This is an astonishingly bad package. It's nearly impossible to pack in the promised "four standard place settings" or for it to "accept plates up to 11" in diameter": even the photo they include for how to do this in the user booklet is laughable, and it turns out that they only even *pretend* that it will be able to take in 1 large plate; moreover, the basket for cutlery regularly falls through the base of the rack, there are gaps elsewhere designed to fit in dishes in strictly predefined fashion that instead lead to items falling through the gaps if you aren't using the same size or distributions of dishes, various dish kinds don't fit efficiently, etc.

To add insult to injury, the water-removal pump began to wear down toward the end of the first month after receipt, and I began getting intermittent bouts of being left with an inch of graywater in the bottom of the unit after running the cycle. These became progressively more the norm, until I was manually bailing out the dishwasher at the end of every wash cycle.

I phoned the company in hopes of having this resolved; as it turns out, their warranty is, um, a little restrictive: after the first 30 days, my options were that either (a) they would ship me a new pump, and I could pay someone install it, or (b) I could ship them, at my expense, the whole unit, and then pay THEM to install the pump!

In short: the machine is badly designed, even when it works; from my experience and a couple of other reviews here and elsewhere on the web, it does not appear to be terribly robust in its design; and the company totally does not back up their crummy products.

I cannot attest to the longevity of this dishwasher, but I have had one for almost a month. It makes my life easier, I didn't have to fool with anything major. I needed something quick, easy, convenient, and something that was small. I didn't want to be wasteful and have a full sized dishwasher, because I really only need a small one. This has worked perfectly. I basically use the "Rapid" cycle which is the shortest wash cycle available. I haven't had any problems with the dishes being unclean. I also believe it does not use much power if you use rapid cycle. It doesn't really heat the water up much until you select a more intense cycle. I did however put in a cast iron skillet and used the ultra-hot intense wash cycle, and that sucker came clean! I have a family member wanting one, so I am about to order a second one for them.

I bought this dishwasher from Compact Appliance (through Amazon) a year and a half ago. It was GREAT for that year and a half--super clean dishes, no problems AT all with it in any way. We LOVED it (especially for the price). However, a week ago it started dripping water down the side. I figured maybe I was using too much dishwasher detergent (I had recently switched brands and figured maybe I wasn't used to the new one yet and was using more than i should for a smaller machine). I put a paper towel below and started using less detergent. Still leaking. A few days later (of using it once a day), the dripping got much heavier (I now needed a small towel), and after 2 more days like this, I opened the machine at the end of the cycle and found that the seal on the inside of the front window had completely come loose. Leaking issue cause found--unfortunately, I couldn't find any sort of hot-water durable caulk or silicone seal that would re-seal it safely without risk of leaching out chemicals onto my dishes. So... we're going to have to buy a new one. I don't think we'll be buying this one again because the front window seems to create more problems than it's worth (if Edgestar had left out the window and just had a solid front, we'd probably still be enjoying our portable dishwasher).

I've had this dishwasher for about one year now and it's been quite a pleasure to own. When I moved into my new apartment, I knew I wouldn't be able to live without a dishwasher anymore, so I ended up buying one of these. Though I don't have a particularly good place to put it, I ended up putting it on top of a microwave cart I got at Target, next to the sink and it has worked out well.

Key points I've observed:
* The red button on the hose is to reduce the pressure in the hose prior to removing it from the faucet -- it would be nice if someone told me that before the first time I used this.
* I had some trouble with getting the facuet adapter to fit well, but after I put a washer in and had it in for a few days, I've never seen the slightest drip out of it
* The hose is too short to make this practical in a lot of situations and I couldn't find anywhere to buy the appropriate hose. A movable cart is a good idea if you don't have room to house is permanently next to the sink.
* Use the tabs or packets of detergent. I had very poor results using regular liquid detergent, and there's no where to put a rinse agent. Electrosol tabs ought to be 2x too much detergent for this, but all I know is they work great.

I can't wash pots and pans like I could with my full-size dishwasher before, but they never fit in right anyway and used up most of the room. I am able to cram 6 full size plates into this dishwasher easily, along with lots of other stuff. The one problem is glasses. There is no good place to put any but the tiniest glasses. Since I rarely use any, I don't find this to be a problem, but it could be a decision point for others.

I just purchased this yesterday from a classified listing on CL (the person never used it and bought it through Amazon). I absolutely hate doing dishes (the one time I did them anyway since moving into my new apartment and buying paper plates).

Hook up was very simple- Just hook up two hoses to the unit, screw on a quick-release adapter to the sink faucet (then hook up the hoses to the sink via the quick-release system), and plug in the unit. That's it.

I was a little impatient, and forgot to get dishwashing detergent on my way home- so I just washed my dishes with water only, simply to test it out. To my amazement, the dishes came out sparkling clean, even with no detergent (though the silverware could have benefited slightly from detergent). I can imagine that detergent would make cleaning pretty much perfect all the way around. I was also a little apprehensive about there being no mention of a drying cycle. However, at least with the Santi-wash setting, the dishes are dry within about 15-20 minutes after the washing cycles completes (I think this is partly due to dishes being sufficiently hot such that the water simply evaporates off of them).

I never imagined I could be so happy with a basic appliance, but this thing is really cool, and I no longer dread using my non-paper dishes.