For the better part of 2025, we were waiting for Daikin’s R-32 models to arrive. In 2026 they are finally here. And I’m glad to say that they’re better than ever.
Executive summary:
We like the ductless units - super quiet, great turndown/min-capacities
Really solid performance for a good price, condensers are great at defrost
We wouldn’t recommend the unitary ducted (Daikin FIT) models unless you have a big house with really big ductwork
What We Like
Let’s first talk about the ductless lineup.
Profile. Daikin is taking a curvy design refresh to their indoor units, both wall and floor consoles. Here’s how the wall unit looks like:
I think it looks fairly clean from the front. Here’s the side profile:
This one with a condensate pump1:
And here’s the floor unit:
Now, the floor unit is substantially different from last iteration’s. Though it still occupies roughly the same space as a radiator, the front grille is flatter. I think the power button is quite clean, and the remote feels good as well.
Wifi & App. However, the biggest update is that Daikin has now hopped on the wifi train and all of their indoor units are connected!! Including the floor units, which isn’t the case for LG (and potentially Mitsubishi, though we haven’t tried installing a Mitsubishi floor unit this season yet).
Here’s LC member Jeremy’s impression of the app:
Overall, I really like the Daikin app. The interface is simple, and it’s easy to set a schedule. I wish you could set one schedule for all indoor units, but it’s not a huge hassle to do this individually. There is an “energy usage” tab, but this feature is not available for mini-split-style units. I confirmed this with customer support. That’s somewhat disappointing, especially since even my cheap GE window unit had this feature.
Remote. Standard remote, seems like the floor units have a different remote vs. the high-wall units. Fairly clean, no notes.
Outdoor unit. The lack of a branch box for a 5-port setup is a major, major coup over Mitsubishi & other brands (LG requires 2). It saves money, and also reduces a potential point of failure. It’s not often that you can both save money AND get more reliability, but this is a case of that.
Form factor remains unchanged:
I do think the Mitsubishi 3D HyperHeat series has an advantage in this department since it’s smaller, but unless you’re installing one of these in a tight space or balcony, it’s not a huge factor.
Turndown. Outdoor units have minimum capacities in the 8,000 BTU range. This makes Daikin excellent for smaller places, and at humidity control.
Sound. Again, from Jeremy:
The indoor unit is very quiet. You can really tell how far they ramp down; you can barely tell they are on. The loudest sound is the gurgling of the refrigerant when the flow reverses during defrost.
What We Don’t Like
No ceiling cassette. Daikin, for now, doesn’t have a 1-way ceiling cassette out on the market. This is one of the more common items people ask for when they don’t want mini-splits, and I get it: they look good!
If you really want these, we’re offering Mitsubishi. More expensive, but I will note that the 6k BTU version of this is the smallest one you can get.
Efficiency. SEER2 ratings are ok, HSPF2 ratings are kinda mid, tbh.
That said, this is secondary to the fact that it was one of the highest performing brands during this tough winter, with a 98%+ uptime through the 2 blizzards:
I am, at the end of the day, OK with average efficiency in exchange for sheer reliability in extreme conditions. This winter has changed me. I didn’t have to shovel in 2015, and after this winter, I will do anything to squeeze that last little bit of reliability from a heat pump, and this includes forgoing some efficiency.
The Ducted Side of the Story
Multi-positional air handler. Historically, Daikin has been missing some rather common items from their lineup: for example, a multi-positional air handler that you can plug into an outdoor unit along with a couple of mini-splits. With their CMXV units, this is no longer the case:
This means that we can, in fact, install a mixed ductless + ducted system for a house that wants ductwork for one floor, and mini-splits in others. These CMXV units are essentially the Daikin equivalent of Mitsubishi’s SVZ air handlers.
The Problem with Daikin FIT, & the Flagship DH9
But what if you only have ductwork in your house, and you just want to swap it with a heat pump? Well, you’ll have to start looking at the Daikin FIT lineup, which in a cold climate location such as Massachusetts calls for the DH7 (DH7VSA2410) and DH9 (DH9VSA241C) condenser models.
Performance and setup-wise, they are as solid as Mitsubishi air handlers. But for some reason, when it comes to heat pump models specifically, you can’t pair a 2-ton outdoor unit with a 2-ton air handler. You have to pick a bigger air handler2.
For example, here’s a 3-ton air handler we paired with the 2-ton condenser:
It was excellent for this house, because it was 3 floors and you need the powerful 3-ton fan to blow air all the way up there, and the heat load was called for ~24k BTU in deep winter anyway.
But in another case, we tried placing a 3-ton air handler in the attic, conditioning a bedroom floor of about 15k BTU; in this case, the air handler overwhelmed the floor, and we had to return to make duct modifications to reduce the noise.
Takeaway: Daikin makes a solid, but rather expensive, unitary cold-climate ducted condenser that really should only be used in conjunction with massive ductwork. Make sure you heat & cool the entire house with it, not just a few rooms, or else it will be too powerful.
Efficiency
Like their ductless counterpart, it’s more efficient on the AC side than heating:
It’s comparable to Mitsubishi, on both SEER2 & HSPF2:
But it’s not as efficient as LG or Midea, which has HSPF2s into the 9s. Given the fact that DH9s are priced through the roof, and in many cases even more than Mitsubishi, I’m personally not finding a compelling reason to opt for Daikin here, particularly if the air handler is just going to be oversized.
Remote Diagnostics?! Well, what about this? Quilt & Jetson are doing it. Surprise: Daikin has actually had this for years, and apparently it’s live in like 300k ducted systems in the US alone.
For preventative purposes (e.g. identifying which heat pumps are having trouble during a major blizzard), it’s extremely helpful for us to be able to take a look at fleet health. We gave it a try ourselves this spring.
Verdict? It’s useful. But it can’t solve every issue, such as the oversized air handler issue. So, until Daikin figures out how to make a 2-ton condenser work with a 2-ton air handler, I won’t be quoting Daikin FIT models for anything <2,000 sq ft with big ductwork.
The Verdict
Ductless? Great. Ducted? Hmm, somewhat mediocre for the price. Mixed systems? Also great. I think Daikin is a good mid-tier option in the market, and it’s an important role: that’s where we think the mass market is.
So I’d say it’s a good mass market heat pump. And we’ll keep installing them.
Necessary for basement units, or sometimes for multifamily.
Like, literally. There is no AHRI number combination for a 2-ton DH9 & DFVE 24k air handler combo.