To test portable air conditioners, we heat a climate-controlled room to 92 degrees. After the room reaches 92 degrees, we turn off the heat and turn on the portable AC unit to cool mode, with a medium fan speed and a set temperature of 68 degrees. We run the unit for 2 hours and 30 minutes and repeat the same test twice per AC unit. We then use the data collected during the tests to measure two things:
- How consistently the portable air conditioner keeps the room within 5% of 68 degrees
- How consistently it kept the room within 5% of the AC unit’s individual lowest temperature
Once we have this information, we compare the results across the units to see which ones maintained the set temperature for the longest period of time. We also look at which units maintained their individual lowest temperature for the longest time. We did this so that if a unit didn’t reach 68 degrees in the allotted time, we were still able to track how consistently it maintained the lowest temperature it achieved. The higher the percentage, the better the unit performed.
When looking at performance, it’s important to note that the units we tested don’t have identical specs, so direct performance comparisons aren’t the only thing we consider when arriving at our list of best portable air conditioners. We also look at a unit’s features and other options in reference to its price and specifications to determine its overall value.
We also don’t draw direct performance comparisons when looking at units of vastly different sizes and capabilities, say, the 12,000-BTU Midea MAP14HS1TBL versus the 5,500-BTU Frigidaire FHPC082AC1. For this reason, we compared performance results in two groups based on coverage area. Specifically, we compared the smaller Midea, Black+Decker, Frigidaire, Whirlpool and GE models (which all have coverage areas of up to 350 square feet) against each other and the larger Black+Decker, Whynter, Haier, LG and Midea models (which have 500-to-550-square-foot coverage areas) against one another.