I paid about $300 for the stupid one I have and I am extremely disappointed in it's performance. It would cool a single bedroom somewhat, but never enough for my satisfaction.
Hmmm, ours made tons of beer and wine for almost a year, needed no hole for a window where possible air leakage could happen, little maintenance, very quiet, and extremely light. Seems worth it to me, if i had a bigger BTU unit then I'm sure i wouldn't have posted this thread at all.
Just installed a 13K BTU and cools too much! On 20C the room goes to 18C. Also has an auto clean function on the remote. Looks like i got the BTU i needed and spared the hassle of putting a huge unit through my brew wall. Installed the drain in the back for water to go out as well. Surely not all of these units are bogus, besides, I can replace it every 4 years if something happens to it...for free, only $100 extra.
Look at John Beers sticky for his walk-in system. His window unit couldn't go long before he had to modify it with cooling fans, seems my unit came with fans built in already.
Booya