Personal cooling... one option

Thanks. Marie's more sensitive to heat than I am. I'll pick up a pack.

Anyone know if they're also on-sale in the stores, or only online?

I have those and they are wonderful!!!

I got one last summer and like it

Item may be available in your local warehouse, prices may vary.

Item may be available in your local warehouse, prices may vary...

Indeed it was, and the price DID vary...

Online price at Costco.com shows regular price $42.99 - $8 off = $34.99

My local Costco (and yours too, José0°C ) had them for regular price of $34.99 - $8 off = $26.99! So I broke down and bought a box (2).

Have not evaluated their performance yet - but a heat wave is predicted here for the next couple days so I'll take them for a spin.

Thanks for the tip, I’ll look for them on my next trip to Costco.

I also found this at my Costco in Atlanta. I did buy them. I don’t know that I would take them traveling, but I’m giving one of them to my husband for yardwork and we’ll see what I do with them second one.

So, David, what is your opinion on the personal cooling system. I’m off to Costco tomorrow morning and wondered what you thought.

Linda, I'm on the fence. The thing does kinda work, but it doesn't work miracles. It seems pretty effective at blowing air across my ears - but it's also pretty loud (I crank it all the way up to 5, of course - the maximum setting). On top speed, it does cool the ears. But the rest of my hot, sweaty body...not so much. I asked my wife to try it out. At first she laughed, scoffed, and said it was weird. When I told her it was on sale (the magic words...) she asked how much, then said "hmmm, let me try that again..." and shrugged.

Could be effective for when I'm thinking really hard, or really pissed-off (when there's steam coming out of my ears). But I'm not yet convinced that the cooling it offers is going to make a big difference in my overall comfort.

I think I'll test it out some more today (it's plenty hot enough here to test). I'm considering returning it, but not quite sure yet. Happily, Costco's generous return policy will let me decide at my leisure.

Makes a great white-noise generator though. Might also save on Q-tips after a shower (drying out the ear canal). Tough call.

Something else to pack.

Linda--I have one and love it! If you go to any outdoor events, you will see a lot of people, especially vendors, wearing these. I would not take it on a trip that involves a flight since I like to go as lightweight as possible, but I have used it at a god awful hot day in the gorge for at a wedding, car camping, etc. Several of my friends have this as well and also rave about it:). If only it had a little water compartment and would mist, then it would be gold!

Thanks David and mikliz- I’m going to try it since Costco does have a great return policy. Wonder if I could just wear this while boarding my flights without a second glance. After all, I see plenty of people with those neck pillows in line at the Gate. It’s going to be dreadfully hot for me in Italy and Portugal in July. Yikes! What was I thinking when I said yes to my granddaughter when she asked me if we could travel together to Italy IN THE SUMMER! This will be my first European SUMMER trip. Hot tamales!

If you are looking for an alternative to a neck fan, look into these type of cooling towels:

Cooling Neck Bands

I tried taking a fan into really hot weather and all it did was blow hot air into my face. It was noisy.

The cooling towels did work. You soak them for a minute or so in water and the beads inside get cool. All you need to do to refresh them is to put them in water. (Any restroom or water fountain will do.)

I wore them around my neck. Surprisingly, they did make me feel cooler. They pack down into nothing.

Frank II, sweet idea.

So we’ve had some major storms in Atlanta the last week and I am my condo association pool chair so I took the second one of these in the box charged it up and wore it Sunday while I tried to clean the pool.

I think it helped actually especially if you have a hat on which I do. I didn’t have it all the way up, but it’s much more pleasant blowing the pool deck and cleaning the pool in the 90% humidity without sweat dripping into my face and it certainly took care of that

overall I felt like it helped. To me it worked better than those cooling towels which I have used. (I’ve never gotten much out of those. I still use them on runs in the summer. Anything is better than nothing but this did seem better. However, I would not run with it.)

As for wearing it around your neck getting on a plane. Probably nobody’s even going to notice I see people wearing their headphones around their neck boarding the plane all the time.

Linda--You need to take me along. Every European summer trip for me, minus one, has been during cold snaps.

I saw about 4 women with these over as many weeks. They looked like headphones to anyone not in the know. I don't like the feeling of things of any weight or bulk around my neck so I stuck with my old-fashioned hand fan in my daily carry. That works great & I don't have to have it out allll the time. Hope everyone finds the thing that works for them. Overheating can make things pretty unpleasant and I for one will get cranky if I'm too hot! lol

Like TH, I have a hand fan I use when going to outdoor concerts, etc. Where I live it gets very hot, though thankfully it is a dry heat. Last weekend we were at an outdoor wedding at Mount Hood, Oregon and it was really hot, especially for people who aren’t used to the heat. I gave my fan to the father of the groom (they are friends) and it kept him a bit cooler as he sat in the heat in his suit. I like the look of the cooling neck bands that Frank II mentioned and I think I will get some to try. We will be hiking in Switzerland in early September and I want to be prepared for heat because I don’t tolerate it very well, especially when exerting myself.