The little bear fan that moved from my bag to hers
The first warm afternoon of the year is always a surprise here. One day the radiators are still on in the mornings, the next I am sitting on a bench outside the kitchen door with my sleeves pushed up, watching Nấm crouch over a line of ants. My face was hot in the way an English spring gets hot without warning, and I realised I had nothing small enough to cool it down without going inside.
I make lists all winter of the little things I mean to sort before summer. Summer always arrives before the list does.
Why I went looking
We travel light through the warmer months. A bag by the door with sunscreen, a snack tin, a folding hat for Nấm, a book I rarely open. What I wanted was something pocket-sized for my own face. Not a proper desk fan. Not a neck fan, which I find faintly ridiculous. Something I could pull out at a bus stop, in the queue at the garden centre, in the long minutes after we have parked but before Nấm agrees to leave the car.
I landed on a Funaudio mini handheld fan with little bear ears, in a soft pale pink. I told myself it was for me.
What it actually is
A handheld fan about the length of my palm, light enough that I forget it is in my bag. Four speeds, from a quiet breath of air to something surprisingly strong for the size of it. A USB-C port at the base, which means it charges with the same cable as everything else in the house. A small wrist strap so it does not slip out of my fingers when I am holding Nấm with the other hand.
The ears are the thing. Two tiny round ears on top, a small bear face printed on the front of the grille. It is a silly design and I love it for being silly.
Battery
The manufacturer says up to nine and a half hours on the lowest setting. In practice I run it for a few minutes at a time, on the middle speeds, and I have charged it twice since it arrived. That feels right for how we actually use it.
Size
About the length of a lipstick tube and barely wider. It fits in a coat pocket, a handbag, the mesh side pouch of Nấm's little backpack.
What happened at home
It was meant to be mine. It is not mine anymore.
Nấm saw the ears. That was the end of the conversation. For a few days I found it in odd places, tucked into her picnic basket, lying next to the bath, once balanced on the head of her stuffed rabbit as a hat. She points it at her own cheeks with enormous concentration and announces that the bear is helping. Thành thinks this is the best fourteen pounds we have spent in months.
I have ordered a second one for my own bag. A plain one, with no bear. I suspect I will lose that one to her too.
What reviewers keep mentioning
The word that comes up most is surprised. Grown adults who expected a cheap toy and found something that actually pushes air. One review described it as a mega punch of cool air from something the size of a phone. Another person uses it to dry nail polish, another for hot flashes in long queues, another for setting spray after makeup. The use cases are wildly different and the verdict is the same. It does more than it looks like it should.
A few people note the motor is audible on the highest setting. It is. It is not loud, but it is not silent either. On the lowest two speeds I can hold a conversation over it without raising my voice.
One honest caveat
This is not a fan that will cool a room or replace a tower fan on a genuinely hot night. It is a personal fan. It cools a face, a neck, a patch of sweat on the back of the knee. If you are hoping for something stronger, this is not the one.
A small tip from me. Charge it fully before the first trip and keep the little cable in the same bag. Mine lives in the front pocket with the sunscreen, and the cable is clipped to the inside so I never find myself out with a dead fan and no way to charge it.
Who I think will like it
Anyone who gets warm easily in places they cannot control. People who take long flights, who do their makeup in warm bathrooms, who queue at theme park entrances in August, who walk a lot in the summer and end up red-faced at the top of small hills. Mothers of small people who will steal it the second it appears.
I think of it as a quietly useful object with a silly face. Most of my favourite things are like that.
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