Midea12,000 BTU U Shaped Smart Inverter Window Air Conditioner, Cools up to 550 Sq. Ft.,Ultra Quiet with Open Window Flexibility, Works with Alexa/Google Assistant, 35% Energy Savings, Remote Control

Let me start by saying we purchased two of these units (12k and 8k BTU) as a temporary AC solution while we get ready to upgrade our furnace and install a heat pump, so I’m a little more forgiving of the flaws here.The Bad- Other reviewers mentioned the installation process; it’s not as easy as the videos make it look. Budget an hour at least to get everything right.- The bracket which holds the unit is resting on the edge of my screen frame rather than across the top of the track. NBD but it will leave a mark.- The front of the bracket leaves a gap where air can get in. I covered it with the included insulation tape.- The front of the bracket is full of adjustment holes and is ugly compared to an other sleek unit.- The anti-tip L-shaped arms and the extendable window track arms did not fit my window; my units sit slightly forward because I had to leave clearance for the lift bar on the bottom edge of the window. As a result, both units are resting on their brackets and held in place by the window resting in the U.- WiFi setup with the Midea Air app was easy enough, but I still can’t get it to work with Alexa. Given that the Alexa app is pretty awful (c’mon Amazon invest more here) I can’t tell whose fault it is.- Styrofoam. It’s 2020 and the world is burning. Find a different packing material.What’s Good- It’s gorgeous. Probably the reason you’re looking at it. I’ve never had an AC unit that looked like an Apple product.- The U design does what it promises: it keeps the noisy part outside and the stylish part inside.- The included foam can be configured in a million ways; 100x better than the accordion flaps that come with any other window AC unit. If you spend some time playing with the foam and cutting it to fit your windows, it really does block out air & heat.- It blows cold air (duh). Two units effectively cool the main floor of our home (750ft).- The louver moves up and down to circulate said cold air.- The inverter spools the compressor up and down vs off/on which cuts down on noise & energy use.- The app works pretty well; one less remote lying around!- The design lets in a lot more light than normal units - and yes, you can open the window easily.- Tabs inside the U extend to keep people from opening your window; clever girl.- It’s quiet! Oh my god is it quiet!!!!! About as loud as the cylindrical tower fan you probably have in your home right now.Other Notes- The cord is on the right side of the unit when you’re looking at it from inside. Plan accordingly.- Upon first startup, both of our units rattled for 5-10 minutes. I thought I’d installed it incorrectly, but it went away as the machine warmed up.- Weight is distributed towards the rear of the unit so when you pick it up, it wants to fall away from you. Save your back; have a friend/partner help you.Vs Competition- LG has a handful of high end ($600+) window AC units that have inverters, smart features, and sharp design. They’re fantastic, but for the price & design innovation, the Mideas can’t be beat. Some of the LGs were also too large for our windows (we live in an old home).- Soleus makes a saddle AC unit which is basically the Midea upside down. This was really compelling because it lets in more light and installation would have been easier (there’s no bracket). However, it’s more expensive, has less BTUs, no inverter, no app/Alexa integration, and the industrial design is... severe. If I’m going to be staring at the thing it might as well look like it wasn’t manufactured in 1986.- GE/Frigidaire/Toshiba make great units that we considered, but all were noisier and did not include smart features or inverters.- Portable R2D2 style units are noisier, less efficient, and the exhaust hose gets warm *inside* your home. I’ve had two of these; never again.- Mini splits are a viable alternative, but in my area (Seattle) start at $3000+ for professional installation and $1200+ for DIY kits. And then I have a white box permanently hanging off my wall.- Heat pumps/central air will run $7000-15000 to remove the old furnace & air handler, update some of the ducting to lower profile ducts, install a concrete pad, install a new air handler, and install the heat pump itself. Gotta save up for something that major!Bottom LineThis should probably be a 4 star review because the bracket installation was a royal pain and didn’t match the rest of the AC unit’s sleek appearance. But I’m letting it slide because for $800, we got two AC units that cool the entire floor, look great, let in more light than normal, can be controlled from our phones, and are whisper quiet.

First, amazingly quiet. The TV can be at normal listening volume and at times you forget it's on, about the same as your average refrigerator compressor. Even on High setting with boost enabled it's no louder than a small table-top fan. What a remarkable change from even our previous, "modern" Frigidaire 12,000btu unit from the big box store.The mini-split inspired construction, modern components and re-arranging of their position completely change how this thing works and how you should use it. The unit is meant to generally run all the time and simply cycle up and down as needed for maintaining your rooms temperature. This is different from traditional window units that cut on and off to chill the room. There are sensors connected to the fan and compressor and in auto mode they work harder or hardly at all maintaining the temp. For example, if my windows are all closed all day, it keeps the apartment at it's current the setting, ie 70º, with the fan and compressor barely running on a 80-90º day. If I open a window for a good length of time to water plants, cook, or have many people coming in and out of the apartment, or the afternoon sun hits the windows the unit will ramp up to overcome the warm air and cool things back down. It's a very subtle and set and forget situation and since it's generally so quiet you might only notice the fan moving air rather than any noise itself. There's NO loud dreadfull "ker-chunk, garrrrrrrr...." sound that clunks on and off, at all. Only noise similar to my old unit is on humid days you can hear the fan splash the accumulated condensation in the pan as it helps cool the outside components, this is minimal at best, and a whispy fan noise can be heard on high with the louver swinging up and down. I have no vibration noises either.The app was simple to connect my iphone to the unit with QR code and steps you through the process. The app provides added functionality. It must connect to your 2.4Ghz Wifi. The app allows for "boost mode" which resolves some complaints of poor cooling power, it also can disable the beeps and LED indicators on the unit (I wish it would allow you to dim these). You can set cooling schedules, and choose "Express Run" which is basically a preset you can tell it to ramp to with one click. Most importantly it allows you to control the unit while away from home and provides inside and outside temp.When you first get it installed run it at lowest setting, fan at 100% and in boost mode for up to 8 hours to bring the place down to the desired temp. Then you can switch out of boost mode etc. This may take a few hours to get everything cooled down. If you previously had no AC in your room, apt, home, realize everything is physically warm, your walls, couches, furniture, not just the air. Any AC has to deal with this and once your space is cooled, keeping and maintaining it at a cool temp is far easier than the first time.The AC itself is small, while the inside portion extends forward into the room more than the previous units, the over all general size is *far* smaller than previous giant 12,000btu units. This fact and how it does allow more light and sight through the window is remarkable and adds value. Particularly for those of us in urban settings or with limited windows.Total installation time took me a maximum of 45 minutes, that's far less than any other window mount / AC combo I've had. I watched the manufacture's 2021 tutorial videos on youtube and a few others ahead of time. One or two viewings of these videos and then following along while installing and it went smoothly, no issues. I have a pre-war apartment in NYC with aluminum double pane lipped windows. Because of decorative limestone outside below the window, the distance from the inside bottom of the sill to the outside wall meant I had to use the last hole on the bracket and took some wiggling and fussing to get it to sit perfectly Once it did it was perfect and at the perfect angle on a level. Tip: before proceeding, superglue the rubber feet, they are on loosely likely to fall off when adjusting the bracket. Cutting the supplied foam, stuffing extra bits into open area or over small holes was simple and I am very glad they give you plenty of variety to make a nice clean installation. For the side arm foam, measure twice and cut once, and before cutting label them so you know which side is which. I think if most people do their due diligence here before and during then installation the majority installations should be simple and straight forward. No other manufacturer has provided so much assistance and the methods are not complicated.Cons:The remote is quite large and unintuitive. As large as a cable box remote and yet ironically its missing some functionality that the app gives you. Perhaps they made functionality upgrades via software after they created the remote. Either way, it's a beast for an AC unit that will reside in a drawer indefinitely.I don't use Alexa, or Google for control, but I would have liked Apple HomeKit integration to unify with other lighting and home controls. The app opens quickly however and is responsive.No condensation drip line hole. Everything else is so well thought out, it would seem this is a simple thing to add for those who need it. Not that adding your own is impossible or anything but I'd prefer to avoid damage and a factory provided hole location would ensure there is enough condensate to help keep the coils cool, while keeping water from dripping on things below.Shipping and ordering was an issue that was MOST aggravating, and I see that I am not alone here.First, it took a week or more to actually place an order. Item would show available just like any other item on Amazon and delivery time would indicate "ships in 1-2 days", this for units sold at regular retail price from Amazon, (not the higher priced gougers.) Every time I'd try to complete the sale it restricted my address in NYC. Amazon CS said they are available and I should be able to place order but I could not. I tried numerous addresses in my account around the country they were all were restricted. Then early one morning it was available and the order went through. It was marked as shipped the next afternoon. But..... it didnt actually "ship." The Amazon warehouse printed the UPS label which marked it shipped on their site but it didnt leave for almost two weeks. During which the arrival time kept moving, and CS had no clue how to answer this except to offer a refund and cancelation. When it did start to move it was shipped from a NJ Amazon warehouse to NYC, transit taking only a day and a half. Look, two weeks for something like this doesn't bother me, if that's what it takes. Its the poor setting of expectations that is infuriating, not to mention that where I live being able to receive packages as they arrive is important to avoid theft. Furthermore I was ahead of a heatwave by more than a week, but it arrived afterwards! Had I known to expect this it wouldn't even be on my mind, but every day you wouldn't know if your order would be canceled or backordered or what. Because so many people had the same issue, I wasted time with CS trying to figure out where my product is and if I will actually receive it.The UPS delivery man said they've delivered dozens in my neighborhood, I believe them, I've seen at least six on my walks around and I understand why, it's an amazing unit. Highly recommend.

I recently purchased two of these units. I was initially concerned about the units being damaged in shipping. Both air conditioners arrived in great condition. There wasn't even a scratch on the boxes. I was able to install both units on my own. These are my first window air conditioner units. I am impressed with how well they work. They are also look great. I can't attest to the longevity of these. I hope they last a long time. I don't have any plans to uninstall these in the winter for storage so I will have to get cover for these. The only thing that I don't like about these are the weight, they are heavy. Now my concern is how will I clean these to keep them maintained. I will have to find a handyman for that. I am glad that Midea is innovative with improving the old technology and making it better. I don't know why anyone would purchase those old units with the accordion flaps on the side. This makes so much more sense and should be the industry standard for window air conditioning units.

Great window AC. I’ve purchased and installed about a dozen and this is the best by far. As everyone says, installations takes time. Took my gf & I over an hour to do but plan to never remove it from the window. This replaced a GE 14k BTU window AC. The Midea 12k BTU U Shape is so much quieter and performs better, and uses less than half the wattage of the old one (I measured with a watt-o-meter and it draws about 400-500w on max cool settings). Fan blows stronger too. The Midea smart home app works great. Would highly recommend this. Take your time and carefully follow all instructions and this will be the best window AC you will own.