It's small, it's light, it looks cool, it's simple to operate, and it's a good idea. I usually like to have a fan pointing at me during sleep, but it tends to send dust my way which triggers my asthma. I also have a mini HEPA filter in the room. So this little Smart Air device seemed like a good way to make sure the cool air coming my way was dust-free.
In practice however, it has limitations:
- It's very small and the airflow is much less than from a comparable fan, maybe the filters slow it down? To get enough cool air I need to put it on a high setting.
- It's too noisy. The quietest setting is about the same as my Levoit mini on the middle and higher buttons, although the sound is a bit more mechanical, hard to describe, it's fine though for sleeping. However, once you go up to the higher levels on the SmartAir it's really quite noisy. I find it too noisy to sleep, and this is coming from someone who usually has both a fan and a HEPA filter running in the bedroom at night.
- It also has bright lights which you can't seem to turn off for night-time mode. These keep me awake too. We've covered the lights with 3 layers of gaffa tape, as you can see on the picture, and still too much light. Covering the lights also means covering the buttons...
- Also be aware (this is clearly communicated so it wasn't a surprise) it's really small and so has limited impact on a room if you're hoping to avoid infection. We need a HEPA filter running on the other side of the room to ensure the bedroom gets enough clean air.
If they made a version that had a night-time mode where lights went out, and made it a bit quieter, it would be ok. As it is I think it won't be cooling enough in the summer so I'll have to go back to my fan. I think I'll take it to the dentist, maybe restaurants etc, as I have to avoid infection. It's great that it has a battery option.