GoldStar DH504EL

When it was a current model, some reviews said that the GoldStar DH504EL was a good budget dehumidifier for a basement. The Energy Star-rated GoldStar DH504EL can remove up to 50 pints per day, and you can connect a hose to a floor drain so you're not constantly emptying the collection cup. While less powerful humidifiers reduce the humidity only to 50 percent, the GoldStar DH504EL can get it down to 35 percent. It also will default to the previous settings if there's a power outage. Reviews say the GoldStar DH504EL is noisy, however, and we found some complaints about durability and customer service for the GoldStar DH504EL.

Very few professional sources review dehumidifiers at all, and ConsumerReports.org covers just 17 models (not the GoldStar DH504EL but several models by the same company), and editors don't address durability. That's an issue in owner reviews at Epinions.com and Amazon.com, and, frankly, many say buying a dehumidifier becomes a matter of picking the least-bad option. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers' website is an important stop because there's a chart that shows the capacity you'll need for various room sizes and dampness levels.