Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and all the rest.
We are in the design stage of an 1800/ft2 Pretty Good to Passive House. the design is calling for a Mitsubishi Mr Slim M-Series for the ductless split on the main floor with an 18k BTU Daikin Aurora FDMQ ducted unit for the second floor. I am inclined to stick to the recommend equipment spec for this project as I have read enough on both units to feel comfortable about the reliability, efficiency and output etc. However when I mentioned these models to one of the HVAC contractors we work with, he was convinced that there is no difference between Mitsubishi, Daikin, Fujitsu and all the rest. He insists they are all made with the same technology and that we are simply paying for the name. I realize he could be right to a degree but I also feel that since these are not the brands he typically carries he is simply trying to sell what he is “used to installing” and not considering performance. Does he have a point or are Mitsubishi, Daikin and Fujitsu really that much better?
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Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, LG, Daikin, Midea and Gree make excellent cold climate hyper heat units. Standard domestic units are not in the same league. Closest is Carrier's Greenspeed units but even those start falling off near zero F.
Selecting between these mostly comes down to which unit you can local support for. Some of the units do have slightly better extreme cold performance and are rated down to -22F.