hOmeLabs 1,800 Sq. Ft Energy Star Dehumidifier – 25 Pint, High-Efficiency Moisture Removal for Home, Bedroom, Bathroom & Medium Rooms – Powerful Humidity Control, Quiet & Portable with Auto Shut-Off

Used to feel like I was living inside a damp sock. The air was thick, everything felt a little... squishy. Even the cat seemed mildly offended by the humidity—she had that soggy, soft look like she’d been caught in a light drizzle of shame.Then this dehumidifier showed up. Quiet, efficient, and weirdly satisfying to empty. It pulled moisture out of the air like it was trying to win a medal. No more mystery dampness, no more swamp vibes.If your home’s as moist as a whale’s blowhole, this thing’s your fix. Simple as that. I give it 5/5 whale's blowholes

The media could not be loaded. *Five Years Later Edit*It works fantastically still nearly 5 years later. Take care of it, and it will take care of you.*Original Review*First id like to point out a few things wrong about other reviews.The radiator/condenser fin damage seen in one of my photo's is a perfectly normal occurrence during assembly. If it bothers you or is so bad it affects the machine, or even if you do it yourself by accident, there is a simple fix. Get a condenser comb. I know they are available at Lowe's and Autozone, but they are also available on Amazon and a few other stores near you most likely. Check home improvement stores or auto parts stores for it. The comb's are easy to use and figure out how to use.Id also like to point out that a running condenser is not silent. On any appliance. If you run this device (if it isnt defective) next to a refridgerator, the fridge condenser will be louder. My mini-fridge is about the same volume when its condenser runs. If you can hear it from several rooms away, you have a defective unit probably, and an exchange is what you need. h0meLabs has excellent customer service.I left it out of the box, upright and unplugged for 24 Hours as the box says (the oils in the condenser may have shifted during transport, or may have even been laid on its side, which is why it must be upright for so long). I put a drain hose (Lowe's sells 6 ft female/female leader hoses for $8). If you are using continuous, unless you want to constantly have to lug a bucket to a bathtub or outside or whatever, its going to be heavy when full, hence the drain hose. I cut the 6 ft hose down to about 1 foot give or take an inch. The hose leads into a "Little Giant 554425 VCMA-20ULS Condensate Removal 1/30 HP Pump with Safety Switch", which is connected to a Vinyl tube that leads into my bathroom. The pump is like $50 and a wise investment. Its optional, but you can wire the secondary safety switch to a water alarm (ive seen them in the sink/shower aisle at walmart) which will sound if the pump safety feature kicks in, warning you to remove the hose so that it goes into the bucket, or else you will have a wet floor.I also have it more than 8 inches from a wall on all sides, even though it only requires 8. Im guessing because the humidity reading might be off if it is in a corner.Alot of people are saying the house thing is flimsy, but it really isnt as long as you arent a brute with it. Other people have said that it doesnt drain out the hose and that it keeps filling the bucket. Well, I used a level to make sure my floor was flat. If you have it on carpet, but a piece of plywood or something flat and sturdy (not cardboard) and make sure its as level as possible. If it isn't level, the float that makes it go into the hose will not function correctly and you will have a full bucket eventually.Below is my actual review based on usage. I will update it at certain milestones to tell about whether or not it is still chugging along as efficient as it was out of the box.First Hour: The first hour i continuously checked the bucket (turning it off first) in order to see if it was definitely going into the hose, and i remove the hose to see if it was wet (it was), so it was definitely collecting moisture. In the first hour alone it brought my house down from 86, to about 45-50.First Day: I already know it is better than my old DH (Hisense brand) because the old one was lying on the display. I was about to unplug the old one to plug in the new one and the humidity was allegedly 32. When i plugged the new one in, it went from 50 all the way to near 90 really darn quick. Then it slowly decreased down to 33, which took about 3 hours.First Week: I have definitely noticed a difference between my 2 dehumidifiers and this one is definitely better than my old one. Using the continuous function and a drain hose into a condensate pump, this machine has been running nonstop since I first plugged it in, and the bucket is as dry as it was when I first opened the box. To all those that are saying this function doesnt work and its not going into the hose, double check to make sure that the dehumidifier is as level as possible, and the drain hose is going horizontal and at a downward angle. If there is any "Up" angle in the hose, the water wont drain properly. It uses gravity, so the only directions it can go is down or horizontal.

Bathroom - I have this running 24/7 during the winter to keep the mold at bay since there's no bathroom exhaust fan and the window is closed during the colder season in Southern California. No mold showing up for the past 3 months.I have another one in the living room near the bathroom door and it runs 24/7 as well.Auto setting works well.These are not quiet - You hear the air flowing and some mechanical noise.I can't tell how much energy these use, but I don't think it cost much to run these. I'll be able to tell once we get back into the upper 60's outside to see the difference in the electric bill.I didn't try to use the drain tube to allow it to just flow into the sink so it doesn't have to be manually emptied.The only complaint would be the shut off should occur sooner so it doesn't rise to a level too close to the top of the insert you empty. I've gotten good at holding steady to get to the sink to empty.

70-pint Frigidaire 70-Pint Dehumidifier vs hOmeLabs dehumidifier point-by-point comparison.Foreword: These are two of the most highly rated and popular dehumidifiers on Amazon. So I thought it may be a good idea to compare them side by side since I happen to own both. I’ve owned Frigidaire for about 9 month and hOmeLabs for about a week.EPA recommends indoor relative humidity levels 30-60%. Both of these units are well capable of maintaining that. Another note is that both of these units are appliances that do electrical work, therefore, they do generate heat. If you live in a climate where you don’t mind a certain amount of heating (Pacific NW, Midwest or New England), these are perfect. If you live in the South (TX, FL, etc), regular A/C unit should generally do an OK job of controlling humidity, but if you want an additional de-humidification capacity, you’re much better off investing in a portable A/C unit. Most of them have a de-humidification mode and typically draw out comparable amount of moisture. The other great benefit there is that they pump the heat outside (through the window exhaust) resulting in cool dry air inside.Back to comparison. In general, both of these units are really good and will get your humidity down. I would recommend both of them heartily, but they do differ in finer points, which is what detailed below:QUALITY OF THE BUILD: Both of these units are solid. However, Frigidaire is physically smaller and much more polished. Somehow the plastic enclosure of hOmeLabs unit feels flimsier.Winner: FrigidaireEASE OF MANEUVERABILITY: Both of these units come with casters attached and are breeze to roll around. Frigidaire has a handle on top and hOmeLabs has 2 handles on the sides.Winner: TieEASE OF OPERATION: It is super easy to operate both of these units. No manual needed at all. The buttons and lights are practically identical too. One difference is that Frigidaire hydrometer goes in increments of 5% whereas hOmeLabs specifies the humidity in 1% intervals.Winner: TieMAINTAINING HUMIDITY LEVEL (AUTO ON/OFF): This is where both units fail in my opinion. The idea here is that you can set a humidity level to maintain and the unit will automatically turn off when it reaches it and turn back on when the humidity rises again. Nice idea. The reality is that these units collect and store water, as such the humidity around them tends to increase quite rapidly once the airflow ceases. Frigidaire deals better with this problem by extending the window for off/on. For example, if you set the desired level at 50%, it’ll run until it hits 45%, and it won’t turn on again until humidity rises to 55%. It usually keeps off for about 10 mins, with the overall humidity variation during this time 1-3%. hOmeLabs unit is just a fail when it comes to this feature. It turns off as soon as it goes 1% below the set level (49% in my example) and turns back on 5% over. For some reason this takes about 1-2 mins, with no measureable variation of humidity elsewhere in the area.Winner: Frigidaire (but still fail)COLLECTION BUCKET: Both of these units come with ~1.6gal buckets that collect water. This is where you get to practically experience quality of the build as this is the part of the dehumidifier you will interact with the most. Aside of build and plastic quality here, one big practical difference is that Frigidaire includes a splash guard so you don’t have to worry about the water splashing all around while you carry it to the sink or tub. No such luck with hOmeLabs unit.Winner: FrigidaireWATER LEVEL INDICATOR: If you’re using the bucket for water collection, this is the part of the dehumidifier you will most likely to look at the most to try to figure out whether you need to empty the bucket now or wait till later. This is where hOmeLabs stands out. It has a bright green bar that floats on top of the water to indicate its level. It also feature a much more of vertical opening for the level to show. In contract, it’s practically impossible to see the level of the water in Frigidaire. There’s nothing floating on top and contrary to the pictures of the product, it does not come with light blue backlight illumination.Winner: hOmeLabsHOSE DRAINING: I haven’t used it on either unit, but both units have it. hOmeLabs has it at the back, and Frigidaire has it on the side.Winner: TieTEMPERATURE: Both of these unit generate heat, as I mentioned above. This is a basic part of the refrigeration cycle. Unlike with AC or a fridge, the resulting heat is mixed with exhaust air and is pumped back into the room. Both of these units generate a comparable amount of heat based upon my totally nonscientific method of sticking my hand into the exhaust.Winner: TieDIRECTION OF EXHAUST: Both of these units draw air from the back and pump it out through the side. One notable difference is that Frigidaire throws it up at about 45 degree angle, resulting in a much better air circulation and, thus, much more uniform humidity level throughout the area. hOmeLabs, shoots the air straight out, which results in the much more intense air circulation around the floor. It also ends up not mixing the air as well in the overall area: after about 1.5 hr of operation, the humidity at knee level was ~40% (down from 65%), whereas near the ceiling was 50-55% (also, down from 65%), as measure by a network on AccuRite hydrometers. Eventually it does all mix however, but be ready for this disparity. Depending on what you want, this is could be a good or bad.Winner: TieSPEED OF EXHAUST: Frigidaire has 3 speeds: Hi, Med, Lo. hOmeLabs has 2: Normal and Turbo. One thing to note here is Normal for hOmeLabs is roughly equal to Lo for Frigidaire, and Turbo is roughly equal to Medium. There’s no equivalent to Hi in hOmeLabs unit.Winner: FrigidaireNOISE LEVEL: Both of these units are very comparable. My purely subjective perception is that Frigidaire is slightly louder. Measuring with sound meter and operating at Medium speed (Frigidaire) and Turbo (hOmeLabs), Frigidaire produces ~59dB at about a foot away from the front and hOmeLabs produces ~57dB. Frigidaire is quite noticeably louder at Hi speed (~65dB).Winner: hOmeLabsPOWER CONSUMPTION: This is where there’s a big difference. All draws are measured with P3 P4400 Kill A Watt appliance. hOmeLabs draws about 1W at idle (non-operating) and 560W operating at Turbo mode. Furthermore, every time it turns on there’s a momentarily spike in current such that the lights momentarily flicker on the whole circuit. In comparison Frigidaire draws 0.4W at idle and 470W operating at Medium and 485W operating at Hi. It does not have any problems with momentary spikes at unit power on.Winner: FrigidaireCONCLUSION: While both of this units are very good and will get the job done, considering all of the above I’m giving Frigidaire 5 stars (but really A-) and hOmeLabs 4 stars (but really B+). Hopefully you’ll find this useful as you make your decision.