It all boils down to the installation as you have said but it also lies behind solid and reliable engineering for reliable operation. First few years is never an issue, but as the years progress by mechanical stuff tend to fail out due to poor engineering.
I agree. Sharp entered the Indian AC market by 2011, so nobody here have over 4 years experience over their ACs. Even though internationally they are designing & manufacturing ACs for the last 50 years. I will require another 2.5 years atleast to gauge the lasting experience over a 5 year period.
Some people who swear by bring OG , mitsubishi from gulf. These are build more robust for the harsh heat and chennai heat is no better.
Agreed. But in Calcutta, we do not require such extreme ACs as the record temp ever reached here is 44 degrees. Generally it is always below 40 degrees. For inverter ACs I have seen the trend of 46 degrees as max which they could sustain. This goes for both Sharp & General.
Moreover AC's is more of mechanical stuff than electronic gizmo.
Electronics are bound to take control over mechanical stuff. See for cars as an example. They were purely mechanical in the first place, and now a day’s these cars are stuffed to the gills with electronic controllers. But these electronics improved the efficiency & safety which we cannot omit. So it is a plus.
A purely mechanical AC may be more robust that an electronically controlled one, but it can never mimic the efficiency levels that a micro-computer controlled Electronic Pulse Linear Expansion Valve can devote to the overall efficiency of an AC. This valve has the ability to infinitely adjust the refrigerant flow which helps in drastically improving the efficiency of the desired cooling. This is impossible to do with a purely mechanical capillary. So, personally I welcome the electronic digital age.
Even after years and years of running carrier had zero issues except one gas leak which was happened after 3rd free service. Later it was confirmed valve joint was loose (greedy technician).
Good to know such a wonderful experience with your Carrier AC, but your experience does not make Carrier a top AC brand or as you said before. Same goes for Sharp, Mitsubishi, General, Hitachi, Daikin & all others. There are numerous others who are not happy with Carrier. Take my friend as an example who bought a premium 5 star Carrier split last year. His buying decision was because it uses 100% copper. He has already started to face a lot of issues starting not enough chilling capacity and now a leaked condenser.
Same goes for Sharp as depicted in this thread. Similarly for all other brands. In the end I find there are always some people who are happy with a particular brand and some others are not, all being related to their personnel experience. So for me there is no definitive top AC brand.
Every company cut cost for the profit and its important where they are cutting corners. Its a dilemma between solid work horse and ugly looking facia or flashy controls, sleek unit with cheap compressor
Every company has their own strategy. The more you pour on marketing these products for wider general recognition, the more you dump these expenses on the products you sale, invariable effecting the end customer with a higher price quote. But as a company you are able to sale to a lot more people due to higher brand recognition via advertisement hence fatter profit. I know these marketing guys are not dumb.
I remember some 2.5 years back and even now, when I go to my office (some 10 kms) I find quite a few big advertisement hoardings of Daikin, Hitachi and even General (very rare in North India). Even Mitsubishi advertise in AC buses. These expenses on a broader perspective (India as a whole) cost a lot. But amazingly I never saw a hoarding of Sharp AC. Saves them money which in return benefits their customer in having products of equal quality with a much lesser price quote. Or as I read for an online newspaper where CEO of Sharp where elaborating their marketing strategy. That was one of the main reasons why I went for them, and they where INR 15K cheaper than equivalent Daikins & Hitachi Inverter ACs.