Vicks Filter Free V4600 Review

Most people are familiar with the traditional Vick's Vapor Rub that came on the scene about 30 years after the company started in 1890. Vick's continued this trend with other health and wellness products, including throat drops, cough medicine, and the ever-popular NyQuil. Vick's also makes thermometers, vaporizers, humidifiers, and steam inhalers. Helen of Troy Limited, a consumer products group that includes OXO®, Hydro Flask®, Vicks®, Braun®, Honeywell®, PUR®, and Hot Tools®, owns Vicks.

Performance Comparison

The base of the Vicks has some nooks and crannies that can be more challenging to clean, even with a straw brush. Specifically, the float and lower corner have areas that are hard to reach.

Ease of Cleaning

The Vick's regular cleaning and maintenance are relatively involved, which earned it a below-average result for this metric. According to manufacturer instructions, you'll need to clean the tank and components with vinegar regularly with routine bleach soaking to remove trace mold or bacteria not removed during the vinegar process. While not difficult, the tank and base do have some small spaces that are challenging to reach and clean thoroughly.

The top of the mist tube diverter on the Vicks Filter Free is easier to clean than some of the competition with very small spaces, but you'll need a bottle brush to reach inside the mist tube.

The opening of the tank is more substantial than some of the competition, and smaller hands will fit inside. It is still easiest to clean using a bottle brush, and you'll need the brush to reach the bottom of the mist tube.

The Vicks is not as effective as the competition with both a slow start to increase humidity and a lower humidity at the one-hour mark than most of the other units we tested.

Effectiveness

While the Vick's has a slightly higher capacity than some of the competition, it has less ability to provide adequate or prompt humidification for the room. Our tests indicate that from the get-go, it doesn't generate as much humidity as the competition, and this trend only gets worse over time, with the disparity between products growing exponentially over time. At the end of 60 minutes, this unit had created a less humid room than eight other options we tested. This lack of humidity means it is unlikely to meet your needs, whether they are only the crib area or the entire room.

Noise

This unit generates less than 40 decibels of sound when running at the highest level, making it one of the quietest options in the group. The Vick's is a very quiet product compared to much of the competition and had no real noise outside occasional bubbling when water moves from the tank to the base. However, even if silence is your top goal when searching for a humidifier, there are three other top scorers, and 2 of them have higher overall scores, though similar effectiveness.

The single dial on the Vicks is easy to use, but the lack of programmability and versatility hurt its overall ease of use results.

Ease of Use

The Vick's has a simple single-dial operation, but the lack of adjustable features hurt its ease of use score. The variable output dial is easy to use and can be adjusted to increase or decrease ist output as desired. However, the lack of humidity control or programmability means you'll need to keep a watchful eye on the unit to keep your humidity levels under control.

This unit is easy enough to fill, and the tank stands on its own in the sink. The tank has a carry handle and is relatively lightweight. The opening is large enough for filling, but you can't refill the reservoir without removing it, which isn't as user-friendly as filling it in place while your baby continues to sleep peacefully.

The tank on the Vicks has a large opening making it easy to fill and clean if your hands are small enough.

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