> Any company making incremental improvements to existing cool mist humidifiers will probably get a lot of eager buyers.
I don't buy that. Japan has a ton of high quality air cleaner combo cool mist humidifiers. We don't see these units sold in the US because Americans are cheap. The idea of paying 200$ for an air cleaner feels like a scam to American ears.
And thus the American market continues to race to the bottom.
The American offering is an extra 150$, but that buys you marketing videos with a fake scientist pouring baby powder through a filter onto a hepa filter. Japan gets no video at all. Otherwise the Ozone generator, carbon + hepa filters, wheel driven wick humidifier, and canister water tanks are all the same.
The Japanese model also includes modes to disable all lighting, switches between displaying humidity or energy consumption in either KWh or yen per day.
Yup I have several of these sharp air filter/humidifiers and I find that they really improve the indoor air quality. It's very subtle, and for the most part you don't even notice a difference when they are running. But when I have accidentally left one turned off for a while I have definitely noticed when I woke up with a horrifically dry throat and nose, or come home to a very stale smelling house.
In case anybody is wondering, it looks like the KC-H50-W can be shipped to the US straight from Amazon, but with the 11.4k yen shipping fee the total comes to ~$317.15. About $30 less than the American model.
I don't buy that. Japan has a ton of high quality air cleaner combo cool mist humidifiers. We don't see these units sold in the US because Americans are cheap. The idea of paying 200$ for an air cleaner feels like a scam to American ears.
And thus the American market continues to race to the bottom.