As for me, I like O2 products, and have known about them for years. They generally are one of THE best names in battery-powered fans. I've owned a few of their fans before, and have been very pleased with them, which is why I thought I'd try this one out, even though it's a bit pricier than the rest.
For starters, I love the concept a decent sized fan that can push alot of air, yet is designed to be light enough to hang from the fabric ceiling of your tent. Now, every battery powered fan that I've owned (a total of 6) that has had any real UMPH has required the exact same compliment of batters: 8xD. Eight D batteries are HEAVY, so the idea of making a battery fan with gusto so that it was light enough to hang from a tent ceiling has been kinda a fantasy until now. The way they do it is they have a nice light fan with a fairly long cord that hangs down and attaches to a battery pack that sits on the floor. The idea seems alittle strange at first, but it really solves the problem nicely. They give you an on/off control on both the fan and the battery pack itself, which is also nice, since you can keep the controller right next to your bed. They also give you a second cord so you can plug it into a regular AC power outlet, which is useless for me, but still another nice touch.
The fan itself feels very light and, I daresay, a bit flimsy; but I forgive them for that and you should too, because having the fan portion be as light as possible is the whole point. As light as the fan portion is, it still seems well made. They've also given you THREE different ways to mount the thing: by a simple hook, by neodymium magnet (the strongest of magnets, for attaching it to a metal surface), or by magnet plate (which lets you fix it to a fabric surface, like a tent ceiling). Again, they were really trying to think of everything here. No small amount of thought went into the design, and I gotta give them props for that.
Where the product falls flat is the design of the battery pack and specifically, its closure. For the most part, I like the battery pack, as it's more than "a bunch of batteries in a box," and has a couple nice little features to it. But the problem is that the closure for the battery compartment does NOT close tightly. That particular part wasn't designed well, and if the closure is just a tiny bit loose, or not properly seated the contacts do not touch the batteries inside of it, and the fan simply does NOT power on. So essentially, I had the same experience as one of the other reviewers the fan worked with the AC cord, but appeared lifeless when used with the DC battery pack. The only difference is that I figured out what was going wrong, and when I squeezed the battery closure very tightly with my hand, viola! the fan started to run.
When the fan does run, it moves a good amount of air every bit as much as you'll get any other battery fan to deliver. But who wants to deal with a product that's so finicky?! The weak, poorly designed battery pack closure makes the whole product pretty unreliable. If I took some extra care, I might be able to get it to work for awhile, but with this kind of problem fresh out of the box a problem that can squarely defeat its whole functioning how long a life can I realistically expect this product to have for me? Filled with doubt about whether or not this thing will see me through even one sweaty camping trip without it being a pain in the ass, and with little confidence that it will last me more than a few trips before the closure breaks completely, I must return it for a refund and hope that O2 releases an improved version at some point in the future.
Dear O2: Please don't give up! You obviously put alot of thought into this product, and if you fix the battery pack closure so that it would seat properly and work reliably, your fan would be damn near perfect. Not only would I rebuy the improved model, I'd give it 5 big stars. But as it stands, I'm sorry to say that this one major defect is a deal-breaker for me.
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The Portable Canopy/Tent Fan is a great idea that delivers. A lot of fans that are strong enough to move any air around must be ground fan, or a fan that is willing to drop a few batteries (and power) that can hang from the tent top. This fan solves that problem. Leaving the batteries on that ground greatly reduces the weight, so it can hang easily from the tent by the clip, or the strong magnetic plate.The whole package includes the fan, battery canister, ac and dc adapters. First, the fan. Very light, slightly flimsy (that's the price one pays for lightness) but definitely nothing to get concerned about, just be careful not to drop it. The neck extends and rotates around, not much to be said here. Oh, and there is the OFF LOW and HIGH switch positions. There are 3 ways to set the fan up. First, the clip on the neck can be attached to a string or other object. Second, the magnetic plate (which is super strong) can be put outside the tent and the fan is secured from the inside of the tent. The last way is to attach the magnetic plate to the base and stand upright on the ground or table. I don't see much need for the AC cable but I suppose it might come in handy. The DC is used to plug into the canister.
The canister is light until you put the batteries into it. One reason I like this is because it allows me to turn off the fan right before a go to sleep, and I don't have to get up to turn the fan off. There was a problem though. The canister features a dial so you can adjust the fan's speed. For some reason, all I got was ON and OFF, not in between. Not too big, but it would of been nice. Now the only thing I can do is have the fan on "low" or "high" by hitting the switch on the side of the fan. Oh well.
(Update note a very helpful person told me that this dial is actually a temperature dial so the fan will automatically adjust based on temperature. Nifty...)
Yes I have read the other reviews, the connection problem. The battery rack (or whatever you call it) much go precisely into some holes, and then the cap must be put on properly. Mine is nice and tight and works fine. Word of warning: study the battery pack and read the instructions, you can get messed up.
I'm a Boyscout who has to go to summer camp every year for a week in June. The temperature can easily reach 100 degrees here in the south and the humidity is super high. I sleep in a canvas army tent and have gone through countless numbers of fans in my search for coolness. I really trust this fan and I have had no other fan like it. Yes, It hasn't had the test of camp yet, but this really looks like it's going to hold me through.
Update three years later.
I've used this fan excessively over the past three years and it still works wonderfully. I haven't experienced any problems whatsoever with the reliability. My only complaints would be that the battery pack is heavy once you put in all eight of those D batteries and those things aren't only heavy they're expensive too. I don't know how long they last (in hours) but after a full week of heavy use every day I can notice that the fan slows down a bit... which is actually pretty impressive. Anyway, it's a great fan. Buy it. Better than any other fans my friends bring. (At least in my opinion) Defiantly worth the money I spent.
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I bought this fan last minute for our car camping trip actually on the way to the National Park. I was glad we got it, it actually moved quite a bit of air which helped dry out the wet floor of our eureka 2 room tent that got blown door side up during a thunderstorm while hiking. The cord also stretched pretty far, allowing me to run the fan from the minivan parked in the campsite. The fan is lightweight and efficient, and I actually dropped it breaking a small piece, the fan still ran fine. But to attest to excellent customer service, o2 cool actually mailed me a replacement piece. Not too many companies are able to do that anymore, something to think about when comparing this product to one from other companies.Honest reviews on O2 Cool Portable Tent Fan with Emergency Device Charger
This fan is the perfect strength to keep air moving in our tent on a hot day without blowing things around. I like that the power pack sits on the floor to make the fan itself lighter & easier to move around. Also love that the battery pack can be used to power other things that have that car power adapter. We used it on one camping trip intermittantly (fan only) for about 6 hrs and haven't replace the batteries yet.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for O2 Cool Portable Tent Fan with Emergency Device Charger
The fan is nice, gives out a good airflow. While moving less air than what a wall socket powered metal fan does, it was more than what I expected from a 10 inch 12V powered fan. It has a low and high speed setting, and we used it at the low speed setting. The fan comes with a separate cord: One end plugs into the fan, the other end has the standard 12V car cigarette lighter plug. When plugged into a working 12V source, the fan works great, is light and very easy to mount with the strong magnet plate. It turned warm nights in the tent into a bearable ones for us.The battery pack should take 8 D cell batteries and allow the fan to be operated by sticking the 12V plug into it, but mine did not work. The batteries were aligned according to the markings and the batteries were brand new, but no matter what setting for the dial I tried, or any fudging, shaking, taking apart and re-assembling, the fan would not come on. Because 8 D cell batteries are not very cheap, I will be using it with a rechargeable 12V power supply anyway, so I just threw the battery pack in the trash and kept the fan.
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