Meaco Cirro 12000 BTU Review

The Cirro 12000 is the smallest and cheapest of Meaco’s new Cirro range, and the only one that isn’t an inverter. We haven’t tested it ourselves. This review is built from Meaco’s own specifications, live pricing and stock across the retailers we track, and one independent hands-on test: Ideal Home’s, published in July 2026, which ran the cooling-only version for three days in a heatwave. Where a figure comes from Meaco rather than a test, we say so.

Who it’s actually good for

A bedroom or living room of roughly 20-30m² where you can’t fit a split system and you want the quietest portable you can reasonably buy. It is the least expensive way into the range (£519.99 cooling-only, £539.99 with heating) and, unlike the 14000 and 16000, it has a published independent test behind it. The two window kits in the box, one for sash windows and a flexible fabric one for casements, mean you aren’t buying fittings separately.

Who should look elsewhere

If you are a light sleeper expecting near-silence, the measured numbers below are worth reading first. If your room is bigger than about 30m² or south-facing with a lot of glass, the 14000 or 16000 is the safer size (our size comparison covers the choice). And if the stairs are the problem, 28.45kg is heavy: the reviewer needed help just to get it out of the box and said she couldn’t have taken it up to a bedroom alone.

What the independent test found

Ideal Home’s reviewer tested the 12000 cooling-only model in a 12m² home office and a 20m² bedroom during a 30°C-plus heatwave. In the office it took the room from 27.8°C to 25.6°C in ten minutes and reached around 22°C in 25 to 30 minutes. She measured 62dB in normal cooling, 59dB in Super Quiet mode, and about 53dB when the room hit its target and the compressor switched off. Her description was that it sounds like a fan on a high setting: audible, but not enough to stop her working, watching TV or sleeping. Meaco’s 45dB figure is quite a lot lower than what she measured. Meaco doesn’t say how its number was taken, so we can’t tell which is closer to what you’d hear in your own room. Our noise guide goes into why the two can differ.

Other points from the test: the window kit was a little fiddly (she used the fabric kit), the controls were easy to follow, and she couldn’t get the unit to connect to the Meaco app, so she used the remote instead. The fan-only and dehumidifier modes worked but she found them weaker than dedicated products, so think of them as extras rather than reasons to buy.

The real numbers

• Cooling: 12000 BTU, rated by Meaco for 20-30m² (an estimate, not a survey result). Meaco doesn’t say whether the BTU figure is an ASHRAE or SACC rating.
• Power: 1350W in cooling mode. Meaco puts that at about 36p an hour; Ideal Home’s estimate was around 35p on the July 2026 price cap.
• Noise: 45-51dB according to Meaco; 59-62dB as measured by Ideal Home.
• Heating version: 10000 BTU heating at 1100W.
• Weight and size: 28.45kg (28.75kg with heating), 722 × 430 × 358mm, on castors.
• Refrigerant: R290, 200g. Energy rating A.
• Warranty: 2 years, which Meaco says can be extended to 5.
• Price and stock: £519.99 cooling-only. Sold out at Meaco direct, Air Con Centre and Meaco Dehumidifiers UK on 14 October 2026. Meaco lists the heating version as back in October 2026 and the cooling-only version in March 2027.

Not sure 12000 BTU is the right size? Our room-size calculator accounts for ceiling height, sun exposure and insulation rather than just floor area. For how this compares with Meaco’s older range, see Cirro vs MeacoCool Pro.