Features:

  • Environmentally Safe
  • No Messy Spills or Refills to buy EVER!
  • 10 year life span!
  • Brand NEW design
  • Completely silent when operating
Very good product

I have a number of these units and they work very well. I'm in the L.A. beach area and things get very humid here. I have two Liberty "Ammunition Cans" which are about 12 cu ft each. One of these in each safe keeps the humidity at about 45%, down from about 65%. Note that these secure cabinets are not airtight so I wouldn't expect a silica gel desiccant-based dehumidifier to do much more. Silica gel will absorb moisture down to 40%RH, which is certainly adequate to prevent mildew and keep ammunition "fresh". If you need lower than 40% you'll need to go with a more expensive desiccant like aluminosilicate molecular sieves, which can operate down to 1% RH, or a powered dehumidifier. Using one of these in each ammo safe requires a recharge about once every four to five weeks, I've recently added a second one in each safe and, as expected, the time between recharges seems to have nearly doubled. I get at least two months between recharges. I also keep one of these in my gun safe, which is about 45 cu ft. The safe is equipped an electric (heater type) dehumidifier rod. The E500 brings the humidity down about 5% lower than just the heater rod alone, keeping the safe at about 40% RH. It may not be absolutely necessary, but it also gives me a backup in case the safe heater loses power. If you've ever had a safe without some sort of dehumidifier, it can be a disaster. A safe WILL become quite humid inside without one. Years ago, when I was young and dumb and not aware of this, I had a bunch of currency in a safe. Within a few months, the currency and other paperwork in the safe began to smell badly of mildew. In time it would have been destroyed. Note that these units (which, oddly, the Amazon description implies are not electric) require a minimum of 12 hours connected to power to fully recharge. Unless you keep spares around, that leaves you unprotected for a time. Using two at a time eliminates this problem, of course. Personally, I've purchased two extras. I leave them on a power strip for two days, then seal them in a zip-lock bag. When one of the ones in use needs to be replenished, I grab a "ready" one out of a bag and cycle the spent one through the same process. You should also be aware the these things do get quite hot during the recharging process. The manufacturers of silica gel desiccant specify a recharge temperature of 240F to 310F for 12 hours. Since these units contain silica gel, they're going to need to get at least 240F internally during the recharge cycle. There are some reviewers on Amazon who are upset by this, but physics is physics. They're going to get hot. One last point. There are two versions of the Eva-Dry E500. One has indicating silica gel that ranges from blue (dry) to pink (wet). The other ranges from orange (dry) to green (wet). I have some of each. I don't know which of them is "newer", if either is, and there doesn't seem to be a difference in part numbers between the two. They both seem to work equally well, though I've not done any experimentation to prove this. At the very least, this may cause some confusion when reading reviews here, since the color ranges are quite different. [Update 6/19/2016: The "New" version of the Eva-Dry E500 ranges from orange (dry) to green (wet). The original "blue-to-pink" desiccant used cobalt chloride as a moisture indicator. The EU now classifies cobalt chloride as a carcinogen if inhaled which, I'm sure, is why the Eva-Dry folks changed the indicator.] Complaint: Only a minor one. As others have pointed out, the units cannot easily plug in to a wall outlet because they're too heavy to stay plugged in. That's not a huge problem. Power strips are cheap these days. But the way the fold-out plug works, the plug prongs are at 90 degrees to the length of the device. This means that one E500 takes up an entire power strip. There is no way to plug more than one of them (or anything else) in on the same typical size strip. If the plug was fitted at 90 degrees to the way it is, you could stack at least two per power strip. I did find larger commercial power strips with the outlets at 90 degrees which allows a number of these to plug in at once. But, as I say, that's a minor quibble. Overall these work well and I'm on Amazon today to buy two more.

Works great in my truck!

My Truck has been getting a little bit of frost on the inside of the windshield during this winter. I really should find and fix the bad seal, but I bought this as a temporary/lazy fix. This is way more than I needed for the cab of my truck but I wanted to be sure it would be enough to take care of the problem. I hung it up on the cargo net behind the seats. I went out to the truck in the morning after a pretty decent snow the night before and there was not a drop of moisture on the inside of my windows! I was so happy! This product seems to work pretty darn well. It seems like some of the negative reviews are around it not working well. I'd be worried that people are thinking 500 square feet is the same as 500 cubic feet and if you're ceiling was 1 foot above the floor this would be true, not many people have 1 foot ceilings though. I've owned this for about 9 months now and it's still working great. There was one time where I let it sit in the truck a little too long and it got super dark/soaked. It did take quite a while for the beads to dry out. Maybe getting close to 24 hours. I unplugged it a couple times and wiped off the water around it as I was a little worried about that. As long as you plug it in when they need it you shouldn't run into that based on my experience anyway.

These are terrific!

I live on the water in a subtropical climate. Things get...moist. One of my bathrooms and one of my closets are particularly prone to becoming damp and musty. I bought a couple of these, and they are terrific. Not like those nasty bucket Damp-Rid things where you have to empty water, etc. These Eva-dry units are self-contained; the beads change color as they absorb dampness. Then you just plug the unit into a socket and leave it there for 12-15 hours. The thing heats up, the beads dry out and change color back again, and then you're ready to roll. My only (small) gripe is that the unit is fairly heavy for its size and is prone to falling out of the electric socket. Helps to either prop it up with something of the appropriate height or just push something heavier in front of it to keep it stable.

great dehumidifier for gun safes

This is only $5 more than the smaller model and in my opinion is worth it for the extra capacity. I put this one in my gun safe and it takes a long time (month plus) before it needs to be regenerated. I chose this type because the heated rod version would not fit in my safe the way i would like with it full (not enough room at the bottom). This fits great on the top shelf and can be moved wherever if needed. Curious to see if it actually lasts 10 years, but even if it's only a few years, it wasn't a big investment.

IT HAS A HOOK

Guys, I know this is gonna sound amazing but...so the old versions of this were just a little device that sort of hangs out on the car seat or the ground in the back of your minivan under some seats. This new version has a super durable hook so you can hang it from the grab handles on your car ceiling after you head in from a rainy hike that caused your car to be full of drenched humans and dogs. SUPER useful. Dunno why it doesn't show in the product pictures on Amazon.

Great way to fight humidity on a budget

I have an old house with humidity issues. I searched for solutions, but many of the humidifiers available were totally out of my budget, as I had many areas of my 3-story house to cover. I purchased 3; 1 for the kitchen, 1 for the entryway/dining room, and one for the bathroom. Immediately I noticed the decrease, or elimination of condensation on my walls. There's no messy water to pour out, you just plug it into an outlet when all of the colored "beads" turn green. Once the "beads" return to orange, unplug and it's ready to get back to work!

easy

I bought it for a gun safe. Fits right in the safe taking up very little space. I really like the product. Update ..I've owned this product for a few months now. When it turns green just plug it in a wall and it will turn back orange in a day and be ready to use again. Love it .

This E-500 helps keep moisture out of our way

Purchased this for a larger area than the E-333 size that we normally use. These are great, renewable, not draining, dehumidifiers. We use them in our closets at home, and in our RV. Friends use them in their safes, and one guy has one in his toolbox. They work well, pull moisture out of the surrounding air, and allow for renewing when full. The renewing process is when you plug the unit into a standard 110 VAC outlet and it heats up and drys out. We've bought many Eva-Dry products and will buy more again.

Right size for the job

I use this in a larger safe in a damp area and find that it works well, although it needs to be recharged (plugged in for approximately 8 hours) about twice a month. The beads indicate when recharging is needed. It easily plugs into any outlet. One can either hang the unit by a hook (supplied) or let it stand on a shelf in the safe. It is not inexpensive but is well worth the cost for such protection from moisture. The last one of these that I bought lasted and was effective for over 5 years. I would recommend this larger size unit for larger safes where it is in a semi-sealed container. Also, the less the safe is opened and the outside moist air is allowed to get inside, the less you have to recharge it.

Six months of use and my humidity issues are gone!

I got this unit in November for my bedroom closet after having issues with mildew on my leather handbags. Prior to this, I had used the Damp Rid Hanger packets for a few years, but was still having a issue. Well, after six months of using the Eva, I've had no issues with my handbags! I would check periodically since they are stored in cloth protector bags, and was so pleased to not see any white spots on my bags. I am recharging the unit just today though I should have done it a few months ago since the ball color has been the same for a few months. Even with that, no icky stuff on my handbags. Very pleased with this unit.

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