Appliances like the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi are probably not the first home addition you'd think of when trying to make your space more livable. But, like air purifiers, they should be. It’s not just about lowering the humidity of your home to something more comfortable, but keeping musty odors at bay, minimizing dust and allergens, and reducing the ability for mold to grow - not to mention that your air conditioner will run better with a lower humidity.
The Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi, as the name states, is more than just a straightforward dehumidifier. While its performance, at least in my mind, makes it a contender for the best dehumidifiers on the market right now, its feature set is also a large part of what makes this such a good model. That includes some smart features, as well as some dumb but crucially necessary ones like the continuous drain option.
Though it’s not perfect – it’s fairly heavy to move around and is on the pricey side – and your mileage may vary if you don’t find the best place to put a dehumidifier, the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi gets a hearty recommendation from this reviewer, particularly after having to use it in an unfinished basement with a minor leak (but more on that later).
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Specifications
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Price
The Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi, while appropriately priced, is on the pricier side of the dehumidifier market, retailing currently for $349, whether you get it direct from Frigidaire, or from Home Depot or Amazon. Lowe’s has it listed a bit higher at $380.
Considering that one of our favorite dehumidifiers, the GE 50-Pint Portable Dehumidifier, goes for $269.99, and you can get a decent sized one for as low as $150 (cheaper ones are generally much smaller), the price of the Frigidaire reviewed here might feel like it’s not worth it. However, if you like all the smart features on offer, such as controlling the unit from your phone, it’s worth the extra cash.
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Setup
The Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi is basically plug-and-play. Since it weighs 42 pounds (19 kg), the hardest part is pulling it out of the box. Beyond that, you just need to remove it from the protective plastic and plug in the power cable. There’s really nothing else you have to do to start dehumidifying other than turning it on and picking the mode (quiet or dry) and fan speed (low, medium, high).
There is a little more to the setup, however, as this dehumidifier, as the name suggests, comes with WiFi capabilities, meaning it supports an app. Luckily, setting the app up is painless. Just download the app from the appropriate mobile store, open it and follow the instructions, which mostly consist of pressing the WiFi button on the Frigidaire and connecting it to your WiFi network (so have your username and password ready).
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Design & Features
The Frigidaire comes in an attractive and somewhat discreet all-white colorway. Its “Gallery” designation somewhat differentiates it from the rest of Frigidaire’s line that have a black top, which stands out a bit more. It’s good that it’s designed to not stick out too much as it is pretty big. As mentioned previously, it weighs 42 pounds (19 kg). It’s also 24 ¾ inches tall (and 16 inches wide with a depth of 12 ¼ inches).
Even though it’s big, Frigidaire was thoughtful enough to include a retractable handlebar on top for relatively easy transportation (you still have to carry 42 lbs). Since there are no handles on the side, it’s tough to enlist a second person to carry this if you need to move it and find 42 lbs hard to pick up. I should mention that there are caster wheels to roll it around.
As far as controls go, they’re all lined up along the top and are fairly responsive to use. From left to right, there’s a mode select button where you choose between auto, quiet and dry mode (with a range of 48 and 52 dB volume-wise), Filter reset button, Timer, an LED display indicating if target humidity has been reached, Fan Speed button with three settings to cycle through, a power button, and a WiFi button to enable connecting to the app. While there’s some more functionality in the app, everything you need is basically on the unit except for turning on the ionizer.
Also of note is an LED indicator on the front that will let you know when the bucket is full, an easy access panel on the back with a washable dust filter, a front-loaded 2.1 liter bucket, and a drain for continuous use so you don’t have to keep emptying it manually.
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Performance
Though you could look at the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi’s 50 pints a day removal as a reliable benchmark, not to mention that it’s on par with other dehumidifiers that we’ve recommended, real world usage and testing is key. Luckily, I had a couple different basements, usually one of the most critical places in a house to keep dry, to test in.
Regardless of where I used it, it filled up fairly quickly requiring fairly regular emptying (just a reminder that there is a drain for use with a sump pump). One of the basements that I used it in had actually just suffered a leak from a water meter. Almost that entire corner was steeped in an inch of water. After sucking most of the water up with a wet vac, I used the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi to dry out the basement.
It took just a day for the ground to dry out thanks to the dehumidifier. Even after, I kept it running in dry mode and its 2.1 liter bucket was a quarter full after just six hours of use. Basically, its dehumidifying performance is fantastic. And, even on its highest mode, it doesn’t get too loud (52 dB from five feet away, 68 dB if you’re right next to it).
Using the app is about as easy as everything else with this dehumidifier. All the information and controls are on one page with an additional menu page with instructions and ways to contact Frigidaire. There’s not much to say other than it’s minimalist, straightforward, and it's the only way to turn the ionizer on or off, or schedule the dehumidifier to work at certain times during the day.
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Maintenance
Because of the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi’s excellent and efficient performance, if you’re using it in a particularly high humidity environment, you’re going to have to empty it very, very regularly. While that’s not a bad thing – that’s the job it’s supposed to do – you better be prepared to pick up and empty a 2.1 liter bucket on a daily or almost daily basis. Luckily, pulling it out to empty is easy, it’s just a bit heavy. Emptying it is just as easy as you just need to tip it over wherever you need to empty it.
Accessing the dust filter is pretty straightforward as well, since there’s a panel on the back of the unit that pops right out that also holds that filter. Once out, the filter comes right out for a quick rinse.
Since it is heavy, it’s more than likely that the outside might get scuffed up when moving it from room to room. Luckily, since it’s encased in a fairly durable plastic, it’s hard to permanently dent it, and any scuffs are easily rubbed out.
How does the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi compare?
There’s no doubt about it, the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi is expensive when it comes to the world of dehumidifiers. The GE ADEL50LZ 50-Pint Dehumidifier, for instance, tops our best humidifier list and retails for $269.99 at Amazon and $268.02 at The Home Depot. Whether you’re willing to spend the extra $100 on the Frigidaire depends on how useful you’ll find having the smart features, whether it’s app access for turning on the ionizer or being able to use it with Alexa or Google Home.
A better comparison might be the LG PuriCare UD501KOG5 50-Pint Dehumidifier, which retails for a similar $383.27 at Walmart or $429 direct from LG, and also comes with app support, though it doesn’t seem to support smart home integration.
If you have a smaller space, you can certainly spend much less. Even Frigidaire offers the Frigidaire 22 Pint Dehumidifier for $199.
Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi: Verdict
While you can certainly spend less on a dehumidifier – and that’s probably the biggest issue here – the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi is worth the cost if you’re into having a good amount of features. In fact, other models with similar WiFi capabilities, like the LG mentioned above, are in a similar price range.
If you don’t care about controlling it via an app or Alexa, there are cheaper options that are still pretty good. However, the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi comes with other important features such as a drain to be used with a sump pump and an ionizer function.
Regardless of how you feel about your needs feature-wise, the performance is as good as it should be with the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi. That’s to say that it does its job and it does it well. Additionally, using and operating it, not to mention maintaining it, is just as straightforward. Functionally, the only real issue is the weight, but at least there’s a retractable handle and caster wheels.
Overall, the Frigidaire Gallery 50 Pint Dehumidifier with WiFi is very easy to recommend if you’re not on a budget.
For more on air quality, be sure to browse our expertly-tested guide of the best air purifiers.
