hOmelabs Portable Air Conditioner 12000 BTU - Cools Rooms up to 450 Sq. Ft. - Quiet AC Unit with Wheels, Washable Filter and Remote Control (New DOE 7200 BTU)

This review is meant to inform those who wish to use this air conditioner in a home audio studio or home office, which were my two use cases.The hOmeLabs 12,000 BTU air conditioner was packaged very well, easy to install, and came with a user's manual that I would classify as well above-average. The unit itself is classy - I really enjoy the self-flipping vents, and the wheels enable one to maneuver the thing with an almost unnecessarily high degree of control. I swear the thing handles better than most shopping carts do. Despite its power rating, the unit swings into action very gently. This means I don't have to worry about any power swings resulting from operating the unit, making it perfect for use in high-amperage settings such as server rooms, recording studios, music practice spaces, etc.This unit had to do double-duty as a portable unit that could be moved between my home recording studio and my home office. In the home office setting, my main functional requirement was achieving the quietest-possible operating volume levels. The goal was to be able to operate the unit on the "low" setting while in online meetings, without bothering other participants or causing audio clarity issues. To make matters worse, I employ a U87 microphone on my voice during online meetings, which I was eager to keep in-use.Luckily, the air conditioner is a wonderful performer in this regard, and online meeting participants have informed me that my room remains as quiet as it was without the AC running. All in all, I am a happy customer and would strongly recommend this unit to professionals who work from home, especially when noise concerns are front and center.

I purchased this unit for my new apartment, which is in a basement that stays a pretty consistent, comfortable temperature except for July and August when temps outside are in the upper 90s. I'm not able to use a window air conditioning unit due to the size of the windows in the apartment, so portable was my only option. I selected this brand because I have a dehumidifier from this brand that works great.This AC comes with everything you need to get it up and running. I have to vent it out a small window over my kitchen sink, with the unit itself sitting on my kitchen counter, which made it a pain to install, but once I managed to get everything in place, it started right up and immediately started cooling the space. It cools approximately 600 square feet right now, with one ceiling fan and one oscillating fan going to help spread the cool air.One advantage to having it on my kitchen counter is that I was able to have it drain directly into my kitchen sink. I did have to buy additional hose for that, though, as the provided drain hose wasn't long enough. I purchased this hose: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D9DD333 and trimmed it to approximately 6 feet long. If I hadn't been able to do that, I don't know what I would have done, because it drips rapidly when cooling and I would have been constantly emptying the drain pan without it.

Pros: Easy inst all. Remote controlled. Has wheels.Cons: Vertical swing speed slow.We figured we buy a portable unit so since we spend most days in the family room. Our Central AC is about 5KWhr and this unit is about half. So it definitely helps with the electric bill.It has wheels which is great because it is heavily. I don’t expect everyone to move it since the window hose is somewhat a nuisance to move around. Since it’s fall time I’ve already put it away.Unit I would say is pretty quiet when you use the low setting. It has connections to drain liquid out. Remote is useful with good controls on the unit itself too.I wish I can manually angle the swing but it’s motorized and rather slow. You actually have to shut it down normally and wait for the swing arm to close before you can pull the plug.Overall, saves money compared to whole house unit and is relatively quiet.

Bought the 12000 BTU unit and can say it’s way better than the Honeywell 10000 BTU I bought about 5 years ago. This one makes less noise but a little disappointed with the amount of air flow. The sacrifice is less noise with less air flow but it does put out much more cooler air than the other. I called hOmelabs customer service to enquirer about 12000 BTU Amp usage before ordering because my 2nd floor bedroom uses 15 Amp outlets. They said 9.6 Amps so I ordered the unit. The safety information sticker on AC says 11.25 Amps but didn’t cause problems so works fine without tripping the circuit breaker. I believe the sticker reflects the surge output of 11.25 Amps and runs at 9.6 but it would have been nice if customer service stated that when I called and asked. They had to look it up via technical department. Gave me a little panic when I unboxed the unit and looked at the stickers. Overall I’m very happy with the AC unit and it arrived the next day after ordering (free delivery) so I was a win win for me. My bedroom is about 400 square feet with high ceiling so takes at least an hour to cool things down in there. I have no complaints since the older unit took longer with much more noise with vibrating floor I can hear from downstairs, which was very annoying while trying to watch TV.