
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
This fan is a low-profile option for staying cool in your car, whether you’re on the road or sleeping in the back at night.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
The Luno Car Camping fan is designed to use in your vehicle, but it has more functionality than meets the eye. It attaches to surfaces using suction (sorry, this one doesn’t have a clip for the inside of your tent), so while its best use is for car campers sleeping inside of their vehicles, it does happily attach to a variety of other surfaces, including plastic storage bins or to the outside of your car. The small size of the Luna makes this a great choice for a single person.
Another nice detail of this car camping fan is that the on/off switch is not connected to the fan casing itself, but farther down on the power cord. That makes it easy to turn it up or down in the middle of the night without having to get up from your sleeping pad.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The Coleman CPX 6 co*bines both a light and a fan into one unit that attaches to the top of a standard car camping tent.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
The most co*mon reason to purchase a camping fan is to keep cool at night when you’re trying to sleep. To acco*plish this, the Coleman CPX 6 camping fan attaches to the ceiling of your tent, where it can blow down air on everyone inside. It also includes a light with two settings, one to provide enough light for reading and family activities, and another to serve as a night light for those traveling with small children. Another reason this is one of the best camping fans is that it also has a fold-out stand, so you can set it up on the floor of your tent or near your camping chairs outside.
This fan doesn’t have plastic bars to keep out fingers because the soft foam blades won’t cause injury on their own. This means that individuals with long hair—especially voluminous long hair—should take heed that their strands don’t beco*e entangled when they stand up in the middle of the night.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Innumerable configurations make the FRIZCOL portable fan easy to set up wherever you want to cool off.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
If you aren’t sure how or where you’ll want to use your camping fan, then this portable option from FRIZCOL offers plenty of options. Rather than having a solid base to stand on or a hook to hang with, it has three legs that fully bend. These allow you to wrap them around the leg of a canopy tent, attach to the side of a picnic table, perch on top of a rock, or even, thanks to its low weight, hook it to the tent’s ceiling.
This fan is noted for being on the quiet side, so it may not be the best choice for someone looking for white noise while they fall asleep. For that, I reco*mend the best overall and best for tents picks.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The ARCTIC Breeze Mobile is a low-cost, low-profile camping fan that you can use while hanging out around the picnic table or on the go.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
Sometimes it’s not the whole family that’s overheating at the campground: it’s just you. If that sounds familiar, then consider the ARCTIC Breeze Mobile. At less than eight inches long and just over nine ounces, it’s easy to hold in one hand, and the cord connecting the fan to its power source bends, so you don’t need to crank your wrist to get the perfect upward angle.
Something different about this camping fan from the others on this list is that it requires an external battery source to operate, using a USB plug. In fact it doesn’t even have an on/off switch—just plug in and go. For most campers, this will simply mean plugging the fan into your personal-sized portable camping battery to operate, but if you don’t already have one as part of your camping arsenal, it’s something to consider before purchasing.
Camping fans typically cost between $15 and $80, depending on functionality, versatility, and long-term durability.
For many people, camping fans are a luxury. You might purchase one to entice a loved one into the outdoors, or to make the hottest parts of the day somewhat more co*fortable. In certain parts of the United States, however, where temperatures can soar into triple digits with humidity levels to match, they can take on greater importance—especially if you are also contending with mosquitoes. In these climates, camping fans can go from being a nice-to-have to a must-have.
Whether or not a camping fan will cool a tent depends on a number of factors. The first is the power of the camping fan itself—a more powerful unit will do more to keep you cool than a less powerful one. Placing something cold in front of the fan can also help lower the temperature (i.e., turning it into a swamp cooler). Next is the setup of the tent. If you have the rainfly on and all the doors closed, the heat of the day will be trapped inside your tent even as the nighttime temperatures cool. You also won’t get the benefit of air circulating naturally outside. Opening and securing the tent doors, along with vents your tent has, can help lower the temperature. Finally, whether or not a fan can cool a tent does in part depend on just how hot it is outside. Even the most powerful fan will only reduce your experience of the heat by 10 degrees or so. Check the nighttime lows before heading out on your trip to determine if you’ll be co*fortable.
There are two main ways to run a fan while camping: batteries (including rechargeable batteries) or an external power source. The advantages of the former are that you can move your fan without needing to drag the power source along with it. The downside is that you’ll need to remember to bring extra batteries or, if using a built-in rechargeable battery, deal with a power source that tends to fade over time. External power sources are beco*ing increasingly co*mon for car camping and overlanding but if you don’t already have one as part of your camping arsenal, you’ll need to acquire one first.
To find the best camping fans available today, I looked at a number of important factors, including:
Camping fans might seem like a luxury for people living in more temperate parts of the country, but anyone living in the South or other hot, humid climes knows that they can be a necessity—the reason it’s possible to go camping in the first place. If you’re looking to expand your region’s camping season, or convince a first-time camper to give sleeping in the outdoors a try, then purchasing one is a no-brainer. Fortunately, there are a number of brands on the market today—in addition to the best camping fans on this list, there are units available from o2cool, Odoland, Geek Aire, opolar, and more.
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