BLACK+DECKER Portable Air Conditioner

We have a small room of about 120 sq ft that contains 3 PCs which dual function as space heaters. This room already stays fairly warm all on it’s own, just to be clear. The PCs simply make the room warmer if not outright hot. This is great in the winter, as we can regulate the room temp by merely opening the window and using a fan or two. However, come late spring, the temps begin to hit 60+ F and higher this room can start becoming unbearable with two or three space heaters running. When the temps are 90 F and over, forget about it. Unless, of course, you’re seeking that extra dry sauna experience and don’t mind it costing you a new graphics card and possibly a new CPU as well.

So we picked up this little bad boy hoping it would assist us in overcoming our desperation by providing the chill we so desire and our poor PCs so desperately need. This little thing is super easy to setup and install. As others have mentioned, depending on your window size, you may need to trim one of the insert pieces. Our windows slide horizontally and the insert was, quite fortunately, just the right size. Had the window been even an inch shorter we would have had to trim the insert extension so that it would not clip the hose. The included foam strips were nice, but a bit thin. You may need to double them up or even get some thicker padding to get a good seal. We waited 24 hours to turn it on but when we did, let me tell you that the tears of joy began to flow like Niagra Falls.

With the unit set up and in place, we turned it on. The arctic blast that it produced felt nothing short of amazing. Not miraculous, mind you. Don’t expect to keep your snowman best friend alive year round. But it is amazing! I set it to 66 F, let it run for an hour, and then began to stress test my PC to see if the temps would be lower than usual. The answer was filled with happy expletives but it essentially boils down to Yes! Yes it keeps the room and the PCs much cooler. My PC was testing at a minimum 10+ C cooler than before, even after three consecutive stress tests. The AC unit does produce some noise, but we find it more than acceptable given it’s ability to keep the room cool.

Later on we fired up two of the three PCs and started up a game that we know can push the computer temps up. After an hour of playing, when the room would normally be getting uncomfortable, we were literally just chillin’ out and the PCs were running great at well under their usual operating temps. So we have been running this unit almost every evening and sometimes during the day too. Our warmest day has been about 80 F but I have no concerns when it comes to this thing keeping pace at 90 or even 100 F. If I’m wrong, then I will edit my review, but I’m feeling pretty confident that day will not arrive. For now, we are running it at 68 F when we turn it on and it is splendid to say the least.

My only real complaint is that the screen on the remote doesn’t work properly unless you pinch one corner of the remote down rather hard. Granted, we understand that this is likely a fluke and not indicative of most units. We honestly don’t really use the remote so it’s largely been a non-issue, but I could see it being a real disappointment and extreme inconvenience for some people, especially if they have mobility challenges. Overall, a great unit though.

So do we:
like it? Yes!
recommend it? Yes!
love it? Pretty much yes (but we’re not going to marry it.)
want a 2nd one for our bedroom? Yes yes yes!

Despite the lost stars for the remote, we feel that the unit truly deserves an overall 5 stars as it is easy to set up, easy to operate, and works really well. Will be ordering another of the same (or possibly slightly more powerful) for our bedroom.

Very convenient and easy to set up! It cools very nicely and is not too loud. Our original system must have had a coolant leak because after about a year, it stopped cooling. It was out of warranty, but the company gave us a new one at no cost to us.

Arrived in great shape. Just what I needed, Worked just fine

This AC unit works exactly as intended. I use this as a dedicated bedroom AC unit in a 2 bedroom apartment. Even on 90F+ degree days, this gets my bedroom (~ 225 SQFT) back to 70F in well under an hour. I would not recommend using this to cool an entire apartment alone; but using in tandem with another AC unit works fantastic.

It definitely makes some noise, but even on the highest fan speed you can have a conversation in the room. Quieter than my similarly-sized window units.

It is easy to install — takes about 10 minutes. I recommend using packing tape to seal around any gaps that remain after install.

After running for about 60 days now, I have not had to empty the condensing tank. The self-evaporation does seem to work.

I bought this unit for our bedroom because it seemed to be a good value and we didn’t need something too powerful. It cools effectively but it is NOISY as hell. My girlfriend and I sleep with earplugs when we use it because it’s so loud. My roommate living in the room below me has complained about the noise too. DON’T BUY this for a bedroom unless you like sleeping with earplugs.