Friedrich X-Star Series XQ06M10 6,000 BTU Room Air Conditioner

I was looking for two small, extremely efficient window air conditioners because I had two small bedrooms that were on the same 20 amp circuit (previous owner of the house added the second room and just tied it in to the adjacent room's circuit) and I didn't want to have to worry about using the television, computer or any other combination of electronic gizmos in either room while both A/C's were on.

One room is my toddler's bedroom, so I was looking for a particularly quiet unit. Another window AC we had was only two years old and 5000 BTU and you could hear the compressor throughout the house when it went on at night.

Needless to say, these air conditioners are fantastic. They're SEER 12, which is as high efficiency as I could find in a window unit, and they are EXTREMELY quiet. There is a slight click when the compressor turns on, and because the fan is so soft on the lowest setting (which is enough to cool these rooms), I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep through it, but it turned out not to be a problem. It's definitely quiet enough that you get used to it, and my toddler (who DID NOT want an air conditioner in his room, but who can't sleep well in the heat) slept all night without waking up once the first night.

Installation is a snap. They come with a window sleeve. You just put the curtain extensions on the sleeve and install the sleeve in the window. I did had to screw a board into the sash because we have the newer vinyl windows with the thin lip that wouldn't support any A/C. After that, just slide the unit into the sleeve and put the face on. There are tabs in the face for left or right cord exit.

The only drawback is that the sleeve is very flexible/flimsy, and the shipping company (I did not buy from Amazon) bent/dinged both sleeves, so when you receive your units, make SURE you open and check the sleeves for damages BEFORE the trucking company leaves! Mine weren't damaged beyond my ability to hammer/bend them back into shape, but I shouldn't have had to do that to new units.

When you get your X-Star's, they will come in larger boxes than you are probably accustomed to for units in this BTU range. Open the box and the X-Star looks HUGE and you might think you'll never be able to carry it. However, there is a lot of space inside the actual A/C between the fan and the coils, and the unit is not that heavy. Perhaps all the space inside the unit is something to do with the newer environmentally friendly A/C freon -maybe it required a design where they didn't cram all the components into a compact space. So while the unit looks big, it isn't any heavier than other units in this range. I'd still use two people just because of its size, but you could do it yourself if you can lift a typical air conditioner.

Plug it in and start it up, and the sound is of a commercial, solid unit that's meant to last years, not a junky cheap and noisy unit that will last a couple seasons before it starts struggling to cool and keeps you up at night with rattles in the cabinet.

Time will tell if these A/C's stand the test of time, but so far I'm one happy camper.

One update 7/14/2011: It seems that perhaps the truck drivers did more damage than I thought. Every time I clean the filter I have to remove the face unit on one of the AC's because it will not fully insert into the unit with the face on. I checked to make sure the AC was pushed back far enough in the sleeve, so I'm not sure what it's bumping on, but again -check for damage when you receive your units BEFORE you accept them! It appears as if Friedrich should put better packing material around the units during shipping. That's my only complaint to date. Still LOVE these units and my toddler has been sleeping fantastic through the night (as have my wife and I)!