Product review (2 stars): Quick Set Up Once Positioned
UPDATE:  As of mid August 2016, this AC unit blew its last stream of cold air and gave up the ghost.  I am guessing the blower wheel broke on it but I have not disassembled to confirm.  The compressor still runs and the fan blowing hot air out the window still seems to work, but the unit does not blow out cold air anymore.  There does not seem to be replacement parts available for this unit online.  I am adjusting my rating to 2 stars.  The unit worked great when it worked, but the fact it lasted about 3 summers is a huge issue for me.

Having grown up in rural Wisconsin where central air was virtually unheard of, I was all too familiar with the use of bulky window air conditioners.  While they were never terribly difficult to set up, they weren't the easiest thing to move from room to room if we felt the need.  I was quite excited to try a portable air conditioning unit that could be moved where we need it.

I came home and found the box sitting on my doorstep.  I grabbed the box to take it inside and the first thing I will comment on is that it is heavy.  While I have not weighed the air conditioner on a scale, I do believe the Amazon shipping weight of 84 pounds is pretty close.

The air conditioning unit unpacks very easily.  There are two shipping bands that wrap around the unit.  Clip those and the top of the box slips right off!  The unit can now be rolled right on the floor.

From unpacking the unit to cold air was a mere 20 minutes.  The air conditioner is easy to install on any single/double hung window or sliding window that the sliding hose mount will fit into.  The sliding piece the hose mounts to will expand from 33 5/8 to about 48 inches if both pieces are used (any smaller than 33 5/8 inches and the inside slider will hit the exhaust hose).  If you use the single piece, it measures in at 24 5/16 inches.

Once the hose is assembled and screwed to the sliding barrier, you place the sliding barrier in the window, insulate the top of the window with a provided piece of foam insulation, and secure the window (if desired) with an "L" shaped bracket that screws into the window frame.

The hardest part of using this unit is the actual placement of the unit.  At around 80 pounds, the unit is heavy and awkward to lift.  Once on the floor of the home where the unit will be used, it is fairly easy to roll around.  However, if using the unit in the home of someone who can not lift that kind of weight, it would be best to be prepared to have someone assist with moving the unit up and down any stairs.

I turned off the central AC in my home and put the Whirlpool Portable Air Conditioning unit downstairs to cool, which is an area of roughly 1500 square feet.  While the unit did not cool the area any further, it did maintain the temperature in an area that large.

I then moved the unit upstairs to our loft that is filled with windows that face the setting sun.  The loft is very difficult to maintain a reasonable temperature in the summer evenings and makes the rest of the upstairs very hot.  Attempts to cool the upstairs were largely unsuccessful using the dampers in the ductwork.  I hauled this unit up the stairs (learning that I needed to drain the water first in the process) and put it in the loft.  This unit made all the difference in the world.  We no longer had to run our central AC as long or as hard.  To be honest, I have no idea if there was a net energy savings or not by running central air conditioning with a portable air conditioner.  The unit did a great job cooling the larger upstairs unit.

Configuration and operation of the portable air conditioner is a bit challenging at first.  It definitely required me to read the User Guide.  The unit is easy enough to get cold air coming out without referencing the User Guide, but things like setting the clock on the unit I could not figure out without reading.  There were several other functions that I would have had no idea what they were without opening the book.

Overall, I have been quite pleased with this unit.  Aside from being heavy and awkward to handle, it cooled quite well.  I would have liked to have some sort of indication of how big an area this unit could cool, but I never found any in the documentation or online when I looked.  I can say that it maintained temperature in roughly a 1500 square foot area and it cooled my upstairs area, which is about 900 square feet, by a degree or two in a few hours.  I would suspect that it would do quite well cooling an area of 500 to 600 square feet.  As long as someone can handle the weight or has someone to help them lift it if needed, it is definitely a unit I would recommend.