SwitchBot’s Standing Circulator Fan is worth fighting for

I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a fan. Usually, I buy any Vornado or Dreo that fits my budget, but before I start testing the battery Standing Circulator Fan from SwitchBot.

As the name suggests, the SwitchBot fan is a 3D rotator – a nice way of saying it can tilt up, down, left, and right to push fresh air around the room. It looks great, despite all the plastic, it’s quiet, runs for hours on battery, has an integrated night light, switches from computer to fan in seconds, and works by itself or as part of a smart home. There’s a lot to like here.

Over the past month, I have been testing the Standing Circulator Fan in various conditions at temperatures up to 34 degrees Celsius (93°F) and I must say, I am impressed. It’s so portable, quiet, and versatile that my whole family fights over who gets to use it. It’s cheap at $129.99 (although it’s now marked down to less than $100), but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a fan for less.

Like many, I associate SwitchBot with it robots pushing a button. But that’s a no-brainer for a company that has developed everything from robovacs to doorbells and smart locks. The Standing Circulator Fan is the latest home appliance in history now includes Nanoleaf analysis tools.

The fan head attaches directly to the battery-powered base to create a computer monitor. You can also destroy one or two vertical sections in the middle to create a stand up to 100cm (39.4in) tall. Assembly takes seconds.

The lighting produces a respectable volume of air – up to 9.15 cubic meters per minute (about 323 CFM), a wind speed of 6.1m / s (about 20ft / s), and an airflow distance of 27m (about 89 feet), according to the popular paper – and it can move up to 000 degrees to 0 degrees. This makes the central image suitable for a bedroom or a home office, but it is difficult to ventilate a large living room.

It is very quiet thanks to the DC brushless motor and fan blade design. Standing a meter away, I measure 50dB at high speed, and a whisper-intelligible 28dB on the “Baby” I like to use at night.

The fan can be controlled from the app, via built-in controls, or with a remote control that attaches to the back of the fan. It can also be voice controlled via Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri when paired with one of SwitchBot’s Matter-compatible hubs. Unfortunately, Matter only allows you to turn it on and off, without changing any settings, but it is still useful for automatic changes and scheduled events. “Hey Siri, turn on the stand-by,” is something I’ve been repeating several times each week.

One reason the SwitchBot fan is so compelling is its USB-C rechargeable battery. This makes it stand-alone, sound-proof for any use, no AC outlet required (but you can always plug it in). It helped keep me cool on the patio, for example, on a very hot, windless day.

The battery lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes and discharged everything. This meant that the night light became brighter and the burner rose to the surface as it moved around. Battery life can be greatly extended by recharging. In my tests, it lasted overnight when set to Baby mode and the SwitchBot claims four days of continuous use when the extra base is plugged into the 10,000mAh USB-C power bank.

My house of five has a few $55 Coins 533 fans in bedrooms. It’s less than half the price of this SwitchBot, but it’s much faster despite producing the same gas. Everyone loves the sweeping 3D view created by the highly portable SwitchBot. This means more than a little fuss over who uses it, especially on warm nights.

For the past few weeks the fan has found a home under my bed, where it creates a circular air above it to distribute the CO₂ produced by me and my wife. It keeps us cool and keeps mosquitoes guessing where we are. My wife is a mosquito magnet, and so far we have avoided breaking the net that would hang over our bed.

SwitchBot’s Standing Circulator Fan list for $129.99 but is regularly on sale for less than $100. It lacks the diffusion of heavy air of a material like a $149.99 Dreo PolyFan 704Sbut it packs a punch for its size in a highly portable, quiet, and highly flexible battery-powered device that can be integrated into most smart homes.

All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge