Which Neck Fan / Personal Air Conditioner Brand Wins?
2024 test12 productsHome Appliances

Which Neck Fan / Personal Air Conditioner Brand Wins?

In our test 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.

The verdict
Torras
Winner

Torras

Price shown in test: $280

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ChillGo
Budget pick

ChillGo

Price shown in test: $27

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The quick take

The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.

WinnerTorras$280

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.

Best in 2 of 7 measurements, including Vibration and Cooling performance subjective rating.

Budget pickChillGo$27

Best in 2 of 7 measurements, including Cousin Eddie air speed test, right ear/mustache pt1/mustache pt2/left ear/back of neck and Max air speed, highest setting.

The measured results

Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.

Noise low/med/high (dB)

  • 1Torras
    53.6 / 62.92nd

    / 68.2; 2nd quietest overall on low (behind Jisulife 50.1), 3rd quietest on high (behind Jisulife 64.6 and Scurry 65.8)

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    59.9 / 66.4

    / 68.8

  • 3Jisulife
    50.1 / 60

    / 64.6, quietest of all 12 units on both low and high fan speed

  • 4Amacool
    59.7 / 68.1

    / 74.6, tied for loudest on high speed with FrSara

  • 5FrSara
    54.9 / 65.83rd

    / 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

  • 6Sweetful
    57.8 / 63.1

    / 69.3

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    56.3 / 61.12nd

    / 65.8, 2nd quietest of all 12 units on high fan speed behind Jisulife

  • 8Dattoy
    64.2 / 68.92nd

    / 75, 2nd loudest yet on high at the point it was tested (behind AJGJF's 76)

  • 9Civpower
    60.8 / 68.5

    / 74, noisiest yet at the point it was tested

  • 10OLV Turbo
    59.9 / 64.1

    / 72.5

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    66.6 / 69.6

    / 76, loudest of all 12 units on both low and high fan speed at the point it was tested

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    54.9 / 63.23rd

    / 68.7, tied for 3rd quietest on low with FrSara; 'actually pretty good' on high

Max air speed, highest setting (fpm)

  • 1Torras
    1,0583rd

    best of the 4 air-conditioning units, 3rd overall behind ChillGo (1,789) and Amacool (1,077)

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    1,7891st

    1st place overall by a wide margin, 'almost twice the air speed as the competition'

  • 3Jisulife
    822

    trailing Scurry and Sweetful at the point it was tested

  • 4Amacool
    1,0772nd

    2nd place overall behind ChillGo

  • 5FrSara
    9263rd

    moved into 3rd place at the time it was tested

  • 6Sweetful
    847

    just behind Scurry

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    902

    led the field at the point it was tested before Civpower and ChillGo surpassed it

  • 8Dattoy
    808

    better than AJGJF/Alphabet Soup

  • 9Civpower
    971

    took the lead from Scurry at the point it was tested

  • 10OLV Turbo
    753

    'experiencing a little turbo lag'

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    375

    weakest of the 4 air-conditioning units

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    487

    slower than Dattoy

Vibration

  • 1Torras

    too low to measure, best (lowest) of all 12 units

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    0.55 mm/s

    described as good considering its high air speed output

  • 3Jisulife
    0.38 mm/s

    3rd-least of all 12 units

  • 4Amacool
    0.62 mm/s

    described as performing well given the amount of air it moves

  • 5FrSara
    0.4 mm/s

    average, described as very little

  • 6Sweetful
    about1.3 mm/s

    described as vibrating a lot more than the Scurry

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan

    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

  • 8Dattoy
    0.45 mm/s

    described as performing well

  • 9Civpower
    0.79 mm/s

    described as vibrating quite a bit in addition to being noisy

  • 10OLV Turbo

    well over 2 mm/s, the most (worst) of all 12 units, 'very noticeable'

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    around1 mm/s

    described as vibrating quite a bit despite not moving much air

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    0.36 mm/s

    least of all 12 units at the point tested (Torras later measured too low to register at all)

Runtime, highest setting

  • 1Torras
    2 hours 15 minutes9th

    4th to die of 12; narrator flags this as a weakness: 'it did finish in ninth place for overall run time'

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    2 hours 47 minutes

    5th to die of 12

  • 3Jisulife
    4 hours 52 minutes

    longest of all 12 units, 'lasted more than twice as long as some of the other brands'

  • 4Amacool
    3 hours 42 minutes

    9th to die of 12

  • 5FrSara
    4 hours 5 minutes

    10th to die of 12, 'a pretty impressive run time for a neck fan'

  • 6Sweetful
    4 hours 9 minutes

    11th to die of 12

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    2 hours 7 minutes

    2nd to die of 12

  • 8Dattoy
    2 hours 8 minutes

    3rd to die of 12

  • 9Civpower
    3 hours 28 minutes

    7th to die of 12

  • 10OLV Turbo
    about3 hours 28 minutes

    powered down a few seconds after Civpower, 8th to die of 12

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    just over3 hours

    last of the 4 cooling-plate units to die, 6th to die of 12 overall

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    just under2 hours

    first of all 12 units to die

Cousin Eddie air speed test, right ear/mustache/left ear/back of neck (fpm)

  • 3Jisulife
    597 / 0

    (no air speed at mustache) / 489 / 279 (best neck reading at the time it was tested)

  • 4Amacool
    854 / 0

    (no detectable movement at mustache) / 719 / 157 (a little low)

  • 5FrSara
    663

    / too low to measure at mustache / 552 / 155 (a little low)

  • 6Sweetful
    7873rd

    / 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)

  • 9Civpower
    464 / 0

    (no air speed at mustache) / 568 / 128 (not much air movement)

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    273 / 0

    (no detectable movement) / 402 (pretty low) / 0 (no detectable movement)

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    298

    (struggled) / 0 (no detectable movement) / 367 (well below average) / 0 (no detectable movement)

  • 1Torras
    not tested
  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    not tested
  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    not tested
  • 8Dattoy
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested

Cousin Eddie air speed test, right ear/mustache pt1/mustache pt2/left ear/back of neck (fpm)

  • 1Torras
    719 / 02nd

    (no detectable movement at mustache) / 638 / 713 (2nd best neck reading); cumulative 5-area score 2,070, 2nd place overall behind ChillGo (2,518)

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    746 / 1211st

    / 152 / 664 / 835 (by far the best neck reading); cumulative 5-area score 2,518, 1st place overall

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    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

  • 8Dattoy
    512 / 142

    / 172 / 620 (pretty good) / 256 (good)

  • 10OLV Turbo
    472 / 139

    / 140 / 545 / 161

  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    not tested
  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    not tested

Cooling plate temperature range

  • 1Torras

    largest cooling plate of the 4 AC units at about 14 inches total, temperature range 64-70F

  • 8Dattoy

    triangle-shaped cooling plate, about 2.75in wide, warmest area around 72F, coldest area around 65F

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner

    cooling plate about 2.75in wide, center around 55F (coldest single reading of any of the 4 AC units), warmest area 62F

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner

    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

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    not tested
  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested

Max charging speed (40W charger)

  • 1Torras
    12.8 watts

    fastest of all 12 units

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    8.66 watts3rd

    3rd fastest behind Torras (12.8W) and AJGJF (8.77W)

  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    8.77 watts2nd

    2nd fastest behind Torras (12.8W)

  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    not tested
  • 8Dattoy
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested
  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    not tested
All measurements (3 more)+

Cooling performance subjective rating

  • 1Torras

    best possible rating of 1, top of all units

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    2nd place

    behind only Torras

  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    not tested
  • 8Dattoy
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested
  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    not tested
  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    not tested

Hair-safety rating

  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)

    best possible rating of 1 (tied with Comlife); 'nearly impossible to have hair coming in contact with the fan'

  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner

    best possible rating of 1 (tied with ChillGo)

  • 1Torras
    not tested
  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan
    not tested
  • 8Dattoy
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested
  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    not tested

Hair-safety

  • 7Scurry sports hanging neck fan

    flagged as a strong risk of hair getting caught inside the fan, unlike brands with small-hole inlets

  • 1Torras
    not tested
  • 2ChillGo affordable neck fan (updated design)
    not tested
  • 3Jisulife
    not tested
  • 4Amacool
    not tested
  • 5FrSara
    not tested
  • 6Sweetful
    not tested
  • 8Dattoy
    not tested
  • 9Civpower
    not tested
  • 10OLV Turbo
    not tested
  • 11AJGJF neck fan and air conditioner
    not tested
  • 12Comlife portable air conditioner
    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.

From the test video verdict.

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