great air conditioner for the money

I bought this air conditioner from Home Depot about one month ago when we had a little heat wave. We wanted to cool our bedroom for sleeping. It was not the cheapest or smallest model. What sold me on the Maytag was the great price(40 to 50 dollars cheaper than its nearest competitor) and the warranty. The warranty is five years(in home) parts and labour. Hard to beat that. We have three other Maytag products - washer, dryer, and fridge. We did have a dud fridge but Maytag was quick to deal with it and we were able to upgrade to another model and size with the original price refunded to us even after the first year. This fridge is a Jenn Air owned by Maytag. It is my opinion that Maytag or Jenn Air fridges are not the best quality. But enough of fridges - I just wanted to reinforce the Maytag warranty.
I had to install the air conditioner in a horizontal sliding window which was not difficult as the Maytag is light. Of course most air conditioners are designed for the old fashioned vertical windows so modifications were in order. I attached a 2/4 piece of wood to the upper flange and drilled two more holes through it as well for added strength. With a 3/8 thick shim on the bottom window ledge I put the ac into position. Closing the window against the side with the 2/4 extended it made for a nice fit. Just the right amount of ac was protruding outside. I also placed a piece of wood locking the sliding window into place in case someone opened it allowing the ac to drop outside from the second floor! I then cut a piece of heavy white cardboard to seal off the upper portion of the open window above the ac. I used the supplied foam to seal any cracks.
The ac flashed right up and started cooling. To our surprise, it not only cools the bedroom but the whole top floor of the house. We set a little fan at the bedroom door blowing cool air into the rest of the house. The house is modern with good windows, insulation, and drapes. Temperatures here rarely go up above 34 celcius with a summertime average of 25 or 26 c.
The ac has an auto function and a great digital readout. We keep it set to 68 F which it just right. The fan is continuous however, cycling between high and low but never shutting off. There is a timer that can be set to shut the whole unit down if needed. All functions are also on a remote control as well. There is a filter that needs to be removed and cleaned every two weeks(rinse it under a tap). This is an easy task. I do not believe the filter to be of hepa quality but we also filter the whole house with a hepa type filter.
The only things I do not like about the Maytag ac is the noise and the directional vanes. The filter vibrates and rattles. I need to shim it with a piece of cardboard to quiet it down. The compressor can be very loud when it kicks in. The directional vanes are a little hokey. They will swivel more one way than the other and are very stiff. They only swivel side to side with no vertical adjustment available. I expect the little lever to break off in time.
What I do like is the price of the unit. Its performance is outstanding. And the Maytag warranty is tops.