Black+Decker BPACT14WT vs Midea Duo MAP12S1TBL

I left it on starting from the morning at 8am when it was 71 degrees (going to to 83 at noon through evening) it did not get cool enough at any point to stop me from sweating, even with all the shades drawn to block the sunlight. I have a double coated dog and needed an AC for the hot and humid days. It does okay, but for $400+ I would have expected it to be able to cool to a more chill level. It does at least make my apartment more comfortable during heat waves, but I am disappointed it only cools so much despite being rated for a larger space

We also have poor insulation which is something we’ve had to try and tackle ourselves. In the end we got fed up of running the homes existing AC system because it was simply too expensive and opted to get a Window/Portable AC. The windows on our home are very flimsy and not at all suited for window units sadly and frankly we weren’t too keen on having to drill into things, worry about them falling out and having the hassle of having to bring them in every other season. So we opted to go for a portable

It still works, just not quite as nicely as advertised. Also this thing pulls as much wattage as a space heater. All the same advice applies. Only use 12 gauge extension cables rated for 1500 watts, and don't run it off a plug on a light switch

I'm not really sure if that's because I got a bad egg or if it's just an engineering issue. The AC seems to cycle between 300-1350 watts. Most of the time it's between 900-950 watts even when I'm trying to get it to run at full power. After it gets close to the set temp it will cycle down and settle at around 300 watts consistently unless it cant keep the temp and needs to cycle back up

Then you need to secure each of the telescoping panels (just shallow "C" channels, essentially) into eachother with screws so it becomes one unit...

I purchased this air conditioner to cool down our bedroom at night so I don't need run central air and cool the whole house just to keep the bedroom temperature comfortable. The unit easily cuts trough the Wisconsin summer heat and humidity and cools not just the bedroom (approx. 150 sq. ft

I’ll try to update at a later time cost/bill efficiency and how long it actually takes to cool my room.

But, the big advantage for us is the cooling power (advertised, not tried yet) and the quiet fan on low. High is maybe a bit more than we want but still tolerable to get things cool, then go to auto or low. Hot all next week so I'll update it then. (6/4/22) OK

Threading the end pieces on the hose was the hardest part of the install for me. I think it may be a used item, because the the hose was also a little banged up on the ends. I took others advice & immediately wrapped the hose with pipe wrap foil & tape. I used the included foam strips for the window piece, but also added scraps I had to seal it tighter

Ok, the unit arrived, boy howdy, it's big and heavy. But, installation is easy, the "snorkel" to route the warm air through a windows is solid/sturdy and adequate. The window slider to fit different size windows was solid and definitely wide enough for nearly every windows. So far so good

The window panels are too short and the attachment for the hose is weak; B+D could have included something of better quality and an extra panel--I had to buy a different kit for my tall window, better quality insulating tape, and some adhesive netting to keep the bugs from coming in through the hose. It is quieter than the evaporative coolers I have been using, but the weakness of the fan probably accounts for that. The good things are that it does blow cold air, that it doesn't take up a lot of space, and that it is programable, so I can set it to turn on a couple of hours before I get home from work. I'm not thrilled with it, but it works

Noise: when it comes to AC noise, pitch is everything. Louder/quieter is not as meaningful. This unit has a low hum that isn’t quiet but it doesn’t have annoying frequency to it so sleeping with it running isn’t a problem. It has a continuous fan option in the AC mode