Until recently, I thought a window air conditioning unit could only be an eyesore; a purely utilitarian device that was required to keep me from melting into my couch all summer long. For me, going without air conditioning is out of the question — I run hot, so when temperatures rise here in New York City, it’s a must-have. The only problem is, most units out there are either too weak, won’t stay cold all night or are just plain ugly. Worse than that, most fall into all three categories.
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When I first found out about Windmill Air’s smart window air conditioner, I was struck by the unit’s modern looks and trendy direct-to-consumer branding that was perfectly minimal. It had the hallmarks of a company targeting Millennials and Zillennials and damn it, they got me (and everyone else on TikTok). I could pick up a perfectly good air conditioner from my local Home Depot, but I know I’d always be thinking about the cool one I saw online (insert guy-looking-back meme here). Not only does it look stellar, but the site promises unmatched cooling, minimal noise, a useful companion app and eco-friendly features. Not to be hyperbolic when speaking about a relatively banal home appliance, but it seemed like it was maybe too good to be true.
Naturally, when I got the chance to give it a go, I was (cautiously) ecstatic. I had to know if this was a true DTC darling or another trendy-yet-underwhelming product that would ultimately disappoint me. The looks of the unit are undeniable — it blends into my space like no other air conditioner I’ve used — but does it really blow cold all night? Are the smart features actually useful? Let’s see if it’s more than just a pretty face.
The Windmill Air Conditioner: What We Think
I’ll just say it upfront: if you can bite the bullet on cost, you should buy a Windmill Air Conditioner (or two). I wasn’t entirely sure which window the A/C would live in permanently, so I opted for a pretty minimal setup, but you also receive a handful of useful materials that make a more permanent setup just as easy. The remote control works like a charm (bonus points for coming with a battery). The 10,000 BTU unit that I tested was plenty powerful for my bedroom and the adjacent dining room. 10,000 BTUs might be overkill for my space, but I’d rather have too much power than not enough — you can always turn it down. Even with all that power, the machine is whisper-quiet (hence the WhisperTech moniker). I generally appreciate the hum of an A/C unit, and this one provides a peaceful white noise, but eschews the throaty growl that many units emit when they start struggling for power. I’ve left this on for 14 hours with no change in sound or output.
The best part though, is the smart features. Once I got signed into the app, I wondered how I ever lived without a smart air conditioner before. Aside from being able to control the machine in real-time, you can set up automation rules that turn the unit on or off at a specific time, all to your exact temperature and power specifications. This makes keeping things cool easier than ever, whether you’re winding down and getting ready to crawl into bed or making sure the room is cool when you get home from a long day at the beach.
