Although Vancouver winter rains a lot, but the weather is actually very dry. Every morning when I get up, my throat and nose feel dry and awkward. I decided to buy a humidifier so that I can sleep better at night. I have used a few different humidifiers before, the typical old design either one of two types. One type is simply a kettle, boil water to emit vapor. It is hot and noise. The other type is a sponge with a fan. It is dirty and noise, the sponge is very disguising after a while and it may grow bacteria.

There is a new type of humidifier that ultrasound to vaporize water molecules from water into the air. Since it does not boil water nor has a big fan, this type of humidifier is very quiet. I bought a Air-O-Swiss 7144 ultrasonic humidifier from Home Outfitter last week and I am very happy with the unit. It has a very elegant metallic design. It comes with digital hygrostat and sleep timer. It can emit warm mist at room temporary (40 C) or cool mist when the heating function turned off. I turn it on before I go to bed and it maintains an optimal humidity (50%-60%) over the night. I have to fill up the water tank once every two days, which holds about 12L of water.
This humidifier is almost perfect except a minor down sides. The water tank is a bit inconvenient to refill, since it does not fit under the sink. I have to fill it up in the bath tub. It requires its own brand of Ag+ demineralization cartridge that need to be replace every year and its own brand of descaler to clean the deposit at the ultrasound surface every 2-3 months, which is some extra cost.

Now my throat and noise feel a lot better in the morning. I recommend this humidifier to those who hate dry throat and nose in the morning and cannot stand the noise from traditional humidifiers.