I felt like such an idiot when I paid $100 for one and found out it’s basically a bucket with a big wick and a $10 fan (retail!) controlled by a humidistat. There had to be a good $80 markup there
I've been there and I feel your pain. I feel like humidifiers in the store are just vehicles to sell crappy wicks.
If it makes you feel better - my wife insisted on paying 350 euros each for two 'design' humidifiers. Just the replacement wicks they sell are e50 to replace them all. But hey, it does have 5 different fan speed settings...