Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am reviewing a Frigidaire Model FFRE0633S1 6000 BTU window air conditioner purchased from Amazon mid June 2016. As background, we live in in an area with hot, very dry but not quite desert summers. I bought this unit to replace a 6 year old Frigidaire 5000 btu unit that we have used in the summers to cool our bedroom down to where we like it..70 or so...without having to cool the entire house down to that temp using our the central air. The old unit worked pretty good until it's last season, when we decided to replace it. I wanted a bit more cooling capacity and so we got this 6000BTU unit. My wife helped me put it in our bedroom window--we put the window unit in for summer & take it out in the fall--and it went in pretty much like the old unit did. There was improvement in the new unit vs the old--the side panels that extend from the unit outward on each side to the sides of the window--can be covered with foam insulation that you cut to size from material that comes with the unit. Easy to do, better insulation, and it just looks better. The first night of operation, we found this 6000 BTU unit definitely cools our 15' x 24' bedroom faster and in less time than its 5000 BTU predecessor. The old unit would take a long time to cool the room; this one works MUCH better. Our room size is a little larger than the maximum room size the manufacturer recommends, so I think that is a good sign. The old unit had knobs and no temperature readout, so you pretty much had to set it on max cool and then let it run until it got cold enough to wake you up, at which point you would get up out of bed and turn down the thermostat. Not convenient. This new unit has electronic controls where you have a temperature readout and you set the temp either using the remote control that comes with the unit, or by pressing 'buttons' on the front of the machine. The electronic control so far seems much more precise in its ability to control the output of the unit, and the remote control is great because you don't have to get out of bed to use it. The buttons on the remote are easy to feel and press in the dark, and I have found I can easily adjust the unit while laying in bed without having to turn on the light. (The first time, I did stare at the remote for a few moments to memorize the button positions, but they are pretty logical and not hard to remember.) While on the subject of the remote, I should point out there is a variation of this unit where the temperature sensor is actually in the remote control itself, rather than in the window unit itself as is the case with the model we purchased. I didn't realize this 'remote sensing' as the feature is called was available when I ordered this particular model; if I had known about it, I would have tried to get it. The reason is that using remote sensing, the unit will try to maintain it's target temperature based on where the remote is sitting--in our case by our bedside--and that is more accurate and I would expect give a better experience managing the temp. So I do want to be clear: the unit we bought and I am reviewing does NOT have the remote sensing feature. Moving on, I will mention-the 'economy mode.' This unit has one, and our old one did not. The principle of the feature sounds good; it gets to your target cooling temperature and then shifts into a mode where the unit stops running completely, and then the fan comes on every so often to pull air into the unit so it can sample the temp, and then turn on the compressor it cooling is needed. I tried it the first couple of nights and so far it seems our unit stops cooling prematurely, before it had cooled down to where I had expected based on the temp I had set on the remote. At this point, we have had the unit such a short time that I'm not sure that what I am perceiving as premature shutoff may not be due to some 'user error' or incorrect expectation on my part. Right now, though, this feature is less useful than I had hoped. That said, I may come back and update this review later on if I find out something that would change this impression. So, at the moment, this is the difference for me between 4 stars and 5 stars for the unit. Last point - noise level. I've noticed some of the other reviewers commenting unfavorably about the noise level of this unit. So far, noise is NOT a problem for us. Our perception of noise is influenced by the fact that our room is carpeted with lots of sound absorbing materials, and the fact that the older 5000 BTU Frigidaire unit that this unit replaced was quite noisy, and got more so as it got older. This new unit is MUCH less noisy than the one it replaced. One thing in particular I notice is compressor noise. With this unit, I can hear the compressor kick in, but it is not noisy and buzzy at all, so I mostly don't notice it. Summing up: so far, so good...very happy with the purchase. Works better than the old Frigidaire unit it replaced (also purchased via Amazon.) Excellent value for the money. Would give it 5 stars except for questions--at least for now--about the economy setting.