As winter approaches, indoor air gets dry, which can aggravate asthma and allergies. We needed a humidifier.

I started my research in the humidifier section of ConsumerSearch.Com. After reading through their material, we decided we’d like an evaporative/cool mist model, and the Hunter 34357 looked good.

Read on for more…

I did some more checking of reviews, then went over to AllergyBuyersClub.Com. They aren’t your typical small Internet retailer; they actually review the products they sell. They have a nice humidifier comparison chart, a cool vs. warm mist comparison, and a humidifier FAQ. They also recommended setting the humidity level at 35%-40% (or as high as 45%). That level of detail seems to be typical for them, and the other nice thing is that they actually describe the minuses of each of the products they sell.

The mean reasons we went with the Hunter 34357 are: it produces no “white dust” so it can work with ordinary tap water; it requires very little cleaning due to a nice filter system; it has the digital humidistat; and it has a large tank.

Some people complained that it is noisy. It’s true for the high-speed setting only. On Low, it’s quiet enough to have in the bedroom at night.

Some others complained that it takes a while to raise the humidity in the room. That’s true too, but it’s not a big deal thanks to the large tank and humidistat. Unlike many other humidifiers, this one can be left on all the time, and it will keep the humidity in the room at a constant level. So you only really have to bother to significantly raise the level once.

We wound up purchasing it at AllergyBuyersClub. We’re happy with both the purchase and the unit.