Quirky Aros The Quirky Aros is a beautiful window air conditioner with an extremely useful companion app, but both the app and the unit itself could use a little more fine-tuning.

Quirky Aros

  • Pros

    App allows you to control unit remotely, set schedules. Tracks power usage and costs. Gorgeous design.

  • Cons

    Pricey. Inefficient wings. Occasionally buggy. Lacks Energy Star certification.

  • Bottom Line


The home air conditioner has long been ready for a makeover. Considering it lives in many windows for nearly half a year (or more, depending on where you live), there's really no good explanation for the unattractive, inefficient boxes that define our summers. The $300 Quirky Aros combines a beautiful design with a companion app that lets you control the window-mounted, 8,000 BTU air conditioner from anywhere. The Aros is undoubtedly the best looking unit on the market, and Quirky's app adds genuine utility. It comes close to setting the new standard for air conditioners, but a few problems hold it back.

A Cooler Design
The Aros was designed by Quirky and manufacturing partner GE, but at a glance you might think that Apple had suddenly gotten into the home appliance game. The Aros has a sleek, clean look that instantly brings Cupertino to mind. That's a good thing, since just about every other window unit on the market shares the same dull design.

The air conditioner is made of metal and plastic. The entire unit is a fresh, clean white, as opposed to the more eggshell color you'll find on many other air conditioners. The front features a clear plastic overlay that adds a bit of gloss. And though it appears as if cool air would come out of any number of the perforations on the front of the unit, it turns out they're used to remove hot air from the room. Instead, the air actually blows out from the top of the air conditioner, but I'll get to that when I discuss performance below. The same goes for the house-shaped perforation below the dots, which is used to pair the Aros with your phone.

Aros controls inline

At the bottom of the unit you'll find a number of capacitive touch controls, which allow you to turn the Aros on or off, cycle through cooling modes, and change fan speeds. When you press a button, a blue LED will light up on the bottom right corner of the unit and display the current temperature in your room. The light is almost bright enough to light up a room when you change the temperature in a dark room, which is annoying when you change a setting in the middle of the night, but it automatically turns off after a minute or so.

Size-wise, the Aros measures 12.75 by 20.9 by 15.75 inches (HWD) and the shipping weight is a hefty 62.7 pounds. It fits double-hung windows 24.5 to 40.5 inches wide and 13.5 inches high through the use of retractable wings, which is actually a little more versatile than many of the 8,000 BTU units out there, which max out at 36 inches.

Setup and Performance
Setting up the Aros will be relatively familiar to anyone that's ever installed a window-mounted air conditioner before. You'll need to attach a few pieces to the unit before you're ready to go, and it helps to have an extra person on hand, since it's quite heavy.

I did encounter one snag in the setup process: My installation guide was missing a step (attaching the clips needed to install the wings). I figured it out on my own, and Quirky has since updated their installation guides online, but you might be confused when using the instructions that come out of the box.

Aros room inline

A note about those wings. Whereas you're likely familiar with the traditional accordion design, Quirky has instead opted for a smooth, fabric wing. It's a good idea in theory, since it makes for a more streamlined look. In practice, though, it quickly becomes clear why the accordion wing is so ubiquitous. First off, the fabric wings fail to create a proper seal from the outdoors. I tried to tinker with them, but there was always a slight gap at the top and bottom. This means they not only fail to provide proper insulation, but they can let small bugs in. The other problem is that it was extremely difficult to get the fabric of the wing installed in such a way that it looked smooth. I had to try a number of times before I was finally able to get all of the lumps out of it.

Aside from that, I was quite pleased with the performance of the Aros. 8,000 BTUs is capable of cooling up to 350 square feet, or roughly 17 by 20 feet worth of space. It had no trouble quickly cooling down my bedroom, which measures about half that amount but gets very warm from a ton of natural sunlight. Although summer in New York still hasn't fully kicked in yet, I was able to cool my bedroom down in just 20 minutes or so by setting the Aros to High, then maintaining the temperature by switching it to Low.

Unlike many air conditioners that push air out from the front, the Aros pushes cool air upward, which Quirky claims increases air circulation. I'm not sure if it made much of a difference in cooling, but I like the fact that I could sit near the air conditioner without it blasting me directly in the face. If you have curtains or shades attached to the window you install the Aros in, though, you could have a problem. The upward air caused my blackout shade to move back and forth endlessly, until I found a way to tuck it between the top of the air conditioner and the lip of my window.

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