Most all of us have moments when we’re just too warm. Whether it’s at your desk at work, while you’re sleeping at night, or any number of other places there are times when you’d love to have your own personal cooling system. Originally launched on Indiegogo, Evapolar wants to be your very own personal air cooler. Keep reading to see how it works in this full review.

Specifications

Evapolar includes the following features and specifications:

• Evaporative Air Cooler


• Functions: Cooling / Humidifying / Cleaning


• Cooling Capacity (BTU): 340-1200 BTU


• dBA Level: 28-40 dB


• Water Tank: 750 ml


• Power Supply: 5V / 2A Mirco USB


• ETL Listed: Yes


• Cooling power: 100-350 W


• Size: 174 x 170 x 170 mm


• Weight (without water): 1.3 kg


• Power consumption: 10 W


• Micro-USB plug 5V 2A; works with power bank


• Sleep Mode


• Cange the speed of the airflow


• Choose the color of the water tank light


• Adjust low water alert


• Choose C°/F°


• Won’t cool big rooms; designed for personal use


• Temperature drop depends on your conditions


• Won’t give desired results in climates with humidity higher than 70%


• Won’t cool if the temperature is lower than 65°F

What’s in the Box

• Evapolar


• Micro-USB to USB-A power cable


• USB AC Power Adapter


• Quick Start Guide


• Product Guide

Everything you need to get started.

Design

The Evapolar unit is a 6 ¾” rounded cube. The front of the unit includes the vent, through which the internal filter can be seen. The clear plastic removable water reservoir is on the left side, though you can see one end of that reservoir from the front as well. The back includes an air intake as well as the Micro-USB power input. The top includes the multi-function button, which acts as power as well as the display for the entire operation. That display is surrounded by a rotating dial which allows you to navigate the various menus and options as well as adjust the air output of your Evapolar during operation.

The water reservoir has a hinged plastic lid across the entire top for easy filling, plus a notch along the inside that fits into a ridge on the body of the unit itself in order to keep the reservoir aligned properly when putting it back together. The bottom of the reservoir includes a plug that allows the water to escape into the machine itself. My only complaint about the design of the Evapolar is that the water tank is a bit difficult to remove. The sides are smooth, so you kind of have to hold the machine in one hand, and rock the tank back and forth a bit in the other to remove it. If you lift the lid and try to pull it off that way, the cap on the top of the tank will simply come off. It would be nice to have maybe just a small lip or grip of some type near the top of the tank in order to make its removal a bit easier.

The water reservoir fits tightly (as it should) but that makes it a bit difficult to remove.

The outer casing of the Evapolar unit can be removed in order to get at the replaceable evaporative cooling filter cartridge or to clean out the inside of the machine if necessary. All in all, this is a well-designed machine that doesn’t take up a lot of room and looks good sitting on your desk. Evapolar is available in white, black, and blue.

Ease of Use

At its most basic, you really just have to fill the water reservoir, attach it to the machine, and plug in your Evapolar via either the included USB AC adapter or into an appropriately powered USB port. Evapolar will automatically turn on when plugged in, so you’ll want to be sure to fill the water reservoir first. To turn the device on or off otherwise, simply press and hold the multifunction button on top for a few seconds. The fan will start up, and the water will start to siphon out of the reservoir and into the machine itself. While running, the button — which doubles as the information panel/screen — will display the fan level as segments in a ring surrounding the outer edge of the button. On the inside, you’ll see two temperatures: the incoming air temperature on top, and the outgoing air temperature on the bottom. An animated spinning fan sits at the very bottom of the button in its default state.

The display is bright and shows all necessary information in an easy to read manner.

The dial surrounding the button will, by default, adjust the fan speed of your Evapolar. It also acts as the control dial for the menus, which are reached by tapping the button on top. The available menu options are: Night Mode (lighting turns off and display lighting dims), Lighting Color (change the color of your lighting from several options), Lighting Brightness (pretty self-explanatory), Measurement Units (choose from Celsius or Fahrenheit), and Notifications, which changes the color of the light when the water level gets too low. Here you can change the color of that alert, or turn that notification off altogether.

Once you’ve picked a lighting color that you like, the measurement unit that you prefer, and your other various settings, you’ll mostly just need to use the dial for its default purpose of adjusting the fan speed.

Performance

Evapolar is your personal air cooler, so it’s definitely not meant to cool large areas. As long as you understand that going in you’ll have the right frame of mind. Evapolar creates its own microclimate in the immediate area in front of the unit. It’s perfect for your desk at work, or even your bedside table while you’re sleeping. The evaporative process cools and humidifies the air, creating a comfortable environment for a few square feet around you.

Evapolar has a nice design in a compact package.

I’ve been using Evapolar on my desk at work. An unseasonably warm winter combined with my building’s complete and utter inability to keep a comfortable temperature at any time made for a great testing environment. I generally keep a fan running on my desk at all times, but swapped that out for Evapolar (and occasionally ran the two in tandem). Even at its highest fan speed, Evapolar is definitely quieter than my mini tower fan. Its cooling effect is immediately noticeable and was definitely more pronounced than my fan as well.

No matter what temperature of water you add to the reservoir, Evapolar will take a short time to “warm up” and start cooling as the evaporative filter absorbs water from the reservoir. The internal filter cartridge is removable, and it’s suggested that you replace it every 6-8 months, so you don’t need to worry about using tap water versus filtered or even distilled water. The replacement cartridges are $25 and can be purchased from Evapolar or other outlets.

A full reservoir of water should get you about 3-5 hours of cooling depending on the temperature and humidity where you set it up. The water will drain from the reservoir quite a lot more quickly than that though, so if you intend to use Evapolar while you’re sleeping you’ll want to turn it on maybe a half hour before you go to bed, and then refill the reservoir completely just before going to sleep. That will give you a few extra hours of cooling. When the water runs out, Evapolar will continue to run and cool as the evaporative elements will still be saturated. Even when it has dried out completely it will continue to circulate and filter the air, though there will be no additional cooling effect.

Price/Value

Priced at $179 USD along with a recurring charge for replacement cartridges, Evapolar is definitely more expensive than most normal desk fans. The added cooling and air filtering effects are absolutely above and beyond what normal desk fans offer under most circumstances though. If your desk is just uncomfortably warm, or you need a bit of extra cooling while you sleep, Evapolar will definitely be beneficial to you. If you buy in the next few days, you can save a couple of dollars at NewEgg, where Evapolar is only $159 until 4/22/2017.

Wrap Up

Evapolar was brought to life thanks to more than 6,000 backers on Indiegogo that believed in this project. Now that it is available to the public, you should really check it out if you need a personal air cooler of your own.

*We were sent a review sample of Evapolar for the purposes of this review.

Evapolar

$179.99 USD

Design

9/10

Ease of Use

9/10

Performance

9/10

Price/Value

9/10

Nailed it

• Compact size fits easily wherever you need it


• Strong cooling under most normal circumstances


• Provides a perfect personal area of cooling


• Can be powered via most external batteries

Needs work

• Water reservoir is a bit difficult to remove


• A longer lasting internal cartridge would be nice

Sleep and light therapy aren’t anything new, but there are certainly more products available on the market today that combine the two with optional apps. If you’re unfamiliar with either, colour light therapy simulates wavelengths which trigger subtle biological responses which can help improve sleep, energy, and mood. Sound therapy, on the other hand, uses pre-recorded and engineered sounds to cancel out distractions and allow your mind to calm.

Our iHome Zenergy review takes a look at a bedside sleep therapy machine with both color light and sound therapy, Bluetooth clock radio, and USB charging.

Specifications

The iHome Zenergy has the following features and specifications:

• Built-in sound therapy with relaxing sound modes with Tone Adjust EQ
  
  • Natural Sounds: Heart Beat, Ocean, Nature, Storm
  
  
  • Tonal Sounds: Dream Tones, Peace, Zen
  
  
  • White Noise: Air (brown noise), Focus (pink noise), Peace (white noise), Quiet (white noise)
  
  


• 11 Light Therapy patterns
  
  • Nighttime Lighting: Calm, Breath, Sunset
  
  
  • Morning Lighting: Flash, Energy, Dawn
  
  
  • Daytime Lighting: Aurora, Pulse, Glow, Color, Lamp
  
  


• Bluetooth


• Aux-in


• Dual Alarm Clocks


• Alarm battery backup


• Dual Sleep Timers


• 6 FM Radio Presets


• Speakerphone


• USB Charging


• Auto Display Mode


• Dimensions: 5.56″ W x 5.83″ H x 4.96″ D


• Weight: 1.35 lbs

What’s in the box

• iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine


• Power adapter


• 3.5mm AUX cable


• Instruction manual

Design

The iHome Zenergy Sleep Therapy Machine has a pretty nice design. When looking from any of the three sides, it’s rectangular with curved left and right edges. All three sides are covered in a soft white fabric which wraps around each of the corners with the exception of the back strip. On the front face, you’ll find the iHome logo in the lower left-hand corner and the display screen which shows the time, sound mode, light mode, and other information sits centered near the bottom of the front.

The iHome Zenergy has a pretty decent design.

When viewed from above, the Zenergy has a rounded triangular shape. The top cap has a silver outer edge which curves over the left- and right-hand sides. The main portion of the top houses a soft grey plastic piece and many of the control and function buttons.

The “control panel” looks confusing at first but is pretty straightforward.

Both the right and left-hand faces have five buttons across the top inset within the silver top cap. The right-hand side has your Zen, Dream, Ocean, Storm, and Nature relaxing sound mode buttons while the left-hand side is where you’ll find the Air, Focus, Quiet, Peace, and Heartbeat white noise sound mode buttons.

The left side sound mode buttons.

The back edge is where you’ll find the Time and Bluetooth Pairing buttons, as well as the 3.5mm AUX jack, USB-A port for charging a mobile device, and the DC 12V/2.5A power port. Just below the power port is an FM antenna wire to help you get a stronger radio signal.

The back ports on the iHome Zenergy.

The bottom has three small rubber feet as well as a battery compartment where you can replace the CR2450 backup battery.

Ease of Use

The iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine is pretty easy to use. If you’ve set up and used an alarm clock in the past, the iHome Zenergy isn’t much different, although there are a few more things to set up.

The first thing you’ll probably want to do is sync it to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The first time you turn on the Zenergy, it will automatically enter pairing mode. You can also enter this mode by holding the Bluetooth button on the back of the Zenergy and entering pairing mode. Once paired, you can set the time while holding the Time Set Button on the back of the unit to enable Time Sync, which will sync the time with your paired device whenever they are connected.

There are two alarms that you can set with options that include 7 day, 5 day (weekday), or 2 day (weekend) alarms, wake to phone (which plays the last music track played on your smartphone), wake to radio, wake to buzzer, snooze duration, pre-alarm tone, and pre-alarm light.

You can also set two different sleep timers including audio source, light, and sleep duration.

When the Zenergy is turned on, you can adjust the sound therapy or light therapy mode, as well as stream music from your Bluetooth device, AUX device, listen to FM radio stations, and even use it as a speakerphone if you get an incoming call.

While it sounds like a lot to set up, it is pretty straightforward and the display prompts let you know exactly what you are adjusting and setting.

Software

iHome Zenergy app screenshot. Unfortunately it doesn’t work on Android 7.x.

You can also download the iHome Zenergy app which allows you to control the Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine from your phone instead of the buttons on top of it. While it does make it a bit quicker to set your alarm times and sleep modes, you’ll be out of luck if your smartphone runs Android 7.

I tried both the Nexus 6P and Moto Z running Android 7.x and could not get the Zenergy to pair with the app, even though it pairs with both devices through the Bluetooth pairing mode just fine. After numerous attempts of troubleshooting with iHome Support — which consisted of the usual forget Bluetooth connection, uninstall the app, reboot phone, install the app, pair Zenergy to the app before pairing to the phone, I tried with a Nexus 5 running Android 6.x and had no issues connecting to the app.

To be honest, I was a bit annoyed with iHome Support considering I specified that I was using an Android 7 device and that I’d also tried it on two Android 7.x devices. At any rate, the app works but doesn’t offer anything you can’t do on the Zenergy unit itself and isn’t really needed so you won’t be missing anything if you are using an unsupported device.

Performance

There are those who swear by light and sleep therapy machines, while others don’t find them very useful or effective. In the case of the iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine, I definitely found the waking cycle made it easier to wake up. After the ten-minute pre-alarm cycle of the Zen sound preset and Energy light preset, I found that once the alarm went off, it wasn’t as jarring as just being woken up without the pre-alarm cycle.

The Energy light therapy mode preset.

On the other hand, I didn’t notice much difference in my sleeping habits when I tried out the sleep timers. I usually find it pretty easy to fall asleep quickly, not to mention it can be a bit tricky to find the right sleep timer when you don’t sleep alone. While I can’t speak to the actual science of light and sound therapy, I can say that I definitely felt a positive difference in the morning when waking up to the Zenergy than without. Unfortunately, I didn’t really notice a difference using the sleep therapy mode the couple times I tried it. As such, your results will most likely vary depending on the type of person you are.

The Calm light therapy mode preset.

The various light and sound modes offered enough variation to suit pretty much any mood or time of day. The included light therapy modes are listed below, I’ll talk more about the sound therapy modes in the next section.

• Aurora: swirling spectrum of colors for day or night mood lighting (not recommended before sleep)


• Pulse: randomized, pulsing colors bring life to your music and visual fun to your environment (not recommended before sleep)


• Glow: gentle fading spectrum of solid colors for day or night mood lighting (not recommended before sleep)


• 1 Color: select the current color


• Energy: swirling blue-toned lights inhibit melatonin, increase morning alertness, and energize the mind


• Calm: swirling red-toned lights calm the mind at night and stimulate the production of melatonin, helping to prepare the body for sleep


• Breath: inhale and hold with the amber light and exhale with the red to lower your heart rate and calm your mind


• Lamp: warm white light, similar to an incandescent bulb (not recommended before sleep)

Aside from the pre-alarm and sleep timer modes, the iHome Zenergy performed well and I never missed an alarm. The Bluetooth time sync is a great feature for time zone changes.

The USB Charging port is a great feature as well, allowing you to plug in your smartphone to charge while you sleep. Charging worked as expected, and you won’t be getting any fast or quick charging out of this but it will easily fully charge your phone overnight.

Sound Quality

Sound quality on the iHome Zenergy falls into two categories: the relaxing/white noise sounds and your Bluetooth/AUX music. One the tonal side, the relaxing and white noise sounds are very pleasant and offer a nice variety depending on your mood.

The various sound options offered on the Zenergy include:

• Zen: tonal melody in frequencies that mimic the Delta brainwaves of a mind in meditation or healing sleep


• Dream: tonal melody in frequencies that mimic the Theta brainwaves of a mind dreaming in REM sleep


• Ocean: authentic, digitally recorded ocean sounds


• Storm: authentic, digitally recorded storm and rainfall sounds


• Nature: authentic, digitally recorded springtime woodland sounds


• Air: brown noise is a low-toned repeating frequency, like a fan, which helps to negate distracting environmental noises


• Focus: pink noise is a medium-toned repeating frequency, like a soothing waterfall, which helps to negate distracting environmental noises


• Quiet: the standard white noise repeating frequency, like radio static, which helps to negate distracting environmental noises


• Peace: white noise and Delta tone melodies layered together help to quiet a noisy environment and an over-active mind


• Hearbeat: listening to a relaxed heart beat encourages your own heart beat to slow to match it

The Bluetooth mode offers independent audio controls, which allows you to set one volume on your smartphone or other paired device and then control the speaker volume separately. This allows you much more control over getting a much more precise listening volume. While the music audio is clear and crisp, there’s really not much bass here so don’t expect to be pumping out some heavy EDM or old school hip hop. The unit does go quite loud as well and was still relatively clear at higher volumes but I found leaving it set to around 10 was plenty loud for waking up in the morning.

Price/Value

The iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine has an MSRP of $99.99USD. Considering it combines both light and sleep therapy modes with Bluetooth streaming and USB charging, it’s priced reasonably well. You can save yourself a few dollars as it is currently selling on Amazon for just under $92USD.

Wrap-up

As I mentioned above, I can’t speak to the science of light and sound therapy, but I definitely noticed a difference in waking up — for the positive — when using the iHome Zenergy. If you’re looking for a bedside unit that combines light therapy, sound therapy, alarm clocks, Bluetooth streaming, and USB charging, the Zenergy is a solid choice.

*We were sent a sample of the iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine for the purposes of this review.

iHome Zenergy Bedside Sleep Therapy Machine

$99.99 USD

Design

9/10

Ease of Use

9/10

Software

6/10

Performance

9/10

Sound Quality

8/10

Price/Value

9/10

Nailed it

• Various light modes for different times of the day


• Great selection of sound modes for different modes


• Easy to set up


• Dual alarms


• Dual sleep timers


• Bluetooth audio


• AUX audio


• USB charging


• Solid, easy to use design

Needs work

• App doesn’t work with Android 7


• App doesn’t add any extra functionality


• Not much on the bass end for music

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