Igenix IG9703 Portable Air Cooler with Remote Control and LED Display, 3 Fan Speeds with Oscillation Function, 7 Hour Timer and 6 Litre Water Tank for Home or Office Use, White

This has been a godsend in the recent heatwave. It's like having a really lovely cold breeze, even on the hottest days of the year. We live in a rented house with sash windows, so we're not able to install a full portable A/C unit (which needs proper window venting), so I figured this was the next best thing.I was definitely hesitant because of the somewhat mixed reviews, but now I'm pretty sure the problem is user error rather than the unit not working as it should. To be fair, the manual is lacking detail - but nothing that you can't figure out with some common sense. Put cold water into the tank, put the ice packs in, make sure the humidification option is on, and away you go. Nice cold air blowing around the room.The unit is as quiet as you'd expect anything with a fan to be - it's actually quieter than the old tower fan we were using before. There's occasionally the gurgling of the water pump, but it's mostly a gentle trickle. Both my wife and I have had no trouble sleeping with this running in our bedroom overnight, and my wife is a pretty light sleeper.When placed at the foot of the bed, it easily blows a strong breeze that reaches us both with the oscillation function activated. The slats at the front do a great job of directing the airstream upwards towards the bed - I was worried that it would only be blowing cool air at the floor, given the height, but that wasn't the case. It reminds me of lying on a beach with a nice gentle breeze blowing in off the sea. It's also been great to keep our dog cool during the day - and in fact, our dog walker commented on how much cooler our house was than other houses she had visited that day (during the hottest part of the afternoon), so it's definitely doing something right.I was also concerned that the evaporative cooling function would leave the rooms feeling damp or 'sticky', but I've not noticed anything to that effect. I'd imagined it spraying a mist like those cooling fans attached to water bottles that you can spritz yourself with - but it's not like that at all. At the back of the unit there's a pad which gets soaked with water from the tank. The air is drawn in through that pad and then blown out the front of the unit. When the hot, dry air goes through the wet pad, the pad absorbs the heat and cooler more humid air is blown out. The air coming out doesn't feel damp, and the room doesn't get muggy or anything like that.I think the negative reviews have come from people who don't understand the difference between air conditioning and air cooling. A standard A/C unit has to have venting to outside the house, where it can expel the heat energy it's sucked out of the room (A/C doesn't put cool air into the room, it sucks heat energy out of it). But for A/C to work efficiently you need to have a sealed room and venting to outside, which isn't always an option. So whilst this unit won't chill a room down to feel like being inside a freezer as you get with A/C, you also don't need expensive installation or window kits - plus it uses less energy and costs a lot less in the first place. And if you're sitting (or lying!) in the direction that it's blowing, then it'll cool you down no problem.I'd say this was 100% worth the money, and has made the last few days in the sweltering heat much more comfortable.

In the past we have installed and used portable and fixed air conditioning in our home both in the UK and abroad. When the weather is hot you really appreciate it even if the cost of running it can be expensive. Since moving into our bungalow due to health issues we’ve considered installing A/C year after year but managed to get by without. However over the past two years, as my health has deteriorated the need has grown exponentially. We know the upside but the downside is the amount of work fitting one and for what, a few days here and there.As temperatures soared again into the upper 30’s out of shear desperation we bought the Igenix to help us get by and this is what we think about it.It’s not, as many have previously said, an air conditioning unit.It is a cooling fan and it really does cool. Not nearly as much as an air conditioning unit but it can chill the air in front of it if you are close enough.It’s noisy. Not too noisy but enough to distract you. Definitely not as quite as our Dyson Cool but that has 10 speeds. It might prove too noisy for light sleepers.It has numerous functions all of which are useful. Basic 3 speed control and optional lateral moving blades. 3 Modes allow timer, random speeds and normal.It can be operated with or without water (and ice packs) however, despite the advert making things sound better than they are, ice packs shouldn’t be used when you select humidifier mode (details hidden in small print on page 5 of the instructions manual).This confuses many users who don’t understand if the additional cooling of the water with ice pack is being utilised when the humidifier is switched off.If the manufacturers clarified this point there would be less confusion and complaints.In my opinion the water is used but it depends entirely on ambient temperature evaporating it in which case it may not be as effective as when the humidifier is switched on.The blue LED lights are bright, another negative towards night use and when the water level light blinks you might be forgiven for thinking it’s the emergency services in your room.Overall the unit is very, very good. It’s carefully designed with good detail towards accessing the water container, controls and storing cable.Simple features such as movable front vanes to direct the air up and down or closed to protect from dust. Serviceable air, dust filters and water filter.The fan is very effective for such a compact device however, as stated earlier, the cooling effect diminishes over a short distance.I’ve read numerous complaints about its lack of performance but that’s unfair when you recall it’s not an air conditioning unit.Despite the adverts I don’t think it was ever designed as a room cooler. As a personal cooler it works exceptionally well.

This is first ever air cooler I have had, before this I have always used a standard pedestal fan, and I would have to say that on the humidifier setting the air coming out of this fan is far cooler than the air that comes out of a pedestal fan.Many people expect this fan to cool the room, remember its not a air conditioner which costs an average of 3-6 times the price of this fan, this is a air cooler, the air that comes out of this fan when on humidifier setting will only cool the person to whom the air blowing at, it will not make the room feel colder like an air conditioner.Some people comment that this air cooler is same as a normal fan, that is correct if you use without the humidifier setting, but with the humidifier setting the air is much cooler than compared to a normal fan, i use this fan with 3 ice blocks and cold water which i keep in the fridge in two 2 litre bottles, this way the water is very cold which results in even colder air, but even without the cold water and ice packs the air is colder than a standard fan.Now that I've tried an air cooler i will never go back to using a normal fan, because in really hot weather a normal fan blows out the same temperature air which is in the room and it does not cool your body down too much, but the air cooler definitely blows out colder air than the air temperature in the room which feels a bit like your in from of an air conditioner especially when the air is blowing directly at you.Considering this air cooler cost the same as many pedestal fans which i have bought over the years, i would say its definitely worth it, if you've never used an air cooler, then give it a try, its definitely better than a normal fan.