Amcor 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Review
Amcor 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Review from New York Gal anewyorkgal. Don’t buy this unit, *final edit* I give this product a 1. I am hot, sweating and dissatisfied with my a/c unit. I checked the temperature in my room with the a/c unit on and it’s 83 to 87 degrees all the time unless my room is cooler with the unit off. I’m seriously so mad that I spent all this money. As punishment for wasting my money, I get to sit here all summer sweating to death. In addition, I read somewhere that this unit was energy efficient. My utility bill went from $47/mo. to $135 for the month of July 2006. Sure, maybe the rate per KWH may have gone up, but the energy usage over July last year is more than DOUBLE and I had an a/c unit on all the time then. I would ask for my money back if I believed I could get it. After this year, this unit is going into the garbage. Don’t waste your money. Trust me.
*edit* I must say that my view of this unit is cooling pretty quickly… I blew a fuse tonight and in my three years living here, I have NEVER blown a fuse. It must be using a lot of electricity. Also, yesterday was hotter…. about 85 degrees, and I have to say that even when I turned the temp down to 62/63 (lowest temp it goes), the room still felt a bit warm. I was very disappointed to see that. I am worried about when it turns 100+ or even in the 90s. My room isn’t THAT big. It’s probably 10 x 20″. I am really worried about when I get my utility bill…. If I could change the # of stars, I would give it three stars…
*original* Two years ago, I bought a Panasonic wall air conditioner from Amazon. It weighed a gazillion tons, was impossible to install, and blocked my window view. Every spring and fall I dreaded putting in and taking out that unit because it was a horrible task! So, after that air conditioner popped out onto the street last fall while I was trying to unload it (I am very lucky no one was on the street at that moment or I literally could have killed someone), I decided to buy a portable air conditioner.
For the record: when you buy a portable heater, it is truly portable. You can pick the unit up and move it from one room to another and plug it in. Voila. It’s been moved. But when I received my “portable” a/c unit, I realized it is not really “portable”. You have to hook it up to a window or wall, just like a wall unit except that the main unit does not sit in the window, but on the floor. There is a bit of room for mobility within that space, but not much. I’m still confused as to how this unit is portable if I have to move the window section and reinstall at the next location. Maybe another reviewer will clear this up.
In the pictures, the unit looks so cute and petite! Not so. These units are HUGE. Not MONSTROUS, but the size of three 9 inch TVs sitting on top of each other… well… my Sony one, at least.
The manual is useless. Whoever drew the pictures drew them SO out of proportion it took me forever to figure out which piece was which. And they don’t tell you how to install it. They show you one picture with an overview. I give the manual a D- (not a F because at least there was a manual).
The unit is VERY noisy. I miss my Panasonic in this respect. You will have to turn up your speakers, stereo or TV very loud.
My Panasonic could delivery very cold air without too much air blowing. This unit does great on delivering cold air, but you will get a lot of air blowing very hard, making papers blow around and the curtains blow, etc.. That is probably the most annoying aspect of this unit.
The air is very cold and in this respect, very very good.
The remote is good. You have to buy your own batteries (ahem.. other brands I bought GAVE me two batteries, but no biggie).
The windo parts don’t fit my window so well. I will have to tape it in. It’s not horrible, but I guess good considering this thing needs to be compatible with so many different windows.
The air vents are supposed to be moveable, but I cannot get it to move horizontally, so the air is always blowing up. The vertical vent either goes to the left or to the right – not to the middle. (*edit* It does go to the middle, but it wouldn’t stay until I used the unit several times.) I don’t understand why they made it this way. That’s another annoying aspect.
I bought this unit because I read an article that said it was one of the best selling units. I can see why. It’s affordable but works well. Also, I only found one review on this unit online so I decided to give it a chance. This product could use improvement, but it could also get more expensive. With all of that in mind, all in all, I give the unit a B. If I really consider price points, I would give it an A. I definitely got what I paid for. I recommend this product… I think it was a fairly reasonable price.
I actually prefer my window unit, but I would pay the XXX bucks extra and put up with the noise and vents and large unit just so I don’t have to install the darned window unit.
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