Just in time for our first warm day in a while, today's Star Tribune had an ad from the Universal Media Syndicate for something called Mira-Cool.
As it's described in the ad, it sounds indistinguishable from the Cool Surges they were marketing last year, which I wrote about here.
Even better, Consumer Reports did a test in 2009 that concluded, 'Because of its negligible cooling in our tests, we've given the Cool Surge portable air cooler our Don't Buy: Performance Problem judgment.'
What was the test CR put it to? Here are the details:
- Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater
- Mira Cool Model Mrcacl Instructions
- Mira Cool Air Cooler
- Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater Manual
- Mira Cool Portable Air Conditioner
- Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater Mrcacl
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- Negligible cooling nets Cool Surge portable air cooler a Consumer Reports Don't Buy judgment. You can buy a decent small window air conditioner for as little as $140, as we found in our July 2009 report on air conditioning (available to subscribers).
We controlled conditions around [a 200-square-foot] room to simulate an 85°F dry summer day with a relative humidity of just 57 percent.
...Our string of sensors showed the device failed to appreciably lower the room's overall temperature during a four-hour test.
We also tested the Cool Surge at an even drier, desertlike setting of 25 percent relative humidity, again, at 85°F. Even in these conditions, which are suitable for an evaporative cooler, we measured a mere 2 degrees of cooling during the four-hour test.
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Of course, I don't know that the Mira-Cool is the same exact machine inside as Cool Surge. Here are the similarities, based on the generalities available in the two ads.- Cool Surge 'uses about 96% less electricity than air conditioners.' Mira-Cool 'uses 95% less electricity.'
- Both promote the idea of 'ice cooled air' (no hyphen), courtesy of two reusable ice blocks that are included. (Just like the kind you'd put in a picnic cooler... you have to keep refreezing them in your freezer every four hours, a detail not provided in the ad).
- Both ads have quotes from an Operations Director named Chris Gallo or Christopher Gallow. Huh. What's up with the spelling change?
- It's even the same price -- $298 plus shipping, and you get a second one for free (except the shipping, which I understand from Consumer Reports and other sources runs about $50 per unit).
Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater
Mira Cool Model Mrcacl Instructions
- An older woman with her cooler, holding up some type of certificate or bill or something. It's even the same document, with a big red triangle in the upper right corner...just not the same woman. (They've given her a dog in the Mira-Cool ad. Nice touch, there.)
- A young girl rolling the cooler from left to right through a doorway.
- A family with mom, dad, two boys, and one girl playing a board game.
- A woman sleeping in a darkened room while the cooler looms over her.
Mira Cool Model Mrcacl Instructions
- An older woman with her cooler, holding up some type of certificate or bill or something. It's even the same document, with a big red triangle in the upper right corner...just not the same woman. (They've given her a dog in the Mira-Cool ad. Nice touch, there.)
- A young girl rolling the cooler from left to right through a doorway.
- A family with mom, dad, two boys, and one girl playing a board game.
- A woman sleeping in a darkened room while the cooler looms over her.
One difference between the two ads: I didn't notice any claims about Mira-Cool being 'eco-friendly,' unlike last year's Cool Surge ad.
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Mira Cool Air Cooler
Here's a list of my past posts about the Universal Media Syndicate, its many products, and its parent company, Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings.
It seems that once a company (this one being Fridge Electric) gets a 'Don't Buy!' rating from Consumer Reports (for their Cool Surge evaporative cooler) they just figure they have to wait a summer and release it under a new name: Mira-Cool. The Consumer Reports article on the air cooling unit opens with:
The Cool Surge might sound appealing when you consider the roughly 500 watts needed to run even a small air conditioner. Ohio-based Fridge Electric LLC, which markets the Cool Surge, has even offered a two-for-one deal in full-page ads in The New York Times and other newspapers. But our tests show that when it comes to cooling a room, the Cool Surge is likely to disappoint you at any price.
I first started researching the Mira-Cool product when I saw their full-page ad in USA Today. I guess they decided to change the name of the unit after Consumer Reports suggested that nobody buy it. From what I can tell, there is no difference between the Cool Surge and the Mira-Cool.
Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater Manual
Their ad in USA Today starts off incredibly misleading with the title, 'Public set to get free air cooling units' and goes on to say, 'A new miracle air cooler is actually being given away free to the first 11,337 readers..' Well, after further reading I discovered that it was really a buy 1 (at $298) get 1 free, but you still had to pay for shipping on both units! But why who cares if you get both of them free if they don't work as advertised?
Mira Cool Portable Air Conditioner
Any company that says this in their FAQ has to be joking:
Q: Can I leave it on when I'm not home?
A: It's recommended that you don't because when you get home, the MIRA-COOL can quickly blast out ice cooled air.
Unfortunately I don't think Mira-Cool and Fridge Electric is kidding even though their claims are a joke. Whenever you read something that seems too good to be true...it probably is. There are hundreds of companies out there trying to take advantage of the public's ignorance on energy issues. Keep reading Mapawatt Blog (and keep your eyes peeled for other energy scams) and don't get taken advantage of!
Mira Cool Air Cooler Heater Mrcacl
P.S. : If you want to see the Mira-Cool product for yourself (and at your own risk) go to www.mira-cool.com and enter claim code MC1008.
