Being an electric fan enthusiast in general, I also somehow interested with any of mini portable fans that I encountered, ranging from regular mini portable fans that are commonly seen at any online marketplaces (or even offline marketplaces), until all the way to certain mini portable fans that they do look so "cool"... I mean, yes I encountered those of the said mini portable fans that are so "cool", it's because the ones that I'm specifically talking about in this particular article are the ones that they always call them as a "mini air cooler" units, literally. You probably think if most of those so-called "mini air coolers" do work better than regular mini portable fans? Here is my hint particularly about them: NO! Well, it's time to find out about why, particularly about my own story about experience of using one of those "mini air cooler" units, until I decided to gave up using it anymore. ❄
1. Purchasing the aforementioned unit...❄
Before I purchased one of those units from an online marketplace, I actually watched bunch of those reviews particularly about those little units from various YouTubers. In the meantime before I purchased one of those units, there were 2 variants of themselves, and they both were manufactured and distributed under their "Arctic Air" so-called brand names on both of them. One of them was the original unit, and the other one was the "Ultra" version of it too. So, without any hesitation about which one that I would purchase, I chose the "Ultra" version by spending almost 6 bucks for it including shipping fee. After I waited for almost a week of delivery, a courier sent me the aforementioned package that contained it inside. ❄
2. Unboxing...❄
Upon I unboxed it, it turned out if I actually received a knock-off version of it, judging by how the box itself looked so different compared to their OEM versions of themselves (which I didn't even surprise me that much, because majority of the people in our country who also owns those little units are also received the same knock-off versions of themselves, even most of them had their brand names of themselves are different)... It also had a different style of the filter container as well, because the OEM version of them had more detailed looking container, meanwhile for the one that I received just simply had dull looking appearance of it. It even also had broken adjustable vanes on it too, but I was able to fix them just 🆗... Those minor problems aside, I decided to power it for the first time using it's own proprietary USB cable that came with it by simply connecting it on one of my phone chargers, then pressing the power button itself. At first glance, I thought it wouldn't work at all which resulting in waste of the said bucks over it, it actually worked just fine after I waited for few seconds right after I plugged it on one of my phone chargers that I have. However, if I left it plugged in for too long, my phone charger eventually warmed up, yet it warmed slightly more than powering majority my regular mini portable fans that I own using it. ❄
3. The "air cooling" feature...❄
Since this particular unit had an "air cooling" feature, I decided to pour some water and ice cubes on the water tank of the unit itself. Of course it dripped to the bottom part of the unit itself, that's literally because there was a tiny hole that literally presented inside the tank itself, so I had some DIY stuff by covering it with some "tapes" and superglue, and it did work just okay even if there were even more of the drips though... As for the so-called "air cooling" feature that it had, it literally sprayed out all of the water and ice cubes through that little misting component, then it sprayed out with a bit of help from that 12v/DC cooling fan that came with it in order to blow all of that moisture out from the unit itself through the filters and all of those adjustable vanes. This was also the turning point about how I finally realized if I found out the actual truth particularly about how "cool" it was. ❄
To begin with, unlike my mini portable fans that they do simply work like it should with their own fan blades that it had, it almost barely blow any air delivery, even if I put some water and ice cubes on it's own water tank, unless if I had to stand or sit right next to it approximately less than few centimeters away from the unit itself, especially during if I sweated for a whole lot... Furthermore, the way how they put that 12v/DC cooling fan inside it also made it sounded so loud, more so than average mini portable fans that I own. Encased inside cheap plastic box also made it even more "cooler" than how it would perform, because the cooling fan itself ran slower as you would expect, even if I tried to run it on full speed all the time... Moreover, even if it had a little misting component in order to spray all of that water and ice cubes out from the tank, it also didn't seem that powerful enough for cool down anything after few centimeters away (unless if the misting component itself was placed in front of the unit itself like most of the other models of those mini "air cooler" things)... It even also a complete waste of certain stuffs as well, especially the way how it emptied out all of the water from it's own water tank already, so I had to serve even more water and ice cubes if that occurred to "cool" it more, it literally because it did NOT have an evaporating component AT ALL. ❄
4. Final times with it...❄
After a while I used it as an underpowered daily beater since I purchased it, it eventually ran into a major problem where it's own USB proprietary cable got eaten by stupid mice. So, that was basically it, even if I clearly promised in the outro part of my YouTube video of me unboxing the whole unit itself in order to make my additional demonstration of it about how it performs "cooler" with water and ice cubes in it... That simply concluded if I totally failed to make my aforementioned video about it in general, which also resulting it in a short hiatus for not using it for few moments later, until I decided to buy some proprietary USB cables from an online marketplace. ❄
Upon I powered it back up, I noticed if it ran way slower than before, even if I didn't bother to put water and ice cubes on it. This was also the time if I decided to tear the whole thing apart, and I messed around with that little PCB module that was located just beneath those speed indicator lights, power button, and light button to turn on and off colorful LED light that was located right behind the water tank itself... I decided to mess around the module itself to make the fan itself run faster by powering it directly using 12v/DC adapter, but it ended up causing the module itself just warmed a lot quicker than usual 5v/DC ones that it originally had. Not too long after I did so, I eventually "powered" it again, except I did that into some sort of inverter component that causing the whole module itself shorted, thus completely killed the whole module itself. Even if I killed the said module, I was able to salvage the 12v/DC cooling fan that came with it, it did work just fine with the 12v/DC adapter, albeit it also caused the fan itself to warm up so quickly as well. Not too long after I successfully powered it, the instant karma suddenly occurred on me due to the fact I accidently broke one of the blades after I accidently made it fell near to the heavyweight marble tissue tray that is placed on the top of my living room's table! So that was it, no more purpose of using it anymore after I broke it off, even if I tried to "fix" it, but it obviously didn't work at all... As for what's left from the unit itself, I got rid all of those plastic pieces by smashing them to bits, then I also set them ablaze as well. Even if I got rid all of those pieces, I actually salvaged all of those screws that used to hold the cooling fan itself though before I got rid them, except for one of them that was badly rusted. With all of that final riddance, that was the complete end of me using the unit itself in general. ❄
That concludes about my experience with that so-called "mini air cooler" unit. I don't think if I can get another one of those little units that is way better than that, it's because I already found the actual truth if it didn't seem to work as what they "advertised", specifically for those of the cheaper variants of themselves. Even if I no longer own it anymore, I did some in-depth research about how "cool" those little units are from various YouTubers, and they also realized if those little units are suck balls... Anyway, back to the unit itself that I got rid of. Waste of money, waste of resources, and waste of all of my useless efforts in order to make it "cooler", but it turned out if it led to even more "cooler" problems that caused it stopped working afterwards. So, that's particularly it for what I could say to this overall experience with one of those so-called "mini air cooler" units... Lesson learned: just get regular mini portable fans or just simply get one of those DC cooling fans for much cheaper price. If you really want to cool down your room, just buy and install an actual air conditioner if you're able to. Or, you can make your own homemade air cooler that probably works better than one of those little units out there.
Well then, that's it for what I told about my overall experience with one of those little units, and pay full attention when you will eventually deal with one of those things out there. ❄
