Honeywell HUL520B Review

The Honeywell HUL520B combines simple operation and easy cleaning with decent humidifying performance in a tiny, affordable package. If you don't need advanced features like a self regulating humidistat or an off timer, this is a great low price option.

Performance Comparison

As you can see above, the Honeywell HUL520B ended up towards the top of our overall scoresheet, mostly due to a simple and user friendly design. In the following sections we discuss how it performed in all of the different tests we used to find the best humidifier.

Humidifying Performance

The Honeywell HUL520B's humidifying performance was respectable given its small size and low price, but overall was fairly average. It earned a 5 out of 10 in our testing.

The Honeywell was somewhat slow in our testing, taking a full two hours to get our 150 square foot testing room up to 45% humidity. The good news is that it plateaued at around 47% humidity. This means that in most average sized bedrooms the Honeywell will reach something close to the ideal 45% humidity and settle in there. This makes it perfect for bedroom use, and generally negates the risk of over humidifying if you forget to turn it off. The two hours it takes to reach that humidity can be a bit of a drag, as you'll have to remember to turn it on well before bedtime if you want to snuggle into a pleasantly humidified room.

If you want something with more humidifying power, you're unfortunately going to have to spend quite a bit more. The Honeywell HCM-350 would be a decent upgrade and hit 45% humidity after just 34 minutes in our testing, nearly 90 minutes faster than its younger sibling, but it does cost $40 more (list price: $70). If you want more power than that you're looking at the $120 range with the Levoit LV600HH and the PureGuardian H1250.

Ease of Cleaning

Ease of cleaning is one area where the Honeywell HUL520B really shined, picking up a score of 8 out of 10. The only model that scored better, the Honeywell HCM-350, did so because some of its parts are dishwasher safe.

The Honeywell HUL520B's water tank has a 3.5" diameter opening, the largest opening of any of the water tanks we tested. All but the largest of hands are able to get in there and give everything a good scrubbing. The sonic agitator itself is fairly blocky, so there aren't any tiny nooks where mold can escape your sponge and start to take hold. The manual also gives clear instructions for using either a vinegar or bleach (never use both at the same time) soak for deeper cleaning. Scrubbing, prepping the soak, and drying everything off took us about 15 minutes, with a 15-minute soak in between. This was on par with most other models in terms of time, but felt like less effort than models that require more diligent scrubbing with difficult to reach spots.

The HUL520B's streamlined design and large water tank opening make cleaning easy.

User Friendliness

The Honeywell HUL520B is incredibly simple, and thus incredibly user friendly. Accordingly, it shared the top score of 8 out of 10 in this metric.

The Honeywell HUL520B has a single dial to turn the machine on and select the level of mist it puts out. It also has an auto-off feature, so it automatically turns off when all the water is gone, which prevents the sonic agitator from buzzing away with no water in the tank and possibly damaging itself. That single knob makes it incredibly easy to operate, but it also means there are no additional features like an off timer or a self-regulating humidistat. If you're looking for those features we think the Levoit LV600HH is the simplest fully featured model to operate.

The HUL520B's water tank opening (right) was the largest of any of the models we tested.

The large 3.5" tank opening that we mentioned in the ease of cleaning section also makes the Honeywell HUL520B very easy to refill in almost any sink. In fact, it was the easiest to refill of any of the models we tested.

Operating Cost

The Honeywell HUL520B was far and away the most inexpensive model to buy and own that we tested. It lists for just $30 and uses only 0.01kWh of electricity per hour of operation. This led to an estimated lifetime cost of just $56, the lowest that we calculated.

Value

While the Honeywell HUL520B lacks some power compared to larger models, it can still handle a small bedroom and lists for only $30. You'd be hard pressed to find a better value for use in a smaller room.

The HUL520B's simple, single knob controls.

Conclusion

The Honeywell HUL520B isn't the most powerful humidifier, but it is easy to use and clean, can still get the job done, and is incredibly inexpensive. If you're looking for something simple and cheap, this is the perfect model.