Portable air conditioners are not as energy efficient or as effective at adequately cooling a room. You’ll need to spend a lot of money to get proper cooling and the three models below are the ones we like. They tend to be noisier and not very portable.
Dreo smart air conditioner for $460: The Dreo smart air conditioner not only cools a large room effectively and quickly, but it can also be controlled via the app on my iPhone. And, as my son pointed out, the Dreo is a dead ringer for Eve from the movie. WALL-E. It even rolls, making it easy to move; Something I can’t say about window units. Along with Dreo’s easy-to-use app, it can be paired with Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It has an easy-to-read LED display and control panel, along with a magnetized spot for the remote control and vents that open and close, adding to its robot-like aesthetic. Setup was easy and I didn’t drill a single screw as I was able to close the expander window. It’s not entirely clear how I was supposed to fit the hose into the window hole, but I pushed it in and it seems to fit there. It’s not very airtight, which is fine. One of the problems with portable air conditioners is the single hose. It can create a vacuum in an airtight space; Think of the pressure in your ears like an airplane. And it can create enough negative pressure that the room can draw in warm air from outside. So, leave the window ajar. —Lisa Wood Shapiro
EcoFlow Wave 2 for $1,299: He EcoFlow Wave 1 has cooled my wife’s office very well for over a year; We can’t use a window air conditioner there because it would block the fire escape. Lo and behold, there’s a new version that’s a little cheaper (8/10, WIRED recommends). It’s slightly lighter than its predecessor at 32 pounds, but has a higher rating of 5,100 BTUs (up from 4,000). New here is a 6100 BTU heating mode, so you can still use it in the winter to heat a room. The company says it’s best for rooms up to 107 square feet. You should place it near a window so that one of the included ducts is connected to the vent to draw hot exhaust from the back of the unit out of the room. What makes this unit versatile is how you can power it. You can use a standard AC outlet, but you may buy the battery version to keep it running when you don’t have access to power, or you can connect it to solar panels.
Zero Breeze Mark II for $1,698: With its 2,300 BTUs, you won’t be able to get the same cooling power as the EcoFlow Wave, but the Zero Breeze (7/10, WIRED review) is much lighter at 17 pounds. This package includes a battery that will weigh the whole thing down to around 30 pounds, but you’ll get four hours of use without needing to be near an outlet. Like the EcoFlow, it has some vent pipes to divert exhaust and direct cold air to a specific area, but unlike the EcoFlow, you can’t charge the battery and use the air conditioning at the same time.
