havitCooling Pad 12"-17" Laptop air Cooler with 3 Ultra Quiet Fans, Ergonomic Comfort Notebook Cooler with 2 USB Ports, HV-F2056, Black & Blue

I bought this laptop cooler for my router (which gets really hot and becomes a bit unreliable) rather than my laptop. The cooler is about twice the size of the router but I have some other devices attached to the router which also get hot, so I put those on the remaining free space. The good news is that even though the air flow from the fans isn't particularly powerful, it's more than enough to cool my devices. Result. The bad news is that although the cooler is fairly quiet (about 22db at six inches from the cooler, according to an App I downloaded on my phone) it's still loud enough that it annoys me. This is a problem because my fibre broadband socket is in the lounge right next to where I sit, so that's where the router has to be, and it drives me mad. The obvious solution would be to reduce the voltage being supplied to the fans so they run a bit slower. While scouring Amazon for the requisite parts, I stumbled across the DollaTek USB Fan Speed Controller (£5.99 for three). This does exactly what I need without me having to take the cooler apart (or do any soldering)! In fact it does more than I need because it not only allows you to reduce the voltage (to reduce the noise) it also allows you to increase the voltage (up to 12V! to increase cooling). As a further benefit, when the fan controller is set to MINimum, the LED's on the fans don't illuminate. Handy! Then, as you increase the voltage the fans speed up and the LED's gradually get brighter. Nice! Without the fan controller the cooler produces 22db of noise at six inches. With the controller on MINimum the cooler produces just 16db at six inches, which is much quieter! (I can still hear it when the room is silent, but not when the TV is on.) With the controller on MAXimum the cooler produces a whopping 44db of noise at six inches, but the fans move MUCH more air. Any gamers who need a lot of cooling might find this useful. (Regular users probably won't though because the noise is too loud.) As we all know, energy costs have gone through the roof recently, and currently stand at about 36p per kWh. Without the fan controller the cooler consumes about 3.5W, which is almost nothing, and would cost me about 3p per day if I left it on 24/7. With the controller at MINimum the cooler uses less than 0.1W (less than 0.1p per day) and on MAXimum is uses 11.3W (10p per day). The final question though, is whether the cooler will still cool my devices when the controller is set to MINimum... and the answer is... yes! Job done! :-) To use the controller, all you do is plug the controller into your power source (laptop USB socket or USB mains adapter) and plug one end of the male-Type-A-to-male-Type-A USB cable (supplied with the cooler) into the female socket on the controller and the other end into one of the female sockets on the cooler. Done. BEWARE THOUGH - if you're using the controller YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE SPARE USB SOCKET ON THE COOLER TO POWER ANYTHING ELSE, because it won't be receiving the standard 5V power that a USB socket should have. Your device either won't work (if the voltage is below 5V) or could be permanently damaged (if the voltage is above 5V). I also don't know if running the cooler above 5V will reduce the life of the fans. Do so at your own risk!

My headline said it all. But if you want some detail:1. This fan is powerful. Very powerful. Its impossible for you laptop to overheat; even if its on 24/7 and has this fan underneath it!2. Low noise disturbance. The only kind of person I can ever imagine complaining about noise on this fan is perhaps someone who as a some kind of medical condition that makes he supersensitive the various noise of modern living.3. Since my first laptop (20 years ago) died of overheat 13 months after paying £1,399 for it, all my laptops have had coolers. In fact generally this fan are flimsy and poorly made, and bits break off them (usualy one of the legs or end stop prevent sliding off) within a few months. But Havit has got this right, they did a great job on the legs. They are strong as an ox!4. The size is great: my brand new HP ENVY 17.3 inch fits perfectly. So if you are worried about size boys and girls: don't be!5. This is a thoughly well-made laptop cooler all round. You (and I) can expect YEARS of trouble-free service out of this one.Would I recommend it? 100% YES!

At first glance and operation, all seems good. It's not a heavy base, fan is not too loud, nice LEDs. Fits my HP Pavilion laptop nicely. Retractable legs are a decent addition.The only things which stops it being a 5* would be the lack of option for fan speed.Then the placement of the fans, from my history of laptops, the main vents are nearer the top of the keyboard (on the underside) so the 2 fans would be better suited there and the single one lower.Other than that, it's a good buy for a good price (approx. £22)

I actually love it for the reasons below:It arrived one day earlier than expected, nicely wrapped in bubblewrap, inside a neat productbox.Its simple, lightweigt, yet sturdy enough to support my 17,3 inch ASUS ROG laptops' bulk and weightIt is pretty silent despite its triple fan action.Its half the price than cooler pads of some other brands that are less performing.I did expect more/faster airflow as some reviewers correctly stated, but for me, given the large airintakes of my laptop, its airflow is enough to effectively cool it down 10 to 15 degrees Celcius in contrary to the experience of some other reviewers here. The reason for that imo is that for my laptop in specific, the fans are in the optimal position in relation with the air intake grill; the lower left fan blows straight in my laptops main air-intake. The result is effective cooling in my case. tip: check the position of your (main) air-intake grill at the bottom of your laptop before you buy any active cooling pad, make sure you buy a cooler which fans are most ideally positioned for your laptop, if they are not, the cooling is indeed minimal, most people don't think about that but its important!The blue leds... you love it or you hate it, I honestly don't hate it, nor love it, its there and it doesn't bother me, I don't use my laptop to watch movies but I can understand that in that case it could be slightly bothersome. The fact of the matter is: its a gimmick and of no use, you don't even see them when a laptop is sitting on top of it, especially a big one. For me its no reason to refrain from buying though... it would have been if the leds were pink. ;-)This is a review based on the first hours of use since it just arrived yesterday, if ever something about it fails in the next couple of days/weeks/months, I will adapt my review and the score.As for now: I reccomend it, just be sure to check the position of your laptops air intake grill first and compare it to this -or any- coolers fanposition!