circumstances move the humidifier around while the tank is in place with water in it, or it is very easy for the water to overflow into the air vent and go down inside the base with the electrical components and short them out. This happened to me, and the unit promptly died.

I bought one after reading that the plastic tank would eventually crack. It arrived cracked, sent it back but they still made me pay shipping and the price of the discount. Not very fair.Lesson: Don't buy fragile stuff mail order.

As the other reviewers have pointed out, this humidifier will leave a puddle around itself. The mist just drops to the ground. Did anyone at Holmes even try this thing out?

I haven't had the same problems as the other reviewers; it does put out a satisfactory stream of humid air, BUT the intake valve is junk. It disintegrated badly over the summer, and it can't be replaced. You have to buy a whole new tank. Customer service insisted it was my fault for not leaving the tank open during summer storage, but I have another unit I purchased from Brookstone probably 15 years ago, which never had this problem. It's just a cheap material and a very flawed design. I get mad every time I have to fill the darned thing. When the rubber valve falls apart completely, I'm trashing the entire unit.

On the plus side, it is very quite. Now for the negatives. You turn the water container upside down to fill, however, right side up or upside down, the container never sits flat. This means you must hold it upright yourself while filling (you can't just sit it in the sink). I suppose I could have bypassed this slight annoyance if it was the only problem, but it's not. As another reviewer mentioned, it soaks the entire area around it. There is supposed to be 2 fan speeds and an adjustment for moisture control. You can set both the fan and moisture control on low and it still seems to put out the same amount as putting them both on the high setting. The moisture goes up in the air about 6 inches and straight back down. According to the free moisture gage that was included with mine, it did increase my moisture in the air of my bedroom from about 35% to 60%; however, it also increased the moisture level on my rug from 0% to 100%.I'm returning mine today and hopefully I can find one a little less...dampening.

I wanted an ultrasonic humidifier that is easy to clean. I don't like the ones with filters and wicks you have to change constantly and we had a sunbeam ultrasonic that works great, but is a bit hard to clean. However, this one, despite having variable controls for the output, seems to put out a constantly heavy stream of moisture. So, if you leave it running all night, it saturates the area around it. We tried putting down a towel and it soaks it. I want the moisture in my air - not my carpet. It is nice and quiet and easier to clean, but I can't overcome the soaking problem. I am planning to return this item.I am planning to return this item.

I bought this humidifier from another place a few days ago. It was very quiet during working. However, it broke after the first night's use. They gave you a manul with tons of "DON'T DO" in the instructions. I followed all of them, but it still died vey quickly. What shall I say about this? The quality is really poor. Just do not understand why they can not make this simple gadget more reliable. Is this really a hi-tech thing?