GoWiSE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL - should I buy one?

GoWiSE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL
(Image credit: Amazon)

When it comes to choosing from the best air fryers around, we know you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the best option for your money. GoWISE USA is the brand behind some incredibly popular air fryers. An upgraded version of previous models, the GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL has a 7-quart capacity and is available in black and copper or black and silver. 

The GoWISE USA Air Fryer Max XL was released in February 2021 into a competitive field of air fryers. You might already be familiar with models such as the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer or the Tefal ActiFry Genius XL, but GoWISE USA is a popular choice, and it’s available at a huge range of retailers. 

The bottom line: The GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL has eight preset functions, including a dehydrating feature. It has a 7-quart capacity, which is large enough for cooking a whole chicken or up to five burgers at one time. The temperature range is from 180 to 400F. The GoWISE’s frying basket can be placed in the dishwasher, and because it has a non-stick coating, you won’t need to use lots of oil when you cook either. 

Pros: The GoWISE USA Air Fryer has a spacious 7-quart capacity which is ideal for family homes. It has a total of eight functions which is more than the NuWave Brio 6-Quart Air Fryer despite both models being in a similar price bracket. If you like to dry fruits, vegetables, or herbs, the GoWISE air fryer has a dehydrating function and there are three stackable racks included helping you do this. 

Cons: The GoWISE Air Fryer isn’t smart controlled so you won’t be able to adjust it from your phone like you can with the COSORI Smart Wi-Fi Air Fryer. This air fryer has cooking buttons on its screen for things such as baking and air frying, however, you’ll still need to set the time limit for these functions. This might take a bit of trial and error to get used to, and some other machines offer presets that automatically set the timer and temperature in one. If you’re making fries in this air fryer, the manufacturer recommends you shake the basket every five minutes which might be quite frustrating as you need to stay nearby. 

GoWiSE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL: everything you need to know

The GoWiSE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL is available in two different colors and there are also 2-quart and 5-quart older versions if you’re looking for something a little smaller. 

Presets: There are a total of eight presets on the GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL. These functions are displayed clearly on the machine’s screen but they differ slightly from other machines because they are displayed by function rather than by the type of food you can prepare using them. Other models have buttons for popular foods such as fries and once you select that preset, the machine will automatically select a temperature and timer for that type of food. The GoWiSE Air Fryer lets you choose from air fry, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, grill, preheat, and keep warm, and then you can adjust the timer and temperature. It’s nice to see a keep warm function on this air fryer as well as dehydrate feature, as this is something a lot of air fryers in this price bracket are lacking. 

The dehydrator function has a wide temperature range which you can easily adjust, plus a timer that can be set anywhere from two to 24-hours. The air fryer comes with three stackable racks so you should have plenty of room to dehydrate everything from fruit and herbs to your very own beef jerky. 

GoWiSE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL

(Image credit: Amazon)

Design: The GoWISE USA 7-Quart Air Fryer is designed to create food for six people in one go. What that means, however, is that it’s fairly big and it’ll take up quite a lot of room on your countertop. It weighs 19.41 pounds so it’s certainly not light either but it does have a square design rather than a round design so that it can fit well onto kitchen countertops. 

The machine is available in a choice of silver and black or copper and black and both designs offer a nice alternative to traditional one-color air fryers. The controls for the GoWISE USA air fryer are positioned on a touch screen panel on the front of the unit. Here you’ll be able to choose from the different cooking functions, adjust the temperature from 180 to 400F in five-degree increments, and set the timer too. This version of the GoWISE air fryer has a preheat function so that you can enjoy better results from your cooking and this function is also easily switched on by pressing the touch screen panel. 

The frying basket on the GoWISE USA Air Fryer has a 7-quart capacity which is bigger than previous models from the brand. This means you can cook up to 14 chicken wings at once, four or five burgers, two pounds of fries, or one whole chicken in this machine. 

Complete with a recipe book packed full of 100 recipes, the GoWISE Air Fryer is also fitted with a non-stick frying basket. The basket is fully removable too so that you can give it a good clean ready to use next time. It’s normally best to do this by handwashing so that you don’t damage the non-stick coating. 

One function we do really like about the GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL is that you can select both the preset and the cooking function you’d like to use in one go. This means you can set the machine to preheat and press air fry at the same time, so that once the machine is up to temperature, you simply need to add your food and the air fryer function will kick in. 

Reviews: The GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL scores an average of 4.7 out of five stars on Amazon. As a fairly new product, the GoWISE Max XL hasn’t amassed lots of user reviews but the ones available do give some insight into how well this air fryer works. 

Users praise the air fryer for how easy it is to operate - from the touch screen panel to the cleaning process. They also add comments stating that this air fryer doesn’t heat up your kitchen. Users also like the large frying basket capacity and say the alerts to tell you to shake your food are very helpful.

There are some criticisms that while recognizing this air fryer has a good capacity, state that this model is quite large to store on your countertop. Some comments also mention that this air fryer is noisy when it’s operating. 

Conclusion: The GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL packs in plenty of features for its price. You’ll be getting eight different functions, including a dehydrating feature, as well as a new preheat function. 

If you have a family or simply want to make larger quantities, the GoWISE Max XL is a great choice. It has a 7-quart capacity and is suitable for cooking a whole chicken or five burgers. Because of its large size, the GOWISE air fryer will take up quite a lot of room on your countertop so bear this in mind. Some user reviews also revealed that this air fryer can be quite loud when it’s operating. 

The GoWISE USA Air Fryer & Dehydrator Max XL does do a good job of providing you with plenty of choices with eight different presets. Having a keep warm function as well as dehydrating feature puts this model ahead of others in its price bracket. 

Sophie Bird

Sophie writes about all things appliance-related and is currently the Home Editor at TechRadar's sister site, Top Ten Reviews. When she's not testing coffee machines and appliances, Sophie is thinking of eating delicious food, and asking people what they're having for dinner.