Royal Clima RC-PD22HN/IN / RC-PD22HN/OUT air conditioner

Our verdict on the Royal Clima RC-PD22HN/IN

Royal Clima Pandora is an affordable on/off air conditioner in the 22 size (9000 BTU). Price is around 28 thousand rubles. On paper it’s a typical budget model, but the series offers a few pleasant surprises in the engineering details. Manufacturing is at a TCL plant, and the recognizable traits of this platform show up in the remote and the overall layout of the indoor unit.

The stated specs are standard: five fan speeds, 15 m line length, ionizer, a fine filter included, and R32 refrigerant (despite some third-party descriptions still referencing the outdated R410A). There is no Wi‑Fi at all, not even as an option. In the materials, the manufacturer highlights “additional sound insulation”—on teardown we saw a double compressor blanket, which is genuinely uncommon generosity for this price segment. The air conditioner is insured for $1 million (a symbolic figure for the brand).

The main visual advantage is the remote. It’s TCL’s branded “premium remote” with backlight, a large display, and a mounting pocket; ergonomically it’s on par with remotes from higher-end lines, and in the on/off segment that’s an argument in itself. Horizontal louver control is implemented from the remote (motorized left/right)—a rarity in the budget class, where manufacturers usually cut costs and leave users with manual adjustment.

Fan speeds: the label claims five, but measurements show seven—Quiet + five intermediate steps + Turbo. This is one of those cases where “honesty” works against the manufacturer: a sales manager doesn’t know the unit actually has seven speeds and therefore doesn’t use it as a sales point.

Noise level at minimum speed measured 33.8 dB. That’s slightly above the seasonal average, but normal for an on/off unit. Mechanical background noise is barely audible—only airflow noise. The stated ionizer is implemented as a classic “brush” at the top of the indoor unit (visually silver-colored, per the marketing wording “silver ions”).

A stress test on a lab variac revealed an interesting nuance. The air conditioner holds steady at 150 V input. When reduced to 100 V, the unit doesn’t “silently shut down” like a number of budget competitors; instead, it starts beeping an alarm tone and automatically closes the horizontal louvers, signaling the user that there’s a problem. After voltage returns to normal, the unit resumes normal operation on its own without a restart. For household use, this is a handy engineering touch.

The indoor heat exchanger is the model’s main weakness. Single-row, 7 mm copper, only 6 return bends, 50 cm coil length. By our measurement method, surface area is 0.15 m²—near the lower boundary of our seasonal sample. The soldering on the bends is neat and consistent, but there simply isn’t much copper.

The outdoor unit looks average. There’s no port protection (a cost-saving that doesn’t affect operation but makes the unit look simpler), and there’s no rear decorative grille either. Vibration by feel is moderately elevated in frequency; the instrument records 0.22, within the normal range. Inside, the heat exchanger is thin, with two gaps; 7.5 mm copper, 8 return bends, surface area 0.25 m². This is offset by the compressor: the GMCC ASM series with index 103 is powerful, not derated versus nominal, and it’s precisely what allows a unit with such a modest copper area to deliver the claimed cooling performance.

Bottom line on Royal Clima Pandora: a relatively well-balanced, compressor-driven budget on/off unit with a pleasant remote and convenient power indication. Strengths: TCL branded backlit remote, remote holder included, motorized left/right horizontal louver control from the remote (rare in this class), powerful GMCC ASM103 compressor, seven fan speeds that actually work, R32 refrigerant, clear indication during voltage drop, and a well-known Russian distributor with support. Weak points: small copper area of the indoor heat exchanger (0.15 m²), no port protection, no Wi‑Fi, a basic brush-type ionizer, and marketing underreporting of the number of speeds (5 claimed, 7 in reality). Recommended as a “good on/off for conditions with possible mains sag”—where proper signaling during power issues and compressor-based output matter.