I'd stick to LG as a safe choice among the funky brands out there.

Actually I just moved to a new place and the LG air-con units have problems. They look fairly new, but one broke down in the first month and another doesn't have nearly enough strength to cool the room.

At my previous place it had Toshiba and Hitachi units that had few if any problems in more than 2 years.

There could be other factors at play, but for what it's worth that's been my experience.

Panasonic is the brand you wanna go with. Try to buy it at one of the bigger stores like Best Carings or Media Mart cos it'll be that much more reliable. It is common for Vietnamese electronic stores to sell Chinese air cons that say they are made in Thailand or Malaysia and these tend to break down after one season.

yes i second guadalquivir post.

i've been here for 4 years and moved a lot (yes i know...) and used different brand and panasonic was the most reliable.

And big shop are also better than the small one down the street who might desapear in 3 months.

but keep in mind that in a very dusty city like hanoi you need to have them clean at least twice a year to work efficiently.

Thanks for your responses - I've just bought a panasonic 12,000 btu unit. Installed it cost around 6 million dong. I'm sitting here in relative comfort writing this.

Aircons are expensive to run. And you still have the muggy, sweaty heat hanging there. Think about a De Longhi dehumidifier. The one that sucks out 18 litres of water in 24 hours.
It has an airpurifier mode too. So then you just need a ceiling fan. No worries about dirty aircon filters or catching Legionnaires from aircon system.
Asthma , bronchitus can be made worse by aircon environs.
The Dehumidifier quickly changes a humid, sticky room into "normal". The heat is not the issue in Hanoi. It is the humidity. Once you take that factor out, wearing cooler fabrics, drinking iced drinks instead of hot....living in hanoi over summer is o.k.
W.H.O Rehydration Recipe

3/4 teaspoon of salt
1tsp baking powder
4 tbsp of sugar
1 cup of orange juice
1 litre of water

Take small an freguent sips. Watch for heat stroke and dehydration during summer and take above recipe if you feel wasted. it picks you up.