I've been testing this wallet-friendly air circulator during the heatwave – and it turns out you can get powerful cooling without paying Dyson prices

MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator: two-minute review

The MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator is a desktop-sized fan that delivers surprisingly strong airflow for its size. It’s available to buy from the Meaco website and Amazon UK, and has a list price of £79.99.

With a base that’s around 212mm in diameter, the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator isn’t the most compact desktop fan going, but it isn’t obtrusive. Despite looking a bit chonky, it only weighs 2.3kg, and was easy to pick up and carry between rooms using the integrated carry handle.

One key feature that sets the Sefte 8in apart from many of the best fans is its built-in rechargeable battery, which can be replaced, if needed, at a cost of £19.99. The battery life was acceptable considering how small it is, lasting around four hours while oscillating on speed six, which is the middle speed, but the battery can last a lot longer without oscillation.

There are two modes available aside from manual operation, my favorite being Eco mode, which adjusts the fan speed according to the ambient temperature. The other is Night mode, which mutes the control beeps and turns off the display. This worked perfectly fine, though it proved a little redundant as I preferred keeping the fan in Eco mode and instead using the remote to silence the display and mute the somewhat obnoxious, high-pitched beeps.

The remote is cleverly designed to fit discreetly on the front of the fan when not in use, but the wide diameter did prove a little tricky for me to use due to my smaller-than-average hands. There are touch-sensitive onboard controls for adjusting the fan speed, cycling through modes, and enabling the oscillation, which is limited to 70 degrees.

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The Sefte 8in operates really quietly, giving a reading of just 40dB when running at its top speed of 12, which is equivalent to the sound of a refrigerator running. The airflow was also impressive, providing a strong and solid channel of air, which actually made me feel cooler than the two (far pricier) Dyson fans I was testing around the same time.

I highly rate the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fan that delivers convenient cooling quietly. The battery won’t last till morning if you’re trying to cool down on a hot night, so you’ll need to keep it plugged in for those instances, but it’s a useful feature to have if you want to keep it close by and don’t have access to a power socket.

MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator review: price & availability

• List price: £79.99
• Launch date: June 2025
• Available in the UK

The MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator is available in the UK at a list price of £79.99 and can be purchased from the Meaco site, Amazon, and other retailers.

While there are plenty of budget air-circulating fans on the market, the MeacoFan Sefte 8in has a few features that set it apart from cheaper competition. This includes a rechargeable and replaceable battery, and the Eco mode, which is essentially an auto function that’ll adjust the fan speed as the ambient temperature changes. Both features are a breath of fresh air, and make the Sefte 8in an option worth exploring.

One of the key features of the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator is the rechargeable and replaceable lithium-ion battery. Replacement batteries cost £19.99 from the Meaco website, though the Sefte 8in will run without a battery in situ (provided it’s plugged into the mains, of course). I go into the battery life in more detail later on in the review, but for now, it’s worth noting that, due to the nature of the battery, its performance will decline over time, with Meaco advising that the battery should last about two to three years, depending on usage.

The price may be a little rich for those looking for a cheap-and-cheerful cooling solution, but for those who value quiet and convenient cooling, the features and performance of the Sefte 8in easily justify the price tag.

• Value for money score: 4.5 out of 5

MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator review: specs

MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator review: design and features

• Easy-to-access rechargeable battery
• Cleverly concealed circular remote control
• 12 fan speeds, Night mode, and Eco mode

With dimensions of 212 x 261 x 384 mm, the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator isn’t exactly a compact fan, but it’s not oversized either. The base has a diameter of roughly 212mm, so it’ll fit happily on a dresser or a bedside table, but it proved too deep to fit on my windowsill – though I’d be hard pushed to find one that would.

The base is pretty deep, likely because it houses the rechargeable battery, but this means there’s plenty of space for the touch-sensitive controls and the large round display. The battery is easy to access by pushing the release button on the side that pops the top cover off, though it’s not necessary to handle it unless switching it out for a replacement, as it charges in situ when the Sefte 8in is connected to the mains via the 1.6m power cable.

The MeacoFan Sefte 8in weighs just 2.3kg and has a helpful integrated carry handle on the back, so I found it pretty easy to move it between my bedroom and my living room. The portable design made things easier here, too, as I could leave the power cord in the living room, and run the Sefte 8in off battery power on my dresser, albeit for a fairly limited time. I’ll share more on this later in the review.

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To control the Sefte 8in, I could either use one of the touch buttons on the front of the base or the remote control. The touch controls include power, oscillation, mode, and fan speed buttons, which were responsive and easy to use. The remote control features push buttons for the same functions, along with buttons to turn off the display, mute the controls, and toggle the timer, which can be set between 0–12 hours.

As I have smaller than average hands, the wide diameter of the round remote is a little impractical for me, but I’m willing to forgive this simply because the remote’s design allows it to clip magnetically onto the front of the fan, making for a satisfyingly subtle storage solution that Dyson may want to take note of.

I’m a big fan of this storage concept – though this could prove a blessing and a curse for those who have a habit of misplacing things, as it blends into the fan’s face so well. That being said, I wish the base material of the remote was a bit more hard-wearing, as I found that it had collected a couple of little scuffs and scratches after a couple of weeks' use.

The fan speed can be set manually based on preference, or the Sefte 8in can be left to its own devices as it’ll adjust the fan speed accordingly based on the ambient temperature when in Eco mode. One small detail I particularly liked is how it’s possible to cycle through the fan speeds fully, saving me some time if I want to go from speed one to top speed twelve, for example.

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The large screen on the front of the base displays the room temperature in the centre, and shows the current fan speed using small segments around the outer edge. I must say I found the combination of the easy-to-read temperature and Eco mode responding with the highest fan speed particularly validating when I felt like I was melting during a recent heatwave.

There’s also the option of Night Mode, which has the features one would expect if you’ve had any dealings with nighttime modes on other devices, namely that it turns off the display and status light, and mutes the beeps. I’m all for the muting of the beeps, to be honest, as they are a little loud and high-pitched for my liking.

While there are 12 fan speeds to play with and a manually adjustable angle of up to 65 degrees vertically, I found my choices were limited when it came to horizontal oscillation, which is a case of all-or-nothing, with “all” being a fixed 70 degrees. Though, as the MeacoFan Sefte 8in is an air circulator rather than a personal cooling fan, I suppose one could argue there isn’t a need to reduce the oscillation to cover a tighter area.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator review: performance

• Battery only lasts a few hours on a warm night
• Operates quietly while delivering powerful airflow
• Eco mode adjusted settings according to ambient temperature

The MeacoFan Sefte 8in is capable of kicking out satisfyingly strong airflow, and proved pleasantly cooling. The concentrated airflow proved to be more efficient at helping to cool me down than the slimmer stream and wider arc of air generated by the amplifier loops of the two Dyson fans I was testing at the time, which is pretty impressive considering the cavernous price difference.

I was pleased with the strength of the airflow delivered by the Sefte 8in, finding I could still feel a nice breeze from about 4ft away on the lowest fan speed setting, 10ft on setting six, and 15ft on setting 12. I used Eco mode for the majority of the time I tested the Sefte 8in, as it was useful being able to leave it to its own devices and adapt its settings as I went about my day.

I felt a bit haunted by the high-pitched beeps at first, because despite my muting them, they seemed to find their way back eventually. As it turns out, when you enter and leave Night mode when cycling through the modes, the beeps get enabled again, regardless of them being muted prior to entering Night mode.

Speaking of Night mode, it did its job, but actually became a little redundant, as I’d rather keep the beeps muted all day, and simply leave the fan in Eco mode and turn off the display via the remote at night time.

The MeacoFan Sefte 8in is advertised as having up to 17 hours of battery life, but it’ll only last that long if it’s left stationary on the lowest fan speed, with the battery life plummeting to just five hours as soon as oscillation is involved. Still, this is five more hours than the 12 advertised by the Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo on the same settings.

The battery only lasted about four hours after I’d settled down for the night with the Sefte 8in oscillating at fan speed six in Night mode, which was a bit disappointing, but still pretty good-going considering the small size of the battery, and it proved enough to keep me comfortable enough to fall asleep when the temperature in my bedroom was 30 degrees. It took around three hours to recharge the battery when the fan was off, but naturally took a while longer when I had the fan running the fan as it charged.

One thing that particularly impressed me about the Sefte 8in was how quiet it was, emitting a volume of just 27dB on the lowest setting, 32dB on setting six, 40dB on setting 12, which is the equivalent to the sound of a refrigerator running, and means it’s quieter at its top speed than the satisfyingly Dyson Cool CF1. Oscillation bumps the volume level up by a few decibels, but it still operates satisfyingly quietly overall.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

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MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator review: Also consider

How I tested the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator

• I used the MeacoFan Sefte 8in in my home and in the office
• I tested the different settings and judged how easy the fan was to use
• I evaluated the strength of the airflow and the sound levels

I used the MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator in our reviews office, my home office, and my bedroom for three weeks. I performed specific tests to assess the features as well as using it passively during a heatwave.

I assessed the airflow by checking the distance I could still feel a good breeze on different settings. I used a decibel meter on my phone to check the noise levels, taking the readings from around 2ft / 600mm away, ensuring the fan wasn’t blowing directly into the microphone.

I tested out Night mode to see whether the MeacoFan Sefte 8in was quiet enough for me to be able to sleep well with it running overnight, and made good use of the Eco mode.

• First reviewed: July 2025
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