Whether the UK is having another heatwave or you’re just off somewhere hot and humid, handheld fans are the new must-have travel gadget.
They’re small enough to fit in your handbag yet (mostly) powerful enough to give you a bit of sweet respite.
Plus, car-less huns will know the inferno that is public transport without aircon in 30+ degrees. And don’t get us Londoners started on the Central Line!
So these fans are an absolute LIFESAVER!
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Is a pricey handheld fan worth the money?
When James told me recently that he’d purchased a fan for a whopping £56, I was gobsmacked.
I’ve recommended a few handheld fans over the past year on our travel product reviews page, so I know most of these products are not that expensive!
So I decided to buy three more and let James see what the differences were. Was his £56 fan really worth the money?
Fan jargon buster
Since we are comparing the fans, here are a couple of metrics to know…
RPM: Revolutions per minute – how many times the blades spin in a minute. The more they spin, the faster the fan and the more cooling sensation you feel.
mAh: The charging capacity of the fan. The higher it is, the more power it holds and the longer it can go between charges.
Which handheld fan is the best value?
I ended up buying fans that were all the same brand, because I was looking for ones that looked the most like James’.
The Best Handheld Fans Tried and Tested
- James' choice
JISULIFE FA35 Mini Turbo Fan
RRP £65.99
Now, on first inspection this does look boujie.
It’s got a digital display showing what speed it’s at, and you can set it at any speed from 1-100.
It comes with a 3600mAh battery and a safety lock, so the fan doesn’t accidentally go off in your bag and become damaged. Plus you don’t get odd looks for having something vibrating in your bag!
The listing says it takes 2-3 hours to fully charge, with a full charge lasting you 12 hours.
This fan is often on sale, and we paid £56.
- Speeds: 100
- Max speed: 15000 RPM
- Charge time: 2-3h
- Lasts: 12h
JISULIFE FA42 Handheld Fan
RRP £20.99
This fan has five different speeds, as do all the others, making James’ the only one with more than five speeds.
It claims to have 4500mAh battery – but there’s a bit of discrepancy on the page as to how long this means charging will take.
It’s either 4 or 5-6 hours depending on where on the page you look!
The page also mentions two different amounts of time that the fan will last from a full charge – 16 and 18 hours on the slowest speed. So we’re not sure which exactly it is! On the fastest speed, it’ll last you 5 hours.
It’s also often on offer, and we paid £15.99 for ours.
- Speeds: 5
- Max speed: 9000 RPM
- Charge time: 5-6h
- Lasts: 16h
JISULIFE Handheld Fan Life10S
RRP £32.99
On aesthetics alone, this fan looks the most similar to James’ expensive version.
It also has the digital display but again only has five speeds.
Same as James’, it has the safety lock on the fan and the listing maintains there is a 5000 mAh battery, fully charges in 2-3 hours and has up to 28 hours of cooling.
I don’t know who has the time or the camera battery to corroborate this, but if it’s true, that would last longer than James’. But maybe that’s just at the lowest speed!
Another fan that’s often on sale meaning that we paid £26.39.
- Speeds: 5
- Max speed: 3700 RPM
- Charge time: 2-3h
- Lasts: 28h
JISULIFE Handheld Fan Life9
RRP £37.99
This fan probably looks the most different to the rest of the fans, and we noticed in our tests that the air blow feels a lot more narrow than the others.
This didn’t impress James much but I think this is great for targeting specific areas like chest sweat or fanning down your back.
It has five different speeds, a safety lock, and also comes with a lanyard so you could maybe hang it on your wrist or around your neck.
The fan claims to have 5000mAh battery, 3-4 hours charging time and with a full charge, speed 1 would last 18 hours and speed 5 would last 3.5 hours.
This fan too is regularly discounted, we saw it as low as £28.79 recently.
- Speeds: 5
- Power: 40000 RPM
- Charge time: 3-4h
- Lasts: 18h
How much power does a handheld fan need?
We did perform a test with an envelope to see which fan had the most power.
We attempted to blow the envelope along, marking where on the table it was with a sticky note.
James’ fan did blow the others out of the water with how powerful it was, blowing the envelope over furthest away. Which makes sense given it has the highest RPM of the lot.
James did say that he liked the look of Fan 2, the most similar looking to his. Both also have a digital display, and the same charging time, but it’s unclear what speed Fan 2 lasts 28 hours at, and what speed James’ lasts 12 hours at.
My final thoughts
James’ fan does feel really nice to hold and performs well, and I do think a handheld fan is a great thing to have for those humid summer months or any tropical holidays.
But James may be taking his Luxury Holiday Expert thing slightly too far this time. £56 for a fan?!
So, How Do I Rank These Handheld Fans?
4th place – JISULIFE FA42 Handheld Fan
Coming in last, it’s the FA42. This is the cheapest, but it feels and performs like it. There’s also some discrepancy on the listing about it’s charging time and how long it lasts for.
3rd place – JISULIFE Handheld Fan Life9
The JISULIFE Life9 fan takes third place. It’s the second most expensive and although it did perform well in the test, I think it’s not going to be for everyone due to the narrow air blow. I enjoyed that more than James!
2nd place – JISULIFE FA35 Mini Turbo Fan
Sitting in second place is James’ boujie £65 fan. This was the most powerful in the test, and it does look and feel nice quality. But can I justify £65 on a fan?!!
1st place – JISULIFE Handheld Fan Life10S
In first place is the JISULIFE Life10S fan. Price wise, it sat in the middle and also sat in the middle for the performance test. It does look the most similar to James’ but for a much lower price tag!
