Ryobi One+ Battery Fan Review
Naive Nomads like us go on trips camping around Australia on a strict budget. As a result we stay clear of caravan parks a lot of the time. There are so many free-camps available around Australia. Free camps means no powered sites. And on hot nights, cooling is so very important.
Purchasing a Ryobi One+ Fan was the result of a trip we did in the middle of summer through North-West Queensland and into the Northern Territory. There was a single night that I will remember as one of the worst of my life. We were silly enough to run out of water, and the night was incredibly hot. With zero breeze it was almost unbearable. I would have traded a kidney for a fan that night.
A few days later we found a Bunnings and bought the Ryobi Battery Fan. The reason we chose the Ryobi brand is that we already had a Ryobi One+ leaf blower, which takes the same battery. In the two years since we bought our fan, we now also have the Ryobi One+ drill, rattle gun, touch and lantern. They all use the same battery, which is very convenient. I have even bought a car charger that has a cigarette lighter attachment so we can charge on the go while traveling around Australia.
The fan has 3 settings. Off, low and high. I occasionally use the high setting during the day, sitting in my camping chair under the annexe of our camper trailer. The high setting blows plenty of air, but is quite noisy. Certainly too noisy to sleep with. The low setting is great for sleeping. In our camper we have a horizontal pole straight above our heads. I am able to hook the fan over the pole. Even on low, it creates a nice little breeze making hot nights far more comfortable.
The low setting is quiet. You can hear it, but we both have no problems sleeping through it. The best part of the low setting is the battery life. If I crawl into bed at say 9:30pm and turn the fan on, I wake up first thing in the morning and the fan is still going.
The other features include several different ways to hang or mount the fan using various hooks and holes. The fan swivels around all kinds of angles. It’s pretty sturdy too. We literally throw it in the camper trailer for travel, and I’ve also been known to use it as a foot rest. As yet, I have not damaged it.
The Ryobi One Plus fan is superb. It has become part of our gear that we simply couldn’t live without.
