Crane Drop Review

The Crane Drop performs well as a humidifier for small rooms (100 square feet or less), but in that capacity it is outclassed at almost every turn by the Honeywell HUL520B.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

Performance Comparison

As you can see in the table above, the Crane Crop's overall score was about midrange. In the sections below we discuss its performance in all of our individual tests.

Humidifying Performance

The Crane Drop earned a 5 out of 10 in our humidifying testing, quite a respectable score for a humidifier of this size. It took 1 hour and 45 minutes for this model to bring our testing room to 45% humidity, and topped out at a humidity of 51.2%. This makes it just slightly more powerful than its main competitor, the Honeywell HUL520B, which took 2 hours to hit 45% and maxed out at 47.8%. However, we feel that this difference is negligible and would be hard to differentiate without a fancy humidity meter. Both of these models are equally suitable for small bedrooms, or even a larger bedroom if you don't mind turning the humidifier on a couple of hours before bedtime.

Ease of Cleaning

The Crane Drop is small enough that there isn't too much area to scrub, but it can sometimes be a bit tricky to get all the nooks and crannies. In the end it earned an average score of 6 out of 10 in this metric. The water tank's opening is 2", which can make access a bit difficult. You'll definitely need a long handled brush to reach every part of the tank. Apart from that, cleaning is fairly easy. The instruction manual calls for a half hour soak in a white vinegar solution, and many of the harder to clean components are dishwasher safe. We spent 15 minutes getting this machine completely clean (not including soaking time), which was on par with most other models.

The Crane Drop isn't the easiest model to clean, but it's not too difficult either.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

In contrast, the Honeywell HUL520B' water tank has a wide 3.5" opening, which allows most sized hands to reach in and clean anything without fussing with a brush. This made it significantly easier to clean.

User Friendliness

The Crane Drop was again an average performer in this metric, earning a 6 out of 10. It has a simple, single knob control panel that lets you turn the unit on and select a mist level. This is almost identical to the controls of the Honeywell HUL520B. The tank opening is only 2" and the tank is somewhat tall, so it may not fit in shorter sinks. The Honeywell HUL520B's tank is just a bit shorter and the opening is much wider, making it much easier to refill.

The Cran Drop has just a single knob control, which is all this simple model really needs.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

Operating Cost

The Crane Drop is quite economical and earned an 8 out of 10 in our operating cost testing. It actually uses a decent amount of electricity for a humidifier (0.02kWh per hour) but its inexpensive list price of $55 led to a low estimated lifetime cost of just $108. This figure was bested by the Drop's main competitor, however. The Honeywell HUL520B carries an estimated lifetime cost of just $56, nearly half that of the Drop

Value

The Crane Drop is a fairly high performing humidifier considering its tiny stature. However, its list price of $55 can't compare to the $30 list price of the Honeywell HUL520B, which is a slightly better all-around performer.

Conclusion