Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Avanti PLUS Series

This is a great product – Very strong air con unit and extremely quiet. I was very impressed with the quality of this product. I would recommend to anyone. At times I have to turn it down all the way as it works very well and I'm the type who loves a very cold temperature. My bedroom is nicknamed Antarctica for a reason haha Show details

great airconditioner wish i had got it years ago iff it was around – have tried it both cooling and heating does a great job runs quite just a bit of air noise which is normal for most fan systems looks good on my pine wall Show details

Quiet and very efficient – This AC is used mostly for heating and has an excellent COP. We heat a large space (cathedral ceiling) and don't need more than quiet mode, which is so quiet, you hardly know it is on. We also installed the WIFI option so we can turn it on an hour or so before we arrive, this works very well. Cooling is also used sometimes, and similarly don't need more than quiet mode. Very happy with the machine and install. Show details

Shush .. the Avanti Plus is trying to say something! – Split system air conditioners - holy moly, there sure are a lot of those around! Am I right or am I right. Anyhoo, we wanted a small, quiet and efficient unit (e.g. 2KW) for a bedroom. I must admit to being drawn to this brand after having a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries fridge (which runs so quietly you can hardly hear it). It was still a close… Read more

call between the Mitsu, Panasonic, and Daikin, but in the end I was sold on the fact that this 7 star unit was engineered by renowned, Italian industrial design firm TENSA, boasting a sleek, sophisticated and modern design that was awarded the Silver A’Design Award in 2017.

"Whoa back there - did you say 'TENSA' .. err I mean '7 star' ? " "Ahuh.. yes I did. May I continue? .. <whistle>

So anyway, it turns out that the Avanti Plus is one of the only 7 star rated options out there (round of applause). The unit is very similar in features to the Avanti, which is its 5 star rated 'uglier' cousin, but probably just as good an option if budget is an issue. You can also find the Avanti line at the likes of Bunnings or Harvey, whereas this was a little more sparse and hence not as heavily discounted. Price difference is around 300 on a 2Kw system. For the extra coin, you do get a slightly different chassis, a motion sensor (like on the Daikin) an ultra Eco mode (for that bonus two stars in efficiency), plus some smarty pants allergy filters (cough). That TENSA design obviously cost some biscuits as well. It's still a big white box on the wall people - don't get your hopes up.

Anyway, the unit is shaped quite nicely for an aircon, but it's not until you turn things on where you will notice the difference to cheaper brands. This thing is ultra quiet ... and I don't use the word 'ultra' lightly here. Not just inside either. The big difference to other systems I've seen and heard is for the outside unit. Super silent compressor unit - very impressive. Even the installer couldn't believe how silent this thing ran. You would have no problems installing this right next to a paper thin bedroom wall or near windows. The only aspect not entirely silent is the fancy flap mechanism when the unit turns on or off. The whole front fascia lifts up to reveal the IR sensor, and that motion can be slightly creaky. Once running however, it's much like most other internal units in terms of fan noise. The fan on low is very quiet.

Apart from that - it cools (or heats) like .. uhm, well.. any inverter air-con. Let's just say it does its job. You do get the standard wireless controller, which is nothing fancy but you do get stuff like 3D fan modes, control over all the fan vanes (i.e. direction up/down/left/right), plus a 24/7 timer. There's also options for Wifi and wired wall controllers if that flavour takes your fancy.

Efficiency lives up to its 'general like' star rating, as far as I've been able to tell. I haven't isolated the exact figures, but our solar monitor shows shows around a 500 watt power difference when switched on. I do get the impression that it's not just fancy red and blue stars on the box - this thing actually runs very efficiently.

I would totally recommend this - not for the star bedazzled features, the Silver Design award (oooh.. I wonder who got Gold), or its fancy looks. No I would definitely recommend it purely for it's awesome efficiency and very low noise profile.

Noisiest split system aircon I've ever owned – 13th May 2021 is the day I had the SRK20ZSXA-W MHI Avanti Plus model installed in my then 1yr old daughter’s bedroom. The electrician had gently tried to steer me to the regular Avanti model (guess he knew more than he let on!) but no, I had my heart set on the Plus version because it’s a "platinum model", supposedly quieter and more energy… Read more

efficient. So presto, it got installed. I got reassured by all the reviews that say how amazingly quiet and efficient MHI is in general. Perhaps others are, but mine is far from it. Before installing the MHI unit we had owned a Panasonic, a Fujitsu and a Mitsubishi unit in our previous places. I took it for granted that split system aircons cooled and heated and were quiet at doing so. The problem is, as it turns out, the MHI Avanti Plus was anything but quiet (although, granted, it is super efficient).

There are three fundamental issues with this unit:

1. It has too many moving parts and they make a racket when the unit turns on and off. All well and good during the day (unless of course you have this installed in your baby’s room, like I did) but at night on schedule mode this thing is guaranteed to wake you up each time.

2. The louvre movement on this aircon is mind-blowingly loud. My daughter’s room backs onto a bathroom and without a joke I can hear this vibrating through the wall in the bathroom when the louvre moves. So turn off the louvres, I hear you say. Ah, this is where issue #3 comes in.

3. While you can turn off the louvres in cooling mode, in heating mode the unit still (despite them being off) periodically will adjust the louvre based on temperature in the room (read: randomly and unpredictably). No way, I hear you say. Yeah, I’d like to put whatever genius designed this unit in a room with it on a cold winter’s night. The MHI rep that in the end came out to our place to look at this unit confirmed that there is no way to make that louvre stop moving in heat mode.

I am not one to write reviews without trying to sort issues out. I had the electrician back within a month of install to check it’s working correctly and is installed correctly. He checked it, agreed it’s noisy as hell, but also confirmed it’s correctly installed. Our first warranty call out was in August 2021, where other electricians pretty much confirmed the unit was working as expected. The electrician commented on its poor design but said nothing seemed to be technically wrong. I emailed a video to MHI who confirmed the unit doesn’t seem to be sounding like it should (specifically, they said "Very hard to say for sure what that noise is but safe to say it is not a normal sound for an MHI product"). Queue another warranty call-out. I believe they replaced the motor on the louvre that time (just in case, but they still thought it was sounding like it should). After that change I straight away said the noise was ridiculous – you simply shouldn’t hear aircon louvres move (maybe Panasonic, Fujitstu and Mitsubishi had spoilt me though, who knows!) – and I was told the unit was operating as it should and if I had an issue I needed to talk to an MHI rep. So, as you’d expect, I requested that option. The lovely gentleman came out, looked at the unit, listened to it, and said it’s working as it should. He commented that due to the “aesthetic decisions” and the “larger louvre design” on the model, the motor for the louvre is larger than in most units and so it’s more noisy. Seriously!? Who builds an aircon to be pretty at the cost of being quiet?! Turns out MHI does. I gave up at this point. We were stuck with a noisy unit that was confirmed multiple times to be working as designed.

We have persevered with this unit until now – that’s just a little over 3 years, and 3 winters of the louvre doing whatever it wants despite being “off”. In summer we make do by turning it on before my daughter goes to bed and turning it off after she wakes up; and we keep the louvres off. We can’t stop the louvres from adjusting in winter though and I’ve had countless nights of my daughter waking up as a result. Why am I writing this now, after 3 years of putting up with it? Because tonight at bedtime, as I was reading the last bedtime story to my now 4.5yr old daughter and about to turn out the light, she grabbed my arm and said “Mummy, please don’t put the airconditioner on, it makes me sad”. Shocked I explained it’s going to be 8 degrees tonight and I turn it on to keep her warm, not to make her sad. I asked her why it makes her sad. It turns out it’s been waking her up every night and she wants to sleep.

Yes, the MHI Avanti Plus is incredibly energy efficient (freakishly so – I know because we have a power monitor installed on our house) and yes it’s effective, but who wants to be woken up at night by an aircon and who wants to have an overtired toddler on their hands? Not me.

Edited to add: I wanted to provide an update because MHI reached out with a potential solution to my point #3 above. There is a new motherboard that is meant to address the issue of the louvre moving despite settings to the contrary in heating mode. I appreciate MHI reaching out to help. It looks like the louvre needs to be set in a specific position for it to not move after this upgrade but because it was installed at the end of winter we haven't had a chance to test this properly but will update once we've had a chance to test. The issue only affects heating mode, so cooling mode will be ok for summer as long as we don't turn the unit on/off during the night. Issue #1 and #2 are not fixable so my recommendation still stands - avoid the "Plus" model or any similar design with an oversized single louvre, and just get one with a normal louvre.

Edited to add: We made it through winter with the new motherboard and I can confirm as long as you set the louvre on the second highest setting the louvre doesn't move in heat mote.

Highly efficient with a few warts – Have a 2.0kW 7 star Avanti Plus and 2 2.5kW Avanti Plus units. Pros: - Highly efficient. 2 heat pumps in heat mode overnight consumes less than 200Wh. - Very silent except at times when the up/down airflow flap moves around. That specific motor should be made more silent. - Heats/cools suitable spaces really well and quickly. Live in a 60s house… Read more

with zero insulation in the walls in Hobart, Tasmania. Haven't felt the winter chill after I put 3 splits in. - Remote is powerful enough that you don't have to point at the unit to operate unlike Daikin units. Beats taking it off the cradle. Can quickly turn it on/off with a single finger.

Now the cons: - Noisy at times. When the vertical flap moves, its loud enough to wake me up. YMMV. - No back-light on remote display. This is a must-have. Not sure why this was overlooked. Surely wouldn't cost more than $1 to provide. - Indoor unit is much bigger than the competition. My Daikin 5.5kW unit is smaller than the MHI 2.0kW Avanti Plus. - The Green and Blue LED light on the unit is BRIGHT. It should be re-designed to make it more discrete or functionality introduced on the remote to control the brightness. - Cool mode and heat mode icons on the remote display look very similar. - Have odd noises (snaps etc.) from the unit at times. More from the 7 star 2.0 Avanti Plus than from the 2.5 6 star Avanti Plus units.

Not a bad unit, a tad noisy – It's a great unit, the only downside so far is the flap is very noisy when the unit opens and closes. This usually wouldn't be a problem, except that outer flap is also acts as a directional blade, so when the direction is auto up/down, it sounds like the unit is turning off and on every time the flap moves up and down. Cools and warms our living room as it should. Show details

quiet operation, good quality – I used this air conditioner for the past ~6 months, both as a heater and as a cooler. The noise of the outdoor unit really low that it can not be heard. That's good. The indoor unit has some minor noise from the fan and the flow of liquid in the pipes - it is normal. The only negative side for me is that in heating mode, the minimum set… Read more

temperature is 18 degree celcius. I wish the temperature could be set lower than that, so that in winter it could keep the room at about 14-16 degrees, for a comfortable night sleep. With minimum of 18 deg, the room will be either 18-20 degrees (a bit too warm, objectively) with the aircon on, or too cold with the aircon off. Not sure why the restricted the minimum to 18 degC... Overall it feels like a premium air conditioner product. Its energy efficiency is also quite good I believe.