Windmill air conditioner review: A stylish, functional unit for under $400

Windmill air conditioner for $395 direct from Windmill

I live in New York City, where there are four discrete seasons: Interminable winter, 15 days of spring, sweat-like-Patrick-Ewing-after-four-fouls summer, and sweater weather.

Needless to say, when Windmill Air asked if I'd like to test out one of its window units, and that coincided with a smattering of 90-degree days, I said yes.

Full disclosure: I am not Bob Vila (check the byline), nor am I any sort of engineer. I'm a guy who rents a modest one-bedroom apartment and grew up learning how to fix toilet chains, swap out oil filters and swear at inanimate household objects with my father. I do OK, so take this as an inexpert, expert opinion.

Windmill is a smart air conditioner startup that launched in 2020 and just looks different from your typical window A/C unit. Frankly, it looks a lot better: It's sleek, matte white and blends into contemporary aesthetics in ways other window units simply can't. Most window A/C units employ brutalist styling, putting function first and form... somewhere near last. Aesthetically, they look like Optimus Prime is peeping into your living room.

Aside from style, Windmill is Wifi enabled and fully controllable from a smartphone app. This lets you control your air conditioner from just about anywhere. At present, Windmill is available directly from the Windmill Air website, Home Depot and PC Richard & Son.

Shoutout to my local Fedex guy, who was kind enough to haul the Windmill unit up to my third-floor apartment. It comes wrapped with plastic strips that serve as carrying straps, so it's a little easier to maneuver around than most boxes that weigh 59 pounds.

You'll need a window that's between 23 inches and 37 inches, and a vertical opening of at least 14 inches. The window in question for this test was 30 inches wide, so right in the sweet spot and perfect, and right in the middle of my living space.

Previously, a Friedrich CCF05A10A 5000 BTU Window Air Conditioner that I'd bought new in May 2020 occupied this window, so that serves as the benchmark for the test. Originally, the Friedrich served in a 12 foot by 10 foot bedroom, but it since pulled bigger duties in my new living room where I spend most of the day writing and editing consumer reviews. You're welcome.

Almost everything you need to install your unit comes in the box:

The scissors struck me as odd, given that most people have scissors. Now I have an extra pair whose sole purpose was to cut a couple strips of foam.

You'll need other tools that don't come with your Windmill. Namely:

I liked how the Windmill installation booklet wasn't just a one-sheet with multiple languages. It provides illustrated, step-by-step guidance with simple captions. That made it easy to follow, and I never felt like the flummoxed guy in IKEA assembly guides. That was a big plus.

The Windmill installation guide features simple diagrams and captions to walk you through each step.

Windmill says the unit requires two people to install, but I did it myself. I'd recommend having a buddy around to both lift and hold the unit in place, given its weight. You'd rather not drop a 60-pound appliance out an open window. But if you don't have a buddy around, you'll probably be OK on your own.

The illustrations don't really differentiate the two types of foam that come in the box, though the captions do. The adhesive foam goes along the lower edge of the window that holds the Windmill unit in place, while the non-adhesive foam goes along the sides and between window frames.

The adhesive foam is quite adhesive. I learned the hard way.

That said, peel off the backing on the adhesive foam only as you stick it to the lower portion of your window. It's rather tacky, and I made the mistake of peeling the backing off across the whole strip; this led to the foam sticking to my hands and tearing because it was so soft. My hands ended up temporarily covered in adhesive foam. Great if you're Lon Cheney; not great if you're just wanting a good seal on your A/C.

Aside from that, a total of seven screws hold Windmill into place: Three across the top of the unit through the lower window, two on the bottom corners into the sill, and two screws in a bracket on the side of the window frame that prevents the window from opening further.

The lower two screw holes run perpendicular to the unit and parallel to the floor, but I couldn't put screws into place because my window sill was a thin piece of metal about 1/4 inch thick. There simply wasn't anything I could screw into. That said, I was able to put the other screws across the top in, and the side bracket was easy enough to install with two screws.

This question was never really answered on the Windmill literature or anywhere I could find online, so let's answer it: No, you do not need a support bracket for a Windmill air conditioner. The aforementioned screws hold your Windmill unit in place.

I'd gone out and bought a new A/C support bracket from Home Depot prior to installing my Windmill, but came to find that the unit sits about 2 inches above the bracket.

The Windmill unit (on the left) sits a few inches above the support bracket I previously installed for a different air conditioner.

Personally, I don't love that I'm relying on a few screws to hold a 60-pound air conditioner in place, but perhaps I just need reprogramming. It works how it's supposed to, and it isn't going anywhere. I guess I've seen too many Final Destination movies.

With the big caveat being that my previous A/C was 5,o00 BTUs, and the Windmill is 8,300 BTUs: The Windmill does a better job of cooling my living room. I first ran it on a 90-degree day in NYC, and the fact that Windmill blows air upward at a 45-degree angle means it does a better job of getting cool air out into the room.

Traditionally, window air conditioners blow air directly forward, so if you place next to any furniture or behind a bed, you'll do a better job of cooling off that furniture than most of the room. Windmill circulates the cool air upward, and within a few minutes, it was easier to notice a difference. It negated the need for me to also run a floor fan in my living room to make sure the cool air got around.

The three modes are also easy to figure out: Cool, Eco and Fan. There are a handful of fan speeds, and you can cycle up and down through desired temperatures. The minimalist design makes that easy.

The Windmill unit looks far more inconspicuous in a window than most A/C units.

I also quite liked how the LED display turns off after a minute. This means there's less light pollution in your room than normal — a huge asset if you're putting a Windmill in a bedroom. I can't say enough about the aesthetics compared to a regular A/C unit.

OK, here's a bugaboo: I couldn't connect my Windmill to Wifi. There's an EZ connect mode, where you make sure the Wifi indicator is in pairing mode (it blinks twice a second), and you manually enter your Wifi password in the app to connect. That didn't work.

I then tried switching to the AP mode, per the website instructions, and while I could see the Windmill hotspot (named something like Smartlife-XXXX) I was unable to connect to the hotspot.

After multiple tries, I gave up. The Windmill unit was working perfectly, my room was cool and the included remote was more than enough.

One note, too: If it seems like your Windmill remote isn't working, it's because there's a then plastic strip separating the battery from its contact point. Open the remote up and remove that plastic. Et voilà.

It's hard to hate on any air conditioner when it's 90 degrees out, but the best parts of Windmill are:

My complaints are mostly personal preferences than overall flaws, but:

The Wifi problem was by no means a deal killer for me, as I have actively chosen to not have a smart home, and don't care about controlling my air conditioner from my phone. Were I commuting on a daily basis, it'd be nice to turn on my A/C 10 minutes before I got home to cool off the space in advance. But I'm not, and it's not necessary for me.

Additionally, the fact that Windmill sits above a support bracket isn't a flaw; it's just I'm used to my window air conditioners requiring one and feeling safer knowing that I've got more than just five screws holding this thing in place. Truthfully, the bracket in the side of the sill that prevents the window from opening fully is doing the real work, and I feel good about that.

For $395, the Windmill Air window air conditioner is a solid choice. It's only 3 inches longer than my Friedrich unit, but the same height and width, and weighs only 8 pounds more. But that slight size difference packs in two-thirds more BTUs (5,000 vs. 8,300), meaning Windmill has a greater capacity to cool my living room, and combined with the 45-degree angle in which it blows air upward, it does a better job at its sole purpose.

Your author, handyman and A/C tester mean mugging with the installed Windmill.

All that said, the biggest difference is the aesthetics. That can't be overstated. Surely other companies will look to actually advance window air conditioner design at some point, but until that time, Windmill will blow the competition away in looks — and blow cool air wherever you need it.