Friedrich Chill Premier 5,000 BTU Smart Window Air Conditioner (White)

Couple of things to note - this is not technically a Friedrich product. I mean, it's got their name on it, their color scheme, as well as the proper firmware to make it work with their mobile app, but the A/C components themselves + the chassis that houses them belong to an OEM that is also used by EQK and Whirlpool (look up the Whirlpool WHAW101BW 10,000btu, or the EQK EARC12RE1 12,000btu - it's the exact same A/C, just different coloring and labels, and of course differing cooling capacities).I bring this up first to emphasize: the reason anyone pays extra for the Friedrich name is because they were sold on their reputation for quality. They are unique among Window A/C manufacturers in particular BECAUSE this is all they do - air conditioners. Not fridges, washing machines, or microwaves. Just this. In this case though, you are not buying a "true" Friedrich-made product - you will have to look at the Chill Premiere Inverter series or the "Kuhl" series for that - but in this review I will explain why, in spite of all this, it is STILL the single best 5,000btu Window A/C that exists.1. It is overbuilt. I mentioned earlier that this generic A/C model is used by other companies, but the difference is those companies only use it for their 8,000btu (and higher) models. Here, Friedrich uses it for the ENTIRE Chill Premier lineup, even for the 5000btu SKU. In other words, they've got 5k BTUs of cooling capacity inside of an enclosure meant for larger A/Cs. The result is that this is the largest & heaviest 5k unit I've ever handled, and I mean that in a good way. Too much > too little.2. Construction. The material quality - particularly on the exterior enclosure - is solid, with thicker panels than some of the cheaper 5k options I've had in the past. There's also a surprising amount of insulation separating the interior and exterior sections, an area where many manufacturers will "cheap out" on their 5k BTU models. Wiring and refrigerant lines are also shielded & insulated in the sections where they enter/exit the interior section.3. Noise. Friedrich does include lots of rubber and soft padding material for you to install to try and minimize noise, but let's face it - unless you're dealing with an inverter model, or one of the U-shaped models, you aren't really ever going to have a "silent" Window A/C. Despite this, though not by much, it is still the quietest 5k A/C I've ever owned. That said, personally I find the sound of a fan and A/C compressor to be relaxing, so their noisiness never bothered me anyways.4. BLACK DUCTING. This gets its own section because it was a big deal for me. The styrofoam ducting that houses the evaporator coil, and that route to the vents that blow in to your room, are all black. This means you will not get any sunlight leaking in through your window A/C vents (even if the sun is beaming right down on the unit), a common occurrence with 95% of other models. I will also note that the aforementioned Whirlpool & EQK models (which again, use the exact same basic chassis/model) do NOT have black ducting, so they too will let sunlight in through the vents. While you won't be cross-shopping this 5k model with those 12 & 10k models, I bring them up to illustrate that despite using the same chassis, Friedrich still did some customization of their own, and I'm glad for that.5. Digital controls & feature set. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I have always preferred digital controls over mechanical knobs, primarily because being able to set my temp to 68 degrees is a lot more meaningful than "just set it halfway between 7 and 8 on the knob." In addition, A/Cs with digital interfaces just always have more features, and this one has everything (multiple fan speeds, "auto" modes, dehumidify mode, eco mode, sleep timers, etc). In fact, among window A/Cs, the only two things it DOESN'T have are heating capabilities and a way to switch from room air/fresh air intake. Here and there, some 5k BTU models are starting to appear with digital panels - Frigidaire, GE, and TCL have some - but by and large, the 5k BTU category is largely made up of mechanical controls, so this is nice to see. Lastly, it comes with a remote, and a much nicer one than many competitors. Plastic feels decent and the remote itself has a screen of its own, though I have some more comments about the remote later...6. WiFi/App connectivity. My favorite feature of all, you can pair this A/C to the Friedrich Go app and control it from your phone. You can do all the basics - set fan speeds, operating mode, temperatures, sleep timers, whatever - but the biggest thing for me is you can actually program the A/C to perform certain actions, at certain times, on certain days. In my attached images, you can see what this looks like. Keep in mind the app uses a 24hr clock. In the image you'll see:*At 9pm, Monday-Friday, it sets the fan to high and as low as the thermostat will go (61F). This way, throughout the night, the room will stay as cool as possible so I can sleep better.*Then, at 6:10am (roughly 30-40 minutes before I wake up), cooling is turned off and only the fan runs, so that I don't wake up in an igloo, but it's still cold enough to be comfortable.*By 7:30am, I've already left the house, so I'd like to just have the A/C turn itself off for most of the day. While you can turn on/off the unit through the app, YOU, the user, have to do it. The function to do this automatically does not exist when configuring timers unfortunately, but there is a work around - Eco Mode. Eco Mode basically just means the fan won't run at all until the thermostat calls for cooling. You can see that at 7:30, Eco Mode becomes enabled and temp is set to 88F. Outside of some extraordinary circumstances, my room will never reach this temp, so the A/C will effectively be OFF (that said, Eco Mode still runs the fan for about 5 seconds, every 10-20 minutes, to get an updated temperature reading).*At 1:45pm, I will be getting home in about an hour & a half, so the AC is turned back on High with a 61F temp, so that by the time I'm home, the room has already cooled off significantly. Once I'm home, I'll change settings as needed, and so no timers exist until 9PM when the cycle starts again.Now, I could obviously turn the A/C off myself, and the 1:45pm timer will turn it back on automatically, but I configured it this way purposefully to test how "set it and forget it" this A/C could be, and the result is: very! Your phone does NOT need to be connected to a wifi network for the app to control the unit, either. I can be miles away running on cellular data, and all my inputs and timers still work. This is a feature that, as of May 2024, does not exist on ANY other 5k BTU A/C. Mine has followed this routine every week for the 8 months I've owned it, no issues.So, before finishing off this review, there's just one quirk about this unit that I have to mention: the remote. Physically, it's decent, and as mentioned, it has a screen of its own, which is rare enough already, let alone on a 5k BTU model. The issue is this: the remote does not properly update/sync when changing settings using the A/C's own input panel OR the app. For example:-Using the remote, you set it to 65F High Cool. The A/C panel and the app will update to reflect this change.-Then, using the A/C panel, you drop it down to 63F Low Cool. The app will properly update to reflect this change, but the remote will not. The remote's screen will still show 65F High Cool, and next time an input is given via the remote, the A/C itself will be set back to whatever the remote was showing.Other than that mild annoyance, the only negative thing to say about this model is that it's expensive. Easily the most expensive 5k BTU you can buy right now, but so far I feel it's been worth it. My last two AC's didn't last long. I've got three years out of a Frigidaire 5k, and 1.5 years out of a General Electric. Here's hoping I don't have to replace this one any time soon!

This wifi AC is turning out to be an excellent unit and I will try to update after the summer is over. After 2 weeks of use, I was ready to return the unit due to excessive noise. It was making a very annoying, long duration, crackling or rattling noise at fairly regular intervals that coincided with a time before the compressor would then kick in and the noise would stop...only earplugs were allowing me to sleep. Amazingly, after just over 2 weeks of running every day and night, the noise has completely stopped. It has been consistently quiet for 2 weeks of constant use. I am guessing that it had to do with the frame and insulation getting acclimated to expansion and contraction during temperature changes. The unit makes cold air, quietly and has vents that direct the air in different direction better than any AC that I have previously owned, so the air isn't blowing directly on us at night. It drips no water, even when it is very humid out. The phone app works fine for remote operation and is intuitive once you set it up...easy. The remote has it's quirks as to how it interacts with the manual setting, but you will find that if you continue to use it and experiment with it, that it works fine. Once you find the temp setting that you want, it will pretty much stay there unless you have a real heatwave in which case you may adjust the temp down a degree or two to compensate for the hot walls and roof. That's what I know after a month of operation, during a hot summer.Update: After 2 summers of use I still love this AC. Set-up and pairing was simple. The Phone app functions perfectly for what you need it for...turning on the AC and adjusting temp setting while you're away from home. The only glitch is the remote and unit seem to revert to eco mode sometimes when I didn't intend to use that setting which is a little aggravating, but having owned many AC units, none are perfect and the fact that it's quiet, cold, has excellent directional of airflow, and can be turned on/off and temp adjusted from anywhere on earth from your phone on an app that a chimp could use, all make this AC excellent for me.