I can’t remember the last time I was happy about a fan. Normally, I just buy whatever Vornado or Dreo model fits my budget, but that was before I started testing the battery-powered Standing Circulator Fan from SwitchBot.
As the name suggests, the SwitchBot projector is a 3D projector – a fancy way of saying that it can tilt up, down, left, and right to push just the right amount of air into the room. It looks good, despite all the plastic, it’s quiet, it works for hours on battery, it has an integrated night light, it transforms from a desktop to a standing fan in seconds, and it works on its own or as part of a smart home. There’s a lot to like here.
Over the past month, I’ve been testing the Standing Circulator Fan in various conditions at temperatures up to 34 degrees Celsius (93°F) and I have to say, I’m impressed. It’s flexible, quiet, and so portable that it makes my whole family fight over who gets to use it. It’s not cheap at $129.99 (although it’s currently marked down to under $100), but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more capable fan for less.
$95
Good
- Runs silently for hours on battery
- Good airflow for its size
- A useful night light
- It works with many smart homes
Bad
- Only on/off is supported on Matter networks
- It does not remove enough air to cool large rooms
Like many, I still associate SwitchBot with those button-pushing robots. But that’s disrespectful to a company that’s dabbled in everything from robovacs to doorbells and smart locks. The Standing Circulator Fan is the latest smart home device in a growing portfolio that now includes Nanoleaf lighting gear.
The fan head attaches quickly directly to the battery-powered base to create a desktop replica. You can also weld one or two vertical segments in between to create a vertical fan up to 100cm (39.4in) tall. Assembling takes seconds.
Turning it on produces a decent amount of airflow for the relatively small unit – up to 9.15 cubic meters per minute (about 323 CFM), an air speed of 6.1m/s (about 20ft/s), and an airflow distance of 27m (about 89 feet), according to the spec sheet – and it can go up to 90 degrees to 00lyzorite up. That makes it a medium-duty fan suitable for a bedroom or home office, but it will struggle to circulate air in a large living room.
It is very quiet due to its DC brushless motor and fan blade design. Standing about one meter away, I measured 50dB at full speed, and a whisper-quiet 28dB at the barely audible “Baby” setting that I usually use at night.
The fan can be controlled from the app, with touch controls built into the base, or with an included remote that sticks to the back of the fan. It can also be voice-controlled with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri when paired with one of SwitchBot’s Matter compatible hubs. Unfortunately, Matter only lets you turn it on and off, not modify any settings, but it’s still usable for events and scheduled events. “Hey Siri, turn on the standing air conditioner,” is something I’ve been saying over and over every week.
Another reason why the SwitchBot fan is pushing for its USB-C rechargeable battery. That makes this standing, talking fan usable anywhere, no AC outlet required (but you can always plug it in). It helped me stay cool on the outside patio, for example, on one very hot, windless day.
Battery lasted 1 hour 45 minutes with all features removed. That means the night light was set to be on and the fan was on high while it cycled through its full range of motion. Battery life can be greatly extended by dialing things back. In my testing, it easily lasted all night when set to Baby mode and the SwitchBot claims four days of continuous operation when the rechargeable base is connected to a standard 10,000mAh USB-C power bank.
My family of five installed several Vornado 533 $55 fans in the bedrooms. They’re less than half the price of this SwitchBot, but run a lot louder despite producing almost the same airflow. Everyone prefers the sweeping 3D wind pattern produced by the highly portable SwitchBot. That means more than a few arguments about who gets to use it, especially on warm nights.
A few weeks ago a fan found a home at the foot of my bed, where it creates an overhead air flow to disperse the CO₂ plume created by my wife and I. It keeps us cool and keeps the mosquitoes guessing where we are. My wife is a mosquito magnet, and so far we have avoided breaking the netting that would have been clearly hanging over our bed.
1/9
SwitchBot’s Standing Circulator fans list for $129.99 but are regularly on sale for less than $100. It doesn’t have the heavy air of something like the $149.99 Dreo PolyFan 704S, but it packs its size into a portable, quiet, and highly flexible battery-powered device that can be integrated into a wide range of smart homes.
All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
