There are quite a variety of mid range humidifiers available on the market today, and one of the popular choices is the Idylis humidifier which is sold by Lowes. These come in a few different sizes including the 1.2 gallon, 1.5 gallon and the much larger 4 gallon model. Today we will look at the smaller 1.2 gallon model which is designed for small to medium rooms, otherwise known as model #IDU2234-UM. With a retail price of around $69.99, you may be wondering if it is worth your hard earned cash.
More info on that below.
Design & Operation
Idylis has no company website to speak of, so it looks like one of Lowes own brands. This is nothing to worry about however, as many big name brands are simply re-branded clones of other mass produced models, so we won’t judge it based on that. Let’s discuss the design to begin with.
This is a very modern looking design which certainly looks clean and slick. The bulk of the unit is a sleek black color, and it has chrome strips along the sides of the front panel. The lcd is located in the middle near the bottom, and the controller buttons are below that. The Idylis logo is engraved just above the lcd, and the lcd shows a variety of info related to the current operational tasks. All the buttons on the machine are fairly self explanatory, and there are a few different options to play around with.
There are two settings for mist output which are high and low. The lcd displays the current humidity of the room so you can keep an eye on the target you want to achieve. This is a handy little feature, and not something you see too often on mid range humidifiers. This model has a 1.2 gallon tank, so you will get roughly a nights usage out of a full tank.
Product Features
The maximum room that Idylis cool mist humidifier will support is up to 300 feet. This is a filterless humidifier, so no need to worry about buying monthly replacement filters. You sohuld of course stick to distilled water when using it, to prevent and white dust buildup.
Cleaning the machine is somewhat awkward, although this is the case with most humidifiers. Now lets take a look at how well it works.
Since this is an ultrasonic humidifier, the operational noise is quite low even on the high setting. The high setting produces quite a lot of steam, which is ok for short term usage. If you leave it on overnight then the surrounding area will likely be quite wet in the morning. A good practice would be to leave it on high for perhaps an hour before bed, then switch it to low before you go to sleep. A medium setting would be the best compromise for overall usage, so it is a shame that such a setting is missing. A slight problem with the high setting is due to the location of the nozzle. Since the nozzle is set at the back of the machine facing the front, it tends to wet the top of the humidifier if it is left on for a while. So Idylis could have potentially done something better with the design here.
However, we could live with that problem, but there is a bigger more worrying issue with this Idylis humidifier which several users have complained about. This problem is related to the tank, and how it gets water into the reservoir. The machine will at times stop working, and “think” the water has run out even with a full tank of water. If you give the machine a little nudge then it will resume working. This seems to be a design fault related to the tank/reservoir connection area. This is a common complaint, and research on Google showed that it is a widespread issue. Apparently the water flow can be easily obstructed if the machine is not at a certain angle. One person suggested a book propping up the back area will help the water to flow more evenly into the reservoir, but why would you buy a product that needs to be carefully balanced to operate fully?
So that is where we will leave this review. We feel that the above issue is too big a problem, so we cannot recommend this model at all. It seems to affect certain units, while other people have no problems at all. However, taking a chance on whether you will receive a fully working unit is far too risky. For this reason we recommend you stay clear of this Idylis ultrasonic humidifier, and look elsewhere for a more suitable alternative.
Pros
- Lovely design
- Filterless
- Quiet
- Nice clear lcd
- Decent price
Cons
- Top of unit gets wet when using High setting
- No medium setting
- Stops functioning at times (need to nudge machine to get it working again)
Summary
This Idylis humidifier looked very promising at first, but it has a major flaw in that it will randomly stop working as it thinks the tank is empty. We recommend you avoid this one, and look at a more reliable models in our Humidifiers Category.
