By Thom Dunn
Thom Dunn is a writer focusing on home heating and cooling. He once blew up a power strip with a space heater and a Marshall half-stack.
Humidifiers are annoying.
What they do is wonderful. But the machines themselves are almost always terrible in some distinct way. Evaporative humidifiers are loud and regularly require replacement wicks. Ultrasonic models are quieter, and usually more low-maintenance, but they also tend to over-humidify the room. And all of them require constant cleaning, lest they become a health hazard.
Even our picks for the best humidifiers have tended to be more like the “least worst options available.” Back in 2018, for example, we began recommending the ultrasonic Levoit LV600HH. We were impressed by its powerful, even humidification and its digital display, as well as the fact that it survived more than one fall off the roof of a moving car (oops). It also brought my bedroom up to a dangerously high relative humidity level of 90% on more than one occasion. But it was still better than most of the other humidifiers we had tested.
Then, in 2020, the company released the Levoit LV600S, a new version of the LV600H with smart-home capabilities and a few other thoughtful upgrades. And in that model, we finally found everything we were looking for.
Our pick
The LV600S is the rare ultrasonic model that does everything we want: It’s powerful, quiet, and easy to clean, and it won’t over-humidify your room. Plus, it has Wi-Fi capabilities.
The Levoit LV600S is a smart humidifier in more ways than one
The most obvious upgrade from the LV600HH to the LV600S is the addition of smart-home capabilities. But that’s hardly the LV600S’s biggest selling point, as much as we enjoy the convenience of voice- and app-controlled humidity. Thanks to that onboard computer, the LV600S is also constantly collecting data—by default, it’s actively paying attention when the humidity level in the room starts to get too high. This makes the LV600S one of the very few ultrasonic humidifiers we’ve ever tested that can self-regulate.
In our tests, the LV600S was able to maintain a consistent humidity level of 55% for three consecutive days. That’s an ultrasonic miracle. (At least, if you’re like me, someone who spends way too much time with humidifiers.) Most similar models require constant vigilance, unless you want to wake up every day feeling as if you’d left a window open during a hurricane.
And that isn’t the only smart upgrade in the LV600S. It also has a top-filling water tank that sits flat in the sink, which makes it easier to carry and fill. You don’t even need to worry about tightening some stubborn screw top; the lid just lifts right off. This also leaves a larger opening, which helps with hassle-free cleaning. Granted, the LV600S is still a humidifier, so it requires more maintenance than you may expect. But at least this Levoit model makes that part less frustrating overall.
You still have to clean it well
Water is wonderful, and it gives life to so many things—including whatever microscopic organisms already exist in your home. Biofilms can do good things for the human body, but left to fester in a tank of standing water, they can also cultivate some really unpleasant forms of mold and bacteria.
That means, yes, your humidifier is a potential cesspool of microbial filth. This includes the LV600S, and every other portable humidifier, for that matter; it’s kind of hard to design one that doesn’t require a large tank of standing water in order to, you know, humidify. To properly clean your humidifier, you need some vinegar and probably bleach. Consult our article on humidifier maintenance for specific instructions.
At least once a week, you should take your humidifier apart, rinse off all the pieces, and let it air-dry before you use it again. This is true of any humidifier. But sometimes you might notice some strange buildup, such as a chalky white substance stuck on the side of the plastic. This is limescale, and it’s a totally normal occurrence. You still need to clean it, though, and depending on how much buildup you have, you may need to get in there with a bottle brush and some elbow grease.
This humidifier is easier to clean, though
Fortunately, the LV600S is designed to make this maintenance as painless as possible. The tank is all smooth edges, with a large opening that’s easy to fit your hand inside. Even the water basin is easy to navigate, with no hard-to-reach crevices or corners where those nasty microorganisms might avoid your bottle brush and try to make a home. If you want to make your life even easier, you can invest in a bacteriostatic treatment such as Essick Air or an antimicrobial cleaning cartridge like the fish-shaped Protec. Drop those in your tank, along with some distilled or demineralized water (as opposed to tap), and they’ll help keep the mineral deposits and microbes to a minimum.
This article was edited by Jason Chen and Catherine Kast.
