First, the bottom line, this is an amazingly quiet air conditioner that pumps out cold air. It has three fan speeds and on anything but the top fan speed, it is almost as quiet as a refrigerator. At the top speed, there is a noticeable fan noise, but not that bad.

However, installation is unnecessarily difficult. From start to finish it took 4 hours, and 4 difficult hours at that. To install it you take the chassis (the outside) off, install the chassis in the window, and then slide the A/C back into the chassis. Sounds straightforward, but removing the unit from the chassis is incredibly hard. The cause seems to be foam padding inside the unit, and and on the inside of the chassis, that gets jammed together and prevents the chassis from sliding off. The only solution seems to be for two adults to struggle with it for a couple of hours until those parts got sufficiently smashed to slide past one another. A definite design flaw that causes unnecessary frustration... Read more

IF (a big 'if') you can get the air conditioner out of its metal chassis to remove the styrofoam, then you are well on your way. It took me the better part of three hours over two days with my mother pulling one end and me pulling the drawer to get the inside of each A/C out. Finally, I just turned it upside down and shook it until the inside fell out onto the carpeting below. Once that was done, and the window ledge was sufficiently buttressed (I live in Brooklyn, NY, so the window is a bit far from the brickwork of these brownstones and you have to use bricks to support the chassis of the A/C - braces don't work), installation is a breeze.
The two A/Cs keeps the 3-bedroom apartment nice and cool, and breathing is much easier at night (I suffer from sleep apnea). I am glad I bought them. Have yet to get the electric bill...

I first bought an Amana ACD125R (made by Haier) but took it back to Fry's because a girgling sound of the freon moving through the evaporator, very annoying sound. Fry's return policy is horrible (15% charge and gift certificate for remainder), so don't by an AC unit from them. I then bought the Friedrich CP10F10. When I started the unit, the room air circulation fan was hitting the sytrofoam. The appliance company I bought it from sent a technician out and fixed the problem. Tech said problem is common as they support the fan motor in one spot rather than two on the larger units. Unit works great, it is much quieter than the Amana. Not as much cooling as the Amana unit, but it is 10K not 12K Btu. Has a nice full size remote for controlling the unit. Has 3 fan speeds and oscillates the air from side to side. Sorry China, but you will never match good ole American quality, too bad we don't make anything here any more.