I bought this unit from Lowe's for $148. I also bought a Supentown 608R from Amazon Swamp Cooler for $99. The Supentown maybe cools the air 3 degrees cooler. The KuulAire about 6 degrees cooler and it blows harder - just a little noisier, but not bad. I gave it 5 stars because comparatively speaking to other swamp coolers - you get way more for your money using this cooler. It works amazing with ice. I suggest you buy 4 or 5 of the 2 inch rubber ice cube trays off Amazon to go with this product. In my opinion this is the best swamp cooler for the money. Very easy to fill and add ice. You can also see the pump in action as it flows the water to the top of the cooler and trickles down the radiator - put your hand in it and you can get an idea of the water temperature and if you need to add more ice or not. The Supentown doesn't do that - not the model I listed anyway.