FrigidairePortable Room Air Conditioner 8,000 BTU (ASHRAE) / 5,500 BTU (DOE), Cools Up to 350 Sq. Ft., Quiet Operation, Dehumidifying Dry Mode, White

If you're in a 3rd floor dorm room with terrible AC and a window you can't put a window AC in, this is the unit for you. It is very quiet for an air conditioner, it's quieter than the whole-house air conditioner at my parent's house (though, that unit is right outside a single-pane window and 10 years old). At it's highest fan setting, it's about as loud as a desk fan. You can hardly notice when the compressor kicks on, it isn't much louder than the fan, just a lower tone. Very comfortable to sleep next to, very unintrusive in my daily life. It cools the air, it blasts the air, it won't fall out of your window and kill someone. I got mine for $179 on sale, and at that price, it was a fantastic deal. I am very impressed by the quality and performance of this unit. For $50 more, I may be a bit more hesitant recommending it if a window air conditioner would work in your room. Since this is a portable air conditioner, it is substantially less power efficient than a window air conditioner. It uses the same amount of electricity as an 8000 BTU window unit, with an effective cooling power of only 5500 BTUs. I'm perfectly happy with that since I pay flat rate rent which includes utilities, but you may not be so lucky.Installing the exhaust panel into my window was a bit of a challenge at first since I thought I would need a hacksaw to cut the sliding plastic panel to the right size, but I was able to make it work by scoring it in the right place repeatedly (and firmly) with a utility knife and snapping it over my leg. If you have the grip strength to force a utility knife into some industrial plastic, installation will require no special tools. Just a utility knife and a #2 Phillips head screwdriver. If you'd like to be a bit more careful and less brutish with it, a $5 hacksaw from Walmart will do the job as intended. Keep in mind, this unit is HEAVY! Felt like 50lbs at least, and I had to carry it up 3 flights of stairs. If you're on the weaker or smaller side of the human size distribution, get a friend to help you. It comes in a large box and it is very heavy on the bottom side.Also, I didn't know this when I bought it, but it comes with a super nifty little remote that has an LCD display on it telling you all the current settings, and the unit beeps when you press a button on the remote to let you know it received the command. Absolutely happy with this machine, highly recommend it. And there's NO DRAINAGE OR WATER HOSE REQUIRED unless you turn it to the dehumidifier mode! Simply fantastic, my parents had an older portable AC that required you to dump a bucket of water from it every three hours. Couldn't be more satisfied with my purchase. Hats off to you, Frigidaire engineers.

This A/C unit is in my room to assist with central air. My family can’t handle the temp below 73 in the house and I can’t sleep when it is that warm. So, I got this little unit to assist. Sometimes I move it into my living room. I have even taken it with me to have in a tent - that didn’t do so well as the person’s electric wasn’t stable and it kept tripping the breaker. It doesn’t cool big areas well, but it wasn’t designed to. But, for one room it does well. I just have a bucket behind it. On humid days the bucket can fill up fast. When the central air wasn’t working I was emptying the bucket about 4 times a day due to all the humidity in the house. It was a life saver. The remote honestly sucks. I can’t get it to work well. I figure it is more likely some sort of user error - though I don’t know how that’s possible. It is not extremely quiet. It is a louder fan. I find that window units are just as loud, so no real complaints there. It doesn’t move great on carpets, but it does move with some small effort. If my floors were all tile it would be awesome. You do have to have a window to exhaust it. That exhaust will heat up the area fast if you don’t have this outside source. It does not fit in my window well at all. I am in a rental, so I can’t make adjustments well that would make it easier. So, I just use a box to hold it down.

I got this because my central air is old and inefficient, and due to be replaced. But in the meantime, I wanted to be able to sleep comfortably (i.e. cold) so I bought this to use in just my bedroom for the summer. It seems to work fine overall, although I don't have the required clearance around it (I don't have any side blocked, but there isn't enough space in my room to have like 30 inches on all sides). The remote is total crap, as other reviews have mentioned. It seems to work only 70% of the time, and you have to have it aimed "just so" and also have to hold the button down for a second or two (as opposed to just a quick click). It was easy enough to install, I just had to buy a hack saw to trim down the window piece. I already had a drill to make holes for the screws. It's very loud, but since I'm using it to sleep I don't mind (I appreciate fan noise, and usually have "rain sounds" playing anyway). I don't use the dehumidifier element, just the a/c. I've had it 3 months now, so fingers crossed I don't have to return to this review to tell you it has died. I expect to uninstall it for the winter, and bring it back in the summer, so time will tell if it survives that respite.

Failed after 1.5 summers. I only used this unit during the night, in Massachusetts, on exceptionally hot nights. Followed all maintenance recommendations, stored it well, ect. It no longer produces cold air and strangely makes the room hotter while in operation. It worked relatively well when it functioned, my only complaint was that it was pretty loud when the compressor kicked on in the middle of the night it would sometimes wake me up even though I sleep with a sound machine. I called Frigidaire and apparently the warranty is only good for one year, which I suspect is how long they expect it to last. The rep said that although the warranty is expired, they would transfer me to a new rep that would be able to offer me a replacement. I questioned the rep about this because it seemed like he was just trying to get me off his line and he assured me that he was telling the truth. After a long hold time a new rep picked up and said that there was nothing that could be done and that the first rep was mistaken about the out of warranty replacement. So, now I am stuck with a giant non functional AC which I am going to have to pay to get rid of after around 4 total months of nightly use, that will end up in the ocean or a landfill, wherever trash is brought these days. So, I would recommend factoring all of these things into your decision before buying this unit.