Whynter CHC-120S Cigar Cooler

I have a problem keeping cigars at 70 degrees since I am in Houston. It's just too hot to keep that temperature in my house consistent. In addition, I have always had problems trying to get to 70% humidity in my regular wooden humidor, always a big hassle trying to get it right. This 1.2 cubic feet product solved both issues and it cost about the same as regular humidors that I have purchased in the past. I am very impressed with it. I like a good cigar and especially Cuban cigars and I have 40 or 50 I brought back from Canada over the years as well as new ones I purchased in Canada at the duty free (great prices there) and really wanted to keep them in good shape. In the past, I actually even used a small wine fridge to keep them in previously to solve the temp problem but this product works so much better. So far it has kept humidity at 70% ever since I plugged it in. The temperature is always at 66 according to the digital read out and cannot go any higher than that and it will stop at 66 on the touch pad if you try to take it higher. I was always told to keep cigars at 70% humidity and at 70 degrees but I suppose 3 or 4 degrees temperature won't make much difference. I have my own digital humidity/thermometer in the humidor as well and its states the temp is 66.5 and humidity is 70%. It has been very consistent ever since I purchased the unit. This product uses the Peltier cooling system method, in other words you apply an electric charge to a heat sink and it dissipates the heat inside the unit and cools it down. There is no compressor or refrigerant involved in this product. Here are the steps I took once I received the unit: 1. Opened the box and set it up my shelf in my media room. It is longer/deeper then I anticipated, but not a big deal. You just have to make sure you leave enough inches from the wall to uptake the air, the intake is in the back. 2. Took a few minutes and wiped in the inside plastic off with vinegar (so no plastic smell) and seasoned the wood (wiped the cedar) with distilled water, but not too heavily, because you want the wood to not absorb the humidity in the humidor and this helps. 3. Put an extra cigar holder I bought off Amazon (Spanish Cedar Cigar Tray) in the bottom and placed the plastic water container that it comes with (filled it halfway with distilled water) on the same tray. Also placed a second cigar holder from my old humidor on the middle rack. The racks (other than the cigar drawer) have no sides and cigars can easily slip off when you slide them out. It came in handy to use the other cedar cigar holders. 4. Placed humidity beads(1/4 of the bag that was sent) that I got on Amazon (Cigar Humidor Humidity Beads - 1/2 lb Brand by Fuji Silysia) in a small glass bowl (after spritzing them with distilled water) and placed on the bottom tray next to the water holder. 5. This all took about 30 minutes and I then turned on the unit. Within one hour it was at the desired 70% humidity and 66.5 degrees. I then placed all my cigars in the unit. I also used small pieces of Velcro to place the addition humidity gauge that came with the unit on the middle shelf and did the same for a digital one on the bottom shelf, just for the heck of it, to see if the unit is consistent in temp and humidity in all areas and it is. (see attached picture) 6. Let the cigars season for 5-7 days before you smoke them assuming they were not properly kept. I noticed that all my cigars last much longer now in addition to burning more evenly and having a longer ash (see attached pictures). This product runs very quiet as well. I am very impressed with this glad not be dealing with my wooden humidor that was not made for hot environments. I really wish I had invested in this product sooner. Enjoy your cigars! 8 months later - Still running great. I did notice when I put a new box of cigars that were in a cedar box that it made the humidity drop for a few days. The box was absorbing the humidity and I should have rubbed it with distilled water. Also just a quick note to let you know that after you go through US customs (yes they have a US customs inspection in Montreal airport) they now have Cuban cigars sold in the duty free in Canada. I bought some Partagas and they had Romeo and Juliette's also. The lady told me they had a hard time keeping them in stock. I can tell you they cost 50% less then what they sold for in Montreal Cigar stores, about $9.00 US a stick for a box of Partagas Supers and no tax. I carried the two boxes with me on the plane in my carry on since their duty free is located after you go through US customs and I already had two boxes in my luggage I had purchased previously. Legally you can bring 100 sticks back with you or $800 worth but how do they know since duty free is after the inspection, anyway they don't care about that small stuff. 15 months later - Unfortunately, I noticed the humidity had dropped to 55% and the temperature of the unit stayed at 62 degrees. In particular, the heat fan in the back of the unit would not stop due to issue with the sensors on the control board. I also discovered that a number of customers had this problem as well. I called the Whynter support line and their higher level support responded via email within 48 hours. Apparently the control board (back of the unit) was not working and they told me I could purchase a new board for $27. I received the new board and took out the older one in the unit (took about ten minutes) and soldered the two wires on the board (took five minutes) and put it all back together (another ten minutes) all very easy to do, just need some general knowledge to do all this. The unit works fine now and to find the replacement part for the control board simply search for Ambient Stores re the web and order Sku# CHCWC-PCB-500. Call Whynter support if you want the complete docs on this topic. I elected not to purchase the heat sink, I mean not much can go wrong with a heat sink, the control board is the issue. You will need to unplug the the wires from the old board and place back on new board. The heat fan (external fan in back) two wires are solderer on the new board, upper right corner, red to plus sign, black to minus sign, fairly simple operation and much better than sending the unit off. I am baffled as to why they can't just solder a plug on the board to make it easy to replace the fan wires instead of making the customer solder the wires, maybe they make extra money when they do it. Usually would be miffed about this breakdown but I really think this product does a great job regardless. Aug 2019 - Have not had any issues with this product since I replaced the logic board, it is still working great. Also the humidity seems to last better as well. I hardly have to refill it as often as I used to do. My cigars are really holding their flavor and texture, I am very happy with this refridgedor. May 2020 - still working great. Jan 2020 - After 3 yrs the newer logic board finally stopped working again. Purchased another sensor board from Whynter for $30 on the Ambient site. You can also get a $25 warranty for five years now from Allstate that will cover any new purchases of the humidor so that is another way to go.and it replaces the cost of the humidor if it goes bad. May 2023 - I have two of these now and both working great although had to replace logic boards on one of them as I stated earlier. Two key items of note, do not push your cigars to the back of the humidor against the fan. When this happens the temp and humidity will fluctuate. Give some space back there between the cigars and the fan. Also make sure you unplug the device after any blackouts or brownouts, I notice temp always seems to goto 62 but I prefer 66. After a blackout unplug and plug back in, it resets it.