Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK (2024)

Verdict

Hugely flexible and powerful, the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK can be used in pedestal or desktop modes, plugged-in or on battery power, and with a mister to blow cooling water at you. It has slightly basic fan modes, and the LCD can be hard to see outside, but the fan is powerful and exceptionally quiet.

Introduction

This being a Shark product, it’s not your regular fan. Instead, the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK can be mains-powered or run from its battery; pedestal or desktop mounted; and it has a hose attachment for spraying cooling water. For versatility, this model is hard to beat.

Design and features

• Battery and mains powered
• Desktop and pedestal options
• Optional hose attachment

Straight out of the box, the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK looks much like any other pedestal fan. Measuring 94 x 35 x 35cm, this fan has an adjustable head, so you can angle where the airflow goes.

Look a little closer, and it becomes apparent that this fan is a little smarter. Rather than just being mains powered, the fan has an internal battery, so it can run away from a power socket. And, you don’t just have to have it pedestal mode: the fan head lifts out and can be used in desktop mode.

That’s a huge amount of convenience, making the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK more flexible than other battery-powered fans that I’ve tested, such as the MeacoFan 260C Cordless Air Circulator.

Not only that, but the fan has a misting attachment, which plugs into a hosepipe outlet, via a regulator to control the water flow, and provides a cooling mist of air sprayed at you, for outside use only.

As with a lot of Shark products, the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK is nicely designed. It has power inputs on both the pedestal stand and on the desktop part of the fan, so you can use it plugged in, in both modes.

On top there are simple controls that give you on/off modes, and button to turn the oscillation mode on and off (three modes, accessed by pressing the button repeatedly, up to 180° horizontal, with only manual vertical adjustment).

If you want a fan that can shift a lot more air, the MeacoFan 1050 Pedestal Air Circulator, with its large ball head and horizontal and vertical oscillation, may be better. That fan also has a natural mode that replicates a breeze, whereas the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK is just a traditional fan.

Use the remote control, which can stick magnetically to the back of the fan, and you get the same controls, plus buttons to move where the fan points, so you can angle it towards you without having to stand up and physically move it.

Fan speed is shown on the basic LCD at the top of the fan, with five indicators that light up in turn to show the speed. The same indicators are used for the timer option, which ranges between one and five hours.

I found the lights a little hard to see in full sunlight, though. Ditto, for the battery indicator, which changes colour to show how much charge is left.

For storage, there’s a neat cover that clips over the fan’s head. However, it’s quite hard to get this on without knocking the remote control onto the floor.

Performance

• Very quiet
• High power fan

The Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK ranges between a very quiet breeze and a full-on wind tunnel. On its lowest setting, I measured airflow at 1.1m/sec at 15cm, and 0.8m/s at 1m, providing just a gentle breeze. At this speed, the fan is quieter than the ambient noise at 32.1dB.

On the middle speed setting, power jumps to 3.2m/sec at 15cm and 2.4m/sec at 1m. Sound also increased, but 38.1dB is still very quiet, and there’s just a gentle motor noise.

On maximum, I measured the Shark FlexBreeze Portable Fan FA220UK at 4.6m/sec at 15cm and 3.6m/sec at 1m. Sound peaked at 50dB, which is still exceptionally quiet.

Battery life varies between 24-hours on the lowest fan speed and two hours on maximum. Run somewhere between this can you can get enough cooling to last for a session outside or for keeping you cool while you sleep.

I like the misting attachment. It ends up blowing quite a bit of water around, so you can’t use it inside; outside, the misting attachment helped me feel much cooler than the fan alone could achieve, with the water feeling comforting.

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