CoolMate Portable Misting Fan

The idea of this little tabletop air cooler is a good one -- unfortunately, the execution leaves much to be desired, as three of these units have failed on me now: the fan quit on the first one after less than a month of use, and the second and third units (provided by the manufacturer under warranty) each started leaking water onto the tabletop after a few weeks of use.It's a pity, because when the CoolMate works, it works well.You fill the cooler up to the max fill lines indicated on the top of the water tank, plug it in, press two buttons, and you're in business.One button selects from two fan speeds or turns the fan off. The other two buttons select the amount of time the mister cycles on and off -- two seconds followed by six seconds of fan only, or two seconds followed by two seconds of fan only. LEDs light on the base to indicate your settings.The instructions state that the cooler will run on one water fill-up for 3.5 hours on the low setting and 2 hours on the high setting. You must use distilled water to avoid mineral buildup on the misting head. The instructions go on longer about cleaning or replacing the misting head than advising you how to use the cooler in the first place!The cooler is very quiet in operation, even at the higher fan speed. In a near-silent room, you can hear a little hissing noise when the misting head is doing its thing. I must emphasize, however, that this would NOT disturb you.I would estimate that the cool breeze can be felt about two to three feet from the unit. Another Amazon customer felt cheated because the CM didn't cool a large area the way an A/C does. Air coolers really don't cool an area; they blow a cool breeze directly at you. I have found the CM helps keep me feeling comfortable when I'm sitting at my desk or on the couch watching TV and the room is 80 degrees or so.Sadly -- because all three of these CoolMates that I have tried failed after just a few weeks of use, I CAN'T recommend them. The need still exists, then, for a compact tabletop air cooler with a more reliable build.PROS:* Very quiet in operation.* Blows air 15 degrees cooler than ambient temperature.* Runs for up to 3.5 hours on one fill of water.* Two fan speeds, two cooling settings.* Base allows cooler head to swivel vertically.* Great customer service from manufacturer.CONS:* Fan on first unit stopped working within one month of purchase.* Second and third units started leaking water onto the tabletop after a few weeks of use. Cleaning the mister didn't help.* Must use distilled water.

I purchased my coolmate fan at Costco. It looked good and the concept seemed great. (I cool my patio with misters).I set it up in my truck with the idea of keeping it cool for my dog when I run into the store, etc.Unfortunately, my dog will be staying home when its warm; this fan is a bust. After using it, I have no idea where it may be useful. It will not cool any area that I tried, If the area is warming such as when you turn off your A/C, it will not even maintain the temp. As the air warms, it weakly blows the warmer air. The mist just adds some humidity as it warms. It barely moves the air (2 ft from me, it did not even move my hair). I tried it windows up, windows down, inside and outside. Seriously, the only time that the air it generated felt cool was when the air was already being kept cool by my A/C....so then why even use it, its already cool! How on earth the claim of 15 degrees cooler can be made seems literally impossible or not repeatable in any real conditions. The claim that you can use it instead of A/C is farfetched. This fan is just too weak to make any difference and it was not inexpensive.This was one of those purchases where you just feel cheated. Well, at least that is how i felt.

Concept is sound but the fan lacks enough power to be useful. If it's more than 2 feet away it does nothing for you. This has the potential to be great maybe future modes will have enough power to do the job.

I was also very excited about this product working, but it was nothing but frustrating waiting for it to actually cool anything,i returned it the same day