Any hvac expert here? Which brand is the best.

Hopefully AgAcGuy12 sees your post. He is the man and expert in all things Hvac on the board. He is in BCS and a great guy to do business with. You will thank me later.

Consumer Reports has a national view on brands I can share
but WHO installs "best brand" can either embellish system performance or ruin it.

Absolutely not Trane or AS. Notorious for coil leaks these days. Less than 4 years old and mine already needs replacing on their top of the line one.

Been very happy with our American standard. Our a/c guy was very high on AS and trane

Yeah Lennox had the massive class action lawsuit. Installer is far more important than the name on the equipment though

Went Carrier in the new place. But was between that and Trane.

I don't trust consumer reports at all. Their number one brand is a Lennox product, Lennox is not good. Trane/American Standard chased the stock price much like Lennox and are not good. I do not believe for a second that consumer reports is unbiased.

The best thing I can tell you is they all will fail and find the best installer and service company in your area. If you're going to twist my arm and make me give you a brand I would install I'd say a Rheem/Ruud or Carrier/Bryant product. Register your warranty and have annual maintenance done. Capacitors are mostly garbage now days, motors are failing in just a couple years, refrigerant leaks, txv's. Even though there may be a dozen AC manufacturers there are not a dozen motor manufacturers.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask questions

Mitsubishi has the best reputation for quality in the vrf world. They are JV with Trane in the US, but their products not made in the same factory. York/JCI would be #2, and daiken #3.

AC guy above said it better but, Installation is the most important part. Many of the major players in AC are issuing a lot of the same parts inside. It's like saying "Ford is better because they have better tires" when all three manufacturers use Michelins. Lol.

Reviews are largely a result of crap installs and not crappy equipment. I've had Daikin, Lennox, Rheem, and Carrier and every single one has lasted well past 10 years with proper maintenance and proper installations. The carrier was 5 when we sold the house so never mind on that one. But it was a fine unit.

For instance, my carrier system wasn't cooling well when it was first installed by my builder. I spec'Ed out a nice system. It sucked because they didn't change defaults on the unit and then they did a crappy job with plenum and ducting. Once that was corrected, it performed…..as designed. Lol.

My Lennox from 1996 still going strong (knocks on wood)

I used to work for Lennox, have a 24 year old unit in my house going strong. When it's time to replace, I'll get another Lennox. As mentioned above, the installer is just as important. Crappy install will result in crappy performance from good equipment.

It's shocking the number of HVAC contractors who don't know how to size line sets of duct work. Or even estimate the unit size properly.

If you do want Lennox, go with an old Lennox dealer. The old dealers went through a ton of training back in the day. Hopefully it's been passed down through the years.