Need something to keep you cool? These USB-powered fans might just be what you’re looking for.
Products on Review:
1. Arctic Breeze Pro
2. Arctic Breeze Mobile
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Arctic
MSRP:
1. 14.95 € / US$ 19.95
2. 7.95 € / US$ 9.95
For any computer user, keeping his or her computer components cool, from the processor to the video card, is very important. Whether it is to keep them stable or to reach a higher overclock, computer component cooling can range from simple passive to air to insane liquid cooling.
That is all fine and dandy, but what about keeping the computer user cool as well? Summer has taken a backseat in our minds now that autumn has creped in, but there are still many situations where things can get quite hot. One situation that comes into mind is PC gaming.
Without a doubt, intense gaming sessions can get your heart rate racing and your sweat glands hyperactive. A small breeze can easily keep things such as your humid hands and your sweaty foreheads under control.
With this said, Arctic has released two USB-powered fans to keep you cool. They are the Arctic Breeze Pro and the Arctic Breeze Mobile. Each product was designed with a certain mode of usage in mind, either desktop or portable applications, and both will be discussed in the following review.
Left to right: the Arctic Breeze Pro and the Arctic Breeze Mobile
About Arctic: Link
| Who we are? ARCTIC COOLING is a privately owned company founded in 2001 with headquarters in Switzerland, offices in Hong Kong and the USA and production facilities in Asia. The ARCTIC COOLING team consists of international highly educated people with business, technical and communicational skills. The attitude to work is based on Swiss principles of innovative spirit and high standards of workmanship for which it is recognized internationally. This striving for excellence is integrated in all processes as a matter of course. ARCTIC COOLING´s core competencies are multifarious including systematic noise reduction,copper and aluminum heatsink development, customization of thermal solutions, as well as designing quiet fans. More recently quiet and cool PC Cases and Power Supplies have been developed. What we do? ARCTIC COOLING is a leader in creating thermal cooling solutions for personal computer systems that enable CPU (Central Processing Unit), GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) and PC case cooling whilst reducing the noise level. Increased heat generated by modern computer systems has overwhelmed most existing cooler manufacturers in their efforts to keep pace with the demands in terms of noise level and cooling. The noise pollution caused by today´s IT systems has increased, severely affecting productivity in open office environments. ARCTIC COOLING has been working closely with globally recognized companies such as Inno3D, ECS, Galaxy, Sapphire, Powercolor and ATI. Through these partnerships ARCTIC COOLING has been able to adapt to the changing market requirements and has quickly developed the optimal solutions. ARCTIC COOLING combines the Swiss art of engineering to realize innovative cooling ideas. Thanks to the low labor cost in Asia, ARCTIC COOLING has consistently produced innovative solutions which lead the market in price / performance. Cooling solutions are created from the demand of our customers. Due to the continuous product development at ARCTIC COOLING the demands of end-users will always be satisfied. As a result of the head-start ARCTIC COOLING has in knowing end-user´s requirements, manufacturing possibilities and ARCTIC COOLING´s strong R&D, ARCTIC´s products will continue to be market leaders in cooling solutions and provide assemblers, computer hardware distributors and IT-technicians with innovative, virtually silent, cost-effective cooling solutions for CPU, GPU and PC-case worldwide. |
Features and Specifications: Arctic Breeze Pro
Features: Link
| The ARCTIC Breeze Pro is a USB-powered fan that is a quiet, energy-efficient, practical and high in quality. It is designed for desktop users. Main Features – Illuminated knob for power and fan speed (800 to 1,800 RPM) – Energy-efficient motor, low noise impeller – 4-port USB hub included – Flexible neck for easy positioning – USB-powered, suitable for PCs, laptops and USB chargers – External power adapter (optional) – for devices with high power requirements |
Specification: Link
| Fan: 92mm Fan Speed: 800 to 1,800 RPM USB Connector: USB 2.0 Cable: 1.8m Weight: 362g Warranty: 2 year Manufacturer code: ABACO-BZP01-01000 EAN-Code: 0872767003446 |
Features and Specifications: Arctic Breeze Mobile
Features: Link
| The small and portable ARCTIC Breeze Mobile is targeted at laptop users and frequent travelers. As the name depicts the gist of the product, its mobility aspect is the key. Because it is small and lightweight, the ARCTIC Breeze Mobile is ultra-portable. Just plug it into a free USB port of your laptop, the gooseneck provides ideal flexibility to direct the fan into the position you want. The low-noise impeller makes the fan run virtually silent. Main Features – Energy-efficient motor and with low noise impeller – USB-powered – suitable for laptops and USB chargers – Lightweight, portable, slim design – Flexible neck for easy positioning – Perfect for frequent travelers |
Specifications: Link
| Fan: 92mm Fan Speed: 1,700 RPM USB Connector: USB 2.0 Weight: 65g Warranty: 2 year Manufacturer code: DCACO-AC003-CSA01 EAN-Code: 0872767003439 |
Packaging and Overall Look: Arctic Breeze Pro (Part 1)
The Arctic Breeze Pro comes in a plastic clamshell that is very easy to open. The box is secured by a few plastic tabs and, thankfully, these are not heat-sealed.
The product itself can be easily seen with this type of packaging.
The front of the packaging
The packaging has a paper sheet that lists things such as features and specifications. An ample amount of information is given, and most of this can be read off Arctic’s website. Once again, Arctic has done a very good job on the packaging.
The back of the packaging
The Arctic Breeze Pro is basically a frameless 92 mm fan with a flexible rod or gooseneck connected to a base with an integrated 4-port USB 2.0 hub.
Its main application is desktop-usage. The base, as it will be discussed later, is bulky and heavy, making a poor candidate for portability.
It is very unfortunate that Arctic has gone with a frameless fan. The main disadvantage of such a design is the risk of hitting the fan with a finger or a foreign object. The main advantage, in my mind, is a higher airflow because of the absence of restriction of a fan grill. Nevertheless, seeing as the base is a USB hub, the chances of hitting the fan when plugging a USB device is really high.
The Arctic Breeze Pro
The Arctic Breeze Pro, as is common with any other Arctic product, is black, grey and white. Aesthetically speaking, it is bland. Nevertheless, many users will enjoy its simplicity as it blends well with any other computer peripheral.
The back of the Arctic Breeze Pro
The 4-port USB hub of the Arctic Breeze Pro can be powered through AC, but Arctic does not supply the required adapter.
The AC adapter port
As we will see later, unlike the Arctic Breeze Mobile, the Arctic Breeze Pro has a dial that will adjust the fan speed from 800, to 1,800 RPM. The fan speed is very responsive to the changes of the dial. If quiet computing is a must for you, then this feature will certainly please you.
When the Arctic Breeze Pro is powered, the circular ring of the fan speed dial will glow blue. The light is not excessively bright and it is just enough to be pleasing.
The fan dial with Arctic Breeze Pro powered
Packaging and Overall Look: Arctic Breeze Pro (Part 2)
Not only is the base a USB hub, it is also very heavy. Although I have not taken a picture of the inside of the Breeze Pro, there is a large weight inside it. No doubt this ensures that the desktop fan will stay on the desk.
The base of the Breeze Pro has six small rubber feet. Each of these feet can be removed, revealing a small screw. Once each of these screws is removed, the device itself can be opened.
The base also has a hook where the long 1.8 meter USB cable can be rolled up, reducing cable mess. This is a very thoughtful idea by Arctic.
The base of the Arctic Breeze Pro with its 6 rubber feet and its cable hook
The rod of the fan is quite sturdy. It seems to be made of some kind of metal. The rod is quite flexible, but I have the impression that it will become limb if it is excessively used. For a desktop USB-powered fan, however, I doubt such a problem will arise as consumers will adjust the fan position only once.
The flexible rod will be handy to direct the fan’s airflow towards moist hands during gaming sessions.
The flexible rod in action
Packaging and Overall Look: Arctic Breeze Mobile
The Arctic Breeze Mobile comes packaged in a heat-sealed clamshell plastic box. Opening the box was difficult. If only Arctic used a similar packaging design such as the one seen with the Arctic Breeze Pro.The front of the packaging
The Arctic Breeze Mobile has an ample amount of information at the back, as well as examples of applications such as usage with Arctic’s mobile battery, the Arctic C1 Mobile.
The back of the packaging
The Arctic Breeze Mobile is a simple 92 mm fan attached to a rod with a USB connector at its end. The device is very light. Unfortunately, the Arctic Breeze Mobile has a frameless fan with no fan grill. As it was discussed previously, a grill-less and frameless fan poses many difficulties when handling it, especially when it is powered.
The Arctic Breeze Mobile
The back of the Arctic Breeze Mobile does not have anything in particular to discuss.
The back of the Arctic Breeze Mobile
The Arctic Breeze Mobile uses a similar rod like the one used on the Arctic Breeze Pro.
The rod of the Arctic Breeze Mobile is very flexible. Seeing as the device is meant to be used with notebooks, a flexible gooseneck is a must in order to direct the fan’s airflow properly.
The flexible rod of the Breeze Mobile
Test System and Testing Methodology
Testing Methodology
Both products will be connected to a vacant USB port of the Desktop Test Setup. Sound and airflow will not be measured with any particular device.
Test Setup: Portable Media Device
– Samsung YP-K3 2GB Black
Test Setup: Laptop 1
– HP EliteBook 6930p
– CPU: Intel Core2 Duo Processors P8400
Test Setup: Laptop 2
– Dell Inspiron 1545
Test Setup: Desktop
– CPU: AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition @ 2.6 GHz 1.15V
– Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G
– RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 PC2-6400 2x2GB
– Case: Antec NSK3480 mATX
– Power supply: Antec EarthWatts 380W
– CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12P with Noctua NF-P12 @ 5V
– Case fan: Noctua NF-P12 @ 5V
– Hard drive 1: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB
– Hard drive 2: Hitachi DeskStar T7K500 HDT725025VLAT80 250GB
– DVD Drive: LG GH22NS30 DVD Writer
– OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (x64)
– Mouse pad: QPAD|UC Large
– Monitor: Dell E207WFP 20” TN
Test Results: Arctic Breeze Pro and Arctic Breeze Mobile
Arctic Breeze Pro
The Arctic Breeze Pro has a variable fan speed of 800 to 1,800 RPM. Seeing as the fan’s diameter is 92 mm, at these speeds the fan was not loud at all. Very little motor or bearing noise was heard. The main noise source was the air turbulence, which was not annoying at all.
Airflow was quite generous, and it was similar to that of a typical 92 mm case fan running at the same fan speed.
The USB hub worked very well with various flash media and an external hard drive enclosure. Transfer speeds of the USB hub were identical to that of the USB ports on the motherboards, as benchmarked with HDTune and HD Tach.
The fan itself does not seem to consume too much power. Therefore, most devices plugged to the device should be powered fine. The exception obviously being external 2.5” hard drives without an AC adapter.
As it was mentioned again and again, it is unfortunate that the fan has no grill. I happened to bump my hand into the fan’s blades many times when plugging a USB device to the USB hub. It did not hurt that much; the shock was more uncomfortable. Additional caution by the consumer will no doubt avoid such situations, but a consumer should not need to adapt to the product. Besides, this situation could be easily avoided by using a fan grill.
The Arctic Breeze Pro in action
Arctic Breeze Mobile
The Arctic Breeze Mobile, as it name suggests, is meant for portable applications, such as with notebooks and mobile USB power adapters. If you are thinking of carrying this fan around, there might be a small problem. The fan itself does not have a frame, making the fins potentially vulnerable to breaking when tucked inside a laptop case or such. Although the fins are made of a fairly strong plastic, the risk of breaking is still there.
The Arctic Breeze Mobile utilises a 92 mm fan spinning at a fixed 1,700 RPM. Bearing noise was smooth and noise from air turbulence is easily tolerated. Airflow is generous and it should be enough to keep you cool.
Without a doubt, Arctic’s name for these products is fair; they really do give a gentle Breeze.
The Arctic Breeze Mobile powered by an Arctic Mobile C1
Conclusion
Arctic has brought two interesting products onto the table: the Arctic Breeze Pro and the Arctic Breeze Mobile. They work very well in keeping your hands or your face cool during hot situations, such as a summer day or an intense gaming session.
The Arctic Breeze Pro is an excellent desktop-grade USB-powered fan. Airflow is generous and the fan speed is adjustable with the integrated dial. A great addition to the product is the the base that acts as a 4-port USB 2.0 port.
On the other hand, the Arctic Breeze Mobile makes for a handy gadget for notebook users. This USB-powered fan is ideal for laptop gamers, where the scorching heat from the video card and processor can make any person’s hand moist.
The Arctic Breeze series: USB-powered fans to keep you cool
Although these devices are simple by design, Arctic has unfortunately overlooked a detail that cripples these USB-powered fans. The problem is that both fans do not have a frame or a grill. Accidently hitting the fan with your hand or a foreign object is highly annoying, and this situation could have been easily remedied. Furthermore, the absence of a frame makes the Arctic Breeze Mobile less ideal for carrying around, seeing as the fan fins are vulnerable to shock and to breaking.
Fortunately, both products are a bargain in terms of price. The Arctic Breeze Pro retails for 14.95 € / US$ 19.95 and the Arctic Breeze Mobile, 7.95 € / US$ 9.95. In other words, these two devices cost as much as a typical computer case fan (and, in the case of the Breeze Pro, of a case fan and a USB hub). Here, the Arctic Breeze products hit a good note. Seeing as there are not that many other USB-powered fans on the market, however, it is hard to evaluate where the Arctic products place themselves in terms of value.
The Arctic Breeze Pro is given the Vortez Silver Award.
Pros
+ 4-port USB 2.0 bub
+ Quiet 92 mm fan
+ Cable hook to minimize cable clutter
+ Excellent price
+ Flexible rod
+ Generous airflow
+ Heavy base
+ Long 1.8m USB cord
Cons
– No AC adapter is included
– No frame
– No fan grill
+ 4-port USB 2.0 bub
+ Quiet 92 mm fan
+ Cable hook to minimize cable clutter
+ Excellent price
+ Flexible rod
+ Generous airflow
+ Heavy base
+ Long 1.8m USB cord
Cons
– No AC adapter is included
– No frame
– No fan grill
The Arctic Breeze Mobile is given the Vortez Bronze Award.
Pros
+ Quiet 92 mm fan
+ Excellent price
+ Flexible rod
+ Generous airflow
Cons
– No frame
– No grill
+ Quiet 92 mm fan
+ Excellent price
+ Flexible rod
+ Generous airflow
Cons
– No frame
– No grill
