Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Pros - works...really well, a lot more energy efficient than consumer grade units, quiet...sort of, good condensate pump Cons - poor packaging, heavy, not quiet...sort of The box store stuff is made in china and it's disposable. They work for the most part, but if you're dealing with a damp location, like a basement, where you've had trouble managing humidity, I think this unit is a big step up...in price and capability. I waited over 6 weeks to let this thing run in before writing anything. I was a little suspicious knowing it was made in China with limited US customer support. So far, it has run like a champ. I have humidity issues because there are other problems that I need to resolve. But for now, I need to get the humidity out of the air. The air in my basement was 65% prior to getting this, but I thought it was 50% (my digital meter wasn't working). The onboard humidity sensor seems pretty accurate. I have around 1200-1500 sf in an unfinished basement. I set this one to 50% and let it do it's thing. It ran nearly 24 hours straight and brought the humidity down to 50%. Much more comfortable! After the first 24 hours it continued to run approximately 12 hours each day to maintain the humidity. I would guess it is pulling out 4-5 gallons of moisture a day, but I don't know exactly, since I have it pumping up to a drain. I only know the runtime. By now it has almost 1000 hours of runtime on it and it's working flawlessly. I love it and hope it holds up for the long haul. The condensate pump inside is very quiet, the compressor is very quiet, but the fan is not quiet! It circulates a lot of air, and that noise isn't the fan motor (that part is quiet), it's just air turbulence. This would not be ideal in a finished living space. It's a bit like an 8" desktop fan turned up to "turbo mode". It's energy efficient drawing a total load of just over 5 amps when running. Considering how quickly it's extracting water out of the air, I think it's probably drawing half the electricity compared to the box store stuff to remove the same water content (but I don't have an accurate measurement to confirm). And the lower humidity levels are felt throughout the house, even though this is running in my basement. I find I'm not lowering the thermostats to take out the humidity anymore. I leave the thermostats set 2 degrees higher this year (and this comes from someone who can't live without AC and hates summer humidity). In terms of value, it's expensive. We would all like it to be cheaper, but it does what it claims to do. The alternative from a well known US company is nearly twice and it appears identical on the surface. Under the covers, who knows? But I can't spend close to $2k on the other brand, so that's that. I haven't found anything else between the $200-300 box store units and this. I would be thrilled if there was something in the $500-700 range. This unit is heavy at around 80 lbs. The packaging it's shipped in is mediocre at best. I took a star off for that reason. They could have done better here, especially considering how heavy this is (you know what the shipping companies do with heavy packages!). The saving grace is the plastic housing is very beefy. There is a grill on the back for the air filter and that can easily get damaged in shipping. I was lucky enough to get one without damage. One more thing about the weight...be smart. Use a dolly or get help. I didn't when I moved it from outside to inside, I was in a hurry. Big mistake! But hopefully, once you set it in place, you won't be moving it again. So no reason to deduct a star here, just be aware that it's on the heavy side. The customer service seems to be a crapshoot. I didn't deduct a star since I haven't needed to reach out, but read the other reviews and make your own decision here. I believe them and it is an expensive appliance. The last point I would make is it's somewhat modular, which is a little comforting when you're spending this kind of money. Stuff does break, even if it's quality. It seems like the condensate pump can be swapped out easily, the control panel can be as well. Not sure about the fan. So if you can get in touch with the US customer service and they have parts, you can probably repair/replace those items yourself if you're reasonably handy. If the compressor or coils go, well, it's game over. So far, no regrets here. If it fails to live up in any way, I'll certainly post an update. Otherwise, you can assume it's faithfully doing it's duty and I'm living comfortably. Edit 9/2019 - 1300+ hours on the unit...Houston, we have a problem! I found the unit running more hours per day lately. And we're at the end of summer where there is little rain and temps have moderated (at least outside). So it should be running less, but it's not. I scrolled through the menus and see the incoming air is about 71F and 60%RH and the outgoing air is 74F and 52%RH. When it was new, I recall the outgoing air was in the 20's. I'll have to check the filter and perhaps open up the unit to make sure nothing is blocking the airflow. Otherwise, it will be time to test their customer support. Update 1/2020 - I did contact customer support after the problem surfaced back in September. Initially they asked me to swap out the humidity sensor which was fine with me if it would solve the problem. Unfortunately it did not (but I appreciated them ruling out a simple fix before we went to the extreme of shipping this out for repair) and I followed up with their customer service. They requested pictures and other proof of purchase, serial number, etc, asked me to let it run overnight. I did find the rear coil behind the air filter was iced over the next morning so they indicated they would get back to me after reviewing the materials I sent. It took several weeks of following up before they were able to get a manager to approve the replacement of the unit with a new one. I wish they would empower their customer service to make good on the warranty rather than delay the process requiring an “approval”. That said, once approved, I had the new unit in days. They emailed a UPS label so I swapped the old unit into the packaging that the new unit came in and shipped it back. It was as painless as I could expect. I haven’t used the new unit yet, humidity season was long gone by the time I got it replaced. I hope the new one does better. Edit 7/2021 - The replacement unit that was shipped to me has run flawlessly throughout 2020 and half of 2021. Doing great! Edit 9/2021 - The replacement unit failed in the same manner as the original. Coil freezing, extended run times, failure to remove humidity from the space. I have not contacted the manufacturer yet, I’m just frustrated that a $900 unit has such poor reliability. These units work great…while they work, but I have had two units now that last 1-2 summers before they fail. I would assume it’s a refrigerant leak since the coil is icing over. Meanwhile my inexpensive conventional dehumidifier which I kept as a backup still runs going on 8-9 years now (well about 5-6 years of actual service). So box store units win for longevity.