2024 test12 productsHome Appliances
Which Neck Fan / Personal Air Conditioner Brand Wins?
We compared 12 neck fan / personal air conditioner options head to head. Torras came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Torras
Price shown in test: $280
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Budget pick
ChillGo
Price shown in test: $27
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Noise low/med/high (dB) | Cousin Eddie air speed test, right ear/mustache pt1/mustache pt2/left ear/back of neck (fpm) | Max air speed, highest setting (fpm) | Cooling plate temperature range | Vibration | Cooling performance subjective rating | Runtime, highest setting | Max charging speed (40W charger) | Hair-safety rating | Cousin Eddie air speed test, right ear/mustache/left ear/back of neck (fpm) | Hair-safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Torras$280 | 53.6 / 62.9 / 68.2; 2nd quietest overall on low (behind Jisulife 50.1), 3rd quietest on high (behind Jisulife 64.6 and Scurry 65.8) | 719 / 0 (no detectable movement at mustache) / 638 / 713 (2nd best neck reading); cumulative 5-area score 2,070, 2nd place overall behind ChillGo (2,518) | 1,058, best of the 4 air-conditioning units, 3rd overall behind ChillGo (1,789) and Amacool (1,077) | largest cooling plate of the 4 AC units at about 14 inches total, temperature range 64-70F | too low to measure, best (lowest) of all 12 units | best possible rating of 1, top of all units | 2 hours 15 minutes, 4th to die of 12; narrator flags this as a weakness: 'it did finish in ninth place for overall run time' | 12.8 watts, fastest of all 12 units | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)$27 | 59.9 / 66.4 / 68.8 | 746 / 121 / 152 / 664 / 835 (by far the best neck reading); cumulative 5-area score 2,518, 1st place overall | 1,789, 1st place overall by a wide margin, 'almost twice the air speed as the competition' | not tested | 0.55 mm/s, described as good considering its high air speed output | 2nd place, behind only Torras | 2 hours 47 minutes, 5th to die of 12 | 8.66 watts, 3rd fastest behind Torras (12.8W) and AJGJF (8.77W) | best possible rating of 1 (tied with Comlife); 'nearly impossible to have hair coming in contact with the fan' | not tested | not tested |
| 3Jisulife$26 | 50.1 / 60 / 64.6, quietest of all 12 units on both low and high fan speed | not tested | 822, trailing Scurry and Sweetful at the point it was tested | not tested | 0.38 mm/s, 3rd-least of all 12 units | not tested | 4 hours 52 minutes, longest of all 12 units, 'lasted more than twice as long as some of the other brands' | not tested | not tested | 597 / 0 (no air speed at mustache) / 489 / 279 (best neck reading at the time it was tested) | not tested |
| 4Amacool$36 | 59.7 / 68.1 / 74.6, tied for loudest on high speed with FrSara | not tested | 1,077, 2nd place overall behind ChillGo | not tested | 0.62 mm/s, described as performing well given the amount of air it moves | not tested | 3 hours 42 minutes, 9th to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | 854 / 0 (no detectable movement at mustache) / 719 / 157 (a little low) | not tested |
| 5FrSara$28 | 54.9 / 65.8 / 74.6, loudest yet at the point it was tested, tied for loudest on high with Amacool; tied for 3rd quietest on low with Comlife | not tested | 926, moved into 3rd place at the time it was tested | not tested | 0.4 mm/s average, described as very little | not tested | 4 hours 5 minutes, 10th to die of 12, 'a pretty impressive run time for a neck fan' | not tested | not tested | 663 / too low to measure at mustache / 552 / 155 (a little low) | not tested |
| 6Sweetful$24 | 57.8 / 63.1 / 69.3 | not tested | 847, just behind Scurry | not tested | about 1.3 mm/s, described as vibrating a lot more than the Scurry | not tested | 4 hours 9 minutes, 11th to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | 787 / too little to measure at mustache / 960 (pretty impressive) / 240 (pretty good); cumulative 5-area score 1,987, 3rd place overall behind ChillGo (2,518) and Torras (2,070) | not tested |
| 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan$15 | 56.3 / 61.1 / 65.8, 2nd quietest of all 12 units on high fan speed behind Jisulife | 412 / 353 / 739 / 357 / 0 (no air movement across the back of the neck); narrator notes he adjusted the unit's angle to give it the best chance in this test | 902, led the field at the point it was tested before Civpower and ChillGo surpassed it | not tested | used as an implicit baseline (roughly half a millimeter per second) against which Sweetful's 1.3 mm/s was compared; no separate explicit figure given for Scurry itself | not tested | 2 hours 7 minutes, 2nd to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | not tested | flagged as a strong risk of hair getting caught inside the fan, unlike brands with small-hole inlets |
| 8Dattoy$100 | 64.2 / 68.9 / 75, 2nd loudest yet on high at the point it was tested (behind AJGJF's 76) | 512 / 142 / 172 / 620 (pretty good) / 256 (good) | 808, better than AJGJF/Alphabet Soup | triangle-shaped cooling plate, about 2.75in wide, warmest area around 72F, coldest area around 65F | 0.45 mm/s, described as performing well | not tested | 2 hours 8 minutes, 3rd to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 9Civpower$26 | 60.8 / 68.5 / 74, noisiest yet at the point it was tested | not tested | 971, took the lead from Scurry at the point it was tested | not tested | 0.79 mm/s, described as vibrating quite a bit in addition to being noisy | not tested | 3 hours 28 minutes, 7th to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | 464 / 0 (no air speed at mustache) / 568 / 128 (not much air movement) | not tested |
| 10OLV Turbo$27 | 59.9 / 64.1 / 72.5 | 472 / 139 / 140 / 545 / 161 | 753, 'experiencing a little turbo lag' | not tested | well over 2 mm/s, the most (worst) of all 12 units, 'very noticeable' | not tested | about 3 hours 28 minutes, powered down a few seconds after Civpower, 8th to die of 12 | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner$46 | 66.6 / 69.6 / 76, loudest of all 12 units on both low and high fan speed at the point it was tested | not tested | 375, weakest of the 4 air-conditioning units | cooling plate about 2.75in wide, center around 55F (coldest single reading of any of the 4 AC units), warmest area 62F | around 1 mm/s, described as vibrating quite a bit despite not moving much air | not tested | just over 3 hours, last of the 4 cooling-plate units to die, 6th to die of 12 overall | 8.77 watts, 2nd fastest behind Torras (12.8W) | not tested | 273 / 0 (no detectable movement) / 402 (pretty low) / 0 (no detectable movement) | not tested |
| 12Comlife portable air conditioner$130 | 54.9 / 63.2 / 68.7, tied for 3rd quietest on low with FrSara; 'actually pretty good' on high | not tested | 487, slower than Dattoy | cooling plates total 9 inches in length, wrap around most of the neck (unlike the other 3 AC units which only cool the back of the neck); temperature range 63-69F | 0.36 mm/s, least of all 12 units at the point tested (Torras later measured too low to register at all) | not tested | just under 2 hours, first of all 12 units to die | not tested | best possible rating of 1 (tied with ChillGo) | 298 (struggled) / 0 (no detectable movement) / 367 (well below average) / 0 (no detectable movement) | not tested |
How it was tested
- noise level at low/medium/high fan speed (decibels)
- Cousin Eddie mannequin air speed test at 5 points (right ear, two mustache points, left ear, back of neck) at a fixed fan speed, plus cumulative 5-area score
- maximum air speed on highest fan setting, measured with a pitot-tube air speed meter
- net cooling plate temperature range for the 4 units that claim air-conditioning capability (AJGJF, Dattoy, Comlife, Torras)
- vibration level at highest fan speed (mm/s)
- subjective hair-entanglement safety rating
- subjective comfort rating
- subjective cooling performance rating
- total battery runtime on highest fan/cooling setting until fully drained
- maximum charging speed using a 40W charger (none of the units included their own charger)
“I compiled all the performance data and then took the average finish and the average subjective rating to come up with a score. And the Torras came out on top with an average finish or average ranking of 2.7, which is pretty impressive.”