The TP50AWKN is the quiet, warranty-backed pick of the 50-pint class. It draws less power than competitors at 490 watts, ships with full smart-home integration including Alexa, and Honeywell backs the sealed compressor system for five years — far longer than the one-year coverage typical of the category. The trade-offs are a small 7-pint tank and gravity-only drainage, which together mean the unit needs to be plumbed to a drain rather than run on the bucket if you do not want daily empty trips.
Full review
Moisture Removal Performance
Live Science's Alyssa Mercante ran the chassis-sibling TP50WKN in a medium-sized living room starting at 89% humidity and saw it drop the room to 42% within one hour, with the tank reaching about 50% capacity in two hours. The TP50AWKN shares the same compressor, evaporator, and airflow design as the WKN — the AWKN simply adds Wi-Fi and Alexa — so the moisture-removal performance maps directly. Buyers can expect roughly the same one-hour drawdown in a 1,500 sq ft living space starting from severely humid summer conditions.
Help Advisors confirmed the 50-pint rating (32 pints under the newer 2019 DOE protocol) reflects strong performance in mid-to-large rooms. The unit's coverage ceiling of 3,000 square feet is conservative compared to the Midea Cube's 4,500 — but for most ranch-style or one-floor homes, the Honeywell's rating matches the realistic footprint of a single appliance. Reddit threads in r/HVAC note it holds setpoint reliably in basements with secondary HVAC airflow doing the heavy lifting on circulation.
Coverage and Room Size Fit
Honeywell rates the TP50AWKN for spaces up to 3,000 square feet. Help Advisors highlighted this as the unit's sweet spot — main-floor living rooms, finished basements under 2,500 square feet, and medium apartments where one appliance can cover the entire conditioned space. It is small enough to fit in tight closet placements (13.2 by 10.5 by 20.1 inches at 35 pounds) and the integrated handle on top makes single-floor moves manageable.
Buyers with larger homes or true open-concept layouts above 3,000 square feet should size up to the Midea Cube or pair this with a second smaller unit upstairs. Live Science noted the higher-capacity TP70 sibling is the better choice for true large-basement workloads — the 50-pint variant is purpose-built for the living-area / mid-size room use case rather than the maximum-capacity workhorse role.
Setup and Drain Options
The TP50AWKN has gravity drain only — no built-in pump. A drain hose is included and the unit's drain port sits low enough on the housing to feed a floor drain without difficulty. Help Advisors noted the continuous-drain setup works as advertised for hands-free seasonal operation, which is the recommended configuration since the onboard 7-pint tank fills in roughly three to four hours under heavy humidity.
The tank itself has patent-pending splash guards Honeywell added after customer complaints about spills during the empty cycle. Live Science's reviewer confirmed the design works — the bucket pours cleanly without sloshing back over the rim. The downside is that 7 pints is small for a 50-pint capacity rating, so the bucket-only mode is impractical for serious humidity loads. If you cannot run a drain hose, the Midea Cube's 34-pint tank is the better choice.
Noise and Bedroom Friendliness
Honeywell's published noise rating is 48 dB minimum, and Help Advisors confirmed it is "one of the quietest dehumidifiers for its size." Live Science's Mercante measured roughly 55 dB at 10 feet on the sibling TP50WKN — high for a sleeping space but markedly quieter than the Midea Cube's 65 dB floor. The compressor noise is well-masked by the fan, and there is no audible whine on cycling.
In practical terms, the TP50AWKN is the only 50-pint unit in this category that buyers consistently report can run in an adjacent bedroom without being woken up. Place it in a closet or behind a half-wall and it disappears into the background. Heavy sleepers may even tolerate it in the same room, though we still recommend the dedicated quiet-class units (or sizing down to the MAD20S1QWT) for direct bedroom placement.
Energy Use and Long-Term Cost
At 490 watts maximum power draw, the TP50AWKN is Energy Star Most Efficient certified and pulls slightly less power than the Midea Cube's 512 W. Over a humid summer running 10 hours a day, the difference is a few dollars per month — not a deciding factor on its own, but it stacks with the long-term warranty coverage to make the total cost of ownership compelling. Live Science calculated roughly $0.05 per hour of operation at U.S. average residential rates.
The five-year warranty on the sealed compressor system is the headline cost-of-ownership argument for this unit. Most competitors offer 12 months on everything. If the compressor fails in year three of a Midea Cube, the buyer pays for repair or replacement. On the TP50AWKN, that repair is covered. Over the expected eight-to-ten-year service life of a dehumidifier, that warranty is worth meaningfully more than the small price delta.
Smart Features
Wi-Fi and Alexa voice control are built in. The Honeywell Comfort Control app handles scheduling, target humidity setpoints, mode switching, and live readings. Help Advisors confirmed the app and Alexa integration both work reliably, and the unit retains its settings through power outages with auto-restart enabled. Voice commands like "Alexa, set the dehumidifier to 45 percent" respond within a second or two.
The smart-app experience is the unit's weak point relative to competition shipping in 2026. The Honeywell Comfort Control app feels dated — the UI is competent but un-modern, and there are no advanced automations tied to outdoor weather or forecast humidity. Best Buy reviewers note the continuous-drain feature occasionally needs the app re-paired after a router change. For buyers who just want Alexa on/off and a daily timer, the app does the job; power users will find it lacking.
What Reviewers Loved
Help Advisors and Live Science both led with the same two things: quiet operation and energy efficiency. The TP50AWKN can sit in a finished basement family room without dominating the soundstage, which is rare in the 50-pint class. Best Buy customer reviews emphasize the LED humidity readout (clearly visible from across the room), the splash-guard bucket design, and the responsiveness of the Alexa integration. The five-year sealed-system warranty also gets called out repeatedly by buyers who have been burned by appliance failures in years two or three.
Where It Falls Short
The 7-pint tank is the most-cited complaint. In severe humidity, the bucket fills in roughly three hours — fast enough that continuous drain plumbing is effectively mandatory. The lack of a built-in pump is the other big asterisk: if the drain destination is above the unit (basement utility sink above floor level), this unit cannot service that geometry. The Midea Cube's pump is the right pick for those installations.
The Honeywell app feels behind the times. Best Buy reviewers have flagged occasional Wi-Fi disconnect requiring re-pairing, particularly after router firmware updates. Coverage rating of 3,000 sq ft is also smaller than the Cube's 4,500, so multi-floor or large open-plan homes will need a second unit. Some customers also noted that after extended continuous operation the upward-exhausting air gets warm, which can be an issue in a small enclosed room during summer.
Who It's Best For
The TP50AWKN is the right pick for homeowners in 2,000 to 3,000 square foot homes who want quiet operation, Alexa control, and the longest warranty in the 50-pint class. It is particularly well-suited to placement in or near living spaces where noise matters — finished basement family rooms, main-floor great rooms, master-suite-adjacent installations. Buyers who plan to plumb the gravity hose to a nearby drain and just want to set-and-forget the appliance will appreciate the five-year sealed-system coverage.
It is not the right pick if you need to lift drainage above the unit (no pump available) or if you need to cover more than 3,000 square feet from a single appliance. It is also not ideal for users who hate paying premium for smart features they may not use — a non-smart Frigidaire or hOmeLabs delivers similar moisture removal at a lower sticker price. For severe humidity loads in large basements, the Midea Cube's larger tank and pump are a better fit.
Strengths
- +Quietest 50-pint unit in this category at a manufacturer-rated 48 dB minimum
- +Five-year warranty on the sealed compressor system, longest in this category
- +Wi-Fi and Alexa voice control built in with no subscription
- +Energy Star Most Efficient certified at 490 W power draw
- +Patent-pending splash guards reduce spills when emptying the bucket
Watch-outs
- −Small 7-pint water tank fills quickly without continuous drain plumbed
- −No built-in pump — gravity drain only, must drain to a lower point
- −Honeywell smart app interface less polished than current generation rivals
- −Coverage rating of 3,000 sq ft is lower than Midea Cube or hOmeLabs
How it compares
The TP50AWKN's five-year warranty on the sealed system beats the one-year coverage on the Midea Cube MAD50S1QWT and the hOmeLabs HME020031N. It is the quietest 50-pint unit in this lineup, but it gives up the built-in pump that the Cube includes and lands with a smaller tank than the hOmeLabs. Compared to the smaller MAD35S1QWT or MAD20S1QWT Midea Cubes, the Honeywell's wattage and decibel ratings are competitive but the 3,000 sq ft coverage rating is narrower than the Cube line.
Who this is for
At a glance: Living-room or bedroom-adjacent placement in a 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft home where quiet operation, warranty coverage, and Alexa control matter more than the largest possible tank.
Why you’d buy the Honeywell TP50AWKN Smart 50-Pint Dehumidifier
- Quietest 50-pint unit in this category at a manufacturer-rated 48 dB minimum.
- Five-year warranty on the sealed compressor system, longest in this category.
- Wi-Fi and Alexa voice control built in with no subscription.
Why you’d skip it
- Small 7-pint water tank fills quickly without continuous drain plumbed.
- No built-in pump — gravity drain only, must drain to a lower point.
- Honeywell smart app interface less polished than current generation rivals.
Rating sources
“Low noise output suitable for living spaces and sleek design compatible with various decor styles.”
“One of the quietest dehumidifiers for its size — large enough for basements and quiet enough for bedrooms.”
“Customers are impressed with the efficiency and moisture removal capabilities, appreciating how quickly and quietly it removes moisture from the air.”
Our 4.3 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
