Product review (5 stars): MUCH cheaper & much less maintenance than a humidifer that has to plug in. Cheaper too, since no electricity is needed!
I purchased these because we were looking for an alternative to running plug in type humidifiers throughout our home this winter. I was a bit skeptical, and thought that having these in place might block the heat from properly entering our home. However, I was willing to try it because it was costing us an arm and a leg to run the necessary number of humidifiers to keep our home from being dry. Not to mention the constant hassle of having to refill heavy tanks of water and the weekly cleaning of multiple units around our home. After trying a few different humidifiers, and NONE of them making a noticeable difference in our home (i.e. dry skin, chapped lips were not cured with electricity sucking humidifiers), I decided to go ahead and try these.
I cannot say how they will work long term, since we've only had them for a week, but I have noticed a definite change in our air since having them in. No one has chapped lips and our knuckles are not cracked and bleeding from being so dry. It is really easy to refill the little basin things under the lids, and I've only had to do it once in the morning and once at night. A few people's reviews made me hesitate in purchasing these, because they mentioned constantly having to run around refilling these, and I didn't want that sort of time commitment and hassle, as I have several kids and homeschool, so don't have that kind of time. However, I have not found this to be the case in our home. I have one in every room, and so far, it's been easy to keep them filled. It's MUCH less difficult to fill up a little 2 cup measuring cup and pour it through the hole, than it is to cart a humidifier tank with a few gallons of water across the house! My older kids think it's really fun to fill them up, so they've pretty much taken over this task anyway...the only drawback is that because they're new, we're having to constantly keep our cat out of them, as he seems to find it really fun to try to bat at the filter under the grate thing. He also keeps trying to drink the water from the basin, through the hole where you pour it, lol...