With the first heatwave of the summer set to send temperatures soaring, an air cooler will soon become an essential.
While they won’t deliver the ice-cold blast of a portable air conditioner, air coolers are noticeably more effective than a fan, helping to lower the room temperature without guzzling electricity or requiring awkward window-venting kits. Instead, they use evaporative cooling: water and ice are added to a tank, absorbed into an internal filter and circulated back into the room as cooler air.
To find out which models will be worth the space they occupy, I tested a range of popular air coolers across the four corners of my home during a hot, sunny period. Some come with smart controls and hefty tanks, while others prioritise portability and ease of use. Importantly, all of them promised to make the heat a little more bearable. These are the ones that delivered on their claims.
Read more: Best portable air conditioners
Read more: Best fans, reviewed
The best air coolers for 2026 are:
- Best overall – Princess smart air cooler: £120, Wickes.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Black + Decker air cooler: £99.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best smart tech option – Igenix 10L smart digital air cooler: £122.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for powerful cooling – Pro Breeze air cooler: £134.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget personal model – JML Chillmax Air Pure 2.0: £39.99, Robertdyas.co.uk
Read more: Best portable fans
Princess smart air cooler 3.5l
Rating: 5/5
Best: air cooler overall
Why we love it
- Lightweight
- Works with an app
- Quick and quiet cooling
Take note
- Small tank capacit
If you want to feel like royalty while trying to escape the heat, then no brand better fits this description than Princess. The brand’s smart air cooler not only looks sleek and modern with a touchscreen display, but it also cooled me down in 30C heat. I loved that I could control it with the brand’s app, at home or outdoors – it’s honestly the dream being able to turn the air cooler on half an hour before you get home so that, when you put the key into the door and walk into the bedroom, you're met with a beautifully chilled room.
While it wasn’t the most powerful air cooler I’ve tested, working most effectively in smaller rooms, it features a more efficient motor, making it surprisingly quiet for its size. I also loved that I could set up schedules and timers within the Princess Home app. There’s even a remote included for increasing the fan speed and switching modes. The water tank is fairly small, however, so you won’t be able to stuff it full of ice packs. Princess does give two small ice-pack bottles in the box, but they only just fit inside the tank.
Its small, slim profile also meant that it was easy to move from room to room. While it doesn’t come with casters like the other models on this list, it’s so light that I could just pick it up and move it around. It’s a great little machine that oscillates smoothly around my room to keep me cool and comfortable.
Key specifications
Buy now £120, Wickes.co.uk
Black + Decker BXAC65001GB air cooler
Rating: 3.5/5
Best: budget air cooler
Why we love it
- Powerful cooling
- Large water tank capacity
Take note
- Inadequately small ice packs
- No remot
If you want an air cooler with a large enough capacity to fit multiple ice packs and litres and litres of water, without needing a refill, I’m a big fan of Black + Decker’s tower air cooler. It’s a free-standing machine with a 7l tank capacity and easy-to-use button controls. It’s pretty light and easy to shift around the house, with casters inside the box, too. And it’s affordable.
Adding water to the tank can be a bit of a fuss because of the lock pump, which has to be attached to the tank when put back in. I found it easier to fill the tank with water while it was still partially inside the machine, rather than untangling the pump and taking the whole thing out. But it evaporated water through the honeycomb filter well and effectively cooled my room down.
There are two different modes – air cooling or the fan-only mode, which can oscillate automatically. There’s no timer or sleep mode on this manual model, and while there are two ice packs in the box, they’re so small that you’re probably better off running out to the supermarket and buying a tray of ice cubes yourself.
Key specifications
Buy now £99.99, Amazon.co.uk
Evapolar Evalight plus personal air cooler
Rating: 4/5
Best: air cooler for a desk
Why we love it
- Can be plugged into your laptop or power bank
- Small and portable
- Has a colour-changing LED nightlight
- Doesn’t oscillate
Take note
- Fairly pric
Evapolar’s Evalight plus is an engineering marvel. The tiny box-shaped “personal” air cooler is a portable air cooler, purifier and humidifier all in one, and it can be plugged into the mains, a laptop or a power bank using the included USB cable. It’s intended to be placed on your desk or bedside table, and it works a dream at delivering a strong, cool breeze directly to your face.
There’s a cartridge on the inside that absorbs the water from the tank, then the fan blows the evaporating water through the vents on the front. The filter on the inside is made from inorganic fibres, which Evapolar says should stop mould and bacteria forming (though this does need to be replaced every six months). I loved that I could just pull up the water tank attached to the side of the air cooler to fill it up and then slot it back in. No fussing with a lock pump. That tank also turns into a soothing nightlight when it’s on with different colour options.
The super-modern control wheel on the top can be turned clockwise to increase the fan speed and anti-clockwise to lower it. The display, used to control the LED light, also shows you the temperature in your room and what temperature it’s blowing out (for me, it showed 31C inside and 23C blowing out). It does get a little loud when on the highest setting, but it worked really well, and it’s intelligently designed. It will also last about an hour before needing another refill of water.
The only real downside is the price. Full-size tower air coolers cost less, and the vent also doesn’t automatically oscillate – you have to direct the grills towards your face manually.
Key specifications
Buy now £179.99, Amazon.co.uk
Igenix 10l smart digital air cooler IGFD7010WIFI
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: smart tech air cooler
Why we love it
- Looks pretty in the home
- Large water tank
- Large oscillation field
Take note
- Not the most powerful fan
The Igenix smart digital air cooler is an absolute work of art – I may as well have just stolen it from the Louvre, and it’s also a top contender thanks to its smarts. The modern-looking machine can be controlled with the touch-control buttons on the top, the remote or the Smart Life app, which I already use a lot at home (so no learning new applications). Plus, it works with Alexa and Google Assistant, so I never have to get out of bed to turn it off.
It is a fairly simple machine to operate, generally speaking. There are three fan speeds, a night mode and a timer function – you can programme it to power off after two hours, four hours or eight – but it's a great little machine. I loved that it came with the wheels already on the bottom, so I didn’t have to screw them on myself. Plus, it covers a lot of room when it oscillates, featuring 120 degrees of oscillation. Though I often found it performed most effectively when the fan was directed right at me. I also loved the huge 10l water tank, which could be loaded up with ice packs (you get two in the box, but they’re pretty rudimentary) and cold water.
Key specifications
Buy now £122.99, Amazon.co.uk
Pro Breeze air cooler 5l
Rating: 4/5
Best: for powerful cooling
Why we love it
- Powerful
- Comes with a remote
Take note
- Can get smelly if you don’t clean it
Pro Breeze’s air cooler was an absolute star when it came to cooling my room down quickly and quietly. It’s a heatwave hero and effectively brought the heat down in my living room. I liked that it featured a buckle to lock the water tank in place and that I could control the seven-hour timer and sleep modes using the included remote. Oh, and you get some good quality ice packs with the Pro Breeze.
It’s one of the most powerful coolers I’ve tested, really helping to bring the heat down in my room by a few degrees. It oscillated smoothly, reaching a good portion of my room, and the inclusion of a natural mode was a nice touch. It decreased the fan speed by one every 30 minutes, something I found useful when heading to bed. Again, as with most air coolers, the inside pump lock in the water tank can be fiddly to click into place, but once you get to grips with it, it’s simple enough. Most of the time, I just bring a bucket of water to the tank instead of taking the reservoir to the sink.
Another thing to note is that the air cooler can get a little smelly if you don’t change the water or don’t clean the cardboard honeycomb filter on first use (they’re not nicknamed swamp coolers for no reason). Just remember to pour out the excess liquid when you’ve finished using it. The cooler is currently sold out, but bookmark the page ahead of it being restocked.
Key specifications
Buy now £134.99, Amazon.co.uk
JML chillmax pure 2.0
Rating: 4/5
Best: budget personal air cooler
Why we love it
- Nice LED colours
- Affordable
Take note
- Only good for one person
- Quite lou
If the Evapolar evalight plus (£189.99, Amazon.co.uk) is too far out of your budget, but you still want a personal air cooler that can sit on your desk, JML’s chillmax pure 2.0 is a great budget option. While it doesn’t work via USB – you’ll need to plug it into the wall, but that’s a small compromise for cool air at a budget – it performed just as well when it came to cooling down my personal space.
Great for kids’ bedrooms, it has an LED light that switches between seven different colours and there are four different fan speed settings. There’s even a setting that gets it to produce a fine mist, but I found it to be more of a fun little gimmick than something that was actually useful. There’s a washable silver-infused filter on the inside too, something that JML says is handy for stopping mould from building up.
I liked that I could fill the reservoir from the top, and that it lasted about seven hours before I had to refill the water tank. One drawback is the sound of the fan – it’s incredibly loud for such a small device, and sounds like it could be twice the size based on the volume it produces. Nonetheless, it’s a handy little gadget – just be sure to angle it at your face, or you won’t feel the effects.
Key specifications
Buy now £39.99, Robertdyas.co.uk
Which is the best air cooler?
The best air cooler has to be the Princess smart air cooler. It’s modern, covers a large space, is easy to fill with water, can be controlled using the Princess Home app and of course, kept me cool in nearly 30C heat.
How I tested and selected the best air coolers
Having researched air coolers (and reviewed the best portable air conditioners and handheld fans), I know the brands that make top-performing home cooling equipment. For context, I run warm, making me the ideal candidate for this task of reviewing the best air coolers.
As with all IndyBest content, I’ve had hands-on experience with all of the air coolers in this review, and performed real-world testing using the following criteria:
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Alex Lee is The Independent’s senior tech critic. He is well-versed in turning a critical eye on the latest household appliances, having written reviews for IndyBest since 2021. For this review, he consulted experts on the key features to look for in an air cooler and tried and tested multiple appliances before landing on his pick of the best. Beyond this, he runs warm – so, he’s also reviewed everything from the best handheld fans to AC units in a bid to stay cool as a cucumber during the summer heat. This means he’s well-equipped to assess and determine effective cooling gear. But he’s also the toughest critic.
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