Dreo Smart Table Fan review: can it help during a heatwave?

Price on writing: £75 | Buy now from Amazon

How I tested

As a Mumsnet editor, I've been testing this fan at home during summer heatwaves and hot weather, over the course of three months. Taking detailed notes on user-friendliness, effectiveness and quality, I've tested out all the features, fan speeds and modes. I've even compared the Dreo Smart Table Fan with the Meaco Sefte Desk Fan and the Pro Breeze 13" Mini Tower Fan to ensure a well-rounded, fair and honest review.

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Dreo Smart Table Fan: my verdict

In sleek silver, my first impression of the Dreo Smart Table Fan was how good it looked. Designed almost like a globe, with an angled stand and round fan head, it's very easy on the eye. Once switched on, the smooth side-to-side oscillation really adds to its sleekness.

But enough about how it looks, will it help keep you cool during a heatwave? In a word, yes. It has four fan settings and swoops smoothly from side to side, cooling the whole room surprisingly effectively for a relatively small fan. It comes with both an app and a remote control, so you don't have to set it up right next to yourself - but if you do want a jet of air directed straight at you, it has a fixed mode too.

The app enables you to set a timer, turn the fan on and off, and switch between modes and settings. It even has an in-app cleaning tutorial for the inevitable dust build up.

At 28dB, it's not a noisy fan, but when compared to the slightly more expensive Meaco Sefte, the Dreo is noticeably noisier. The app has a sleep mode, which turns off the LED display control panel on the fan, but it doesn't lower the noise levels unfortunately. The sound from the fan is the white noise of the blades moving, rather than any squeaking, so it wasn't a problem for me to fall asleep with this fan on in my bedroom.

For under £100, this is a great quality fan with the added extras you'd expect from more expensive brands. While it's not the quietest fan on the market, it gets my thumbs up for effectiveness.

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What's the Dreo Smart Table Fan like to use day-to-day?

During testing, I set up the Dreo Smart Table Fan in my WFH office and in my bedroom. The fan unit itself has touch buttons to control the fan, and an LED screen to show the speed and status of the fan, but I found myself using the remote control more than the fan panel or the app.

It's a very effective fan. I found angling the head upward and setting it to oscillate made for the best air circulation, and it made a difference to the whole room.

While it's not as quiet a fan as my Meaco Sefte, at 28dB it was quiet enough to have on in my bedroom overnight. The Dreo has four fan speeds, while the Meaco has a whopping 12, so it's noteably less customisable when it comes to the exact rate of air flow.

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How effective is the Dreo Smart Table Fan?

The fan can freshen and circulate air up to an impressive 70ft away, according to Dreo. My house isn't open-plan so I wasn't able to test this to the full 70ft, but on full speed it can certainly get the air moving in a large room.

The fan gave welcome relief during heatwaves, blasting cool air to keep my office and bedroom at a comfortable temperature during the day and night.

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Is the Dreo Smart Table Fan noisy?

The Dreo Smart Table Fan does beep when you press a button to adjust the speed or mode, but I was glad to see a button on the remote control dedicated to silencing these beeps.

While it's on, the fan makes a 28dB white noise. Not at all obtrusive or annoying, but not as quiet as the Meaco Sefte, so if you want or need a close-to-silent fan, you'll need to spend that bit more.

The fan is quiet enough to sleep with it running in the room, and it has a sleep mode which turns off the LED light-up display.

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Is the Dreo Smart Table Fan good value for money?

At £75, this fan sits between the Meaco Sefte Desk Fan at £100 and the Pro Breeze 13" Mini Tower Fan at £50. It's definitely a step up from the Pro Breeze, which doesn't come with a remote control or app, but noticeably noisier than the Meaco Sefte.

To my mind, this makes the Dreo great value for money - in the app and remote control you're getting the mod cons of a more expensive fan, while sacrificing a few decibels and fan speeds when compared to the more expensive fan.

About the author

Poppy O'Neill is a Content Editor at Mumsnet and a mother of two. She researches and reviews the products Mumsnetters swear by, with a particular focus on home essentials, laundry and fans. From a highly-recommended retractable washing line to the best quiet fans money can buy, and Mumsnet's favourite dehumidifier to the steam generator iron that'll cut your ironing time in half, she loves to deep-dive into research and find the very best products on the market.

With an MA in Creative Writing and a PGCert in Lifestyle Journalism, Poppy's written about parenting topics for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Mirror and The Sun. She's a best-selling, award-winning author, and her books for children and parents have been translated into 12 languages.