Sharp AFQ80VX Energy Star 8000 BTU Window-Mounted Air Conditioner with Rest Easy Remote Control, 110-volt

Having experienced the issues involved with a one exhaust hose, 12000 BTU portable air conditioner to cool a 400 square foot room with pretty much no insulation, we finally broke down and got this little gem. The issue with a single-hose portable AC unit is that if it doesn't have two exhaust hoses (one for bringing in air from the outside to exhaust the heat, the other exhausting the heat outside), it draws air into the room that is NOT air conditioned, making it work harder and be less efficient. Ours abused the "less efficient" privilege.This Sharp in-window AC unit is about as efficient as they come.The room is cooled down exceptionally fast (a few minutes) and when on IFeel or Save, it will throttle the fan and cooling as needed to maintain the selected temperature. Its volume can be kind of loud during peak operation, though less loud than a 20" box fan on high, but it does get relatively quiet as it throttles. And it will shut off entirely if the temp goes below the set threshold.The IFeel feature is handy for when one wants a temperature at a certain location in the room. Set the remote to IFeel, place it so that the sensor is pointing line of sight at the AC unit, and the temperature will be read from that location, rather than the location of the AC unit, and the room will cool until that location is at the set temperature. Automatic cooling is set at a chilly 72 degrees, but Saver and IFeel allow you to set your own threshold (we use 77 degrees for a variety of reasons).As for overall performance, there's a reason this doesn't get four stars – mostly having to do with the sensor readings of the temperature. The AC unit works exceptionally well during the day, with the temperature using IFeel or Saver staying pretty stable. But once the sun goes down, even if the night is hot (as it has been here lately), the temperature sensor doesn't reliably turn off the AC unit until well below the set temperature. This makes for some frosty moments, but those moments are easily overlooked when one can simply grab the remote, set the temperature a degree or two higher and it will turn off.The net result is a fudge factor in controlling the thing. It does cool, but sometimes it won't shut off when it should, and it sometimes doesn't come ON when it should, either. But this seems to happen only at night for the most part. So if you use this in your bedroom, it may be problematic. We have it in the den, where consistent temperatures while sleeping isn't a factor. If this is a flaw in the unit, it's one I'm willing to live with, mostly because of the price, the features and the fact that ripping it out of the window to replace it will be a major pain.The other reason it got four stars is the odor. There is a distinct "chemical" smell from it and there has been since day one (we've had it a couple of weeks). I'm hoping it fades, and have been using incense to help it, but it is rather profound when first entering the room. Time will tell if that odor stays and this review drops to a three star rating. I mention it as something to be aware of.Now, the rating system for Amazon is not how I rate things, so here's my scale: 1=Too awful for words. 2=Best avoid buying it. 3=Buy it if it's the best you can find. 4=Not perfect, but will do the job. 5=Nothing's perfect, but this comes really, really close to it.

If you provided rating of 6 or 7, I'd give it that.........or........in MY opinion, This little unit would have "EARNED IT" ! We had two window units go out within a 2 1/2 week period. For the first one we bought the Friedrich, which just doesn't rate out too well with us...........almost dissatisfied with it. Then with the second, we purchased this Sharp and, WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE. This Sharp is on a scale far better than the Friedrich. The AUTO/POWER SAVER setting allows to fan to increase or decrease it's speed as required and, what a difference it makes in our Sun Room. It has the most powerful fan (when it goes to it's highest speed) I've seen in an 8000 BTU unit. We've used the Sharp previously and but decided to try the Friedrich but no more, Mr. Friedrich, you've been beaten severely by the Sharp product. For us on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi (high temps and humidity) we'll stay with the Sharp products until another comes along with a proven record for being better....................which most probablywill by very difficult to do. We loved,,,,,,,, while it worked..... SAD STORY COMING!Unit quit cooling......Compressor failed. Called Sharp and the circus began! They all have learned really well to apologize so well and string you out waiting for us to give out/in/up. ,not happening tho we copied ALL THE AAzon pages and sent to them just to be told that they wern't ledgable....this was repeated 3 times and then we we were told it wasn't the correct proof. They want more proof but there isn't a "RECEIPT" from Amazon We'll NEVER and we do mean NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER SHARP PRODUCT DUE TO THEIR CUSYOMER RELATIONS(and sharp said that they don't have "customer SERVICE....father customer "RELATIONS". And those "RELATIONS" are HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!Okay product......somewhat.........Terrible,terrible company!!!!!!!!

Decent price. Cools very well. Remote has a feature that supposedly tells a/c to cool the air to the set temperature where the remote is, as opposed to where the a/c is, which I like. It's much lighter than my previous a/c, which is probably due to the Styrofoam inserts holding everything together and channeling the air. It's also much louder than my previous a/c. I read the reviews on here about the noise level, and I agree, it cannot be described as quiet, in any regard. Actually, the fan noise doesn't bother me as my ears just interpret it as relaxing white noise that actually blocks out the noise outside (I live in an urban setting). What does bother me a bit is when the compressor kicks on, it makes a very audible "thunk!" that can either scare the crap out of you or disturb your sleep, if it's in the bedroom, which is where mine is located.

Buyer beware! This product is junk. It didn’t last a full year. I used it last spring and summer. Then it sat mostly unused during the winter. I started using it again this spring and it doesn’t work right. When I pulled the invoice I found out that it was 2 weeks out of warranty. I called Sharp and explained the situation to them, pointing out that it had been sitting unused for most of the winter and that I had just started using it again. It obviously went bad before the warranty period was up. They went through the motions of reviewing my case before refusing to warranty their crappy product. Apparently they couldn’t care less about customer satisfaction. When a Fridgidaire AC that I had went bad two months out of warranty they worked with me and warrantied their product. If you don’t want to waste your money, stay away from Sharp products, because money seems to be more important than their customers.