ranking minisplit brands

[jacob-k]

I saw this recent comment here- not sure what forum, definitely in AC minisplit category:

"Mitsubishi
Diakin
Fujitsu

Samsung
LG

Disposables

In that order"

Not taking issue with that but alarmed to not see Carrier anywhere. At bogleheads someone said Carrier designed products to prevent aftermarket 'off-the-shelf' parts and marked up the 'in house' parts by triple...like John Deere.

I am about to spend TEN thousand $ on AC, and flat-out scared.

This was a post I made. Understand this is my personal opinion and experience. I do believe it is pretty widely expressed that this order or a close variation of it is how others feel too....

Personally, If your not buying one of those top 3 products mentioned don't buy a mini-split. The upfront costs might be better but the backend headaches can be tenfold. At least here in the states

[ekid]

Yes, I see a general agreement here. May I assume you leave out Carrier because it doesn't make or design its own equipment?

A history of "orphaning" previous name brands disturbs me greatly. (rebranding)

As of this morning I have not found a source of Daikin or Midea.

[fliks]

Yes, I see a general agreement here. May I assume you leave out Carrier because it doesn't make or design its own equipment?

A history of "orphaning" previous name brands disturbs me greatly. (rebranding)

As of this morning I have not found a source of Daikin or Midea.

7 yr warranty verses 12 yr warranty is very appealing to my customers and even though I seem to never need it with Daikin, it’s nice to know it’s there and I fully trust their compliance. Jacob probably does as many or more than anyone here, so I do trust his opinion 100%.

[jacob-k]

Yes, I see a general agreement here. May I assume you leave out Carrier because it doesn't make or design its own equipment?

A history of "orphaning" previous name brands disturbs me greatly. (rebranding)

As of this morning I have not found a source of Daikin or Midea.

The Mini-split market here in the US is about 15%. Its not a large market but is the fastest-growing market. Lots of Manufacturers that never really seen mini splits as a market they wanted to be in has changed their minds and jumped into the market. They don't have the infrastructure set up. So you have distributers with mass sales campaigns and nobody set up to give out tech support, no training facilities for us to go and learn, no parts setting in warehouses all over the place, no kind of data collection set up to determine much of anything.

Dont shop for Media you wont find anything.

Search for the top 3 brands I mentioned.

you can put in your zipcode here for Mitsubishi Diamond dealers.....

https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/ge...ed/contractors

[ekid]

" is the fastest-growing market. Lots of Manufacturers that never really seen mini splits as a market they wanted to be in has changed their minds and jumped into the market. They don't have the infrastructure set up. So you have distributers with mass sales campaigns and nobody set up to give out tech support, no training facilities for us to go and learn, no parts setting in warehouses all over the place, no kind of data collection set up to determine much of anything."

Indeed! I can see that. It's like the "wild west" or the "dark web".
And it's why I'm terrified. But some youtube catastrophe vids are from 2018 and may not be valid anymore. ?

Can things be re-engineered and improved in three years?

[R600a]

" is the fastest-growing market. Lots of Manufacturers that never really seen mini splits as a market they wanted to be in has changed their minds and jumped into the market. They don't have the infrastructure set up. So you have distributers with mass sales campaigns and nobody set up to give out tech support, no training facilities for us to go and learn, no parts setting in warehouses all over the place, no kind of data collection set up to determine much of anything."

Indeed! I can see that. It's like the "wild west" or the "dark web".
And it's why I'm terrified. But some youtube catastrophe vids are from 2018 and may not be valid anymore. ?

Can things be re-engineered and improved in three years?

I have installed some of the cheapest brands and not had any problems. Installation matters a lot more than brand.
The cheap ones will likely have to be replaced the first time they need a part but they are so cheap.
I wouldn't worry about brand too much other than getting one of the big three Fujitsu, Daikin or Mitsubishi as they are all pretty incredible as long as they are installed well.

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[James Colver]

The Mini-split market here in the US is about 15%. Its not a large market but is the fastest-growing market. Lots of Manufacturers that never really seen mini splits as a market they wanted to be in has changed their minds and jumped into the market. They don't have the infrastructure set up. So you have distributers with mass sales campaigns and nobody set up to give out tech support, no training facilities for us to go and learn, no parts setting in warehouses all over the place, no kind of data collection set up to determine much of anything.

Dont shop for Media you wont find anything.

Search for the top 3 brands I mentioned.

you can put in your zipcode here for Mitsubishi Diamond dealers.....

https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/ge...ed/contractors

I'm not sure why you told the OP they won't find any Media product...... I mean there's actually at least two online suppliers for Media, and any local Carrier distributor essentially offers Media too. Why did you tell him "You won't find anything".

[James Colver]

I have installed some of the cheapest brands and not had any problems. Installation matters a lot more than brand.
The cheap ones will likely have to be replaced the first time they need a part but they are so cheap.
I wouldn't worry about brand too much other than getting one of the big three Fujitsu, Daikin or Mitsubishi as they are all pretty incredible as long as they are installed well.

Sent from the Okie state usin Tapatalk

This has been my assessment as well. There was actually a guy from El Salvador who posted here about 6 months ago and said that over there you can buy ductless units for around $240 each, and people install them for around $40 He insisted they last at least 8 years usually...... Funny because here in King County the going rate for ductless units is about $4K per head, and in Seattle it's closer to $7K per head.

[jacob-k]

I'm not sure why you told the OP they won't find any Media product...... I mean there's actually at least two online suppliers for Media, and any local Carrier distributor essentially offers Media too. Why did you tell him "You won't find anything".

Because I didn't realize Midea was actually a brand. I thought it was just where they where made since a lot of mini split products come out of Midea.

But a quick Google search did indeed pop up another sh*t brand of mini splits called midea.

Go figure. Thanks for the education....

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[James Colver]

Because I didn't realize Midea was actually a brand. I thought it was just where they where made since a lot of mini split products come out of Midea.

But a quick Google search did indeed pop up another sh*t brand of mini splits called midea.

Go figure. Thanks for the education....

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Well obviously you have your brand that you are loyal too and that's fine. But I don't think it's a good idea to call it a "sh*t brand when you aren't familiar. I have installed plenty of Mitsubishi, Diakin, and many others and frankly the Media product is better in just about every aspect. I've already discussed how much better their air handlers are compared to Mitsubishi. Beyond that ALL of their units come with the premium gold hydrophilic coils, and meanwhile Mitsubishi doesn't even offer a gold coil on any of their equipment. The Media product comes standard with "hyper heat" and basepan heaters. Mitsubishi does offer these features but its an upgrade. Mitsubishi equipment is just fine...... but's that's all it is. And of course thier tech support is better, and in person expirience their warranty really not that great, even if they're willing to offer 12 year coverage. As far as the product itself is concerned Media is beating Mitsubishi and I expect them to do well here in the US.

[BALloyd]

Do you sell Midea or some knock off BS called Media?

Well obviously you have your brand that you are loyal too and that's fine. But I don't think it's a good idea to call it a "sh*t brand when you aren't familiar. I have installed plenty of Mitsubishi, Diakin, and many others and frankly the Media product is better in just about every aspect. I've already discussed how much better their air handlers are compared to Mitsubishi. Beyond that ALL of their units come with the premium gold hydrophilic coils, and meanwhile Mitsubishi doesn't even offer a gold coil on any of their equipment. The Media product comes standard with "hyper heat" and basepan heaters. Mitsubishi does offer these features but its an upgrade. Mitsubishi equipment is just fine...... but's that's all it is. And of course thier tech support is better, and in person expirience their warranty really not that great, even if they're willing to offer 12 year coverage. As far as the product itself is concerned Media is beating Mitsubishi and I expect them to do well here in the US.

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[James Colver]

Do you sell Midea or some knock off BS called Media?

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Midea

[jacob-k]

Well obviously you have your brand that you are loyal too and that's fine. But I don't think it's a good idea to call it a "sh*t brand when you aren't familiar. I have installed plenty of Mitsubishi, Diakin, and many others and frankly the Media product is better in just about every aspect. I've already discussed how much better their air handlers are compared to Mitsubishi. Beyond that ALL of their units come with the premium gold hydrophilic coils, and meanwhile Mitsubishi doesn't even offer a gold coil on any of their equipment. The Media product comes standard with "hyper heat" and basepan heaters. Mitsubishi does offer these features but its an upgrade. Mitsubishi equipment is just fine...... but's that's all it is. And of course thier tech support is better, and in person expirience their warranty really not that great, even if they're willing to offer 12 year coverage. As far as the product itself is concerned Media is beating Mitsubishi and I expect them to do well here in the US.

You can talk up your cheap, low warranty, no parts, no tech support, no tech training, products all you want. But the vast majority of HVAC people don't feel the same way. And I most certainly won't install anything I can't fix and doesn't have a minimum 10-year warranty. The reason Mitsubishi and other top brands don't have the extra bells and wistles you say these media have is because they run them through years of testing before releasing them to the public. These little cheap brands don't give to craps about you or the customers and you can bet your A** your gonna get caught up in a situation with lots of equipment in that starts showing issues after a few years. Hell, Generac came out with a 24kw 6 months ago, I wont sell any for a couple years, ill let them work out the bugs first. Ive learned not to jump on products when they first come out even when they have been tested. Im just not gonna put my customers and myself in that situation.

But you do you...

[ekid]

All right let's maintain some civility here. I can tell who's professional and who is not.

I've been all over the world traveling and I see these units everywhere in Central Asia, Central and South America under their own names. NEVER a US brand. (or english)
Trouble is I don't buy or live with them for an extended period of time. I am sure poor people like me are way more careful with their money.

Is there a way to do private messages here? Can I give my e-mail privately? I'm not seeing a way.

[James Colver]

You can talk up your cheap, low warranty, no parts, no tech support, no tech training, products all you want. But the vast majority of HVAC people don't feel the same way. And I most certainly won't install anything I can't fix and doesn't have a minimum 10-year warranty. The reason Mitsubishi and other top brands don't have the extra bells and wistles you say these media have is because they run them through years of testing before releasing them to the public. These little cheap brands don't give to craps about you or the customers and you can bet your A** your gonna get caught up in a situation with lots of equipment in that starts showing issues after a few years. Hell, Generac came out with a 24kw 6 months ago, I wont sell any for a couple years, ill let them work out the bugs first. Ive learned not to jump on products when they first come out even when they have been tested. Im just not gonna put my customers and myself in that situation.

But you do you...

Jacob:

Why do you keep misrepresenting to everyone on this thread that Midea is "cheap" when it actually is far better designed. Why do you keep misrepresenting there's no tech support or parts. You're not doing yourself nor anyone else on this thread and good when you keep posting things here that are blatantly untrue. Further in your last post you suggested this technology or equipment is new untested, yet in reality it's actually been tested and been sold in the US for at least that last 5 years under other manufacturers labels. If you don't want to give it a try than that's your own choice, but don't post things that are untrue all together, because you'll harm your creditability if you do.....

[James Colver]

All right let's maintain some civility here. I can tell who's professional and who is not.

I've been all over the world traveling and I see these units everywhere in Central Asia, Central and South America under their own names. NEVER a US brand. (or english)
Trouble is I don't buy or live with them for an extended period of time. I am sure poor people like me are way more careful with their money.

Is there a way to do private messages here? Can I give my e-mail privately? I'm not seeing a way.

Ekid: I've been on this site for about 7 years and unfortunately most of the members here have an EXTREMELY difficult time with civility, and cannot tolerate different opinions. Sadly it's a reflection of the overall direction this country is going and it's the main reason why America feels like it's going to hell at times

I'm not sure if you're able to send private messages unless your a member of this site. You can ask the administrators about that if you want. Good luck....

[R600a]

All right let's maintain some civility here. I can tell who's professional and who is not.

I've been all over the world traveling and I see these units everywhere in Central Asia, Central and South America under their own names. NEVER a US brand. (or english)
Trouble is I don't buy or live with them for an extended period of time. I am sure poor people like me are way more careful with their money.

Is there a way to do private messages here? Can I give my e-mail privately? I'm not seeing a way.

I don't know if you can send private messages but many of the pros here have their emails in their profiles so if you check the profile of whoever you want to message you may very well be able to email them.

Sent from the Okie state usin Tapatalk

[fliks]

Since the installer is the main key, they may like a particular brand and feel comfortable with it. I use Daikin because it is what I am used to and so far have had good luck with it but to be honest have not given the others a try. I just installed a Emura in my home because it looks nice in my opinion, love it.

[shellkamp]

Well obviously you have your brand that you are loyal too and that's fine. But I don't think it's a good idea to call it a "sh*t brand when you aren't familiar. I have installed plenty of Mitsubishi, Diakin, and many others and frankly the Media product is better in just about every aspect. I've already discussed how much better their air handlers are compared to Mitsubishi. Beyond that ALL of their units come with the premium gold hydrophilic coils, and meanwhile Mitsubishi doesn't even offer a gold coil on any of their equipment. The Media product comes standard with "hyper heat" and basepan heaters. Mitsubishi does offer these features but its an upgrade. Mitsubishi equipment is just fine...... but's that's all it is. And of course thier tech support is better, and in person expirience their warranty really not that great, even if they're willing to offer 12 year coverage. As far as the product itself is concerned Media is beating Mitsubishi and I expect them to do well here in the US.

I have never worked on a Midea mini split, but I can say with great certainty that their central air units (the ones they make for the big name companies) are bottom of the barrel.

So when I hear the name "Midea", I have a difficult time believing that it has an association with "high quality" - especially over a premier brand like Mitsubishi, on which I happened to cut my teeth servicing. Of all the brands I've worked on, I still consider them (from a servicing aspect) to be the golden standard - especially with regards to comprehensive diagnostic information. I can go on mylinkdrive.com and lookup each model's circuit board test points (instead of having to call tech support for every little thing)

I actually had to purchase an oscilloscope to diagnose an intermittent communication error on a daikin - Which I never even got to use on the unit because the customer stopped calling us back.



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[jacob-k]

Jacob:

Why do you keep misrepresenting to everyone on this thread that Midea is "cheap" when it actually is far better designed. Why do you keep misrepresenting there's no tech support or parts. You're not doing yourself nor anyone else on this thread and good when you keep posting things here that are blatantly untrue. Further in your last post you suggested this technology or equipment is new untested, yet in reality it's actually been tested and been sold in the US for at least that last 5 years under other manufacturers labels. If you don't want to give it a try than that's your own choice, but don't post things that are untrue all together, because you'll harm your creditability if you do.....

Im not sure how you can argue that's its cheap? is it not half the cost of top tier brands? didn't you say that already?

I did not say it was untested either. I said top tier brands do their own long-term testing before just selling it like many cheaper brands....

I guess I do look at things differently than others. Like for example, I don't like to install something unless I have training, most top tier products REQUIRE you to have training before they will even sell it to you! I know here in California Mitsubishi, Daikin, Fujitsu all have training facilities. Where did you go for you Midea Tech Training?....

I do have experience with these cheap brands. I sold Gree for a couple months. Went to their tech class about 6 weeks in to find out it was a basic practice installation and heavy sales class. Probably put in 20 multizone Gree systems and some single zones. Ive had more parts breakdowns with those Gree systems than I have with 4 or so years installing Mitsu. Ive waited 6 weeks and 4 weeks for circuit boards. 3 and 5 weeks for Cassette blower motors. and a whopping 4 months for some of their 3 microfarads capacitors. We have now replaced 4 of the multizone systems and one of the single zone systems on my dime. They have 3 tech support agents for the entire country....It was the worst decision I've made in my career so far. I dread the day I get called out to one.

SO like I said, you do you....