Living on Colorado's Front Range, humidifiers are a fact of life year round. I had tried/used just about every humidifer on the market over the years, so I consider myself a fairly good judge. I was looking for an evaporative humidifier to replace the ultrasonic used in the 25 by 15 foot attic / bedroom, mostly because the constant white dust and refills had gotten to be too much. While evaporative humidifiers are more effective at humidifying the air, MUCH more energy efficient, and generally more sanitary in that only water, and not mold / bacteria can evaporate, they are also (typically) far too loud for a bedroom. Not so for the Stadler Form OSKAR Big. On it's lowest setting, the unit is not only quiet, it's virtually silent. You can be sitting directly next to it and not hear a thing. On it's highest setting, it is about as loud as the quietest possible setting for other evaporative units (VERY quiet).The design is impressively solid for a concept that is, at it's base, so simple. Air is drawn up from the floor, passed through wicks which run the length of the unit on both sides, and blown out the top of the unit. Humidification is impressively high as there is really no way for the air to 'bleed' around the wicks, with this unit actually doing a better job than my much larger console humidifier in the main living room. Water is refilled by a spout which pushes open and closed. A clear level on the same side, illuminated by LED, allows you to see exactly how much water is currently in the unit. The fan has four speed options indicated by blue LEDs recessed into the top of the unit, as well as several preset humidity settings. These LEDs can be dimmed, or switched off entirely, which is great for a unit being used in a bedroom.All in all we are thrilled with this purchase. While the unit certainly isn't cheap, it's one of the very few humidifers that actually looks GOOD in visible location. The design is superb, addressing most of the issues I've had with other humidifiers over the years. It gets a ton of humidity into the air near silently, without any of the white dust issues cause by ultrasonic units. While we've only had this a few days now, I can't imagine going back. If you live in a climate that calls for humidifiers for large portions of the year, give this one a serious look. While it's a significant investment for a humidifier, you won't regret having one that silently 'just works'.