[jeff5may]

Most of the run of the mill units are 99 percent the same on the inside. The majority of the individual units are built on the same assembly line in china by gree, midea,shinco, or one of their suppliers. The differences in performance are not striking, mostly limited to minor details such as fit and finish, case plastic aesthetics, and how they programmed the embedded controller. The Chinese has done a good job of pirating other designs, so no matter what brand the thing is, it doesn't take much diligence to find out what the mutt was descended from.

With mini split units in general, warranty support consists of the manufacturer sending the end user a new indoor or outdoor unit in most cases. If you have any questions or concerns about the system and do not need a new one, the only lifeline you have is usually the installer or phone support. The units are considered inferior to the full size systems and not worthy of proper or extensive support. Due to the embedded software, they don't all work the same, even though the hardwares are identical between units. The phone support guy isn't going to know if, how or what will happen in strange situations. The expensive brands are not much better than the cheap brands about this, but at least you know someone will answer the phone when you call...