We LOVE our Crane Penguin humidifier. My son named it "Edna", after the character in one of his favorite books, "A Penguin Story" by Antoinette Portis.

I love that it doesn't have a filter you have to clean/replace. The only drawback is that it gets a little stinky (moldy smelling) after just a few uses, so I'm constantly cleaning and disinfecting it (which I guess I should be doing anyway).

I got the Hello Kitty version as a wedding present and now we use it for our infant daugther. A small part of the interior broke and it was constantly leaking. My husband emailed the company to ask if they could sent us a replacement part. They agreed and two days later, they sent us a whole new Kitty humidifier, free of charge.

We have an elephant. It truly is adorable!

These are cute but they don't work very well at all. I ended up taking ours back to Target and getting a 'real' one.

We have two elephants. One for the kids' room and one for ours. My husband banged ours with something by accident and so it has a duct tape patch. But it still works.

Haven't had the moldy smell problem myself. Though I haven't cleaned them and started them up yet this year.

Even with dollars that have been performing fairly consistently at even, they go for about $60 in Canada at most places I've seen them.

Ooops. Should've at least said what I came here to post: we have two elephants, and we love them.

we liked our froggie but unfortunately it quickly broke. will look elsewhere for a replacement.

Not pictured is the penguin which I think has the best steam output.

I use a Vick's warm mist humidifier and I think it beats all the competition, at the same price range (around $30 at Target). It's not adorable but it is cool blue and white, and works beautifully, is super easy to clean, never stinky, is sanitary because the water is heated, and bonus I can turn the heat down at night because it warms the room up significantly (steamy windows and all). There's my two cents! I loved the cute guys here but my Vick's beat them all :)

We have the cow and its great. We haven't had the moldy mildew smell problem, although I had to rub out all of the mineral deposits caked on it from last year's use when I pulled it out last week. I suppose I could have run a bit of vinegar in it to clean it out completely, but a wet rag seemed to do just fine too.

My only complaint is that the humidifier seems to be very sensitive to being perfectly level, which wouldn't be a big deal except our house was built in the late 1800's and nothing is quite square or level. I keep a washcloth under one edge to help even things out, but it takes some maneuvering every now and then to keep it going.

I have the red dragon (not pictured) and I love it. So far I have been using it for about 3 years, and it still works great.

I guess I'm the oddball out here, but I had one and didn't like it at all. Yes, they're very cute, but when my kids were sick, it did nothing for them. When I bought a big, ugly one (can't remember what kind we have now) they were suddenly sleeping through the night when they had those yucky coughs.

Any recommendations for a humidifier that actually works and doesn't leave a puddle of water on the floor? Would the warm mist humidifier do the trick? I'd love more info on the "big ugly one" Arlington Mama! I don't care how cute it looks, I just want one that works and actually gets mist into the room, as opposed to all over the floor. I don't have a Crane, but a similar model. Even adjusted to low out put, it doesn't sufficiently steam.

We had the frog in my son's room and a very fancy high-end non-Crane humidifier in our bedroom and the frog wins hands down. The filterless-ness is key; plus, it's nearly silent. They've now come out with a more modern-designed teardrop version and we've purchased one for the adult bedroom.

The only downside is the mineral deposits on the black disk within the humidifer, but I think that was from laziness on our part, in not cleaning it often enough.

@mhartman, coincidentally i just got off the phone with customer service about a cool mist humidifier we just bought that leaked. they told me that they may leave water on the floor if the air in the room becomes saturated with water. we had been running it overnight & the air did become really noticeably humid after a few hours, but it didn't leak until the morning. she suggested trying it for 3 hours or so.

tonight i think we'll try to start it when our daughter goes to bed but then turn it off when we do. you might try the same if you have one that leaks.

Yeah, add me to the list of dissatisfied customers. Not only did it leave huge puddles, but the mist never really managed to permeate the air and it never made the room "moist" enough to give my kids any relief from their coughs. So I don't know if I buy their argument about the air in the room becoming too saturated. I have a hot humidifier (Vicks) and it uses the same amount of water and managed to make the whole room nice and steamy giving my barking kids some relief. The Vicks humidifier works so well we now have three, one for each of the kids rooms, and one for ours. Love it!

We have the Frog and it's adorable.

Another Vicks fan here. Works great, no mold or stink issues, easy to clean, and not unattractive for a humidifier (though not as cute as these little critters). The only problem with it is the same as any warm mist humidifier: hot steam can be a safety issue if you have kids not in cribs. We have never had a problem with it but that is the warning they give, that a child could get burned by the steam if they stand or put their hand to close to it.

I got the penguin a couple of years ago because it was the only one at Target with decent ratings! I don't have kids (yet) but my cat loves it. Does that count? I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I think it works great. The cool mist is sooo nice in the summer! Granted, I live in Utah and we don't have humidity at any time of the year. My husband named it Oswalt after the Penguin in Batman. I recommend it.

We have the frog which gets run every night, all night long in my son's room. The problem we have is that when you start it up it is very loud for about 10mins and then becomes quite. Not sure why it is doing this but I know I can tell a difference if we forget to run it one night.

We have the elephant and it's up on a shelf and has never leaked or left a puddle. I love it's easy of use and only clean it once a season (or if it's gone unused with standing water for more than a day or 2). Previously, I have had many humidifiers that lasted one year. This one is on it's 3rd and I'm delighted.

In terms of a big/ugly one, we have a an Air-0-Swiss 7144 in our room and it has a 3 year warranty. Was significantly more expensive and broke (leaked) after 2 years. Luckily they are replacing it. But, still, for $30 the elephant is great.

Note, the Air-o-Swiss will leave a puddle if left on too high too long. But, it has controls that will keep room at a certain level and if used correctly, will not puddle. Any machine will puddle if you have it pumping out more moisture than the air can absorb!

I've been thinking of getting one of these this year and I got really, really excited when I saw there that it said there is a panda one... but when I went to the site I didn't see any that looked like a panda.

I googled it and was very bummed to realize that the white bear is the "panda" one. Hope no one else gets their hopes up like I did... you will be quite let down.

I'm about to be a first time mom and I'm so confused about the difference between humidifiers versus vaporizers (no matter how much research I do). We live in Chicago and the baby is due in February- do I need to have one of these things in the baby's room right away? Is one better than the other? Thanks!
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I love the "rain drop" one that crane makes. It's so modern and it doesn't look like it's for the kiddies at all. The only thing is it's about $10 more, and I'm still a cheapie

@ShutUpDuffy: I've always heard the term 'vaporizer' to describe something that's able to deliver medicine, or use warm steam. After a lifetime (well, mine and my toddler's) of lung infections, asthma, etc. I'd recommend an "ultrasonic" cool mist humidifier because it makes a very fine mist. Get it ahead of time because you never know when your baby might get a cold. I don't like the ones with filters, because they're a pain to clean and can get expensive. Honestly, these Crane ones are the best we've had but I'm sure there are generic ones that are the same.

We have the frog, and love that they make the demineralization cartridges, which prevent the "white dust" issue. (We once had the white dust everywhere, and it was a major pain to clean off.)

We had an allergist recommend replacement of the entire humidifier every year, because it's not possible to get them entirely clean. We use ours so much during cold season (from the start to end of every cold) that it makes sense to me. Sorry I'm so wordy!!

Thank you AmberM! So much baby gear to sort out, straight answers from moms are so helpful. :)

we had a frog for a few short weeks and it was super cute. But, my little boy bumped into the table where it sat, it tipped all the way over and the little interior pieces broke and were not repairable. $40 down the drain. grrrr.

i have had my elephant for several years and have never had an issue. thanks for the reminder to get mine out!

We had the frog and loved it, until I busted it by putting essential oils into it. Worked great until I did something to it that the manual specifically says not to.

Replaced it with the new teardrop Crane model, which I love even more. The adjustable spout is awesome and this thing is a powerhouse... full steam all night long.