Midea System 3 Multi Split Aircon

This is a review of the Midea Oasis aircon range which is one generation before the latest Opal range by Midea.

Package

Indoor unit

3 x Oasis 9K BTU MS11MI-09

Outdoor unit

21K BTU M3OA-21CDN1-QC4 (2 ticks from NEA)

Warranty 

Midea provides 2 years warranty on parts including labour and 6 years on compressor which means it covers only the compressor from the 3rd year onward.

As I purchased this unit from Gain City during a promotional period, it comes with an extended 5 years installation warranty which effectively means an extra 4 years on top of Midea’s 1 year installation warranty.

Warranty however do not cover the remote and filters

Features

WiFi Control

The system can be connected to an existing wireless network or set up as a separate wireless network (WiFi Direct) and can be controlled through a mobile phone app. It can also be remotely controlled on mobile networks (3G/LTE) through Midea servers.

Note: Midea has stop producing Oasis range with WiFi support so if the dealer says the unit they are selling are WiFi enabled/ready, get that written in black and white.

High Density Filter

A piece of additional high density filter that is placed on the wire mesh filter. It can be removed and cleaned just as a normal filter.

Self Cleaning

A hydrophilic fin evaporator that washes away dust and grease on the evaporator through condensed water.

The louver will remain open with fan mode to dry out the coil and pipes up to 15 minutes to prevent mould formation for better unit life span after the unit is turned off. It is activated by default.

It can be overridden by pressing the power off button twice. However, take note of the following statement by Midea

Manual overriding (by pressing “power off” twice) of the self-cleaning function may have unfavorable consequences and promote mould formation that requires maintenance servicing not covered under the original product warranty.

Plasma Electron+

Ionizer than removes airborne germs, bacteria, dust, haze particle, pollen, smoke viruses from indoor air. To activate, press and hold the 'Sleep/Fresh' button on the remote each time you turn the unit on.

Will only be able to confirm if this actually works after using it for a while.

3D Air Flow

Both the vertical and horizontal louvers can swing automatically.

Follow Me

When activated the temperature sensor on the remote controller will replace the blower’s. Hence it is important where the remote is placed to provide a more accurate reading for the system to match the set temperature 

This is another function that needs to manually activated each time you turn the unit on.

Blower / Fan Coil / Indoor Unit

In terms of quality, the units are very much on par with any branded aircon that I have purchased before. Although the previous Luna range from Midea do have quality issues this Oasis range is of a much better quality.

Lifting up the cover to change the filter don’t feel as flimsy as the Luna and so do the filters itself.

It has a white LED indicator which shows the set temperature as well as the indicator for the following functions - Fresh, Defrost, Run, Timer

I find the ‘Defrost’ status on the blower pointless as it will hardly ever lit up in Singapore. I also find the ‘Run’ indicator to be redundant as the temperature indicator is already sufficient to show that the unit is running.

It is also disappointing that position of the horizontal louvers are not 'remembered' and will swing to its default position each time the unit is turned on.

Remote Controller

The remote however do feels cheap. It looks different from the conventional squarish design that most aircon comes with.

It is light and very plasticy. Although the display screen is LED back lit, the buttons however are not and are flushed with the bezel so it makes it harder to fiddle in the dark.

The remote has a built in temperature sensor which will be activated when the 'Follow Me' feature is activated therefore where the remote is placed matters as the system depends on the reading on the remote in regards to the set temperature. This is a very useful feature. However, do take note that the remote needs to be within range else it will not be able to send the info required by the blower so you could end up with a room too cold or too warm. How you place the remote matters too as the remote IR transmitter is design in such a way that it was meant to work with you holding the remote up pointing to the blower. Therefore placing it flat down facing up may cause it not be able to transmit the signal over to the blower. To overcome this, place the remote facing down instead.

The on/off timer on the remote can be set up to 24 hrs in an increment of 1/2 hr. There is no cancel button though, so if you have already set the timer, you have to either take a pin to press the 'Reset' button or pressing the timer button repeatedly until it reverts back to '0'. Good thing is, you can simply press and hold the button will increment automatically.

Some button has dual role in where pressing and holding the button for 2 seconds will activate the other function. 

One thing I find the remote is lacking in remembering some of the common features that I believe many would use like 'Fresh'.

It also comes with a sleep mode where the temperature will be increased by 2 degrees after each hour and then turned off after 7 hours. Take note that pressing other button will cancel this off even though the remote is still showing that it is active. This to me is a defect.

Compressor / Outdoor Unit

With a rating of 2 ELS ticks, when used for 8 hours a day, it will cost approximately $859 annually.

I turned them on daily for 8 hours minimum and mostly 2 blowers at the same time and my whole electricity bill comes up to about $80/per month. This is inclusive of all other electrical devices including fridge, TV. washer and dryer etc.

Conclusions

I have been using the aircon close to a year and so far, no service calls needed.

In terms of cooling power, it does so very well even with 3 blowers turned on at the same time. Even with a set temperature of 26-C, the room still feels very cool. 

Both the blowers and compressor are very silent, even before the 'Silent' feature on the remote is turned on.

Pros

Cost. Easily 1/4 cheaper than competitors.
Quality is good for a China made product
Looks good.
As silent as it gets.

Cons

Some settings on the remote is not stored
Remote feels cheap.
Not enough information on the manual.
WiFi no longer supported.

Panasonic air conditioner

I recently purchased the following Panasonic System-3 Inverter air conditioner.

Indoor unit - CS-C9NKZW
Outdoor unit - CU-3S27MKZ

Having owned a Daikin and a Sharp before, I cannot help but compare them with the Panasonic. There are a few things that matters to me when it comes to air conditioners. Apart from the obvious, which is the power consumption, features like timers and automatic modes are important to me.

I will touch on the Daikin and Sharp a little before I go on to the Panasonic.


DAIKIN

I do not remember the model but the Daikin was reliable if I remember correctly. It did not breakdown during the 6 years of operation. There was nothing that stands out feature wise that I can recall though.

What I don't like
- power consumption was on a high side
- auto mode switches the unit on and off.
- compressor was noisy.


SHARP

I like the Sharp. It was pretty quite, fast to cool and very easy to operate. I mean really easy. There is nothing on the remote control that will confuse you. The PLASMACLUSTER is awesome. As a smoker then, my room did not reek of odours commonly associated with a smoker.

What I don't like
- power consumption was on a high side.  
- compressor broke down twice during the 8 years of operation.
- compressor was pretty noisy.


PANASONIC

The Panasonic has some cool features. 

It has movement and heat sources detection feature that automatically adjust how it cools the room when set to either ECONAVI or AUTOCOMFORT mode. I seriously could not tell the difference between these as I am not able to experience any difference at all. According to Panasonic

"When comfort is your priority and energy-saving is your concern, press the AUTOCOMFORT button. AUTOCOMFORT Examines, Evaluates and Executes based on the same 3 key factors* as ECONAVI and looks after your comfort with an additional factor, High/Low Activity Detection."

Panasonic illustration of the difference between the two is of no help either as you can see from the images below.

While both are cool features, it can be an inconvenience as it take quite a while for the unit scan the surrounding before it starts to cool the room when the unit is turned on with ECONAVI or AUTOCOMFORT mode. In fact, it is a bit too long for me sometimes. It cools the room pretty quick once it when actually starts.

It also has its own version of Plasmacluster called nanoe-G technology. While I am able to scientifically prove anything, I think the effect is pretty similar, judging from how the room smells afterwards.

The horizontal airflow vents are not static and can be set by the remote and can be set to automatic as well.

In terms of noise level, both the condenser and the compressor are pretty quiet.

What I don't like
- on/off timer is based on actual clock time and not duration.
- takes sometime to start cooling when the unit is turned on with ECONAVI or AUTOCOMFORT mode
- unit on and off when fan is set to auto mode.


TIMER AND FAN AUTO MODE

I am going to touch more than the two features that I depend a lot on.
Timer
I use the off timer all the time. I normally set it to turn the unit off after a certain number of hours during the night when I go to sleep, which I find easier than having to set it to turn off at a specific time.

On the Panasonic, the on/off timer is based on the clock set on the remote. It is also a based on preset times, which means it is fixed and not flexible, unless of course you change the settings again. While you can have multiple on/off set times, I still find it useless unless of course you leave home, return back and sleep at the exact same time each day.

Not only the Sharp has something similar, it has another form of timer based on time difference which I find to be more useful and practical. It is so simple to use that I just need to press one button, which is the off timer button to activate the off timer in multiples of 1 hour. If I need to set it to 2 hours, I just press it again and so on for something longer.

Fan Auto Mode

When the fan is set to auto mode, it will switch the indoor unit on or off when the room temperature reaches the set temperature regardless of other mode is on. This upsets the comfort level, ranging from momentarily to quite a while, defeating what, for example, the AUTOCOMFORT mode is supposed to provide.

I feel that the Sharp auto mode for the fan is better. When in auto mode, the unit do not turn on or off. Instead, it adjusts the fan speed and cooling power accordingly. When the room temperature reaches the set temperature, the fan speed and cooling power is set really low, maintaining the comfort level at all times. When the room temperature increases, the fan speed and cooling power increases accordingly.


CONCLUSION

So do I recommend the Panasonic? Well if the two features above are not important to you, then you may like the Panasonic. It has cool features like ECONAVI and AUTOCOMFORT and almost everything can be set, including the horizontal louvers, giving you the freedom to set it to what best suits you.

The Panasonic also really saves energy. I used it at least 12 hours a day and my bill is around $200 including all the other services.

By the way, Panasonic was installed by contractors appointed by Courts, where I purchased it. Compared it those installed by Gain City contractors for the Sharp that I had previously, I think the latter did a way better job.