Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I rated this 3 stars which Amazon defines as "It's OK" which is how I feel about it :)
* Size/Weight/Move-ability 10/10 -- I think the size and weight are fine, the unit is heavy (~50lbs) but not so heavy that you can't lift it from the box, it does have handles on the side to grab, and rolls in any direction on casters. It's not very large, about the size of a modern dehumidifier or mini-fridge
* Front Panel/Controls 5/10 -- The controls are straight forward and easy to use, the exception being that when you're in the "AUTO" mode you can not adjust the fan speed, it's a little odd. The big problem, and why I rate it 5/10 is that there are six SUPER BRIGHT LEDs on the front of the unit, as far as I can tell they serve no purpose whatsoever, they are simply there and they are on whenever the unit is on. When it's bright in the room it's not a big deal, but at night when you're trying to sleep this is a big issue, I'm probably going to have to cut out little wedges of electrical tape or something to stick over them. It comes with an IR remote that lets you control it as well. The display on the front will show the room temperature normally and when you are adjusting the temperature controls up and down it will change to show the desired temp for a few seconds. One note here is that the unit seems to stop cooling even when you're a good 5*F or so away from the desired temp--Example, it was 78* in my room last night and I set the unit for 73* it was running for a while but when the temp hit 77* the compressor shut off for a very long time and the room started to feel hot, temp went back up to 78* and it clicked back on... this may just be a quirk with my unit or something, but my window-mounted a/c will keep running until their ambient temp sensors equal the desired temp setting.
* Window Adapter/Hose 8/10 -- This is a single hose model, that means that it sucks air from the room to blow over the condenser (hot part) and then that air is blown outside; something to keep in mind is that you are sucking air from the room which means you are blowing your "conditioned" air outside as part of the normal process, as a result this unit will not cool a room as efficiently as a dual-hose model or a window/wall unit which both use outside air to cool the condenser--so this 10kBTU model will not cool a room as well as a 10kBTU window unit (it might be more comparable to a 7-8kBTU?). The window/hose adapters are decent quality, the only complaint I have is that I wish the adapter were "taller", my window sill is about 1" high, as a result the hose hits the sill before it the adapter hits the base, this isn't a big deal, but just wanted to note it. Another thing to note, some people complain about the window adapters not sealing very well--this one seems to do an OK job, the window just closes on the flat top of the adapter as a seal. The thing to keep in mind w/ these portable a/c's is that having a fantastic seal is not really expected or needed for the unit to operate, you get just as much air leakage around window mounted a/c's. The window adapter, hose adapter and hose are all well constructed and made of good materials--one tip: first screw the hose onto the unit, then screw the wide-mouth adapter thing onto the hose, THEN put the wide-mouth adapter into the window adapter, if you buy this you'll see what I mean :)
* Cooling/Air Output 10/10 -- Works great! Very cold air, and it blows the air fast out of the vent, much better then my window mounted units which feel like they just dribble out air sometimes
* Noise 7/10 -- First: It makes noise, all air conditioners do, if you need silence to sleep then you need another solution other then window/portable a/c's, I can sleep with the "white noise" of a fan/motor running. The unit is no louder then my 8kBTU window-mount unit when operating with and without it's compressor running; however, the reason I give it a 7/10 is that the unit tends to make more noise when the compressor turns on and off then my window unit does, in addition the compressor cycles on/off very often and for short periods, which exacerbates the issue. So far it has been waking me up, and that's not good, it remains to be seen if I can used to the noise, or this will become an awake-only unit.
* Draining 5/10 -- With low room humidity this unit should be able to exhaust most of the water out with the waste air, which means no draining... but with high humidity you need to drain the unit, this an issue on this unit because unlike other units it does not drain into a bucket which can be removed and dumped out. With this unit you need to put a "shallow pan", as the instructions say, under the drain cock and open it... well this pan needs to be really shallow (see my user submitted image) because the drain cock is only about 1-2" off the floor! I can envision this being a real nightmare to empty and I'm not looking forward to really humid daysOverall I think this is a decent portable a/c, and I'm hopeful that it will work out.
Summarized my main concerns are:
1) Does not have a bucket to empty, if it needs draining that will be very difficult w/o a bucket
2) Front Panel LEDs are super bright and always on, makes it difficult to sleep
3) Compressor makes more noise then expected when starting/stopping, this wakes me up at night
Summarized the pro's are:
1) Very good air output--lots of volume and pressure
2) Cold output! Great for spot cooling, move the unit near you and you'll freeze your butt off even if the rest of the room is warmer then you might like
3) Easy to move around on the casters
4) Reasonable price
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NewAir AC-10000E 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With AutoEvaporative Technology
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