6 Best Evaporative Coolers to Beat the Summer Heat

When put to the test, this Honeywell Portable Evaporative Air Cooler earned high marks with our Lab experts. It earned the title of Best Portable Air Cooler Without a Hose in our roundup of the best portable air conditioners (even though it's actually an evaporative cooler and not a portable AC). This compact unit quietly cools rooms up to 426 sq. ft., a major perk compared to the noisy rumble that often comes from true portable ACs. Quiet operation is one of the major upsides of evaporative coolers.

Best used to help cool small to medium-sized rooms, the slim and lightweight design allows you to easily move the machine from room to room. Using oscillating air vents as part of its unique vertical tower design, the air is distributed more evenly throughout a room at a faster rate. It not only has a setting set for evaporative cooling but you can also opt for a gentle fan-only breeze and even use it as a humidifier in the colder months. All of these settings can be controlled with the included remote.

One reviewer wrote, "I'm extremely impressed. The unit blows very cold with just water! It's very quiet compared to a box fan." Another said called the unit "easy to set up," and said they were pleased with the "easy to understand directions [and] easy to follow recommendations in terms of room placement." They shared, "After the recent heat wave, this is a godsend. I can also say from owning other evaporative air coolers in the past that this unit is in a class all its own"

With a three-in-one smart evaporating and humidifying system, cool air is just a button away. This lightweight, portable and budget-friendly cooler has three fan speeds as well as different temperature settings labeled sleep, normal and cool mode to accommodate different types of spaces and preferences. The machine is quiet enough that you can sleep with it on, and the special sleep setting allows you to set a timer so it turns off on its own in the middle of the night.

The water tank is a bit small, but it can still run for almost eight full hours before it needs refilling. Users say the refilling process is simple, and thanks to its location on the top of the machine, you don't need to bend or crouch much to fill it.

"It’s fairly quiet so I completely forget that it’s there," one online reviewer said. "It’s cool with the added plus of the humidifying factor. "It’s a great buy all around for a small area that needs more breeze."

Weighing only 16 pounds and able to cool up to 500 square feet of space according to the brand, this sleek and stylish model from Hessaire is a great highly portable option. And it has over 2,000 five-star reviews on Amazon to back it up.

DiClerio says, "This is a great option for small to medium-sized spaces." Place it in a studio apartment, a single room in your home, a garage, a workspace or even a small patio. The small dial on the front of the cooler allows you to select one of five settings so you can adjust the airflow to your liking.

Online reviewers not only liked that it was affordable and easy to put together but also that you can manually refill the water reservoir with each use or hook it up to a hose for continuous water flow (no refill required!). If you do use the continuous option, just be aware that some reviews said the hookup may drip a bit. Even with that slight issue in mind, reviews showed that customers were very happy with it.

One user calls it, "one of the best purchases I’ve made." And another who works as a car technician says, "When the ambient shop temperature is in the 90s – 100s (outdoor garage), this thing is blowing a cool 71 – 73 degrees."

Whether you have a large garage or want a cool boost in the living room, this quiet cooler is pretty powerful. It's capable of covering up to 700 square feet, according to the brand, and it has three different fan speeds and an oscillating mode to better spread the cool air. A continuous water flow option lets it run uninterrupted, and the ice packs that come with it can be inserted into a special top lid compartment to add an extra chill to the air.

Other features include a timer, humidity sensor, remote control and wheels on the bottom, making it convenient to use and move. Although evaporative coolers are less effective if humidity levels are higher than 50%, some reviewers said that this specific machine worked quite well in areas with greater humidity. "This evaporative cooler does a great job blowing a lot of air while being very quiet," one reviewer said, sharing they often use it on their porch in Texas.

Reviewers also said the size could be a bit of a deterrent for some since it can be quite heavy and it can be a bit tricky to assemble, but overall reviewers had great things to say about it. One wrote, "It's pretty big for a bedroom and would work great on a patio or garage. It keeps the room very, very cool during the night."

When you want something that can go anywhere with you, the Evapolar personal air cooler is your best friend. In addition to being affordable, it easily plugs into a power source with a USB cable, weighs less than 2 pounds and has a built-in handle.

It's basically a 7-inch cube, so it's a great go-to when you have limited space, and it can sit on a desk or dresser and serve as a personal cooling device. The machine both cools and humidifies air, offering four different fan speeds at the press of a button. Its compact size does limit its airflow to within five feet of the unit so if you're looking to cool off a large space, better to look somewhere else. But it's portability is a huge boon for a camping trip, college dorms, the office or any place that needs a little extra cooling oomph.

"I love how portable it is. [I] can take it with me and turn it on in the car, office or at home," one reviewer says. "So much easier to maintain and clean, unlike those other bulky air coolers."

Weighing less than two pounds, this compact cooler, which can run via USB cord, uses dual cooling jets to cool and humidify air. It has four different settings and can for run up to 10 hours on one tank of water. Multi-directional air vents allow you to adjust the direction of the airflow, too. There's even a built-in LED nightlight with seven different color options, which makes it fun for kids who don't like to sleep in the dark. That being said, most reviews say this cooler is better used as a personal cooling device rather than a room cooling device, but still find it a must since it's affordable, lightweight and portable enough that you can take it with you anywhere.

One online reviewer wrote, "If you want to cool yourself down, this is a great product. It's like a personal desk fan, but quite a bit more effective."