If you’ve grown tired of installing your window air conditioner every spring and removing it every fall, it might be time for a portable unit. Enter the Frigidaire Gallery Cool Connect Smart Portable Air Conditioner. At $649, it doesn’t come cheap, but it’s easy to install, offers 12,000 BTU of cooling power, and works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands. That said, its tiny wheels make it difficult to move from room to room, and as is the case with all portable units, you have to deal with a bulky exhaust hose. It could also use some more smarts, including usage reporting and the ability to interact with other smart home devices, and its Wi-Fi performance was sketchy in testing.

Design and Features

The Cool Connect is a 12,000 BTU air conditioner designed for rooms up to 550 square feet. It has three fan speeds and a built-in three-pint-per-hour dehumidifier. Standing a little over three feet tall and measuring 12.6 inches wide, the cylindrical enclosure looks nothing like a typical portable air conditioner. It sports a cool-looking white mesh finish and will likely garner attention no matter where you place it.

At 78 pounds it’s heavier than the Hisense 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With Wi-Fi (64.4 pounds), as well as its window-bound sibling, the Frigidaire Cool Connect 8000 BTU Smart Room Air Conditioner (53 pounds). The bottom of the unit has four smallish casters that work well on hard flooring but are virtually useless on carpet, which makes moving the unit very difficult. The Hisense model, on the other hand, uses larger wheels and is very easy to move across any type of flooring.

While portable ACs may be more convenient than their window-mounted counterparts, they require the use of large, unsightly exhaust hoses to expel hot air. The Frigidaire FGPC1244T1’s hose is 6.5 inches in diameter and can be extended from 15 inches out to 59 inches. One end has an adapter for connecting to the AC unit’s exchange slot, and the other end has an adapter for connecting to the window slider kit. The tube is covered with a gray cloth to help keep warm air from escaping. In addition to the air exchange slot, the rear of the unit contains four slide-out air filters and two drain plugs. You have to connect a garden hose to one of the plugs for drainage when using the unit as a dehumidifier.

Similar Products

3.0

Average

Frigidaire Gallery Smart Room Air Conditioner With WiFi Control (FGRC0844S1)

$429.00

Check Stock

at Amazon

(Opens in a new window)

Read Our Frigidaire Gallery Smart Room Air Conditioner With WiFi Control (FGRC0844S1) Review

4.0

Excellent

Hisense 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With Wi-Fi

$687.36

See It

at Walmart

(Opens in a new window)

Read Our Hisense 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With Wi-Fi Review

3.5

Good

Quirky Aros

$362.18

Check Stock

at Walmart

(Opens in a new window)

Read Our Quirky Aros Review

3.5

Good

Evapolar Personal Air Cooler

$109.00

Check Stock

at Amazon

(Opens in a new window)

Read Our Evapolar Personal Air Cooler Review

3.5

Good

IcyBreeze Portable Air Conditioner and Cooler

$329.99

Check Stock

at Amazon

(Opens in a new window)

Read Our IcyBreeze Portable Air Conditioner and Cooler Review

The top of the AC holds a grille that discharges cool air upward in a 360-degree pattern. A control panel on the front of the unit holds an LCD that shows the current temperature during normal operation and the set-point temperature when changing settings. There are multiple LED indicators to the left and right of this panel for each mode (Cool, Fan, Dry, Eco) and fan speed (Hi, Med, Lo, Auto). There are also indicators that tell you when to clean the filters, when the unit is following a schedule, and when it is connected to your home’s Wi-Fi.

A row of buttons along the bottom of the control panel are used to turn LED lights on and off, select a mode, adjust temperature and schedule times, set fan speed, reset the filter indicator, and connect to Wi-Fi. Included in the box is a disc-shaped remote that measures 2.7 inches in diameter. It has buttons for turning the AC on and off, changing modes, adjusting the temperature set point, and increasing/decreasing fan speed.

In the box it comes with an exhaust hose, a window sliding kit, several pieces of foam window insulation, a piece of decorative film, a wedge safety lock for the window, a user guide, and the above-mentioned remote.

App and Voice Control

The unit uses the same barebones mobile app (available for Android and iOS) as Frigidaire’s 8000 BTU Smart Room Air Conditioner, but this time around the home screen displays the current room temperature as well as the set-point temperature, whereas before you had to turn the AC off and back on again to see the current room temperature. Here you can change the temperature set-point, select an operating mode, and a fan speed.

At the bottom of the screen is a Power button, a Timer button to have the unit shut down at a specific time, and a Schedule button to create on/off times based on your daily activities. The gear icon in the upper right corner takes you to a screen where you can check the filter status, turn notifications on and off, and select a temperature unit (F or C).

The AC offers support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands that allow you to turn it on and off and set the temperature, but it doesn’t integrate with other smart home devices such as thermostats, fans, and lighting, nor does it support If This Then That (IFTTT) recipes or usage reporting, which would be helpful in conserving power.

Installation and Performance

Installing the AC was easy. Once it was unboxed and rolled into place, I installed the window sliding kit. I started by cutting the foam and attaching it to the window sash using the included double-sided tape. Next I unlocked the slider, fit it to the sash, and locked it in place. I lowered the window to meet the slider, filled in the gaps with additional double-backed foam, and attached the exhaust tube to the AC and to the port on the window slider.

To connect the AC to my home Wi-Fi I downloaded the app, created an account, and turned on the unit. I tapped Add Another Appliance in the app, pressed and held the AC’s Wi-Fi button for five seconds until I heard it beep, and followed the instructions to connect to the AC using my phone’s Wi-Fi settings. I returned to the app, chose my home Wi-Fi SSID, entered the password, and was connected within several seconds.

The Cool Connect’s 12,000 BTU cooling power was more than adequate for my 360-square-foot bedroom. I tested it during a late spring heat wave while the temperature outside was in the low 90s, and it brought the room temperature down from 80 degrees to a very comfortable 70 degrees in around 20 minutes. As with the window model, this unit makes a bit of noise when the compressor kicks in and it emits a slight gurgling sound every so often, but it’s not significantly louder than most other air conditioners. That said, it’s not as quiet as the Hisense model.

The timer and schedule features worked perfectly, and the AC responded instantly to temperature, fan speed, and mode changes made using the mobile app and when using Alexa voice commands. That is, when it managed to stay connected. As with the window model, the portable unit frequently dropped its Wi-Fi signal in testing. Other Wi-Fi devices located in the same room, including the Hisense portable AC and the Hunter Signal 54-inch Ceiling Fan, experienced no such issues.

Conclusions

You’ll pay twice as much for the Frigidaire Gallery 12,000 BTU Cool Connect Smart Portable Air Conditioner as you will for a typical 12,000 BTU window-based AC, but because it’s portable you never have to worry about heavy lifting, removing storm windows, and blocking out an entire view. And its ability to work with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, coupled with its quick cooling performance, make it a decent choice. But it could use a better set of wheels, and you have to deal with a big, bulky exhaust tube. I’d also like to see a stronger Wi-Fi radio, and it’s missing a few key smart features, including usage reporting, support for IFTTT recipes, and integration with other smart home devices. The Hisense portable model doesn’t support voice commands, but for the price, it’s a better buy overall.