AEOCKY Dehumidifier/4500 Sq.Ft

Very quiet, but it doesn't actually dehumidify very well. It is also no more efficient than conventional units. I have a basement that is less than 1/4 the area of the claimed 4,500 sq ft capability. I have had at least a half dozen different humidifiers over the years. The last one was a Keystone, rated at only 35 pints/day. It ran continuously, and drew ~430W, but it maintained the humidity at around 40%. I figured the Aeocky would be a big improvement. It is rated at 52 pints a day, and supposedly only draws 280 Watts. It's also supposed to be very quiet (which it is). I installed it, set it for 40% and quickly noticed that it wasn't getting the humidity down very quickly. It was definitely getting water out of the air, but no where near the rated 50 pints a day (which is measured under really damp hot conditions). I did a 10 hour test collecting water. I got almost exactly 3 pints. That corresponds to 7.2 pints in 24 hours. The temperature was 69F, and the humidity was 45% according to the built in hygrometer. I contacted customer service, and asked if the unit might be defective. They asked me to put it in "smart mode", which as best I can tell means full power. The power draw went from ~ 270W to 370W, so it is now drawing the same power as my old 35 pint Keystone. I ran another test, and collected the equivalent of 12 pints a day. The humidity never got much below 42%, and it typically sits around 46%. I reported this to customer service, and again asked if my unit might be defective. They were very nice, but never actually answered my question. They apologized that it wasn't meeting my expectations, and offered me a $50 refund. I decided to do a little research. I went through ALL (roughly 100) of the 4-star and 3-star reviews, and roughly ONE THIRD reported that same issue with inadequate moisture removal. My only conclusion is that my unit is probably operating normally, and that their "specs" are based on completely unrealistic operating conditions. I will keep the unit, and they have refunded the $50. Based on my experience, their customer service is very good (and many of the reviews support that), but the actual product performs no where near what their numbers suggest. It will barely keep my relatively small basement at 45% humidity, and it doesn't save any power over a conventional dehumidifier that CAN hit 40% RH. The good news is that it IS very quiet. Maybe by the time this one dies they will have improved the actual performance as a dehumidifier in the next model. Update: I think my power monitor may be flaky, because after a power interrupt & resetting everything, the Aoecky is now back down to running at about 2.4 Amps, which is over an amp lower than my old conventional dehumidifier. It's not clear on a pint/kWh that its any more efficient, because it removes less water than the old one. Given that it runs almost continuously (as did the old one), it IS saving me ~ 3.7 kW/hr per day, so I kicked the rating up to 3 stars.