I would rather be money rich, than equipment poor.

Mini split requires more equipment. That equipment cost money, that equipment cost maintenance repairs, then costs more when it ultimately needs to be replaced.

The less you spend on equipment and maintenance, the more real money you keep in your pocket.

With that said, mini splits are more or less niche appliance for solving spot cooling or heating problems. Spot: it's a small area that is best cooled / heated by a 'spot' appliance.

Mini splits are foolish for large American style homes, there are better more cost efficient solutions in my opinion. If the home is an older home that doesn't have air conditioning the equation is probably closer to a toss up.

A pre-existing home without duct work would be very costly up front to retro fit a ducted forced air system.

Why are you asking?

Would you rather want a Mini Split or an AC unit installed in your home?

The question is ambiguous. Perhaps if you defined what you mean by "AC unit" you would get better responses. You also need to explain how heating would tie into the HVAC system.

I have an older home with radiators and small closets and low ceilings in a finished basement.. We ended up doing a ducted minsplit system. With duct work and evaporator in the atic for the upper level and one ugly minisplit positioned to cool the entire main floor and another unit in our finished lower level.

I hate the units on the wall but I love not losing twelve inches out of each my very small reach in bedroom closets too. It was a compromised but the wall unit is less obtrusive than the window units it replaced on the lower levels. We do not often utilize the heat pump feature because our very efficient gas boiler is cheaper to run in the winter. But I do like having two separate zones where we only have one with our boiler.

The picture I see in the thread above shows the cooling unit directly above the bed. I would never do that.

We have radiators and minisplits. The units don't bother me at all, although in a colder climate, they don't get a lot of use. Dehumidify function helps a lot when we do use it. Heat function comes in handy a few days a year in extreme cold for a room or two that have a harder time keeping warm, and occasionally in shoulder seasons.

I don't really understand the dislike of minisplits or the wall units. But again, a colder climate without a need for whole house cooling on a constant basis.

Minisplit vs window ac? Minisplit anyday. I had central air in my last house, and initially would have preferred it here, but this house hasn't any ductwork. I actually love the gentle, steady heat from my old cast iron hot water 'baseboards', and feel I pretty much have the best system for me with the minisplits I added, especially since I no longer have to be concerned about dirty ductwork. I don't consider my wall mounted units "ugly" thank you very much.

The only downside, my bedroom doesn't cool sufficiently without a floor fan angled in on very hot nights. I plan to add a ceiling fan, and expect that will be sufficient, but I agree with armoured and would never put one above the bed.

Most minisplit companies now have an option to install cassettes in the ceiling that look more like a big A/C vent. I'm sure it makes the refrigerant line routing more challenging than just coming through a wall, but many may prefer the look. https://www.ecomfort.com/stories/1319-How-to-Pick-the-Perfect-Mini-Split-Ceiling-Cassette-Unit.html

Bruce

Anyone have experience installing ductless minis in a new build? Solar water heated floors would also be installed. Could this combo work?

" Anyone have experience installing ductless minis in a new build? Solar water heated floors would also be installed. "

My friend in AZ is doing something like this. Something like 5 units around different parts of the house which will give zoning. The units are also heat pumps.

We got a Carrier mini split back in 2015. I would only do it again if there were no practical options. This was for a bedroom that was added on to the house. A better solution for us would have been to connect the bedroom to the rest of the house through the walls. The previous owner installed a 1-ton unit ducted system, traditional for the room. The installer put the inside part wedged into the roof line so that nobody could service it. My option was to disassemble the unit and bring it down or abandon it in place, which we did.

We live in Texas where humidity removal is important. I need to measure how much water comes out of this but it drains several cups per hour, 24/7. The installer put in a separate condensation reservoir (which I strongly recommend if you do one of these), below the unit. If you don't do this, then the only way to clean the built in reservoir is to remove the entire head unit and disassemble it. But the condensate reservoir needs monthly attention.

The other issue with it is that service cannot be done simply by measuring pressures with a gage. If it seems to be not cooling, a pressure gage tells you nothing about the amount of freon in it. If it needs to have 4.755 pounds of freon in it, they have to pump out all the freon, weigh it with a scale, and then pump in 4.755 pounds.

I have had worse nightmares, but this has been a good one. In retrospect we should have disassembled the old one and replaced it with a better installer doing the work. The mini split has been one hassle after another.