Venta LW45 Comfort Plus vs Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde PH04

Venta LW45 Comfort Plus

Venta

Venta LW45 Comfort Plus

No longer sold by Venta in the US

~$530

vs

In short: The Venta LW45 Comfort Plus costs $470 less; the Venta LW45 Comfort Plus costs about $70 less a year in wicks and watts.

SpecVenta LW45 Comfort PlusDyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde PH04
Approx. price~$530~$1,000
TypeEvaporativeEvaporative
Mistcoolcool
Rated outputNot publishedNot published
Output standardThe maker publishes no output rateThe maker publishes no output rate
Honest room size——
Claimed coverage645 sq ft400 sq ft
Claim vs physics——
Tank size3 gal1.11 gal
Runtime at the claimed room28 hr16 hr
Real runtime at full output——
Yearly running cost~$32~$102
Replaceable mediaNone — nothing to buyFilter, replaced through the season
White dust riskNoNo
HumidistatYesYes
Noise on low24 dB—
Top fillYesNo
Dishwasher-safe tankNoNo
App controlNoYes
Power8 W40 W

Highlighted cells are the better number in that row, and only where a direction is unambiguous — more output and more supported room, less noise, cost and price. Honest room size and runtime are computed from each maker’s own published figures; here is the calculation.

Pros and cons

Venta LW45 Comfort Plus

  • No wick at all, so years of ownership add up to no filters bought
  • Eight watts at full speed; the running cost is close to nothing
  • Whisper quiet on speed one
  • Venta states the 8-foot ceiling behind its coverage figure, which almost nobody else here does
  • No published output rate, on the product page or in the manual, so the 645 sq ft claim cannot be checked
  • $530 puts it among the most expensive units here, and the payback is measured in years, not seasons
  • The disc stack and basin need hands-in-the-water cleaning every couple of weeks
  • At $530 there is still no app, no timer and no display beyond the humidity dial
  • Thirteen pounds empty and awkward to carry full

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde PH04

  • Genuinely replaces three appliances, which is the only frame in which the price is defensible
  • The air-quality sensing and readout are the best in this catalog by a distance, because that is Dyson's actual product
  • The deep-clean cycle and UV-C stage address the hygiene problem more thoroughly than any other evaporative here
  • Backward-airflow mode means it can humidify and purify in winter without blowing cold air at anyone
  • No published output rate, which makes the 400 sq ft claim uncheckable - unusual for a company that publishes everything else
  • Roughly $90 a year in combined filters, the highest consumable bill of any portable here
  • $1,000 buys, as a humidifier, about what a $70 Vornado delivers
  • A 1.1-gallon tank in a machine this size and price
  • Bottom-fill tank in a unit that weighs 18 lb