It is reasonably quiet, easy to set up (not really required), but it does have a clinical smell to start with, so washing it before use would help. The low steam setting is really weak, but the normal one does its job greatly -- it warms up the room and steams it all within a couple/few hours (room size depending). Taking it apart for cleaning is easy, although, in my opinion, the instruction leaflet is not the best written one. Function wise, it does what it advertises.