I have a large bedroom (400 sq ft, 11 ft ceilings) with big south and west facing windows in Brooklyn, New York, where summers can be brutally hot and humid. My 16-year-old yard sale air conditioner made a lot of noise to little effect, so I went online to find a new one. At first I planned to choose my a/c online and buy locally, but I ended up doing the whole thing over the net.

I went to the web site of Consumer Reports (http://www.consumer-reports.com). They have a free calculator (http://www.consumer-reports.com/Special/Worksheets/Reports/ac99wks.html) which helps you figure out how large an a/c you need to cool one room or area of your house. I didn't follow their advice, though, because my landlord asked me not to buy anything bigger than 7000 BTU or so because of our old wiring.

From there I went to their recommendations for window air conditioners (subscription required: $3.95/month or $24/year). I printed out the recommendations and kept them by my computer as I looked for places to buy. I respect CR's independence from advertisers, but sometimes it's handy to have a "BUY NOW" link!

I started with the web sites of retailers with local outlets such as J&R and Circuit City, but they had limited selections and expensive delivery options. That's when I gave up on the local option and went to the MySimon comparison shopping site (http://www.mysimon.com). A surprisingly small number of Consumer Reports' highly rated machines were actually available through mail order, at least as far as MySimon knew. That's been my general experience: manufacturers make huge numbers of only slightly different models, making real comparison shopping difficult. Still, after less than an hour of searching, I was able to find the Sharp AF-709F (a close relative of a CR highly-rated machine) at Rex Stores (http://www.rexstores.com/) with a reasonable UPS delivery cost of about $24. It was delivered in less than a week.

When you get the box, just cut the plastic straps and the bottom will fall out. I carefully removed all the industrial staples before I discovered this. Oops!

The air conditioner was simple to install in my bedroom window, though attaching the sliding panels required a bit more screwdriver force than I was comfortable with. It came with plenty of foam weatherstripping, and not-quite-clear instructions.

This air conditioner has performed quite well over the last few weeks. It is billed as "Library Quiet -- Ultra Quiet Operation" and rated as quiet by Consumer Reports; that was a big selling point for me, since it sits right by the head of my bed. It pretty much lives up to its claims. Even at the highest cooling setting, its humming sound is tolerable. It makes a moderately lound CLUNK when it starts its cooling cycle, but not enough to wake me up. Sometimes it rattles slightly, which may mean I haven't secured it in the window well enough.

It cools quite well. Although Consumer Reports recommended an 12000 BTU machine for my room, this 6500 BTU air conditioner has been sufficient, and I have rarely used the highest cooling setting, even during this weekend's 98-degree heat wave.

It has adjustable vanes to direct the airflow. There are three cooling settings (LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH) and one fan only setting. Surprisingly, there's no way to adjust the speed of the airflow. A simple thermostat goes from "1" to "10" -- ten what, I wonder? I keep it around 4.5 to 5.5, which keeps the room at about 68-75 degrees. According to the side panel, it's rated for 5.9 amps -- useful information which is hard to find on web sites and such. The efficiency rating is 10.0, which seems to be a bit better than average.

As with most air conditioners, the temperature in my room varies noticably across the machine's cycle. I wonder why inexpensive air conditioners don't have digital fuzzy logic thermostats, remote controls, and such? I wouldn't think they'd add a lot to the price.

The inside face of the Sharp AF-M709X is off-white plastic, neither attractive nor ugly. Instead of a disposable foam air filter, it has a slide-out mesh which can be rinsed under a faucet.

This air conditioner is reasonably inexpensive (about $210). Certainly not the cheapest in its class, but it appears to work well and is quiet enough to sleep next to.





Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 210