TRILINK Neck Fan review

Our rating:

Price on writing: £18 | Buy now from Amazon

Whether you struggle with feeling hot and sweaty during the summer heat or you’ve started suffering from hot flushes, it can be hard to stay cool and refreshed on the move. While bigger tower fans are great for at home, portable neck fans can be the ideal solution for keeping you cool no matter where you are.

The TRILINK is a bladeless neckband fan, which looks similar to a pair of headphones. These devices have been designed to sit around your neck to blow air around your neck and face. Neck fans are popular with Mumsnet users for helping them stay cool on walks and shopping trips during the warmer days and for tackling hot flushes. Unlike a handheld fan, neck fans keep your hands free. We tasked our tester Sam to put the TRILINK neck fan to the test across the course of a week rating it on its effectiveness against hot flushes, how long the batteries lasted, ease of use, and overall value for money.

What we like

Soft and lightweight making it comfortable to wear
Ideal for cooling neck, chin and ears area
Good value for money
Bladeless design so long hair hair won’t get stuck

What we don't like

Can’t angle the fan to blow air on your face

Doesn’t come with a plug, just a charging cable
Battery life is the one of the shortest we tested

Key specs

Our verdict

Effectiveness 6/10
Ease of use 7/10
Value for money 8/10

Soft and flexible, the TRILINK neck fan is worn comfortably around your neck like a pair of headphones, so you can keep cool whether you’re doing the housework on a hot summer’s day, taking the dog for a walk or you just need to cool down during a hot flush. The neck fan is easy to use and charge using a USB wire - which is common with these types of neck fans - but the battery life is shorter than similar neck fans on the market.

However, with a running time of up to seven hours it’s still more than enough time to keep you feeling cool while you’re on a day out. The fan has three speeds but our tester, Sam, felt that it could be more effective when it comes to spreading the air around your neck and face. It is one of the cheapest we tested though, making it good value for money so, while there are other more effective fans out there, TRILINK would help you feel fresher during the summer months.

What is the TRILINK neck fan?

Lightweight and portable, the TRILINK neck fan has been designed to help you feel more refreshed and comfortable when you’re out and about, freeing up your hands from having to hold a handheld design. A bladeless fan, it is meant to prevent long hair from getting caught, with 48 wind outlets and twin-turbine fans designed to produce a 360-degree airflow, although during testing we found the fans weren’t that effective at blowing the air directly onto your face.

It has three speeds which can be easily changed using one button and the fan is made from silicone so it is comfortable to wear round your neck whether you’re wearing it to jobs at home or commuting to work.

How easy is the TRILINK neck fan to use?

There’s not a lot you have to do when you get the TRILINK neck fan. Although it doesn’t come with a charging plug, like all of the fans we tested, you simply have to plug in the USB wire and charge it through a USB plug, computer, power bank or car charger.

It quickly charges up - a full charge takes around three hours - and was ready for our tester Sam to use to help her keep cool and refreshed when suffering from hot flushes. She found the fan easy to get a good fit thanks to the soft flexible material in the middle of the neck fan, which made it comfortable to wear and take on and off.

Read next: The best quiet fans for bedrooms

How effective is the TRILINK neck fan?

Unfortunately, this is an area the TRILINK neck fan didn’t score as well. While the fan is flexible, the arms can only bend in and out, similar to headphones, so you can’t bend them round to get a good angle for blowing air towards your face.

While the fan has three different speeds - Low, Medium and High - during testing we didn’t find them hugely effective at blowing air all around the face. The air seemed to come more out of the top, which did help Sam to feel more refreshed around the ears, chin and neck area but would be better if it blew directly on your face.

What’s the battery life like?

As you’re more than likely going to be using the fan to keep cool throughout the day, you’re not going to want to keep charging it, so the battery life is an important factor to consider when choosing a neck fan. The TRILINK has a battery life of around 2.5 - 7 hours depending on which of three speeds you use.

While this has one of the shortest battery life out of all the fans we tested, it’s not by much, and it should still be enough time to keep you cool throughout a day at work.

Price: is the TRILINK neck fan worth it?

At the time of writing, the TRILINK neck fan costs £18 which is one of the cheapest we tested. While it isn’t the most effective when it comes to blowing the air all around your face and the battery life could be better, it is lightweight and comfortable to wear and helps keep your neck and ears cooler. Our tester Sam did notice a difference when wearing it during hot flushes so we think this makes it pretty good value for money.

Buy now from Amazon

How we tested

Sam used the TRILINK neck fan across the course of a week. During testing, she carefully rated the fan on its effectiveness against hot flushes, how long the batteries lasted, the ease of use, and overall value for money:

Tested across a week
Used to combat hot flushes and hot temperatures
Cross-compared with other neck fans

All of the neck fans were tested under the same criteria and were compared together to help us determine which fans are the best products on the market right now.

About the author

Gemma Wilcock is a freelance writer and copywriter. At Mumsnet, she creates content providing useful parenting advice, information and top products to make life easier – as a mother of two children herself, Gemma knows how important it is to get the right advice. Gemma loves writing about subjects that will be helpful to the reader – and herself! - including recommending top products on Mumsnet that help parents in their day-to-day life, including compiling a round of the best neck fans on the market. She knows how important online reviews are when it comes to making a purchase so she always makes sure to thoroughly research every product so we are recommending the best ones on the market.