EcoAir Halo Tower Fan

Design and features

• 12 levels of airflow
• ‘Nature Mode’ mode
• Built-in handle at the rear

Right off the bat, you can probably tell that the EcoAir Halo Tower Fan has a decent heft to it. Weighing in at 9.2kg, it’s definitely not the most portable fan around, although there is a handle at the top that does let you get a good grip on it if you do need to move it from one room to another.

The set-up process is quite simple – nowhere near as involved as the Duux Whisper Flex 2. It’s just a case of attaching the circular base panel to the bottom and securing it with three twisting locks. Once that’s done, the Halo Tower Fan is ready to go, and unlike my existing tower fan, this one feels far more secure and less likely to topple over if you do accidentally brush up against it.

When you switch the device on, you’re immediately greeted with a powerful burst of airflow, which I can say was greatly appreciated, as the summer heat had almost completely taken over my flat. There are 12 settings in total, so you’ve got a good amount of flexibility if you just want a light breeze to keep you feeling cool.

You can tweak the style of that airflow too thanks to a ‘Nature Mode’. Similar to the ‘Natural Wind’ mode found on the Whisper Flex 2, this setting tries to recreate the feeling of an organic breeze by ramping up the airflow, bringing it down gently and then raising it up again. This pattern repeats in quite a pleasing fashion, so it’s a nice feature to have if you don’t want the airflow to feel too abrasive.

If you need a degree of airflow that gently guides you towards a good night’s sleep then the dedicated ‘Sleep Mode’ is just the ticket, dropping the speed to four for half an hour, then level two for the same duration, before finally settling on the first setting which the fan then stays at until told otherwise. Of course, if the heat is particularly oppressive then you can always just use the timer function to run at your preferred speed until a certain time (up to 12-hours).

The oscillation is quite an impressive bit of engineering – instead of the entire frame moving from side to side, only the mid-section moves, so this mode is brilliantly silent in operation. I do wish that you could have some control over the range of the oscillation, but it does have a wide spread that is helpful for larger rooms. There’s also some room for elevating the fan from the base, giving it a bit more height if required.

When it comes to inputs, you have two options: the control panel at the top of the fan, and a remote control that requires two AAA batteries. All of the buttons are clearly labeled and easy to cycle through, but I would like to have seen some smartphone connectivity here given the price point, as you can find exactly that in the aforementioned Whisper Flex 2 for not that much more at the checkout.

Performance

• Very powerful, even from a distance
• Both the oscilaltion and airflow are quiet

For a tower fan as chunky as the EcoAir Halo, I was anticipating a fair bit of sound to eminate as soon as I switched the thing on, and while it can certainly hit some impressively high numbers on airflow, the fan still managed to remain relatively quiet throughout the testing process.

When taking note of the decibel levels from 1m away, I was able to register a miniscule 33.4dB at the lowest setting, and that number jumped up to a still acceptable 44.7dB at level six. What really had me do a double take is when I cranked the air-flow all the way up to a breezy level 12, and only managed to pick up 52dB. For how powerful the maximum setting is, EcoAir has done a great job here in making sure that it never outstays its welcome with unwanted noise pollution.

Moving over to testing the airflow, I’d recommend being a bit closer the EcoAir Halo if you want to use it at the lower settings for a light breeze. On level one, I was unable to pick up any movement on the anemometer from one metre away, but a comfortable 2.4m/s at a 15cm distance.

Of course, the real point of interest is in just how powerful the fan can be when you get things going at the highest setting. Running the fan at level 12, I was almost blown away by 5.6m/s of airflow at the 15cm mark, but even when moving back to a 1m distance, I was able to bask in a soothing 2.0m/s breeze. On the latter point, this was perfect for keeping my wife and I cool as we watched TV from perpendicular seats in the living room.

Should you buy it?