When you need a dehumidifier, you *really* need one. Whether you're dealing with a water leak, mould, rainy days or humidity, a good dehumidifier can take care of your damp dramas.
But a dud dehumidifier will only extract one thing: your savings. Not only can dehumidifiers be expensive to buy, they can be pricey to run, so choosing a poor-performing model will see you losing money twice over.
One of the dehumidifiers in our latest test even scored just 3% for water removal. Considering that the sole purpose of a dehumidifier is to remove water from the air, you might as well not bother using it at all – a fan may well do just as good a job. Or you could try a moisture-absorbing product like DampRid: we pitted DampRid against a dehumidifier to see how they compared.
Priced between $90 and $399, the three worst performing products in our test fall at the cheapest end of the price range for dehumidifiers, and unfortunately we've found that cheaper models don't tend to perform as well – many of the dehumidifiers recommended by our experts cost more than $600. However, if you can stretch your budget a bit beyond the cheapest products, we have found several models around the $400-500 mark that perform well.
Check our reviews to find the best dehumidifier for your home.
To make sure you don't waste your money, our experts have compiled a list of the dehumidifiers you definitely don't want to buy.
This Pursonic model was the cheapest in our test, but it was also one of the worst performing.
Pursonic 1.5 Litre Clean Air Max
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 41%
- Water removal score: 3%
- Price: $90
No, that's not a typo: this dehumidifier scored just 3% for water removal.
This is the cheapest dehumidifier we've tested, so it's not hugely surprising that it was one of the worst performing – but even a cheap product should somewhat do the job, right?
Save your money: this isn't a good deal even at this price.
It has a tiny 1.5L tank and in our test it collected even less – just 1.14L – before it decided it was full. And its claimed water removal rate is just 500mL per day. With stats like that, it's hard to know why they opted to name it the 'Max' as it's anything but.
Read the full Pursonic 1.5 Litre Clean Air Max review.
A Kogan dud: this model isn't worth your money.
Kogan KAWFSMDEHUA
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 48%
- Water removal score: 40%
- Price: $209
A water removal score of 40% is a definite improvement on the Pursonic, but when you consider that most of the dehumidifiers our experts recommend score anywhere from the high 70s all the way to 100% for this metric, it kind of puts things into perspective.
It's not quite as terrible as the Pursonic – and it does have a larger tank (2.25L) and claimed water removal rate (7L/day) – but it's still far from a stellar performer.
If you can scrape together an extra $200 for a dehumidifier, you'll be able to buy one that our experts recommend that will actually do the job for you.
Read the full Kogan KAWFSMDEHUA review.
This Breville model may have very good energy efficiency but its water removal score is poor.
Breville LAD208WHT
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 54%
- Water removal score: 28%
- Price: $399
This dehumidifier received a lower water removal score than the Kogan model – just 28% – which hurts all the more when you realise it's about $200 more expensive.
It gets a higher CHOICE Expert Rating because it is far more energy efficient than our other worst performers, which means you'll save a bit of money on its running costs (arguably not a plus if it's not effectively doing the job you bought it to do).
But if you have $400, our review has uncovered other models that will give you much better overall performance for your money – in fact, we recommend a few models that cost between $350–$450.
Don't write the brand off completely though – other Breville models fared better in our testing, so do your research to ensure you buy the right one.
Read the full Breville LAD208WHT review.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
