Make hot days a breeze with the best portable air conditioners

{{#items}} {{#image}} {{#imgUrl}} {{/imgUrl}}{{^imgUrl}} {{/imgUrl}} {{/image}} {{title}} {{#starRating}} {{/starRating}} {{prettyPrice}} Buy now{{#isExternal}} {{/isExternal}} {{/items}} Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts Sign up for our free IndyBest email The whole of the UK is currently experiencing oppressively hot weather, and while heatwaves are fun when you’re getting a golden tan , that heat becomes unbearable when you head indoors. Even with a wet towel draped over your body, the windows open wide and tower fans on full blast, it still might not be enough to cool you down. When the temperature rises, the most effective solution for overcoming the heatwave blues is an air conditioner . Unlike fans , which simply circulate hot air, air conditioners extract the hot air from your room and replace it with a refreshing cool blast instead. But wall-mounted air conditioners are expensive, and, chances are, you’re mainly going to be using them for mini heatwaves such as the one this weekend. You’re not going to be using it enough throughout the year to make them worth the cost of installation. That’s where  portable air conditioners (PACs) come in. Portable air conditioners can be carted from bedroom to office to living room, and they can be easily packed away and stored for the winter. All PACs are vented via a duct through a window or wall – the hot air needs to go somewhere to get it out of your home. While most of them come with window kits to make them as energy efficient as possible, they’ll really only work with sliding or sash windows. You’ll most likely have your window wide open whenever you use a PAC, so bear that in mind. It’s also worth noting that, while they’re technically portable, PACs are large machines because of all the engineering inside. There’s an evaporator, a condenser and a compressor. They’re heavy, but they offer a sure-fire way to cool down a room. Air conditioners are measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs), the higher the BTU, the more powerful the portable air conditioner.  A portable air conditioning unit with 7,000 BTUs will cool a small room of around 18 to 20 square metres, but always check the size of the room before you buy. A unit with too low a BTU for the space won’t cool it effectively. How we tested Our testers reviewed a range of portable air conditioner units in their homes, in living rooms, bedrooms and office rooms, and even inside a caravan, over especially hot days to find the best. We took into account the price, portability, cost and how well they cooled us down despite baking temperatures outside. One of our testers lives in a flat that consistently reaches temperatures of up to 30C when the outside temperature ranges from the low to mid-20s, acting as a perfect test environment for reviewing portable air conditioners. The best portable air conditioners come with added features, such as a programmable timer, an in-built dehumidifier and smart app controls. Here’s our pick of the best, whether it’s for a stuffy office, balmy nights, or that conservatory where intense heat will build up quick. A selection of the best portable air conditioners that we tested for this review (Alex Lee) The best portable air conditioner units for 2023 are: Best portable air conditioner overall – MeacoCool MC series 8000: £329.99, Johnlewis.com Best smart portable air conditioner – Black + Decker 5000 BXAC40023GB: £399, Very.co.uk Best portable air conditioner for quick cooling – AEG comfort 6000: £549, Ao.com Best portable air conditioner for a heatwave – : £500, Argos.co.uk Best portable air conditioner for camping  – : £1,049,  Amazon.co.uk Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Already subscribed? If you want a portable air conditioner that ticks every box, the MeacoCool MC series 8000 is it. It’s easy to shift from room to room, is (relatively) unobtrusive and is small enough to store away during the winter, when it’s not in use. It’s best for small to medium-sized rooms with its 8000 BTU rating, so bedrooms and small living rooms (12-22 sq m). It was also smaller and lighter than many units we tested, weighing in at a mere 20.5kg and standing only 70cm tall. This meant we could easily wheel it around the house and drag it up the stairs. It also had one of the longest ducts of all the appliances, so we had a little more flexibility with where we positioned it. Best of all, it comes with both a standard window kit and a flexible kit which – rejoice! – works on any window and makes a huge difference in cooling. It has a 24-hour timer, sleep mode and remote control, and uses the new R290 refrigerant, which is kinder to the environment. An all round heatwave hero. Continue reading… £329.99 Johnlewis.com Buy now {{#hasItems}} {{#items}} {{merchant}} {{price}} Buy now {{/items}} {{/hasItems}} It’s very hard to find a smart portable air conditioner for a cheap price. Air cons are pretty expensive already, and smart app controls make them even more pricey. But Black + Decker has launched a series of air conditioners that are smart and controllable from your phone, and they’re not too costly. Our favourite is the Black & Decker 5000 BTU, a highly portable, lightweight model that looks sleek and modern in the home. Featuring curved edges and a black top with capacitive touch buttons, it’s a doddle to use. It’s not the most powerful air conditioner unit, but managed to cool down our small office room in about 45 minutes. There are three modes – cooling, dehumidifying and a standalone fan mode – as well as a handy child lock button. The only downsides are that it’s loud and pricey. Despite its size, it’s about as loud as the 9000 BTU models we’ve tested, and it almost costs as much as the MeacoCool MC 14000 (£479.99, Meaco.com ). It’s also good to note that this air conditioner uses the Smart Life app instead of the Black & Decker app, so don’t mistakenly download the wrong one. Once you’re set up with the Smart Life app, it’s easy to turn the air conditioner on and off from outside the house, turn on sleep mode and bump up the speed setting. It’s a small machine, but a mighty one, and it’s great to finally have a smart portable unit. Continue reading… {{#hasItems}} {{#items}} {{merchant}} {{price}} Buy now {{/items}} {{/hasItems}} AEG’s comfort 6000 portable air conditioner isn’t a cheap machine by any means – it’s an eye-watering £650, but it’s seriously powerful, sleek and modern. It’s controlled entirely using the app or with the soft capacitive buttons on the top of the machine. It’s big, and pretty darn heavy, but the casters made it easy to move around on our hard-wood floors. Don’t be deceived by its name, either, the AEG comfort 6000 is a 12,000 BTU model, not a 6,000 BTU one, so it cools large rooms in a pinch. It brought the temperature down in our medium-sized living room in just 15 minutes, giving us instant relief from the heat. While it’s a little louder (64dB) than other portable air conditioners on this list, we quickly got used to the roar of its engine. Pleasingly, the hose was long enough for our tall windows. It’s a truly smart machine, thanks to the AEG app. We were able to set schedules so that it came on in the afternoon, adjust the target temperature, fan speed and the mode from auto to cool to dehumidification. It also works with Google Assistant, and was a doddle to set up. A definite good buy – if you can afford it. Continue reading… The MeacoCool MC 14000 is the second largest portable conditioner in British company Meaco’s armoury. With 14,000 BTUs, it can cool rooms between 25 and 35 square metres, and it did quick work of cooling down our living room. It’s a beast of a portable air conditioner, though, weighing a hefty 31.5kg and roaring like an aircraft engine. As a result, it’s difficult to cart around, but there are casters on the bottom that help. While it does look like a big clunking refrigerator, especially sitting in the corner of our room, it’s extremely powerful, cooling our room down by 6C in just 25 minutes. There are two other modes – a dry mode, for dehumidification, and a fan mode, if you want to use it like a fan, though we found this less useful because it only swivels to a 90-degree angle, meaning we didn’t feel the breeze when we were sitting lower than the unit. Despite costing significantly less than the DeLonghi Pinguino below (£899.40, Amazon.co.uk ) and weighing roughly the same, it’s more efficient, with 14,000 BTUs. This is the air con unit you want in a heatwave. Popping into the room it’s in will feel like you’ve just stepped out of the desert and into the Arctic. There’s also a new R290 refrigerant inside, which Meaco says makes it more environmentally friendly. Continue reading… We’ve been sceptical about the quality of retailers’ own-brand products when testing gadgets in the past, but Currys’s Logik brand stands out as one of the better ones, offering up fairly well-made appliances at affordable prices. The Logik LAC10C22 is a pretty basic portable AC, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad machine. It’s well-priced, has a pretty non-descript design and cooled our room down quickly and efficiently, albeit with a fair amount of volume. It has 10,000 BTUs, so is ideal for small to medium rooms, and the casters underneath made it easy to wheel around. It doesn’t come with too many accessories, but the inclusion of a sealing cloth for the window and installation tape was really useful. There are three fan-speed settings, and we were able to set timers and turn down the temperature as low as 17C easily with the included remote. The only issue we had was with the hose and the duct attachment. It’s not the most secure, and if we shifted the air conditioner even a little bit on its casters, it would fall off. It was long enough, however. We just had to remember not to accidentally nudge it as we walked by. It’s also pretty heavy, despite not having the highest BTUs. Continue reading… The was the unexpected star of the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, and for good reason. When manufacturers say portable air conditioner, they don’t usually mean actually portable. EcoFlow does. The Wave 2 is literally portable with its eight-hour detachable battery (optional, but at an extra charge), and is an absolute dreamboat for campers. Best for tent camping and caravanning, the small and lightweight machine doesn’t merely cool down your tent, but doubles up as a heater, too, providing 6,100 BTUs of heating to your mobile home. Despite facing an uphill battle with the sun’s rays, it cooled down our caravan pretty fast. There are three modes – eco, sleeping and fast – and all can be controlled via the app, which additionally predicted how much hours of battery life we had on current use before it would run out. It lasted a while before needing another juice up. It’s also surprisingly quiet, delivering a soft background hum that didn’t really disturb our sleep. The thing you’ll have to consider though is the price. This thing is not cheap, and will set you back over a grand, and that’s without the battery pack. If you want to use it on the go, you’ll have to cough up even more for the extra battery unit or you’ll only be able to use it connected to the mains. However, for those frequently on the road, it’s a really good investment. Continue reading… {{#hasItems}} {{#items}} {{merchant}} {{price}} Buy now {{/items}} {{/hasItems}} The Wood Milan 7K wifi air conditioner is a chunky bit of kit, so there’s no hiding it in any sized room. It is on wheels, so easy to move around and a handy remote means you don’t have to sit up from the sofa to set the perfect temperature. It can even be connected to Alex or Google nest (or any other similar smart device) so you never have to step foot into a sweaty home again, a function our tester absolutely loved. Like many of these options, the warm air is sucked out of the atmosphere and needs somewhere to go, so you will need a window to make this work effectively. An adjustable tube is included to help, alongside a window-sealing kit should you wish to make it a more permanent addition. Or, if you’re set on sitting it in a windowless room, you can keep it cool while heating up another space. For example, our tester used the AC unit in the bedroom, leading the tube into the living room which then got even warmer. Most importantly, it does get a room quite cold quite quickly, and will run almost all day. Although as it does collect water while dehumidifying, the unit will shut down if this is not emptied around every eight hours. And, in even better news, it’s actually in stock. Continue reading… Air conditioning units are never going to be a thing of beauty but this DeLonghi model was by far the best-looking we tested, with a matte black surface, matching black remote and glossy digital screen. It’s very easy to work with, so you can tweak the temperature or fan speed from the remote, or even program the timer without budging from the sofa. It lowered the temperature in our kitchen in no time, thanks to its high BTU rating, and because the hose was slimmer than other models, we didn’t need to open our windows quite as widely. It has a dehumidifier function, a timer and a useful light to indicate if conditions are uncomfortable, acceptable or optimal. Best of all, it was much quieter than most units, albeit not quite silent, as the name suggests. It operates with a decibel range between 49 and 53 and we soon stopped really noticing it. It would be a great addition to a home office or child’s bedroom as a result, though it can also cool much larger rooms of up to 110 metres-cubed. Continue reading… £894.99 Amazon.co.uk Buy now {{#hasItems}} {{#items}} {{merchant}} {{price}} Buy now {{/items}} {{/hasItems}} There’s no such thing as a featherweight air conditioner but this was one of the lightest models we tested, at just 21.7kg, so we didn’t need an army of people to lift it upstairs to cool a bedroom. It also has castors and is slimmer than most other units, so it was easy to wheel around downstairs as needed. It was up and working in moments, though we had to hold the hose on the back of the appliance while extending it towards the window as it kept popping off. There is no compatible window kit either, so you do need to open the window fairly wide to fit the hose out. We were surprised to discover the unit sti