Avalon Cool Mist Humidifier with Color-Changing Lights

This product DOESN'T work as advertised.To be specific, it was, at the time of purchase, the only ultrasonic humidifier that I could find that advertised an essential oil diffusing feature. Just to note, most ultrasonic humidifiers have warnings against the use of essential oils, which makes sense given that adding them to the main water compartment would eventually cause buildup that would in turn impair or even completely ruin the ultrasonic membrane. However, I thought surely someone, somewhere had realized that the vapor stream could be passed through a secondary stage, at which point the essential oils could be diffused into the final outflow.This product is described as being able to diffuse essential oils, and so I decided to try it.WHAT A FAILURE!The essential oil diffusing "compartment" is just a small cavity that contains a tiny absorbent block, which can be soaked with essential oils...AND THAT'S IT!Essential oils require some mechanism of diffusion be it via heat or through carrier action (like within water vapor), therefore the advertised feature isn’t actually a feature at all.I did try it just to see what would happen and NOTHING HAPPENED.Again, without a mode of actually diffusing the oil, the essential oils won’t permeate the room so I don’t know why this product is labelled and sold as having an essential oil feature, but it most definitely doesn’t in reality as the absorbent block just sits in a cavity that connects to nothing but a tiny little screen of holes.Finally, as ultrasonic humidifiers go this one is actually VERY BADLY DESIGNED.The main design problem is that the tank is opaque which means that you can’t really tell when the water level is low other than when the humidifier runs out of water and the entire thing auto-shuts-off.This is super annoying because, for example, before going to sleep, I want to make sure that the humidifier will run through the night. So either I hope it does and it may or may not, or I have to physically lift the water tank and inspect the water amount.Most other models I’ve seen utilize a clear holding tank so it’s easy to see how much water remains (and I’ve since replaced this mexs with a Taotronics model that is a much better price and works much better).Also, the holding tank itself is fairly small in capacity (2.8 L), which seems like a lot, maybe, but the replacement I purchased (Taotronics) has a 3 L capacity, and overall, if you convert to cups, that’s basically a full cup more. Again, that might seem trivial, but if you’re using this in a bedroom, it actually is a big difference because from my experience, the Taotronic humidifier will last me all night, whereas the Avalon would stop during the night.