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Summer is well underway, and if you live in a warm or humid climate, having an air conditioner is a great way to stay cool. There are plenty of AC configurations out there, including window air conditioning units, air coolers and portable units. If you don’t want the stress and hassle of installing a unit, you may want to consider a portable air conditioner, which is easier to set up and can be moved throughout your space, experts told us.

SKIP AHEAD How to shop for a portable AC unit

To help you find the best portable air conditioner, we consulted cooling and appliance experts to help you find the right model for your space, plus used their advice to round up some top-rated recommendations.

Here are our top picks for portable air conditioner units, which are designed for easy installation and portability. We’ve highlighted their cooling power, the size of room they’re fit for (according to the brand) and their hose type, whether single or dual. All of the portable air conditioners we recommend have wheels so you can move them around easily.

This portable air conditioner from Shinco has three modes to choose from: cooling, dehumidifying and fan. The unit weighs 62 pounds and has both an LED display and remote that you can use to control it, plus a timer that you can set for up to 24 hours. It has a 4.2-star average rating from more than 1,600 Amazon reviews.

Relatively compact, this portable air conditioner weighs just under 53 pounds. It has an adjustable fan that can cool the air down to 65 degrees Fahrenheit as well as ventilation and dehumidifying features. It’s easy to install, according to the brand, and it has a 4.4-star average rating from more than 36,000 Amazon reviewers.

With 14,000 BTUs of cooling power (the most of any single-hose portable air conditioner on this list), this portable AC is designed to cool a room up to 700 square feet in size, De’Longhi says. The brand also says it will auto-adjust the temperature depending on the humidity levels in the room, and it has dehumidifying and fan features in addition to its cooling features. The De’Longhi has a 4.1-star average rating from 1,700 reviews on Amazon.

The Honeywell HF0CESVWK6 can connect via Wi-Fi to be controlled by your smartphone, which means you can control it from anywhere in your home. The HF0CESVWK6 weighs just under 63 pounds, and you can use your voice to power on the machine, as well as change the temperature and adjust fan speeds. It has a 4.2-star average rating from more than 130 Amazon reviews.

This Wi-Fi-enabled Midea portable air conditioner seems to have been designed with convenience in mind: It can be controlled via a smartphone app or paired with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to respond to voice commands. With 10,000 BTUs of cooling power, it can cool a room up to 200 square feet with a temperature range between 62 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Midea. It also comes with a 24-hour adjustable timer. The Midea has a 4.2-star average rating from nearly 2,000 Amazon reviews.

With the De’Longhi app, you can control this portable air conditioner from your phone, and it’s also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The air conditioner can also be used as a fan, dehumidifier and heater in the colder months. It has a 4.1-star average rating from more than 250 Amazon reviews.

Whynter’s conditioner, the ARC-14S, has three operational modes — air conditioning unit, dehumidifier and fan — and a 24-hour timer. It’s also the only dual-hose model on this list. We chose it for its 4.2-star average rating from more than 10,500 Amazon reviews, more than any other dual-hose portable air conditioning unit we could find.

When you hear the word “air conditioning unit,” you probably think of a window AC, which is typically situated in your window for a few months every summer. A portable air conditioning unit, by comparison, sits on the floor with a vent that you can snake through a window or the wall. “Portable air conditioners draw in ambient air from either the room in which they’re located (single hose) or from outside (dual hose),” explained Carl Prouty, a technologist at appliance retailer Abt. “They cool that air down, then send the cooled air back into the room, while the hot air produced is vented outside through an exhaust hose.”

Free-standing air conditioners are a pricier alternative to window units. However, they’re much easier to install and are typically more compact, so you can move the unit from room to room without much effort, noted John McKeon, MD, CEO of Allergy Standards — an organization that certifies products as “asthma and allergy-friendly,” among other things.

An air conditioner’s cooling ability is typically measured in British Thermal Units, or BTUs. The higher the BTUs, the more powerful the air conditioner is. On average, an air conditioning unit needs about 20 BTUs per square foot of space to keep things cool, said McKeon. It’s important to find a model that’s efficient for your space, but keep in mind that more BTUs isn’t always better.

“Using an AC with the right amount of power is extremely important,” Prouty said. “A unit that is too powerful will cool the room too quickly. This is bad for two reasons: it won’t do an efficient job of dehumidifying the room and it will cycle on and off too frequently, causing undue stress on the AC, which will cause it to break down prematurely.” On the other hand, a unit that’s not powerful enough won’t cool the room down — it’ll just run continuously, meaning your energy bill will be much higher than it would have been had you bought a portable AC that was the appropriate size, and it’ll break down early, too.

According to Prouty, if you plan on putting your portable AC unit in a sunny space, you should add about 10% to the ideal number of BTUs based on the room’s size. If the room gets little to no sun, you’ll need about 10% less, he added. If there are more than two people typically occupying the room, you’ll need to add 600 BTUs for each additional person, and if it’s going in a kitchen, you’ll need to add 4,000 BTUs to “counteract the additional heat [that] kitchen appliances produce,” Prouty noted.

EnergyStar, a federal program promoting energy-efficient products, has its own guidelines to help you choose the right model. As BTU capacity increases, the weight and size of the model typically will, too.

Once you’ve figured out how many BTUs a room will need, McKeon recommended considering the following:

Keep in mind your portable air conditioner needs proximity to a window and electrical outlet. These models also require some simple maintenance, including draining the water from the unit as needed and replacing the air filters every couple of weeks. This will help avoid mold growth in your unit, which can decrease your room’s air quality, said McKeon.

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Justin Krajeski is an associate editor for Select on NBC News. 

Hanna Horvath is a personal finance reporter based in New York City. She currently writes for Policygenius and her work has appeared in Business Insider, MSN, Inc Magazine and more. 

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