BLACK+DECKER Smart Portable Air Conditioner, 14,000 BTU for Rooms up to 700 Sq. Ft., Smart Portable AC with Follow Me Remote and Window Kit, BPACT14WT, White

After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to purchase the Black & Decker 14,000 BUT Portable AC. This unit is fantastic. I bought it for use in my 12' x 14' office. The office has two persons (my wife and I) and many computer systems (7 large servers, a couple of desktop systems, numerous battery backup units, numerous monitors, etc). To make matters worse, the office unfortunately gets full sun for more than 5 hours throughout the day. Though we have a central AC, the thermostat is in the family room ... so either the office is comfortable and the rest of the house if 68 degrees ... or the house is comfortable and the office is 86 degrees. Moreover, cost goes way up if we keep the office cool ... even if we were OK with the rest of the house cold like the north pole.Before this unit------------------Before we received this unit, the office would run anywhere from 82 - 86 degrees many times higher during summer. With this unit, we were able to keep the office easily at 72 degrees (much colder if we wanted).Shipping & Packaging-------------------------Shipping was great. The unit arrived in perfect packaging and was free from any scratches, dents or any other marks. Unpacking was very straight forward. As a reminder, the unit needs to be upright. Per the documentation, they suggest the unit be left upright for at least 6 hours before use ... preferably 24 hours. I decided to wait the 24 hours since I did not know how the unit was handled during the shipping process.Operation------------The unit pushes some seriously cold air. Like all AC units, when it starts-up, cold air does not come out immediately. But within 30 seconds of starting, it was blowing freezing cold air. Within 5 minutes the room cooled down and during the day, it maintained the temperature with ease (we set it for 72 degrees). In fact, we did set it down to 65 degrees and it would run until the room reached that temperature ... that was just simply too cold for us.Quiet-------This unit was much quieter than we expected. Even when on video conference calls using speaker-phone, there was no issue. Others on the call could not tell the unit was running. I am not saying the unit is stealth quiet, but the noise level was surprisingly low ... on-par with the fans from my computer servers.Why Returning?--------------If the unit was so great, they why would I return it? Well there were two issues with the unit I did not like: 1) Placement and 2) SecurityPlacement----------------Based on the layout of our office along with the servers, desks, multiple monitors, etc ... there was no real convenient location to put the unit. So how did we know the unit works well? I temporarily moved desks / computers out of the way so I could mount the hose and pass-through to the window. Originally, I had planned on drilling a hole in the wall (this is a 6" diameter hose!!!) and putting a one-way flange & baffle with a fine screen mesh to ensure no outside critters could get in. I bought this with the intent of installing it somewhat permanently. Even with this in mind, where I could place the unit would not be close enough to the flange for the exhaust hose. I could buy additional hose extensions but because of the diameter of the exhaust hose, I just could not easily run the hose behind desks, etc. Keep in mind the hose does not make 'right-angle' turns either. Also, the exhaust hose is rather sturdy - which is actually a good thing.Security----------The window mounting assembly is actually quite easy and seemed to work well for the intended purpose. As a reminder, I only ran the unit for a few days so not sure what the long-term durability of the hose and mounting assembly would be like. In any event, I am very security conscious. I did not feel the window mounting option allowed me to secure the window effectively enough to prevent someone from pushing the baffles in and then getting inside the office and our home.Who is this unit for ?------------------------This unit works exceptionally well especially for someone that needs to cool down a reasonably large room quickly and quietly. This probably would work great for 2nd floor (or higher floors) homes where outside access to the window would be limited or non-existent.I have decided to order a Mini Split AC instead. It will allow me the flexibility of placement and will enable me to maintain the security aspect.

It does the job! Thank goodness for this backup when my central is on the fritz and I’m waiting for my AC guy to fit me in.It is a bit noisy, but not more so than your typical window unit. It was easy to install and I admit, I did it the lazy way without much thought to using the foam sealers that were included.Originally I placed it on the floor but didn’t like how much bend resulted in the exhaust - luckily I had an easy way to elevate it. The unit is about 60 lbs so it took a bit of effort to lift it, but it has two nifty grips on the side.The unit looks great and seems like it can fit almost anywhere. Good air flow and intuitive controls. Recommended!

Update: After 14 months it has died. I only got one summer out of it. Warranty is only 12 months so I might be screwed. The compressor turns on but the air is warm. I've tried everything from hard reset to emptying the water to cleaning the air filters. I emailed the B&D service center but no reply yet. $500 to use it for one summer is a tragedy. I cannot recommend this unit to anyone. My AC unit looks brand new, I've barely moved it, and it doesn't even look used. My 15 year old AC unit downstairs still works and it's some no name Chinese brand. I should have gone to Costco and bought any AC unit there. Costco has a no question return policy.......I have a 10-15 year old portable AC unit that was handed down to me and it still works for the most part however it is extremely loud, smells musty even though I have sprayed lots of Armor All AC vent/duct odor neutalizer, almost twice the size of the Black and Decker, and it is not super cold anymore.So I looked to buy a new portable AC unit for my master bedroom and settled on this Black and Decker. I really wanted to get an LG or Asian brand just for reliability but all of them are at least a few hundred more than this Black and Decker. So after doing a lot of research and reading review sites online as well as Amazon, I settled on this one because it was the cheapest I could find for 14K BTU.Pros:- Affordable for one room comfort instead of paying $25K for whole house AC.- Ice cold. Cools down my 365 square foot master bedroom from 80 degrees F to low 70's after about an hour. My upstairs gets warm and collects all the heat in the summer.- Very easy set up. After removing from the box I put together the window contraption(without the foam insulation for the window edges) and in about 10 minutes I was enjoying cold air.- It's much more quiet compared to my old unit that I replaced(my old unit is 10X as loud lol). However the Black and Decker compressor makes a high pitched whining sound that others have mentioned which is annoying at first but I guess I tune it out because like I said it's still 10X quieter than my old one.- It's a lot smaller than my previous AC unit(my other unit is twice the size.- Supposedly it will tell you when you need to drain the condensation tank which is great because my previous unit gave zero indication.- Comes with remote which will come in handy when I need to use it while I sleep.- Draining the tank should be easy because it has handles on the side to grab when picking it up. In comparison, my old unit was twice as big and had no handles to grab onto. This unit comes with a tube that you can use with a drain pan if you like.- Good price compared to other 14K BTU units, all the others are like $650 to $900.Cons:- It seems outdated, maybe this is an old model but for 2024 you would think it would be more high tech. Like with an LCD/LED screen on the actual unit with more intuitive controls, etc. You have to use the cheap remote if you want to have access to more functions ie. Changing the direction of air from left to right, plus there is a function on the remote called MAX function for cooling which is the fastest way to cool your room. I have no idea why they couldn't include both of these functions on the top panel of the AC unit?? It's only accessible using the remote for some reason.- When the compressor is on it makes a really high pitched vibration noise. It was the very first thing I noticed the first time I turned it on. It's not a deal breaker for me because like I said, my previous old AC unit is 10X as loud.- The 2 blue lines for standby mode cannot be turned off. So at night the blue lines illuminate your room and are very annoying. I have to put a book or magazine over it at night.In summary, if you are on a budget and need a portable AC unit that can cool down a 365 square foot room easily then this could be for you. If money is no problem, then you should spend on a better brand like LG or Midea.