Why you should trust us
I’m a staff writer at Wirecutter covering home HVAC devices (and Christmas lights and karaoke machines). Since 2017, I’ve tested about two dozen air conditioners and nearly twice as many room fans, and I’ve spent hundreds of hours heating, humidifying, and cooling my home.
Over the years, I’ve covered UN climate-change conferences and interviewed experts ranging from HVAC installers to heat-pump manufacturers to electrification advocates and sustainability scientists, and I’ve combed through hundreds and hundreds of pages of energy regulations and research.
For this guide in particular, I’ve spent more than 30 hours studying dozens of product listings and testing 20 different neck fans firsthand.
Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete independence, in accordance with our editorial standards. I have no knowledge about the business implications of any of my editorial recommendations. I don’t own any stock or have any other financial interest in any of the companies that I cover (or am likely to cover), and I don’t hold on to any “freebies,” always donating products after I’m done testing them, unless I need to hold on to them for long-term observations.
Who this is for
Right now, there’s a good chance you’re living through the hottest summer of your life. It’s so hot, in fact, you’re considering the benefits of a neck fan.
To be clear: These things are not, as some models claim to be, “cooler than an air conditioner.” If you have an air conditioner that you can use, we absolutely suggest that you start there, and we recommend pairing an AC source with a good room fan before looking to a neck fan.
But if you work outdoors, need to stay cool while in transit, experience hot flashes, or find yourself coping with an AC outage (as I was, on a train, while writing this guide), a portable neck fan can be a comfort, if not a literal lifesaver.
How we picked and tested
We sought reliable manufacturers and good warranties. We found neither. We did find some models with decent owner reviews. And a few neck fan companies have definitely tried to up their professionalism since we started reviewing neck fans in 2023. At the same time, we’ve also seen plenty of companies seemingly disappear as soon as they cleared out their initial stock. Despite the branding differences — and there are many — we quickly realized that most neck fans come from the same sources, which is to say that while there are plenty of perfectly fine neck fans, there are very few remarkable ones.
We settled on two basic fan types and price ranges:
- basic wearable fans with a rechargeable battery, which usually cost around $30
- slightly higher-tech options with built-in thermal cooling chips, which push the price up to $50 to $250
We wore them to barbecues, beaches, bike rides, and other sweaty events. We also wore them around the house sometimes, usually while cleaning or working out or installing our many, many window air conditioners. We even tried to see if they could work as substitutes (or at least, low-energy alternatives) for actual air conditioning. Spoiler alert: They could not.
We took notes on controls, design, and general user experience. We also did our best to test their ruggedness against city streets and curious kids alike. And we took a few objective measurements, including:
- wind speed output
- noise level
- number of vents or total cooling-chip surface area
Finally, we tried them on our friends and neighbors to see how different people interacted with the fans, and whether they actually made a difference for anyone. We’ll admit: We were skeptical at first, but we were pleasantly surprised to find how many people seemed to enjoy that soft, gentle breeze upon their nape.
Our pick: JisuLife Neck Fan Life3
Top pick
The JisuLife Neck Fan Life3 is a simple but effective cooling device that sits comfortably around your neck, directing gentle wafts of wind up toward your head. With three speed settings and a ring of 88 air slots for the fan to exhaust through, it can cover everything above your neck without blowing directly into your face (which would be annoying).
Plus: It comes with a one-year warranty. That doesn’t sound like much, but in the realm of cheap disposable plastic cooling devices, it’s practically gold.
It has one of the best fan-speed ranges we’ve seen. With three power settings, the JisuLife fan can go from a subtle breeze at 1.3 mph to a powerful gust at nearly thrice that speed. It’s easily the most powerful fan we’ve tested, even slightly besting our other picks. Meanwhile, there are other fans like the Egopp 1S Cool Down that maxed out at 1.3 mph.
It’s also especially easy to use. The JisuLife fan has only one large button to cycle through the fan speeds. On the front right side, the button is recessed just enough that most people should be able to find it by feel without having to remove the neck fan and look for the spot to press. Most of the other models we evaluated had small rectangular buttons, often hidden on the underside or back of the fan, that were difficult to locate and activate without taking the fan off to look for them.
The fan’s streamlined style is both subtle and comfortable. It has a discreet design that doesn’t attract much more attention than if you were wearing a pair of over-the-ear headphones around your neck; in fact, several people mistook the JisuLife fan for a pair of Beats headphones when they saw it.
It weighs only about a half a pound. You’ll barely even notice it while wearing it, and its 8.5-inch diameter should allow it to comfortably fit around most necks without sticking to sweaty skin. It’s available in a variety of colors as well.
The rechargeable battery should have just enough juice to get you through the day. Like most of the fans we tested, the JisuLife fan comes with a 4,000 mAh lithium-ion battery that can last up to 16 hours or so, depending on the fan-speed setting. It’s a particularly good companion for a full workday, especially if you work outdoors.
It usually costs around $30, about the same as other, similar neck fans. Plenty of other brands sell nearly identical devices for around the same price — including the Penkou Portable Neck Fan, which we previously recommended as our top pick, as well as our runner-up pick from Gulaki.
But unlike those other neck fans, the JisuLife fan actually has a warranty. Should anything happen to this neck fan, JisuLife offers a one-year limited warranty, along with some other basic customer support options. It’s not much, but it’s more than we can say about nearly every other neck fan brand we tested. Unfortunately, the JisuLife warranty doesn’t cover physical damage from accidents or natural disasters. If it’s any consolation, our test unit was durable enough to survive several drops off a moving bicycle and onto the pavement — though admittedly, we have not yet worn it through a tornado.
Neck fans can sound annoying, but the JisuLife fan is the quietest model we found. In our tests, we measured the volume of the JisuLife fan at 46 decibels on the lowest setting and up to about 56 decibels on high — quieter than any other fan we tested, and comfortably below “normal” conversation levels of 60 to 70 decibels. The noise isn’t particularly bothersome, either, even though the fan is essentially blowing straight at your ears. If you wear headphones with it on, as I did while walking or working, it’s basically unnoticeable.
That said, the volume of the fan at higher speeds can interfere with conversations a bit. I already have some auditory-processing problems to begin with, so sometimes it would take me a moment to realize that the problem was the fan, not just me. Keep it running on low, however, and you should be fine.
It is still a relatively low-cost neck fan. We hope that anyone shopping at the low end of the neck fan market is not bringing a discerning eye for high-quality craftsmanship. You’ll find no impressive feats of design or engineering here to celebrate. The JisuLife fan has tested well for us and outperformed other models in its price category. We’ve seen an uptick in quality since these devices debuted, but their longevity in general remains a question mark, and at this price, there’s a chance that the JisuLife fan’s components won’t last.
Runner-up: Gulaki Neck Fan
Runner-up
If the JisuLife fan isn’t available — or you happen to really love fun — the Gulaki Neck Fan performed just as well as our top pick. As an added bonus, you can hold down the power button and turn each end of the neck fan into a fun color-changing LED light show. Who wouldn’t want that?
The Gulaki fan is almost as powerful as our top pick. The fan on the Gulaki model can run as low as 1.3 mph, just like the JisuLife fan, although its maximum speed is about 0.5 mph less than what you get from our top pick. The Gulaki fan also has a slightly different vent arrangement, with 16 wide slots for the air to pass, compared with 88 smaller slits on our JisuLife pick. Both designs span roughly the same coverage area, however, so we’re not sure how much impact that would have on the actual performance.
It has the same reliable battery life as well. With a 4,000 mAh battery, the Gulaki fan should have enough juice to last about 16 hours, just like the JisuLife pick. That’s basically an entire day, assuming you weren’t going to wear it to bed. I don’t think that would be very comfortable.
Did we mention that it also has color-changing LEDs? Hold down the power button on the Gulaki fan, and the circle at each headphone-style rounded end illuminates in a fun, ever-shifting LED light display. Yes, it’s sort of silly. But so is wearing a fan around your neck. You may as well go all the way and have some fun with it.
The Gulaki doesn’t have a warranty. This is fairly common in the world of cheap plastic cooling devices. On the bright side, our test model has survived for more than a year at this point with the LEDs and fan motor both still intact, even after several accidental drops from a moving bicycle.
Best for better battery life: Hotsales Neck Fan YP-06
Best for…
If you need a fan that doesn’t die before the day is done — or you just really favor a slightly sleeker design — the Hotsales Neck Fan YP-06 is another great option. In our tests, it performed almost as well as our top pick, but also comes with a higher battery capacity too, so it should last you a bit longer. The small rectangular button on the side is a little harder to find, however, and the opening doesn’t stretch quite as wide, which could be uncomfortable for someone with a larger neck.
It’s the longest-lasting neck fan we tested. With a 6,000 mAh battery, the Hotsales fan has 50% more battery life than our top pick and our also-great pick. In practice, that means it should last around 18 hours running on low, although that capacity diminishes pretty quickly as you crank up the speed.
It looks good (for a neck fan). Neck fans are not particularly stylish accessories, but the Hotsales fan makes an effort. A curved cutaway on the back helps it rest more evenly against your neck, and a chrome outline frames the pill-shaped panel with the logo. While it doesn’t come in quite as many color options as the Gulaki fan, its limited palette is definitely trying to lean into the iPhone aesthetic — or at least a cheap plastic simulacrum thereof.
But this model is noisier than our top pick. We measured the Hotsales fan at 62 decibels on high, just loud enough that the noise starts to encroach on casual-conversation volumes. If you keep it on the lower settings, though, the sound shouldn’t be too bothersome. (Doing so will also help you save some battery.)
It also costs more, usually. This model’s list price varies but has consistently been at least $20 more on average than that of our top pick. But it’s typically listed with various discounts and coupons that bring the price down a bit.
Upgrade pick: Torras Coolify 2S Neck Air Conditioner
Upgrade pick
The Torras Coolify 2S Neck Air Conditioner is easily one of the nicest neck fans available, and it’s a genuinely solid device overall. It’s also the most expensive by far, with less warranty protection than we expect at this price. But when it’s working as designed, it truly is a nice device, with plenty of thoughtful features that helped it stand out from the other neck fans we tried.
The fan on the Torras is great — but the thermoelectric cooling chips are even better. The fan performance is comparable to our other picks, but the difference-maker is that the side against your neck is covered in about 15 square inches of metal thermoelectric semiconductors, which get very cold very, very quickly. Think of it like placing a wet compress or an ice pack against your neck. When activated, these little cold plates provide an almost instant cooling sensation. During my tests, I took a 12-mile round-trip bike ride on a hot summer day with the cooling chips running the entire time, and I was amazed at how much less sweaty I was — while the battery lasted.
It has some of the best controls we’ve seen on a neck fan. The fan itself looks much sleeker than the other options we’ve tested, with rounded edges and a glossy black finish. A small LCD screen on the right side of the fan displays the current setting as well as the percentage of battery power remaining; it’s a nice touch, even if you can’t actually see the screen while wearing the fan. The buttons are large and easy to find, with one on either side of the neck: power settings on the right, mode options on the left.
You can connect it to your phone and control the settings with an app. I initially thought this was an entirely unnecessary luxury: Why would I take my phone out when I can just tap a button on my neck? But it may be helpful for some folks, such as those with mobility issues. The app also offers a timer option, which could be useful for some situations.
It comes with a nicely padded carrying case. If you are going to spend $200 or more for a neck fan, I can certainly understand why you might want to take better care of it. The competitors we tried lacked this perk.
It also has a heating mode. The built-in thermal chips on the Torras fan can work for cooling or heating. I wouldn’t trade a decent winter coat for it, but it can provide some nice supplemental warmth on a cool fall evening or a brisk spring day. I found that it also worked well as a sort of muscle relaxant after I carried a toddler around on my shoulders for a while, though I’m not sure that was the intended purpose.
But it fits a little more tightly than other neck fans we tested. The diameter of this neck fan is about 7.5 inches — roughly an inch less than the spread on our top pick or runner-up. But there’s a clear reason for that: The cooling chips work only if they can make direct contact with your skin. It could feel a little snug or uncomfortable for some people.
Those cooling chips use a lot more energy than the fan does by itself. I had completely charged the Torras fan before that 12-mile bike ride — and it still ended up dying just as I got home. It ultimately lasted about four hours with the thermal chip running on full, in contrast to the twelve or so hours it can run with just the fan on. In other words, it’s great for a quick cooldown, but it isn’t something you can rely on for an entire day.
Did we mention it’s also really expensive? I cannot stress this enough: $200 is a lot to spend on a neck fan. But if you can afford it, and if your fan performs like ours has, I would begrudgingly admit that the Torras fan is worth the investment.
The warranty should be stronger. Our test unit has been fine, but of course that isn’t always the case with consumer electronics. The worst owner reviews, about 5% of the total, are a mix of unmet expectations as well as more concerning notes about battery life and charging issues. The company does offer a one-year limited warranty as long as you fill out the included registration card, but we think a product at this price should come with a little more of a long-term commitment from the company.
What to look forward to
The JisuLife Portable Neck Fan Upgraded, also known by the model name Life4, is a newer version of our top pick. It looks similar in design, with a notable upgrade to battery life: This version claims a 5,000 mAh battery, compared with our pick’s 4,000 mAh capacity. We plan to test the new model and report back with detailed comparisons to the JisuLife 3.
The competition
We used to recommend the cooling chip-equipped Egopp 1S Cool Down Neck Fan (also available under a variety of other names including Amalitom, Normia Rita, and the impressively unpronounceable Wqss Aoeiu). But the stock and price have both been wildly inconsistent, and it has enough frustrating design flaws that we don’t think it’s worth chasing down.
The thermal cooling chips on the Torras Coolify Cyber Neck Air Conditioner cover almost twice as much area as those on our upgrade pick, also from Torras. Unfortunately, this also means that the Coolify Cyber is even more expensive. It was slightly louder than our upgrade pick, too, and the controls weren’t as convenient, although it still gives you the option of app control via Bluetooth.
The Hotsales Neck Fan TY-01 performed only slightly worse than our other Hotsales pick. It is designed with a built-in carrying handle, though, which I guess is convenient.
The Civpower Neck Fan and the Penkou Portable Neck Fan are both essentially indistinguishable from our top pick, minus the fun LED-lighting option, yet somehow they still cost the same. Regardless, they’re both decent LED-less alternatives.
The Comlife Portable Neck Fan looks like two tiny room fans stuck on the end of a bendable stick. It also has half the battery life and half the power of our other picks. There’s no reason for this to exist.
We also tested the Torras Coolify Zone Wearable Waist Fan, which isn’t technically a neck fan — you wear it around your waist, sort of like a WWE championship belt. Also like professional wrestling, the cooling experience had a certain kayfabe quality, in that it was a complete fabrication designed to create the illusion of emotional satisfaction. At least the similarly torso-based Aecooly Waist Fan actually cools your body, even if it does turn your shirt into a billowing parachute.
This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.
