We've only had this unit for about a week so we can't speak to how durable this unit is but it is making a huge difference in our home. The humidity in our house was high (82%) & we wanted a dehumidifier that could possibly handle the whole house. The humidity in our house is now at 41%. The unit isn't too loud on high but we have nothing to compare it to. The manual wasn't very helpful but we still managed to figure things out. The machine does reset if you unplug it so that's a bit annoying & I imagine it will be the same if we have a power outage. Not a deal breaker for us but might be if you need it to run without supervision. We're happy with our purchase so far & hope that the unit holds up.