MeacoFan Sefte 8″ Portable Battery Air Circulator Review

Introduction

The all-new MeacoFan Sefte 8″ Portable Battery Air Circulator promises to offer cooling wherever you need it, thanks to its small size and integrated battery.

If you’ve already had a look through our breakdown of the best fans then you’re probably already familiar with UK company Meaco. The brilliantly powerful MeacoFan Sefte 10 Pedestal Air Circulator, at the time of writing, currently stands as our overall go-to fan. Within that context, it’s fair to say that expectations were pretty high for the smaller MeacoFan Sefte 8”.

As I type this, the UK is fully in the midst of a pretty brutal heatwave, so it’s been a good opportunity to put Meaco’s latest portable fan to the test and see if it has what it takes to make a difference when it counts. Here’s my verdict.

Design and features

• Magnetic remote
• Replaceable battery
• A bit heftier than most personal fans

Even though it’s marketed as a portable fan, I don’t think the MeacoFan Sefte 8” is quite as travel friendly as the Duux Rize, which is also priced at £79.99. Meaco’s offering is definitely larger, so you may need a fairly sizeable tote bag if you do fancy bringing it with you to the office, but in return you get a powerful degree of airflow in a device that can be set up anywhere.

As you might have guessed, the MeacoFan Sefte 8” is battery powered, but what’s surprising is that the battery is removeable and replaceable, with the idea being that Meaco doesn’t want its products to simply become e-waste after a short period of time. This is a fan that’s designed to go the distance, and if the battery ever starts to fail then you can simply swap it out for a new one without having to upgrade the fan wholesale.

I absolutely love this eco-friendly concept, and it’s one that I’d like to see more companies adopt. Unfortunately one feature that I’d like to see, namely USB-C charging, isn’t here. You’ll need to top up the battery with the included barrel power adapter. Still, when the battery is topped up, you can anticipate up to 17-hours of use, which just outdoes the 15-hour limit on the Duux Rize, and is more than enough to ensure that you feel cool and comfortable throughout the day.

While the frame isn’t quite as portable as I’d like it to be, the actual design of the thing is quite sleek. The two tone colour palette that Meaco has gone for has a confident look to it, and the fact that the touch controls sit flush within the base, just makes it look even better.

Speaking of which, the controls are fairly intuitive and quite responsive, although you’ll want to use the included remote control as that features more options, and it can be magnetically stored at the centre of the fan when it’s not in use. 

In a pinch, you can jump between the 12-levels of airflow, set a timer of up to 12-hours, or even toggle ECO mode which automatically sets the airflow based on the current room temperature. This is a handy little feature to have as it means you can dive straight into the optimal setting as soon as you switch the fan on instead of having to cycle through menus.

There’s a single horizontal oscillation setting of 70°, but if you do want some elevation for when you’re working at a standing desk then you can manually tilt the fan up to 65°. If you’re after more connected smart features, such as app control, then I’m afraid that you won’t find them here, but I don’t think that’s a major issue given the sub-£100/$100 price.

As a final cherry on top, the MeacoFan Sefte 8” comes with a three year warranty as standard. When you factor in the ability to swap out the battery when necessary, it really does feel as if Meaco is making all the right moves here to create a fan that’ll last you well into the future.

Performance

• 12 airflow settings
• Barely emits at sound at most levels

One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about the MeacoFan Sefte 8” is the breadth of airflow that you get across its 12 settings. For instance, at level 1, it’s a very slight breeze, so slight in fact that it registered as 0.0m/s from 15cm away, but you can still feel a bit of cooling nonetheless.

Crank up the intensity all the way to 12 and it’s a completely different story. At the highest setting I recorded a powerful 3.1m/s breeze from 15cm away, which still retained some potency going further back to 1m, tracking at 2.6m/s. That’s one of the best airflows I’ve seen amongst the crop of desk fans I’ve reviewed, so there’s no chance of still feeling the heat when the MeacoFan Sefte 8” is set up in front of you.

Thankfully, the surprises didn’t end there as it was a similarly impressive story where sound levels were concerned. Going back to that first level, I was only able to pick up 34.8dB from a 15cm distance, and it only jumped up to 43.5dB when I moved it over to the midway point of level six.

For most of this review, I had the fan set to level six as a means of fending off the heatwave, but it was so quiet that it quickly dissolved into the background, and whenever I got up from my chair and walked a few paces away from my desk, I couldn’t hear it all.

Even at the maximum level, the MeacoFan Sefte 8” never went beyond 54dB, so if you’ve ever had trouble with noisy fans in the past, this is the perfect remedy to get rid of those bad memories.