Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First, this is NOT an air conditioner. It is also NOT designed to cool large areas. It will NOT work well in humid environments. It will, however, cool the area around you. Hence the term “personal space” cooler. How well will it cool? That depends entirely on the levels of humidity in your home. I live in the very dry desert. Today the humidity was only 3%. It is no surprise, then, that the Arctic Air works wonderfully for me. The fan is quiet and the changing lights are just fun. With the humidity so low here, I have to refill the water every two hours or so, something one would expect if they understood how an evaporative cooler works. The frequency of filling does not bother me since it so effective. Besides, filling is easily accomplished. I just used my infrared thermometer to see the temperature of the air as it comes out of the unit. I have to admit I was more than just a little surprised to see it register only 53 degrees and it is 80 degrees in my home! Remember, this is a function of having a mere 3% humidity. The higher your humidity the less effective it will be. At some point it will not be effective at all. Why? Because it’s effectiveness depends on evaporation. The drier your environment the more water can evaporate which is what produces the cooler temps. The more humid, the less effective it will be since less water can evaporate. I believe when I was researching evaporative coolers in the past (room sized ones, not personal space units) they indicated the cutoff point would be around 60% humidity. Above that they are useless and can even make your space feel hotter and more uncomfortable. Someone wrote about an issue regarding mold. The instructions are very clear in regard to the maintenance the Arctic Air requires to avoid mold. Maintenance is relatively easy especially when compared to a room or house unit. With a proper environment this unit works quite well for what it is designed to do. If you chose to buy it without the proper environment and it doesn’t work for you, you’ve only yourself to blame. The technology behind this is simple and has been used in the desert for a very long time. I’m absolutely loving this unit and fully expect my electric bill to come down as a result. I’m one Happy desert rat!