Which air conditioner brand should I buy?
Brand matters less than most people expect. A well-sized, well-installed mid-range system will outperform a premium system that is the wrong capacity or badly fitted. On efficiency there is less between the major brands than the marketing suggests, as the table below and our air conditioner brand reviews show.
Where brand does matter is warranty, parts availability and local service. You are buying something you will keep for ten to fifteen years, so a brand with a service agent in your area is worth more than one with a better brochure.
These reviews cover each brand’s current Australian range, warranty terms and efficiency, from the manufacturers’ own information and the Australian Government’s Energy Rating register. We update them as ranges change, and we link to where each figure came from.
Brands at a glance
The Australian Government’s Energy Rating register, as at . Stars are for the most efficient wall-mounted reverse cycle split of that size (bedroom size 2.0 to 3.0kW, living area 6.0 to 8.0kW) in the label’s average climate zone. Listed alphabetically: this is not a ranking, and a half-star difference is not worth choosing on. Warranties are as each manufacturer states them, linked from each review; confirm the terms on your quote.
| Brand | Registrations | Best bedroom split, stars (cool / heat) | Best living-area split, stars (cool / heat) | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActronAir | 128 | 6.5 / 3.5 | 4.5 / 3 | 5 years (parts and labour on residential ducted) |
| Daikin | 572 | 5.5 / 4 | 4.5 / 3 | 5 years parts and labour |
| Fujitsu (GENERAL) | 159 | 5 / 3 | 4 / 2.5 | 5 years parts and labour |
| Haier | 81 | 7 / 3.5 | 4.5 / 3 | 5 years (under 25kW) |
| Hisense | 68 | 7 / 3 | 4 / 2.5 | 5 years, or 7 if registered within 6 months (limited-time offer) |
| LG | 104 | 5 / 3 | 4.5 / 2.5 | 5 years parts and labour, plus extra compressor cover |
| Mitsubishi Electric | 246 | 5.5 / 3.5 | 4 / 2.5 | 5 years parts and labour (M and S series) |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | 131 | 5 / 4 | 3.5 / 3 | 5 years parts and labour |
| Panasonic | 218 | 5 / 3.5 | 4 / 3 | 5 years parts and labour |
| Samsung | 152 | 5 / 3.5 | 3.5 / 2.5 | 5 years parts and labour (wall splits) |
| Toshiba | 179 | 4 / 3.5 | 3.5 / 3 | 7 years parts and labour (registered dealer) |
What the stars do and do not tell you
The stars come from the manufacturers’ own tests, submitted to the regulator, so they describe efficiency, not reliability. A registration stays listed until it expires, so not every one is still on sale.
Source: Energy Rating data, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Data as at .
Premium Japanese and Korean brands
Value brands
Australian made
No longer sold here
- Kelvinator No longer available for sale in Australia. Read this if you own one
How we write these
We use the manufacturers’ own current Australian product and warranty information, and the Australian Government’s Energy Rating register for how many products each brand has registered and how efficient the best of them are. Both are free for anyone to check, and we link to them. We do not use ratings from comparison or quote websites. Where two sources disagree, we say so. Where a manufacturer makes a claim we cannot verify, we attribute it to them rather than repeat it as fact.
We do not rank the brands against each other overall, because the right brand depends on the system type you need, what your local installers stock and support, and what is in front of you at the price. We also do not accept payment from manufacturers to influence what these pages say.
Brands we do not yet cover
A few brands with a growing Australian presence do not have a page here yet, including Midea and Gree. There is still limited independent Australian information to write from. We are watching them.
If an installer quotes you a brand we do not cover, the same principles apply: check the warranty term and whether it covers parts and labour, check there is a service agent in your area, and compare the specific model rather than the badge.
The more useful comparison
Whatever brand you land on, these three things will affect your outcome more:
- Correct capacity, based on a heat load assessment
- An installer whose licences you have checked
- Comparing quotes, so you know what a fair price looks like