Quiet and Powerful, but has unusual electronic controls.
Pros:
Quiet and Powerful system for such a small unit
Cons:
Confusing and tiny control panel. Best used on low window applications
The Bottom Line:
This unit is small, powerful and attractive, but the controls could be better.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
After a turn of bad luck with a 5,000 BTU Fedders unit I bought at Wal-Mart, I saw this small unit at Sears and decided for the price, it couldn't be beat.
After removing it from the box, and reading over the installation instructions, I was pretty much on my own fitting the window kit. The pictures of the unit were very small and not detailed well. The first thing I noticed were the screws included in the small bag weren't the right size for the holes drilled in the frame. After some experimenting, I gave up using the included screws. I found some leftover screws from another kit that happened to fit and they worked fine.
After installing the unit on a mid height window (about 4 foot off the floor level) I noticed that the slant of the electronic control panel couldn't be read properly from across the room. It does come with a simple remote that controls all the functions, but the toggle style selection will cause the unit to cycle from fan to cool if you pause to long between settings. There is no digital indicator of temperature, just a row of small lights on each stop, with one light for cool, two lights cooler, three lights colder, and 4 lights maximum cooling. You must go only one way on the cool and fan settings. There is no reversing direction on the fan and cool settings, but the temperature control can be raised or lowered up and down with the remote.
Not being able to see the control panel in a higher than normal window application, you are guessing on where your settings are located unless you go over to the unit and look where it is set. That kind of defeats the purpose of having a remote, in my opinion.
Other than the slanted control panel, the unit is very quiet and controls the temperature well in my bedroom of about 120 square feet. I imagine after continued usage, one could memorize the settings and use the remote on rare occasion.
The filter is especially easy to get to and remove, with just a light tug of the front grille, the filter is a snap to get to and to clean. The unit is powerful and even on its low setting, cools down the room fast and quietly. Setting the controls on maximum cooling is still a pleasant experience,and is super fast at reducing the room temperature. The fixed framed cooling vents with a single lever adjustment from right to left, the air blows upward in a diagonal direction. But even with this, the room is cooled quickly with out an annoying draft.
This unit incorporates an LG compressor and looks very similar to the fit and finish of their other products, with a Kenmore name on it. I know the history of LG products, I expect this unit to perform well. I would recommend this unit for only low mounted windows where the control panel could be seen properly and the remote could be used more effectively.
