I have been messing around with $30-60 humidifiers for like 3 years now. They all end up failing, and get all scaled up even if you clean them. So far, it's only been 3 weeks with this Air-O-Swiss, but there's no sign of scale anywhere at all. I don't know if the durability will be there, but most reviewers seem to have no trouble with this unit, so I'm hopeful - especially when it's been so perfect this far.I plan to use EZ-Cal to clean it every 3-4 weeks (we don't have hard water, so I don't need to do it every 2 weeks), and change the silver stick and tank filter as they recommend. Otherwise, this should be a great and low-maintenance product to own.It's your choice - spend more now, or spend more later. We chose to go cheap 3 years ago, and spent more than we would have if we just bought an Air-O-Swiss then. It is tough to spend nearly $200 on a humidifier when there are $40 options that seem good enough. But, in the end, we spent more on several cheap ones to keep replacing the ones that died, and then just bought the bullet and got the Air-O-Swiss. If you can afford it, you should just start with a quality product like this, and not worry anymore.