bit-tech Shopping: Amcor 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner NANOMAX A12000E

Rating: 6

Time with product: 3 Months

Strengths: Portability, installation, remote

Weaknesses: not very cold, a little noisy

Summary: The unit is easy to assemble and set up. The unit is compact and can fit in most rooms without being obtrusive. The one drawback is that the unit does not really blow cold air, just mostly cool. In a hot room with no ventillation, it will work.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 10 Days

Strengths: Quiet and blows lots of cool air.

Weaknesses: Auto temperature doesn't cool below 71 degrees

Summary: AUTO doesn't cool below 71 degrees. The compressor will shut off at 71. BUT, the ON and Cool function works with the thermostat, and cools to the desired temperature. I am not sure what the AUTO feature is for if the ON function works with the thermostat too. Normally, the ON function just keeps the compressor on at all times and just cools continually. The thermostat still works and the temperature adjustable with the unit set to ON. Weird. I nearly returned the device because it wasn't cooling when set to AUTO. Other people reviewing this product complained of similar problems with the thermostat. It's as though there is a cooling limiter in the AUTO mode. The manual says the thermostat will cool based on the ambient temperature when set to AUTO.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 3 Weeks

Strengths: cheap product. slim design

Weaknesses: not very cool and it leaks.

Summary: my third replacement and I still have have a water leak problem. 4 hrs straight at full blast and it can't cool my room either. i would avoid this brand of a/cs.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1

Strengths: -never had to empty out water-cools fast-great customer support-small footprint

Weaknesses: -thermostat problem (see details below)

Summary: We purchased this unit for our daughter?s room, which is located in the far corner of the house so that our central AC is powerless to cool it. Window unit was not an option thanks to home owner association. I was skeptical about this new nano-mist technology but I took a gamble regardless. It turned out to be a very wise decision.-First of all, the design of this unit is elegant with a very small footprint. It fits perfectly in the corner of the room and hides the exhaust hose in the back. -The nano-mist technology utilizes some of the condensed water to cool the unit, turns the rest of water into mists, which is then dispensed through a water host attached inside the exhaust hose. I live in Ohio where summer could get relatively humid. I owned this unit for one month now, from May to June, and I never had to empty out water. - The noise level of this unit is similar to that of window unit in some of the hotel rooms. The fan on this unit is on non-stop with a constant noise, which is great for bedroom. You would say I am nuts. But imagine if the unit kicks on with both compressor and the fan from dead silence in the middle of the night, you would be woken up by this 0 to full-strength noise, whereas when the fan is on all the time, it gives a consistent noise level that you brain will filter out after a while. When compressor goes on and off, it doesn?t make such a dramatic difference.- The thermostat on this unit will stop the compressor at 3 degrees above desired temperature. For example: the compressor will stop when room temperature drops to 73 when setting the desired temperature at 70 degree, and stop at 68 when temperature is set at 65. I contacted the customer support and people at Amcor are very helpful. They sent a new unit to me and picked up the old unit free of charge. Unfortunately, the new one has the same problem, which makes me wonder whether it is designed that way. But I wouldn?t figure out the logic here. Nevertheless, the work around is to set temperature 3 degrees below the desired temperature. Some tips for using portable AC units:-making the exhaust hose as short as possible, and as straight as possible-insulting the exhaust hose. I used my daughter?s fleet blanket that has some cartoons characters on it. She loves it.-Giving as much clearance as possible at both sides and behind the unit-Cleaning the reusable filters often