Crane Drop Ultrasonic Humidifier

"5.0 out of 5 stars" - I've been using the Crane 24 hours a day for two months now (since December). It works great and my hygrometer shows how it definitely increases the humidity in the room. While the humidifier definitely helps prevent a dry mouth and throat in the morning, my main reason for buying it is because I have an expensive acoustic guitar that is very sensitive to low humidity, even when I use a wet sponge hydrator inside the guitar body. Late last winter the two wood halves of my guitar's soundboard started to separate because of the dryness in my room. I had to pay $100 to the repair shop to have my guitar reinforced. The repair guy said that this kind of separation in a guitar's soundboard tends to happen in the winter when the heat in the house has been on for a while and has been drying everything out. After the guitar was repaired I began using a wet sponge hydrator inside the guitar body to help humidify it some, and with the heat being on less in the late winter, I saw no further signs of wood separation so I thought all was well.However, early this winter, even with the sponge hydrator I again saw a slight separation happening with the guitar's wood halves, so I immediately bought the Crane humidifier because I know that when the humidity level in the room is up above 40% or so, the guitar shows no sign of wood separation. When the humidity level is down in the 30's or lower, I start to see a crack between the guitar's two soundboard halves below the sound hole. Without the humidifier, my room goes down to 25% or lower in the winter, so it's very important to have the humidifier. The guitar manufacturer recommends keeping the room humidity between 45% and 55%. With the Crane, I keep my room at a minimum of 45% all the time. The guitar functions beautifully, the way I want it to for a very long time.Like others, I don't understand some of the negative reviews this Crane humidifier has gotten, unless some of those people had defective units or something.One thing to watch: I have found that when you return the filled water tank to the base unit, you have to place the filled tank 100% snugly and firmly on the base or water will not flow from the water tank into the base unit. After you put the filled water tank on the base unit and turn the humidifier on, if the water tank is not 100% perfectly situated on the base you may still see mist coming from the humidifier, but the only water that's producing the mist is the little amount that still remains in the base's holding area, which will last for only a short while. If you were to leave the house immediately after improperly putting the water tank on the base unit, even though you see mist coming from the humidifier while leaving, you will return home later to find a full tank of water with no mist coming out, and a room with decreased humidity level. So make sure you carefully check that the filled water tank is sitting 100% perfectly snug on the base unit.Other reviewers have mentioned the white dust that can accumulate on furniture over time, which they said could be remedied by using filtered water instead of tap water. Because they mentioned this, initially I used filtered tap water from the filtration unit on my sink. But I found even with filtered water my TV screen still collected some white dust over time that I would have to wipe off periodically. This was no big deal. Because my sink's water filter unit slows down the water flow out of the faucet significantly, which makes filling the humidifier's water tank time-consuming, a few weeks ago I tried using regular tap water which flows much faster out of the faucet into the humidifier's tank. For my room, I found that the tap water caused no noticeable increase in white dust over the filtered water. There is some white dust accumulation, but not any annoying amount. Mainly, I have to wipe the dust off my TV screen periodically and that's no big deal. Now that I use tap water to fill the tank, it only takes a few seconds to fill up, whereas with filtered water it took a minute or more. Since it is cone shaped, you have to hold the humidifier's tank the entire time you are filling it because it will not sit flat in the sink, so the less you have to stand there and wait the better. The other benefit in using tap water is that I don't use up my sink's water filter as quickly as I did the first month and a half I had the humidifier when I was using about two gallons a day from it. (Each filter lasts for 100-gallons.)The only consideration I have about this Crane humidifier is that cleaning the entire unit thoroughly takes some time. I clean it once a week as recommended. For the base unit and the top, bottom, and flow chamber of the water tank I use wet paper towels dipped in a small pot of water with one teaspoon of bleach mixed in. For the inside of the water tank, I fill it halfway with bleach water and cap it up and shake it vigorously. I have found that a teaspoon of bleach seems to prevent pink mold build-up on my humidifier's base unit better than a teaspoon of white vinegar did. A small amount of pink buildup by the end of the week occurs, and that's why cleaning the unit weekly is very important. If using bleach, just be careful to fully wash your hands afterward because bleach can irritate or even burn your skin if left unwashed.I have noticed something interesting: Tap water seems to last a few hours longer than filtered water in the humidifier.I bought the Crane 2.3 gallon cool mist humidifier based on its price and the many positive Amazon reviews it had. I agree that it is really only approximately a one-gallon tank, so the 2.3 number is misleading. Why they have to do this, I cannot fathom. I guess they're insecure unless they shoot big numbers at you.That aside, this unit has worked great these last two months, and now I know that my expensive guitar is not in any danger due to humidity level issues in the house. For the price it's a great unit.