Frigidaire Window-Mounted Mini-Compact Air Conditioner

This is working great! It puts out some really cool air, and is cooling a much larger area than I expected. I had a $500 portable air conditioner that went belly up after one year - ug- and of course it is running in the 90s here in Georgia, and very humid. I ordered this and we huddled in our bedrooms for a couple of days waiting on it. With this unit we have 4 window units and they are keeping this house VERY cool. (It is 1500 square not-well-insulated feet.) This one went in the combo kitchen/dining room. It has done a great job keeping up even when I've used the oven, and after the front door has been open for a while as we carry the groceries in.Installation took my husband, and at one point my son had to run outside to hold it steady while hubby finished the job up, but it only took about 20 minutes including unpacking the box. It uses a standard wall outlet.One of the reasons I bought this one is because I have an older Frigidaire that is 10? years old that still kicks butt. I like the dials too - it was the fancy-smancy electronic controls that went belly up on that $500 one. All my other air conditioners have dials and are easy to use - we don't need remotes, sometimes the more stuff that goes on an appliance is just more stuff to fail as far as I am concerned, though I am generally a technophile. If simple works, I like it simple. In this case, simple works, and it it's working great. The dials are a bit inset, so I'm not worried about a cat rubbing on them and turning them off. (Another problem we had with the electronic portable was that the cats would walk on it and turn it off or down or whatever. That's probably one of the reasons that one died so early.)One thing we've learned is that fans help too - We keep fans and/or air circulators close to our air conditioners. That prevents 'cold spots' and helps cool the larger areas- our home has a very open floor plan & fans in front of the air conditioners helps so much when it is 90+ degrees outside.This one does make noise - at first it rattled and I thought it was broken, but that settled down in 4 hours or so. Since then the sound is present and not what I'd call quiet- but it isn't annoying, and it's not a problem to converse close to it - it is just white noise - it doesn't have any high pitched or sudden jarring noises as the compressor comes on. It's really OK sounding for a window unit.

The central ac went out in late April, & in N.O. that spells H-O-T! I have central ac, & I have frequent issues with it. At least twice every Summer I have to call a repair man to fix it because the outside fan sticks, & the unit freezes over. Because of this, I keep window units on hand to use until the repair guy can come out. This year things are financially tight for us, & I can't afford to have a repair man come out. It's also a different problem than the usual one, & I suspect this time it's a major issue in the attic, so we will get through the Summer with just our window units until we can afford to fix it.I installed one window unit in my bedroom & another in my oldest daughter's room. The 3rd one would not start, so I had no choice but to look for a new window unit. I did A LOT of comparison shopping online during the Memorial day sales, & this was the absolute best value! It had a decent BTU for the price. I probably should've gone for a 10 BTU, but I felt this could get the job done. I was right! It was installed in my living room window a few weeks ago, I went to the beach for the day with my daughters, & was pleasantly surprised to walk in the door that night & be hit by a blast of cool air.I've put off doing this review for a few weeks, so that I could give my honest opinion. It's currently 12:00 noon & the temp is 91 F outside. It will likely get to the upper 90's F by mid-day, & with heat indexes it could be closer to 102 - 105.The humidity is killer! If I didn't have this ac installed, we would be hibernating in our bedrooms or roasting. This one unit is keeping my living room nice & cold! Yesterday I actually needed a blanket, but didn't dare turn it down because it's also cooling other rooms in my house. My house has a very open floor plan, with the dining room connected to the living room, the kitchen is connected & visible through the dining room due to an ope wall/counter. There is a half bath that leads between the living room & a hallway just outside my bedroom door, & a small office connects to the kitchen & the hallway outside the half bath. It's like a big, open, circle. This ac is literally keeping my living & dining room very cool, keeping my kitchen comfortable, & the cool air is making it's way through the open doors of the half bath & the kitchen, into the office! When I keep my bedroom door open, the air from this Fridaire 8000 BTU is doing a better job at keeping my bedroom cool than the unit I have installed in there!Can you tell that I'm impressed? I certainly am!!! Is it noisy? A little bit, but come on ya'll - all window units are! I have installed directly above my sofa, & it does't impact the ability to hear the tv. Besides, that's why we have remotes. lol. My unit was obviously brand new, with all of the tape & plastic. It functions perfectly, & I didn't notice an unusual odor. It does allow some light through the vents, but that doesn't bother me. When this one dies (hopefully no time soon), I will either buy 2 more (1 for living room & 1 for dining room) or will step up to a 10 BTU.I'm actually debating buying another for my bedroom as well, since the one I have seems to be on it's last leg. I would buy this again, & if you are on the fence, go for it!UPDATE: I have had this unit for over 1 year now. Today's date is July 8, 2017 & it's still working just as good as the day that I bought it. Yes it can be a little noisy, but honestly all window units are. I grew up in a house without central ac, so we had window units from various manufacturers my entire life. There is no such thing as a quiet one. This ac cools extremely well! This year it has helped to keep our house cool during the hottest part of the Summer. I still highly recommend it! I am thinking of buying another to replace the one in our garage.