Only fans: seven cool gadgets for ultra-compact personal airflow

Some might like it hot but the rest of us find plus-30°C temperatures an ongoing trial, especially in spots where the installation of air con is simply impossible – centuries-old townhouses and Tube stations, we’re looking at you. Here’s our guide to the best in pocketable airflow management to help you beat the heat.

Dyson HushJet Mini Cool fan

Dyson’s new HushJet personal fan came to market just in time for 2026’s wave of hot weather. Resembling an attachment-free electric toothbrush, the handheld gadget weighs in at just 212g, even though it incorporates a six-hour battery. The HushJet distils the company’s 17 years of experience working in the fan and cooling industry down into a tiny device.

Using Dyson’s own brushless DC motors, it’s capable of spinning at speeds of up 65,000 rpm. There are five airflow modes plus a battery-sapping Boost setting for really hot spots. Available in three colourways – Ink/Cobalt, Carnelian/Sky and Stone/Blush – the fan docks with a USB-C charge stand and will soon be offered with a universal mount for attachment to practically anything.

Sony Reon Pocket 5 personal cooler

Something a little different, from Sony. The Reon Pocket 5 is best described as a personal air conditioner, a ‘wearable thermal device’ that sits on the nape of your neck and stays in place with a special neckband. A stainless-steel cooling plate makes skin contact, chilling you in just the right spot to lower your overall temperature.

Hot air is expelled out of the top of the unit (there’s even a slightly longer vent piece to be used in conjunction with a suit). The Reon Pocket 5 can also be used to heat you up, a terrifying prospect at the time of writing, but potentially a handy addition to a winter wardrobe.

Torras Coolify Cyber Fold Neck Air Conditioner

Another outlier for those looking to move on from the traditional hand-held fan. The Torras Coolify Cyber Fold is a neck air conditioner, a collar-like device that slips onto the back of your neck and nearly instantly delivers a cooling blast of air towards your face and neck.

Inside the foldable Coolify Cyber are four individual fans to distribute air evenly without bothering anyone else. Control is via an app and there are also onboard temperature sensors that power the unit’s Auto cooling mode. All-in-all, it’s a little bulky and prominent, certainly enough to raise a few eyebrows. But you won’t care about that.

Shark ChillPill

We can vouch for the efficacy of Shark’s new ChillPill. Launched earlier in 2026, this twin-cylinder design has come into its own in recent weeks, during the UK’s heat waves. Shark’s compact device not only works as an efficient high-speed fan but comes with two additional modules that can be swapped out instead of the fan unit.

The first is a mister, which distributes the contents of a modest water reserve in a haze of ultra-fine, cooling mist. The second is a cooling plate, with a much smaller surface area than the Sony Reon, but pleasing to press against the neck, wrist and forehead when the heat gets too much. Finally, the ChillPill’s clever design allows the fan to be angled variously to establish perfect airflow.

JisuLife Ultra2 Portable Handheld Fan

The Ultra2 from JisuLife presents far more conventional form factor. Although it can’t haul air quite as powerfully as the Dyson, the Ultra2 spins at 43,000rpm, equivalent to a wind speed of 17m/s. The speed controls are represented by a percentage display, effectively giving the fan 100 different levels of airflow, while the big 9000mAH battery gives it plenty of endurance.

In addition to the fan functionality, JisuLife has imbued the Ultra2 with extra tricks, such as attachments that allow it to be used to clean out electronics, blow up inflatables and even as a flashlight and emergency beacon.

Printworks Fantastic portable fan

The simplicity and ubiquity of the fan format means you either need to radically innovate (as per Dyson or Shark) or risk your product drowning a sea of identikit challengers in the cutthroat online marketplaces. Fantastic is cheap and cheerful but transcends its Tik-Tok ad/Dropship roots with a set of nicely chosen colour options and a very simple premise; once charged up, Fantastic is free to move to wherever you are.

With colours including Green, Cerise, and Petroleum, Fantastic has three speeds, can be manually moved around 360 degrees and – it is claimed – will ‘operate in absolute silence’. If true, it’s a gamechanger that could solve both video-call miscommunications and the travails of light sleepers.

Muji Rechargeable Handheld Fan

This is what the archetypal hand-held fan looks like, so if that ticks your box, why not? With this model – ultra-affordable, utterly simple in design and with USB-C charge compatibility – Muji hasn’t set out to make the best or even the most distinctive solution. Instead, it potentially knocks out all the above options thanks to its folding practicality and familiar, unfussy design.