Aros Smart Window Air Conditioner

Product Description

I like how anymore anything that's not a "smart" whatever it is gets labeled a "dumb" whatever it is. According to Quirky, which recently made Dr. Garthen Leslie's Aros Smart Window Air Conditioner available for purchase... [Read more]

Features

• Learns from your patterns to cool when you need it, not when you don't
• Smart scheduling learns your habits and adjusts to cool the way you like all week long
• Turns on and off according to your location and GPS settings
• Tracks your usage so you can adjust settings to save on energy costs

Top Reviews

Lasted less than a year
by GadgetFanatic (1 out of 5 stars)
August 28, 2016

We purchased this device for a detached garage with a small room. At 8000 btu it was more than adequate to keep the room usable for long term storage of things. It was purchased in July 2015 but not installed until March 2016 due to remodeling. It is now August 2016 and the device no longer blows cold air!

I had set up the unit with the Wink app to turn itself on 3 hours after sunrise to maintain an 83 degree room temperature, then turn itself off at sunset. It seemed to be running fine, then during visits to the room I noticed it was still quite warm. I didn't expect it to work miracles, but did expect temperature control. I added a second, non-Aros unit and controlled it with the Wink app and a smart plug (iHome SmartPlug) to turn on when the room temp hit 85 according to the Aros, to give a booster effect. Soon I noticed the second unit was running all the time. After using a thermometer to check the output if the Aros I found it was blowing 83 degree air in an 85 degree room :-( .
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My smart AC is now a dumb AC. RIP beautiful Aros.
by NYC Sweaty :( (1 out of 5 stars)
July 16, 2015

I was seduced by the simple Wink app UX and the Dieter Rams-ish industrial design of this product. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of living with Aros, its WiFi antenna and Wink sensor chipset crapped-out on me. I'm stuck with a device that depends on my fingers to push its buttons, the same way it's been pushing mine. It's almost as if my Aros, once telepathically linked to my iPhone, has been lobotomized and now sits in a sullen, unresponsive state. My Aros has been stripped of all those precocious gifts of communication that made it special in the first place.

Gone are the smart scheduling features. Gone is the ability to awaken Aros from my phone while still in the the office, then walking home on a humid street, eagerly awaiting the opening my apartment door with the anticipatory delight of being met by an chilly blast of fresh air.

All the smart features are gone, as it cannot connect via WiFi any longer..

While completely friendly and accessible, Wink customer service had me perform a variety of maneuvers to get Aros' WiFi antenna reset, but alas, it's a lost cause. Defective. I was told that they could not initiate a replacement because the product is no longer being manufactured. Amazon is replacing my Aros with another sibling from the same, defective batch.

I sort of have a special-needs AC. RIP beautiful Aros. You were ahead of your time. Unfortunately, the Internet-of-Things AC is still a pipe dream, and it's 2015. Sad!
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A let down
by chandy (2 out of 5 stars)
September 30, 2016

Was so excited to buy this, but ended up disappointed.

The aros looks beautiful and worked fine for 3 - 4 months before dying. It does not blow as cold or as quietly as my 3 year old small, energy efficient a/c for my bedroom. Aros is actually quite loud.

I expected better from a company associated with GE - this didn't even last an entire summer. I should have listened to the lower reviews but I really wanted a cool looking a/c.

Extremely disappointed and will now have to replace on my own dime per my inquiry to customer service.
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and this is a great way to add that for little cost
by Benjamin K. (4 out of 5 stars)
January 10, 2016

I have a pair of these, and they are slightly different (purchased half a year apart). I think Quirky is no longer in business, so hopefully the app will continue to function, but these solved our need for a very occasional use AC unit in our 1919 Bungalow. We live where we only want for AC a few days a year, and this is a great way to add that for little cost, and still be able t control it with the rest of our "smart" home. The app is buggy, and the unit doesn't always do what the app tells it to (or show on the app what the unit is doing) but for only a few bucks more than a "dumb" window AC, it was well worth it. I think we paid way less than what they are currently selling for, so the cost analysis may be different, but personally I am happy with having bought these.
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Has a Few Quirks, But Good Overall
by RS7588 (4 out of 5 stars)
July 19, 2015

I pre-ordered 2 units last year and promptly received them shortly after release. The packaging was minimal, but OK. At first glance it's a beautiful machine that feels and looks very solid. Assembly was straight forward, aside from mounting the plastic brackets for the wings. Needed a good amount of elbow grease and a few rounds of trial and error. On to the stuff that matters. I'll try to be brief.

The Good:
-Beautiful
-WiFi enabled & "Smart"
-Cools large rooms relatively quick
-Moves a lot of air
-Convenient features through wink app: Auto away, budget, schedule, remote use . . .
-Saves money (For me anyway. I really did notice savings using these units compared to my old ones.)

The Bad:
-Loud
-The retractable wings look nice but leave large gaps and do not seal the unit. You will need more foam than what is included to get a good seal around your entire unit.
-Can be a pain to connect to the Wink app and get setup. It does not like 5.0Ghz routers or long intricate passwords in my experience.
-Pricey
-LED can be bothersome

Overall Thoughts: I've been using my 2 units now for over a year. This is my second summer with them and I love them. Once you get over the small frustrations of not being able to get connected right away (to WiFi and Wink app), it's such a convenience. I love the features of the Wink app to control my Aros units. Over time my units have learned to turn off when I leave for work and turn on 30 minutes before I arrive back home. The units are loud..you've read it over and over again in these reviews. Personally, its not a deal breaker for me. They are loud but its not jet engine loud. I also have mine set to Eco, so the fan only kicks on periodically when it needs to bring the room back to temperature. I haven't had issues with the unit waking/keeping me up at night and it literally sits in the windows that is at the head of my bed. I sleep inches from my unit. The one star reviews here are ridiculous IMO. Those are people who haven't given the time to test and use the machine properly. The features and convenience of this thing greatly outweigh its loud fans and bright LEDs.
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SAVE YOUR MONEY!
by Wayne Blanchard II (1 out of 5 stars)
June 15, 2016

DO NOT PURCHASE THIS WINDOW UNIT! Save yourself the headache and hassle.

I purchased this about a year ago. For the first 6 months it was awesome. It worked perfectly. This window unit is a "Smart" window unit. We were able to connect it to our phones through an app via Bluetooth (which was awesome while it lasted). The past few months it has been giving us a lot of trouble. The unit would turn off and on by its self. I tried googling, reading reviews, basically everything I could think of to troubleshoot with no luck! So, like any other person would do, I tried contacting the company. I've sent numerous emails, and called a million times. Only to receive no response, and their phone line being DISCONNECTED! Going to try to contact Amazon sometime today to see what we can do, since it hasn't been a "full year" and we're supposed to have a warranty. Just wanted to share our experience with this product, and the company so none of our friends or family that think "oh, that would be cool and convenient to have" like we did have this same problem. Now in the middle of the summer, we're going to have to fork out another couple hundred dollars to purchase a new window unit! Do yourself a favor and save your money, and buy a basic window unit!
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Smart, cute, stays cool, but why is Aros so loud?
by Zen (3 out of 5 stars)
July 30, 2015

This is a cool looking window AC with a front flat panel. It doesn't even look like an AC, and could very well be more hidden if installed correctly. The problem is that due to that reason there are no vents to direct air flow. However, it does cool the room fairly quickly and you can even turn it on and off from work, so it can be great for people who may want to turn it on remotely to cool down the home or just for a pet.

Install - This is a 2 person lift especially if you're taking it upstairs, or you need a really strong person. The install was pretty simple. Install the top bracket and the side panels - we lost the orange flyer that came with the instructions for the panel as they were not in the book, and took some to figure it out, but other than that it was simple enough. Then it was plug it in and have it sync to your phone after downloading the Wink app.

Wifi connectivity - The Wink app then works over wifi and tells you everything you may ever want to know about the Aros as it's called on the app. It monitors the temperature of your room with the AC and you can turn the AC on or off remotely or change modes. You can even set up friendly Robots in the app that will monitor your location and turn the AC on for you as you approach your home. The Activity section tells you when you turned the AC on or off or changed the fan speed etc. etc. If you look at it in landscape mode it switches to the cost of running view and tells you what you've spent so far and what your monthly bill is going to be. I showed it to people at work, and they were impressed!

The big problem - Other than the slight fit issue in my window, that the included weather seal helped with there is a problem with this AC. Although it cools pretty efficiently, it is LOUD. I just purchased a Frigidaire 5000 BTU AC and this one is at the very least, twice as loud. I am not bothered by noise especially as I live near a busy highway and need white noise to drown it out when I have my windows open in the summer. But this AC takes the cake in being loud. I listened to all youtube videos that gave the noise levels of this AC but I still thought I could make it work. It was fine initially, but now I am just getting tired of the sound.

It's not that I can't fall asleep but the constant noise can get annoying when it's on for 6-8 hours. It's like when you run the kitchen chimney fan under the microwave, when you shut it off you can actually hear people. It's impossible to have a soft conversation or play some soft music with this AC in the background. Now I know why it was discounted! It's nicely placed and cushioned with weatherseal in the window so that is not the reason for the noise, it seems the fan is just very noisy in this AC.

Right now, since it's over 90 degrees I am going to use this AC but as soon as temperatures dip this AC is getting taken down. Since I got it pretty cheap for around $180 I am going to keep it but if I paid a higher price it would have gone back.
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Clumsy execution, (poorly) reinvented wheel.
by matt b (1 out of 5 stars)
September 23, 2014

Updating it for 2016: it's failed after 2 years, company bankrupt, so no support there. Bummer, goes in alley I guess. Do not buy.
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Pre-ordered this guy, and have used it all summer. As an AC unit, it'll cool large spaces. It's extremely noisy, as every other reviewer has mentioned... big fan, not big enough fan. If I had bought it just because of that, we'd be good. 5 stars! (ignoring obvious cost diff between this and
* The thing is flaky. It turns itself on and off on a whim.
* Thermostat will vary by 2 or 3 degrees, nearly every time you use the front panel to control it, and you have to, because:
* The software controls (wink app) are terrible. Just terrible. It's as if they were entering a market dominated by Nest, and didn't ever bother looking at how Nest did it (SUCCESSFULLY). They've updated the software a handful of times so far, and it's always busted...

An example of how eager Quirky is to please, but how unable to do so it is:
* The power cable is too short. Way too short. They very graciously sent me a power strip to solve that problem. It's a "smart" power strip that is wifi enabled... and it constantly loses wifi connectivity. Every time it loses wifi, it TURNS OFF SEVERAL OF THE PORTS.

So, their solution would turn the AC unit off entirely... and anything else you had plugged in. Then you'd have to reconfigure it via wink app, which loses all your config settings.

Try troubleshooting that one.
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Do not buy this product
by Anne M. Murphy (1 out of 5 stars)
September 15, 2016

Do not buy this product. There are so many things wrong with this a/c, I don't know where to begin. The instruction manual has a 800 phone number that does not connect to anyone! You must download an app to use this air conditioner. The glaring blue light that tells the temperature could light up a room. It is the loudest air conditioner I have ever heard. The function light blinks .

Needless to say, I sent it back.
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Needs some improvements but has excellent customer service
by Sara Cannon (3 out of 5 stars)
July 21, 2014

My house gets really hot in the Alabama heat. I have central AC controlled by a Nest Learning Thermostat. But the upstairs is decidedly hotter in this 1912 house despite new insulation in the attic. For a few months out of the year, the upstairs rooms need an extra boost to keep things comfy without freezing out the downstairs and making the power bill insane.

I had been using a fridgid air for a few years and decided to put that in a different room and "upgrade" to a tech savvy model: the Quirky + GE Aros Smart Window Air Conditioner. It's been an interesting change with a lot of pro's and con's. Let me lay it out for you:

Pro's:
- syncs to your smart phone for easy-anywhere control.
- the wink app knows when your gone and when your home because of your phone's location and will turn on or off the unit. amazing.
- the wink app keeps track of your budget for running the unit to save you money and energy
- the look of the unit is incredibly more beautiful than normal models
- despite being not functional, the wings on the unit are pretty
- the UI is simple and easy to use

Con's:
- the unit came with two detached parts that were not in the instruction assembly manual. put those on first before installing the unit. they hold the wings in place.
- the wink app keeps logging me out and its a pain to have to enter your password from bed when you want to adjust the unit.
- the unit blows air up out of the top instead of straight into the room. I have made a modification using a Baseboard Register Air Deflector that works pretty well.
- they are pretty, but the wings on the unit are flimsy roller shades that do not seal well and let bugs in
- the unit is louder than my fridgid air
- the blue lights are very bright but seem to auto shut off after a bit

I reached out to Quirky, they have excellent customer service. They are even mailing me more bug-proof wings to install on my machine after telling them about the issue. Quirky even offered to have me speak directly to an app developer/technician because my phone keeps logging out. I don't think I've had such a great same-day response with a product before.

Conclusion:

I really think that the model needs some improvements, but this is expected of a first run product. Hopefully they'll improve the unit significantly on the next model. I am not sure if I am happy shelling out the amount of money that I did considering the con's, but I am keeping the unit anyway. Technology makes me happy.

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