A lot of things about personal fans annoy me. They’re impossible to keep clean and dust-free, they make you feel like you're sitting in a wind tunnel, and they're ineffective enough that they feel like little more than a stopgap to turning on the air conditioning. But this year, I have become absolutely besotted with Dreo's line of smart fans, so much that I now own three of them—plus a ceiling fan.
These are not the easily stained white or black plastic fans you've owned before. Dreo's fans are beautifully designed, with a metallic look accented with retro detailing. They are easy to disassemble, so you can actually clean them. And they're smart (meaning they work with an app), which takes them to a whole other new level of convenience. You can use your phone to do more than adjust the speed. If you have a standing fan, the app controls the pan and tilt as well, so you can get the fan pointing precisely where you want it.
But that’s not even the best part. All Dreo fans (tabletop, stand, tower, and ceiling fans) have a setting labeled “natural," which varies the fan's power at intervals to resemble the feeling of an outdoor breeze—and it works. My Dreo fans are installed all over the house: A tabletop fan lives in my kitchen (you should always have a fan in the kitchen); the stand fan in my bedroom that has reduced my air conditioning use by a surprising amount this year; a ceiling fan in my office; and the newest addition, a fan for my chicken coop that kicks on automatically when the temperature gets too high.
One of these fans probably isn’t going to be your biggest Prime Day purchase, but it may be the one that improves your life the most.