The best bedroom fans tried and tested 2022

Here’s the problem with the Great British summer: you wait for months for the hot weather to arrive, then feel bad for complaining that it’s too damn hot. That goes double if you sleep in a bedroom that doesn’t get much breeze or – worse – in the middle of a noisy town or city. As the mercury rises, your chances of getting a decent sleep dwindle to close to zero.

Air conditioning is overkill for most of us, especially given the rising cost of energy, but a good, quiet bedroom fan is a sensible solution. Fans have grown much quieter and more efficient over the past few years, becoming more frugal in their use of energy while still giving you a nice, cooling breeze. All you need to do is look at your budget and decide which one to buy – and that’s where we’re here to help.

How to choose the best quiet fan for your bedroom

Your choice really comes down to your budget and the size and layout of your bedroom. For obvious reasons, there’s no point in having a compact floor fan or tower fan if it can’t produce an airflow that will rise over your bed. At the same time, you don’t want to have to work around a hulking pedestal fan if space is limited.

For most bedrooms the best options are going to be a compact fan you can place on a chest of drawers or bedside table, or a taller pedestal fan you can use to create airflow above the bed. However, some of the taller, quieter tower fans can also work well in a bedroom setting, while some floor fans might fit the bill if you can raise them up on an item of furniture.

Almost all fans will give you a choice of speeds, but it’s crucial that a bedroom fan has a low, relatively slow and quiet speed setting that delivers an effective level of cooling without blasting you or making too much noise. A dedicated ‘night’ or ‘sleep’ mode is a plus, but not a necessity; any quiet, low-power setting will do.

To make things tricky, we all have preferences that might make one fan conducive to sleep and another actively unsettling. Oscillation modes, where the fan rotates to move the breeze around the room, might be a plus or a minus. Similarly, some of us are more comfortable with a regular breeze while others might prefer one that ebbs and flows. Luckily, you’re rarely stuck with one of these modes turned on permanently. Don’t like it? Just shut it off.

Are there any practicalities to look out for?

You either want easy access to the controls, so that you can turn the fan on or off in the middle of the night, or a remote control you can keep by the bedside. Being able to tilt the fan up or down can also give you more options as to where to place it – and the same goes for a longer power cable. As a note, we’re seeing increasing numbers of fans that can run from a USB connection (either a USB power bank or charger) or from an internal lithium ion battery.

Are there any other features worth having

Some fans are more energy efficient than others, and these tend to be the quietest, too. While you won’t rack up anywhere near as high a contribution to your bills from a fan as from a heater, it still pays to look for one with low running costs and some kind of eco setting. It’s also worth looking for fans with a programmable on/off timer. That way you can set it to come on at your normal bedtime (if you have one) or off when you’ve got to sleep or the temperature has dipped. Some fans are now even incorporating Wi-Fi or Bluetooth along with basic smart features. Here, having a thermostat and being able to program the fan to stop at a certain temperature really makes a lot of sense.

The best quiet bedroom fans you can buy in 2022

1. Meaco MeacoFan 260C: The best cheap, compact fan for bedrooms

You might not think a battery-powered fan would be useful in the bedroom but the MeacoFan 260c is here to change your mind. It can generate a powerful gust of cooling breeze at maximum settings while, at low settings, it's barely audible. There's even a night light built in to the base – just hold down the power button for a second or two to turn it on or off. You couldn’t ask for a smarter addition to your bedside table.

The unit runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and you can keep it going for up to 16 hours on a single charge. Alternatively, you can run it from a USB charger, although you may want a longer cable than the 1.2m cord supplied. You’ll need something larger for a bigger bedroom, but if space is as tight as your budget, then this little fan is a steal.

Key specs – Dimensions: 166 x 140 x 269cm; Weight: 490g; Oscillation angle: No; Sound level: Up to 30dB; Cord length: 1.2m, microUSB cable supplied; Warranty: 2yrs; Power: 4W

2. Meaco MeacoFan 360: The best bedroom fan for bedside tables

The MeacoFan 360 is one of the best value desk fans out there. At just over 20cm across, it will easily fit on your bedside table, and it only puts out a whisper quiet 15dB at its lowest setting. With that and Quiet Mark certification, it shouldn’t disturb you while you’re snoozing, yet there’s enough airflow even in the lower half of its 12 speed settings, and you can turn it up to bone chilling levels if you need to cool a room quickly. That's impressive for such a diminutive model, and with a maximum consumption of 10W it’s also cheap to run.

You adjust the speed using touch-sensitive controls and an LED display, and can also switch on oscillation to keep the fan sweeping back and forth through roughly 70 degrees. There’s even a timer to turn it off after up to six hours. The big surprise, though, is that it’s USB-powered, allowing you to run it from the supplied charger or a power bank. It’s a little more expensive than your average desk fan, but well worth the extra if you want a feature-packed, low-noise fan.

Key specs – Dimensions: 209 x 298 x 214cm; Weight: 1.36kg; Oscillation angle: 71°; Sound levels: 15-50dB; Cord length: 1.2m; Warranty: 2 years; Power: 10W