A Carrier product. There are only a couple of manufacturers of HVAC equipment and they have several sub names. Carrier, Bryant, Heil etc.... all are the same. The Carrier corp has given certain promises to the dealers of different names. If I wanted to be a Bryant dealer I would have to agree to buy a set dollar amount of equipment a year to grant me a no compete area. If I were to buy a 100k a year then I would get a 50 mile radius type thing. Same for the Carrier.
I would stay clear of anything over 15 SEER rating. Some of the technology is not really proven yet. Yeah it can work in the labs but in the real world with unreliable and unsteady electric service, not so much. With the Feds and all the new regulations on efficiency and refrigerants the industry is scrambling. The newest regulation being a minimum efficiency standard. This will take place Jan. 1st. You will not be able to buy a 13 SEER system. 14 will be the new base. The last increase was only a couple years ago to the 13 base. When that went into effect the law/ regulation was that the manufacture could not produce any equipment after a certain date. So there was a smooth transition. Some companies ramped up production towards the end of the year but eventually the transition was done. This time the Feds have said no equipment will be sold after Jan 1. Which means that the regulation will start to take place sometime this fall. I think the manufacturers will not want to get stuck with stock on hand so they will shut down production sooner.MY OPINION.
The last analysis I checked in my region was that the difference between a 13 and a 15 SEER unit was about an 8 (eight) year payback to the consumer. The Feds should get the hell off the backs of HVAC industry. It has caused such a dramatic increase in cost that the normal Joe will soon no longer be able to afford it. Most of the systems will have a blower motor that cost over $1000 in them, yes one thousand dollars. that is for one part.
Any way. My advice is to do some research on the brand you want and the dealer. Fuck Angies list!!! Go to BBB and have your contractor give you at least a dozen of his most recent customers that had new installs done. Contact them and see if they are satisfied with how the job was done and if they got what was promised. I personally do not advertise and haven't for many years. No names on trucks, no billboards, no yellow page ads. All my work comes from reputation and word of mouth. I tell my customers I may not be the cheapest but you do not get good and cheap together. Those two things just don't go hand in hand.
EDIT: Stay away from any warranty that is not directly from the manufacturer. This is usually dealing with the labor portion of the warranty. Most labor warranties are outside companies and not the manufacturer. Sometimes the manufacturer contracts a warranty insurer. I have yet to see any of these warranty companies last. Most of the time they are bankrupt and your warranty is toilet paper. I do not sell them because my reputation is at stake. I tell the customers up front when they say X company offered a 10 year labor warranty what the deal really is. I have been in business for 20 years and seen many of them come and go. Early on I sold them and learned that all I was selling was bad for the customer and me. When I didn't make a dime of the warranty and the customer doesn't expect to pay for a repair. It's not good when I tell them sorry that company went bankrupt. I usually did the repair at my cost because that was good business. I have survived because I believe one happy customer will tell two people. One pissed customer will tell a dozen or more. But my disclaimer is Jesus Christ could not make everyone happy. Some people can't be pleased.