I upgraded my basic fan to this quiet Meaco pedestal air circulator, and I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner

I've had the same bog-standard fan in my bedroom for about seven years, and it's died a death. So it's perfect timing that I had the Meaco Sefte 10'' Pedestal Air Circulator through for review.

As someone who historically never paid very much for a fan, now that it's my job to put the best fans through Ideal Home's rigorous testing process, it's safe to say that my eyes have been thoroughly opened about what I've been missing out on all these years!

In a nutshell

I'm not going to mince my words, I love this fan. It's powerful (even in low power modes), it looks good, it's quiet, and it's got a remote control that means I can tinker with it from the comfort of my bed to choose which of the 12 speed settings I want and to get the fan's oscillation just right before I go to sleep.

This might not sound ground breaking, but when I compare this to my very old fan that was nowhere near as powerful, or as quiet, and had a choice of only three speeds that, frankly, all felt quite similar, the Meaco Sefte 10'' Pedestal Air Circulator has made me realised I should have upgraded my cheap fan a long time ago.

While this air circulator is definitely an investment (and a very worthwhile one at that), the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was that the base is quite large, so if you want to use it as a desktop fan, you'll need a decent amount of table top space. As I like to have other bits and bobs on my bedside or side tables, this was a little problematic. For this reason, I found myself primarily using the Meaco Sefte in it's full-height pedestal mode instead.

Sarah Handley

As well as being Ideal Home's Renovation Editor, I also look after all of the website's heating and cooling content, which means I'm well versed in what it takes to keep your home a comfortable temperature year round and how you can do that in the most energy efficient way possible. I tested the Meaco Sefte 10'' Pedestal Air Circulator in my 1970s three-bed home daily for more than six weeks. As well as trying it out in my kitchen diner to see how well it performed in a larger space, and my living room, I used it in my bedroom every night.

Specification

• Type of fan: Pedestal (but adaptable to desktop)
• RRP: £179.99
• Weight: 5.4kgs
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 34 x 59.1-109.8 x 34cm
• Wattage: 8-26W
• Air displacement (m3/h): 1150.80 m³/hour
• Running costs per hour (based on energy price cap at the time of writing): 0.2-0.7p/hour
• Number of fan speed settings: 12
• Noise in dB: 25-56dB
• Smart features: N/A
• Dual functionality: None
• Oscillation: Multidirectional (30°/ 75°/ 120° horizontal, 20°/ 30°/ 65° vertical)

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

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The Meaco Sefte 10'' Pedestal Air Circulator arrived well packaged, with minimal plastic, which is a big win in my book. Initially, I was concerned that the poles were missing from the packaging, because they weren't in the same slot as the fan head and the base. But once I turned the packaging over, I saw them cleverly nestled there.

There was a little bit of assembly required, but it was just a matter of attaching the fan head to either the base (for a table top design), or using one or both of the poles to take it to medium height or full pedestal height.

The instructions were really clear on how to build the fan, and even if I didn't look at them, I felt like assembly was intuitive. There are two prongs that project from the fan head and both of the poles — one gold, one silver. The port for the gold prong is also gold, so I knew exactly how to fit the pieces together, and once in place, I just had to twist the plastic band into the locked position. Easy peasy, and it was assembled and ready to go in less than a minute.

Once set up, I could appreciate how modern this fan looks, especially compared to the very inexpensive one I had just taken to be recycled. The Meaco fan has a cool white and black colourway, with a sleek display screen and a solid circular base. One of the first things that struck me was that the fan head itself had a smaller diameter than my old fan, but was considerably deeper.

Given the smaller fan head size than my old fan, I was curious to see how this might impact how powerful it was, so I wasted no time in plugging it in and working my way through the 12 power settings. Even on the first setting, the Meaco was noticeably more powerful than my old fan, and by the time I got up to the 12th power setting, I was gobsmacked as to just how, well, windy, it was.

What's it like to use?

One thing I love about this fan is how easy it is to use. While you can turn it on and off and work your way through the wind speeds using the on-board controls, the majority of the functionality is activated via the very sleek, circular remote control. And for me, this remote control offered just the right amount of functionality. It allowed me to quickly and easily choose the settings to suit, without the daunting feeling of a lengthy set up process or overly complex controls that take ages to get to grips with.

I never want to lose the remote, so I love that this one is magnetic, although it did take me a few minutes to realise where it was meant to attach to the fan. Rather than anywhere near the display, the remote actually magnetically attaches to the circular Meaco logo in the centre of the fan face (with the buttons facing inwards). While I understand this keeps the fan looking neat and polished, it also means that it was not immediately obvious that the remote control is attached. I did find myself searching around for it on more than once occasion before I remembered where I'd put it.

I also appreciated the simple display screen. It shows you the ambient temperature in the room, and then when you change any settings, it'll show you the fan speed, air direction as well as whether you are in normal mode (a fan symbol), night mode (a moon), or ECO mode (a thermometer).

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The display in normal fan mode, in the second wind speed, and lights showing the direction of the air flow

When the fan is off, but plugged it, it displays the ambient temperature in the room, although this can be turned off using the remote control

But it's from a power perspective that this air circulator impressed me the most. Meaco says the fans deep draw blades move more air further and faster than its previous fan designs, for comfort even on the hottest days. And I can definitely vouch for that. Even in it's lowest mode, I could feel the air being circulated even when I was on the other side of my bedroom (about 3.5m away).

However, my bedroom is not the biggest room in the house, so I wanted to check how this fan would perform in a larger space, the kitchen diner (which is about 21m2). In the highest power mode, which genuinely feels like a blustery day, I could feel the impact of air being circulated even as I stood at the other end of the room about 5m away. More impressively, I could still feel the effects of the fan in its lowest and most gentle power setting when standing in that same spot.

I'm a big fan of using a fan year round to get some air movement going, and for me, the most gentle setting is ideal for this. But come the inevitable heatwaves of summer, that top speed setting will definitely be getting used to try and cool down my bedroom, that is inexplicably the hottest room in the house by a mile.

When I added the oscillation into the mix, it felt like the fan breeze was getting into every corner of my kitchen-diner with ease. While I wasn't testing this fan during a heatwave, I have no doubt that this fan will help get rid of the stifling heat and help create a much more comfortable environment. I really liked having control over the oscillation, especially when I was using the fan at bedtime to help me drift off. Instead of having the fan oscillating (which I find weirdly distracting when I'm trying to go to sleep), I paused the horizontal then vertical oscillation in the ideal spot so I could feel the gentlest breeze exactly where I wanted it, something my old fan definitely couldn't manage.

Based on my experiences with my old fan, I was also convinced that more power meant more noise. Fortunately, the Meaco Sefte definitely lives up to it's name (Sefte means quiet, gentle and undisturbed in Old English). In the lowest power mode, I could barely hear it, even when it was next to my bed and oscillating. As you go up the power settings, you do hear the increase in air flow, but it's not obnoxiously loud by any stretch, and that'll be thanks to it's brushless DC motor. I clocked the highest setting at about 56dB, that is the equivalent of gentle background noise. During the day or a particularly sweaty heatwave, I don't think this noise level would be bothersome, but it wouldn't be my first choice for nighttime use.

That's where night mode comes in, which I use on a nightly basis. Going into night mode automatically puts the fan on the lowest, quietest setting, turns off the display, and mutes the beeping sounds that otherwise indicate when the buttons are being pressed. I'm not at all bothered by the display while I'm sleeping, but if you hate any kind of light while you're trying to drift off, you'll definitely appreciate this feature.

I really liked the timer feature too as I like to fall asleep with the fan on, but don't want or need it on all night. I tended to opt for an hour, and by the time I'm asleep the fan silently turns itself off.

Running costs

Running costs should always be a consideration with any new appliance, especially if its one you are likely to use for long periods, especially during the summer. And the good news is, this fan has very low power consumption which means it costs less than a penny per hour to run, even on it's highest power setting.

To ensure efficient usage, the Meaco Sefte also has an ECO mode (which you access by pressing the three dots button the remote, and cycling through until you see the thermometer symbol on the display). In ECO mode, the fan speed will automatically change depending on the room temperature, ranging from speed 1 when the room is 19°C or less, up to speed 12 when the room temperature exceeds 30°C.

Cleaning and maintenance

In the six weeks I've been testing this fan, the most I have had to do is give is a bit of a dust on the base.

The shape of the grill around the fan doesn't seem to collect that much dust either, so keeping it clean shouldn't be an arduous task. Just give it a regular wipe with a dry cloth.

If you notice the blades getting dusty, you can remove the front grill and give them a wipe down. I gave this a go and it's really simple. I just unscrewed a small screw at the bottom of the fan head, then twisted the front grill to the unlock position (there's visible guide on the top of the front grill). Then I just did the steps in reverse to put it back together. Just make sure it's unplugged and that you only use a dry cloth when you do it.

I found this loads easier than my old pedestal fan that had four teeny tiny screws and bolts that were so fiddly to remove.

Who should buy this fan?

If, like me, you've been muddling through with a sub-par fan for far too long, then upgrading to the Meaco Sefte 10'' pedestal air circulator will be well worth it. With an RRP of £179.99, it's not cheap, but as someone who's just upgraded from a very basic £20 pedestal fan, I can honestly say I didn't quite appreciate what I was missing. It's powerful enough to effectively circulate air even in large rooms, which makes it ideal for family households where you want to make sure everyone can feel the benefit. It's really quiet and offers a night mode too, which makes it a sound option for those who want to use a fan in the bedroom.

However, if you are a really light sleeper, you might prefer the Duux Whisper Flex Ultimate Fan, which is, so far, the quietest fan we've tested.

And while I might have loved the functionality of this Meaco fan, others may prefer something smarter with even more capability. If that sounds like you, then the Dreo PolyFan 508S might be more your speed.