The black SM PLA seems to be especially prone to moisture. Or there are batches of it that are just crap filament and show the effects of moisture more. Unsure which. Most people if they’re having problems it turns out they go away when they ditch it.
I’ve been considering getting one - either a dehydrator or specialty. (Live in So Cal too, so haven’t felt it a necessity yet) I think one advantage to the specialty ones is that they have actual readouts to show temperature and humidity level. You can actually set the temp where the food dehydrators I’ve looked at (cheap 2nd hand on ebay) don’t have that much control.
The other advantage to some of the specialty ones is that you can actually print with the reel in them.
-S