York, Carrier, and Trane are my top brand recommendations. York has wonderful CSRs and their equipment is straightforward to work on. Carrier is about the easiest to work on and very reliable, but their customer service sucks. Trane is more complicated than it needs to be from service to CSRs, parts are hard to get, and they're priced like they're plated with gold - but overall reliable.
I probably wouldn't ever put my name on a Goodman or ICP unless it was a poor, little old lady with two pennies under her mattress.
So Carrier is one of your top recommendations, but you wouldn't put your name on an ICP install? I'm sure Carrier's marketing department loves it when people think that way, and it may have held water 20 years ago, when ICP was a separate company, but today, when you get down to it, they're basically the same equipment.
Breaking down the product line... The gas furnaces have different cabinet styles, but inside are basically identical to the Carrier versions. The Carrier and ICP air handlers, coils, package units, and builder outdoor units are exactly the same. The only real different products are the higher end outdoor units, and in my opinion the mainline ICP units are as good or better than the Carrier equivalents. They're really nicely constructed, quiet, standard with compressor blankets, multi speed fans, high/low pressure switches, comfort alert diagnostics, all of them except the 13 SEER are communicating, and better warranties than even the Carrier Infinity series. I would put them up against any other unit out there. Pretty soon they are going to get variable speed outdoor units from the Carrier line as well. The only other significant difference is that their "Observer" communicating system and accompanying zoning system uses different software than Carrier Infinity, and is a bit less sophisticated.
The main reason I chose to sell them is that the distributor treats me as a one man show much better than the "big name" distributors in town. They don't have the brand recognition Carrier does, and while I try to sell myself as a contractor rather than any particular brand of equipment, sometimes the customer will mention they haven't heard of Tempstar, or be wondering about the quality of a "no name" brand. However, 9 times out of 10 once I explain it to them, they have no problems with me putting it in, and are very happy with it once the install is done. I haven't had any widespread issues with them, but like all the manufacturers out there they aren't perfect and are capable of having issues too, especially if installed poorly.
