Midea8,000 BTU ASHRAE (5,300 BTU SACC) Portable Air Conditioner, Cools up to 175 Sq. Ft., with Dehumidifier & Fan mode, Easy- to-use Remote Control & Window Installation Kit Included

As another top reviewer mentioned, it is important to read the instructions before you use this unit, as some of the functions are not intuitive.I've only been using this unit for a couple of days, so if I find anything wonky about it later I'll update this review.I used to have the Koldfront PAC1401W Ultracool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner which I bought back in 2013. I didn't like it because I needed something to cool my studio apartment and that unit was far too large/powerful, and it was also very noisy. Because it was so large and powerful, it would turn on for one cool cycle and over-cool the room so I was freezing, then it would shut off for one cycle and it would get uncomfortably hot. So it was a constant cycle of being too cold or too hot. That was entirely my fault for choosing a unit that was too large for the space.This unit is ideal for a single room or a studio apartment. You would not want to use this to cool an entire house, a large garage or any other space larger than a bedroom. It puts out about the same amount of noise as a box fan, yet it is very powerful for its size. I can feel the air blowing when I am standing in the bathroom all the way off the opposite side of the room.The unit was easy to install. All I had to do was stack up the vent slats and put in the little plastic knobbies to hold them at the height of my sliding window, then shut the window and fix it in place with the security lock at the back. After that I plugged the exhaust hose into the unit and the hole in the window slat, plugged the unit in and off it went. It cooled down my room to a comfortable temperature in about 15 minutes and then shut off. By default the unit turns the fan on and off with the cooling cycle, but you can configure it to always run the fan on either low or high.One thing I appreciate about this unit, and a primary reason I chose it over other units of the same BTU rating: If you unplug it, it retains your settings and uses them when the unit is plugged back in. This means I can control it with any of the available cheap smart plugs also on Amazon. I have the Emporia smart plugs which not only allow me to control the unit with my Google Home device and my phone, but they also monitor how much electricity the unit uses.I can use Google Home to do things like:* "Hey Google, turn off the AC at 2am."* (When I'm getting ready to leave the office) "Hey google, turn on the AC" (so it's cool in my room when I get home).* If I forget to turn off the AC before I leave home I can turn it off remotely so it's not running the whole time I'm gone and running up the electric bill.* I can set a schedule so the unit turns off when I leave for work and switches on half an hour before I get home.* I can set an outside temperature target so that if the temperature outside gets to a certain level it switches on the AC so the heat inside my room doesn't cause my food and medication to spoil.The unit is pretty good at maintaining the temperature in the room without being annoying. The cool cycles seem to be at the sweet spot between being off too long and switching on and off too frequently. I did notice that sometimes when the unit switches on for a cooling cycle it goes GA-THUMP and shakes the whole room, for some reason. It's not loud, it's just... like somebody stomping the floor really hard. For that reason I would not recommend placing this unit above the floor like on a desk or table: It DEFINATELY will shake itself off and fall onto the floor.The unit is about the size of a half fridge and slightly narrower. You can get an idea of the size from my picture which has a plastic spoon in front of it for scale.

This review specifically covers the 8000 BTU, single exhaust unit.I have been using this unit for four months in the heat of summer, so I feel qualified to post an educated review. I use this unit in my second floor bedroom, as the second floor always gets quite a bit warmer than the first floor of my house. The central air conditioner does a good enough job for the first floor, but to really cool the second floor adequately, the first floor would become uncomfortably cold and the power bill would be through the roof.This unit does a very good job cooling my bedroom. I don't run it too hard, as it is simply assisting the central air get my bedroom to the right temperature. The system was pretty easy to set up. The instructions state that there must be a foot of cleared space on all sides of the unit, but in reality it only needs room in front and behind the unit, I have one side against the wall and another against the bed and have had no issues. The remote is alright, but it is annoying that certain settings are only available on the remote or the machine itself. Specifically, fan speed can only be controlled by the remote, while the continuous fan setting can only be activated on the machine itself. The unit has memory, so it will remember the exact settings it was on not only when it is shut off, but also if it is unplugged while running. The latter point is very useful, as I have the unit plugged into a smart outlet, so I can shut it off with my Google Home, or using phone remotely from anywhere.One thing I did not think of when I bought it is that air conditioners pull humidity out of the air and drain water. On this unit, there are two ways this can be handled. The default way is for the machine to store the water in it's internal water tank. The system will shut off once the internal tank is full and will not start again until it is drained. This is a pain because the internal tank is not removable, so you have to drain the water from the drain plug at the bottom of the system. The system is heavy, so this is not a convenient way to drain the water. The other way is to use the "continuous drain" feature. This can be done by opening the continuous drain, which is about halfway up on the back of the machine. Once open, you attach a drain hose (one is included) and it will continuously drain to wherever you have that hose. I have an old gallon milk jug behind the unit for it to drain to. On humid days it can fill the jug in a few hours, whereas when the weather is dry it can run for days without a drop of water draining into the jug. I keep note of the water level in the jug so it does not overflow, which can happen.Overall, an excellent unit for a single room. I do not think it is powerful enough to try to cool multiple rooms, but for one "bedroom-sized" room, it is enough. I would definitely recommend this unit.