At a glance
Expert's Rating
Pros
- Near silent in lower modes
- Powerful
- Vertical and horizontal oscillation control
Cons
- Oscillation controls not intuitive
- No smart features
- Not the cheapest option
Our Verdict
This is one of the best cooling fans you can buy at the moment and its oscillation controls allow you to target a small area or a large portion of a room. It has a shutdown timer and a useful night mode but most importantly, it’s powerful, quiet and cheap to run.
Price When Reviewed
Not available in the US
The Sefte fan, whose name derives from the Old English word for gentle or quiet, is as silent as its moniker promises – but it’s far from gentle. It’s a hugely powerful fan.
Bear in mind that an air circulator such as this won’t lower the temperature in a room, but it’ll make it much more comfortable for anyone in the path of its airflow.
The Sefte comes in two forms: a pedestal (£175.99) and a desk model (£119.99). We’re testing the latter and, as it’s portable and has a wide, adjustable oscillation area, it’s useful in just about any spot.
It’s perfect for a bedroom or for use while working or watching TV as it won’t drown out film dialogue or a Zoom call conversation.
Design and Build
- Digital display that shows temperature
- Remote control for timer functionality
- Vertical and horizontal oscillation
The Sefte has a white mount, body and blades, and a contrasting black fan guard. It’s not as handsome as a Dyson but it has a simple design that will complement modern décor.
On the base is an easy-to-read circular display, which also shows the room temperature in °C, and buttons to control fan speed, oscillation and other settings, as well as to choose from the three modes (normal, night and eco). There are no multifunction keys, so you won’t have to remember any button press sequences to access functions.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
However, if you want to use the timer, which will switch the fan off automatically after a period of use (in one-hour increments, up to 12 hours), you’ll need to use the supplied remote.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
It’s attractively designed and disc-shaped, with glow-in-the-dark keys – handy if you’re scrabbling around in the dark to turn down your fan. It also has a clever storage solution: it’s magnetic and it sticks to the centre of the fan, so it should be impossible to lose. (It does blend in completely, though, so if you forget where you stashed it, you won’t spot it.)
You can also use the remote to switch the display on and off.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
There are no smart features but that didn’t feel like a loss when testing the Sefte.
Altogether, it’s thoughtfully designed.
Performance and Features
The Sefte is Quiet Mark accredited and we think it’s one of the quietest fans we’ve ever reviewed, although Dreo’s Air Circulator may have it beat – and the Dreo model is cheaper, even more powerful and has smart features for granular control.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The Sefte has 12 fan speeds, ranging from gentle to hair-blown-back-like-a-dog-hanging-out-the-car-window. The lower speeds are where it’s almost completely silent – with Meaco claiming an operating volume of only 25dB – but those speeds are still powerful enough to cool you down in everyday use.
It has three modes. Normal is exactly what it sounds like. In Night mode, the interface switches off and the fan decreases in speed by one increment every half hour, until it reaches the lowest setting.
The third mode is Eco, in which the fan speed is dependent on the room temperature. At 19°C and below, the Sefte will be on fan speed 1. Its power will increase as the temperature rises, with the top fan speed reached when the room hits 30°C.
The other key setting is oscillation – and this is where you’ll need to consult the manual. There are three oscillation modes, which allow you to target a tighter space or larger portion of the room. Narrow has a vertical oscillation of 20° and a horizontal oscillation of 30°. Medium is 30° and 75° and Wide is 65° and 120°.
Once you know this, it’s very simple to experiment and find your desired settings, which you do using the arrow keys on the fan itself or on the remote – but you’re unlikely to work it out alone.
At any point in its movement, you can use the pause key to lock the fan in place, allowing you to target a specific spot for a cooling blast.
At lower speeds, the Sefte is almost completely silent – and those speeds are still powerful enough to cool you down
The fan has a maximum power consumption of 26W, and when running, it’ll use between 8-26W per hour. On my current tariff, that’ll only cost me a maximum of a penny an hour – and that’s on full blast, which I’d be unlikely to use. There are fans that are even cheaper to run but it’s still a very cost-effective way to keep cool over summer.
Price and Availability
Meaco’s Sefte air circulator is widely available. You can buy the 10-inch tabletop model that we tested for £119.99 from John Lewis, Amazon, Currys (which charges a penny more) or direct from Meaco.
It’s far from the cheapest fan around and you can see more of our recommended air circulators in our round-up of the best fans we’ve tested. But what we can say is that the Sefte is one of the best and if it’s within budget, you won’t regret buying it.
The pedestal model is pricier at £175.99 but could be a better option if you’re not planning on moving it around. It’s available from John Lewis and Amazon, among other retailers.
Should you buy the Meaco Sefte fan?
When I unboxed the Sefte, it wasn’t love at first sight. I found it a bit functional-looking and for the price, I felt that smart features could have been an option. But once I switched it on, its quiet power began to change my mind. As I used it more, I started to appreciate its adjustable oscillation and clever design touches, including its hard-to-lose remote control. Now, I’d wholeheartedly recommend it.
