The 7 Best Camping Fans (Bought & Tested!)

I bought and tested these 7 best camping fans for this review:

1. Claymore V600+

2. Nitecore NEF10

3. Geek Aire 10-inch

4. O2Cool Treva

5. Coleman OneSource

6. Odoland Fan

7. Coleman CPX 6

Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about each of them.

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Best Camping Fans – Quick Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the best camping fans that I recommend:

These 7 camping fans set me back by around $300 (yes, I actually buy each fan with my own savings), and I also spent about 2 months testing all of them out.

If you prefer to watch my YouTube video instead of reading this blog post, I’ll embed it here for you:

If you prefer reading, let’s get into the more detailed recommendations in the rest of this post.

1. Claymore V600+ Camp Fan (Overall Best)

Key Info

• Power source: 7,800 mAh rechargeable battery

• Max wind speed: 4.2 m/s (13.7 ft/s)

• Blade diameter: 6.0 inches

• Max run-time: 31.5 hours

• Lighting: None

• Weight: 20.6 ounces

• Packed size: 7.25 x 7.75 x 5.5 in

Pros and Cons

Summary

My top pick is easily the Claymore V600+ camping fan.

Here are all the test scores for each camping fan, and the Claymore came in first with the best overall score, with no scores in red at all:

One of its strongest points (see the wind test above) is its impressive range of wind speeds, allowing you to choose between maximum cooling or optimizing run-time.

Here are the four wind speed settings the Claymore has:

• High: 4.2 m/s

• Medium: 3.8 m/s

• Low: 3.1 m/s

• Ultra-Low: 2.6 m/s

The Claymore also has many features, such as a hanging hook, adjustable legs, a tripod thread, battery lights, a sleep timer, fan rotation, and a removable cage.

It is, however, missing two features – a lighting function, and a mobile charging option.

If you don’t need both the lighting and mobile charging, the Claymore V600+ is a great pick.

If you need the mobile charging function though, you’re in luck, because the updated Claymore V1040 has that.

And if you need both functions (lighting and charging), the next camping fan (the Nitecore NEF10) would be a much better option for you.

Check out the Claymore V600+:

There’s an updated version here (V1040):

2. Nitecore NEF10 (Best Tent Fan with Light)

Key Info

• Power source: 10,000 mAh rechargeable battery

• Max wind speed: 4.2 m/s (13.7 ft/s)

• Blade diameter: 5.25 inches

• Max run-time: 32.0 hours

• Lighting: Lantern (34-124 lumens)

• Weight: 23.0 ounces

• Packed size: 7 x 7 x 4.5 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

My runner-up pick is the Nitecore NEF10 camping fan, and it scored just 0.1 point less than the Claymore. Here are some of the ways that it’s better than the Claymore.

First, the Nitecore has the best run-time of all my rechargeable fans. In fact, the run time is almost as good as a fan running on four D-batteries. How impressive is that? Here’s the data:

Camping Fan	Wind Speed	Run-Time	Power Source
Coleman CPX 6	2.8m/s	35.0 hours	D batteries x 4
Nitecore NEF10	2.7m/s	32.0 hours	10,000 mAh battery

^{Comparing the Nitecore’s rechargeable battery to 4 x D cells.}

Second, the Nitecore also has a surprisingly quiet operation; it’s highest fan speed is the quietest of all my camping fans:

• Highest fan speed (4.2 m/s): 56 dBA

• Off: 41 dBA

Third, the Nitecore is also a shockingly feature-rich fan, with:

• A hanging hook and carabiner (to use as a ceiling fan)

• Adjustable legs

• 360-degree rotation from the ball-head tripod

• A removable cage

• A sleep timer

• A power bank function (which gave me about 3 x 60+% charges of my iPhone 12)

• A lantern function

(The Claymore doesn’t have the last 2 functions – mobile charging and lantern.)

The lantern function has 3 different modes for a decent amount of versatility:

• Low: 34 lumens

• Medium: 71 lumens

• High: 124 lumens

The high mode was plenty for reading and playing cards in the tent, and the low mode was a great night light.

And fourth, I paid 50% less for the Nitecore NEF10 than I did for my Claymore V600+, making this incredible value for money, if the Claymore is out of your budget.

However, the biggest con of the Nitecore is that the fan stopped working after I put it through 30 minutes of heavy rain.

Update: Four months of drying later, the fan function has come back to life! The sleep timer is still not working though.

As long as you don’t leave your fan in the rain, I think the Nitecore NEF10 is a fantastic value for money pick – affordable, high quality, with loads of features.

Check out the Nitecore NEF10:

3. Geek Aire Rechargeable Fan (Best for Groups)

Key Info

• Power source: 6,000 mAh rechargeable battery

• Max wind speed: 3.9 m/s (12.8 ft/s)

• Blade diameter: 8.5 inches

• Max run-time: 29.5 hours

• Lighting: None

• Weight: 61.7 ounces

• Packed size: 14 x 12 x 5.5 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Claymore and Nitecore are smaller 6 to 7-inch fans, while the Geek Aire Rechargeable Fan comes in at a minimum of 10 inches. (Take note that the blade diameter – 8.5in – is smaller than the marketed fan diameter – 10 inches.)

This is usually enough to cool 2 people down, and you also have the option to choose 12 or 16-inch fans as well:

• Geek Aire 10-Inch
• Geek Aire 12-Inch (Most Popular)
• Geek Aire 16-Inch

Because the blade diameter is so much wider, it actually pushes a lot more air despite having lower max fan speeds. I really loved the refreshing breeze of this powerful fan.

On top of that, the airflow distance with the Geek Aire is the best, coming in at 108 inches, which can be used in a 4 to 5-person tent.

Also, it is the only camping fan that I have that’s made out of metal, the rest are mostly plastic fans. And it’s one of the two fans in this review that have an IPX4 waterproof rating.

So, it was able to take my 30-minute heavy rain test with no issues at all.

I also love that the adjustment knob gives you complete control over what fan speed you want, ranging from 1.6 m/s to 3.9 m/s. It’s the only fan I have that has this; the rest in this review have discrete fan speeds (low, medium, high, etc.).

However, for such a big fan, the battery capacity can be larger. It’s lower than both the Claymore and the Nitecore!

And it doesn’t have a sleep timer to conserve battery, nor does it have lighting or mobile charging functions.

Overall, it’s not the most feature-rich, but the Geek Aire Fan does pretty good with the features that it does have, and is still a great camping fan.

Check out the Geek Aire:

4. Odoland Camping Fan (Super Cheap Pick)

Key Info

• Power source: D batteries x 2

• Max wind speed: 3.6 m/s (11.8 ft/s)

• Blade diameter: 4.0 inches

• Max run-time: 40.0 hours

• Lighting: Lantern (398 lumens)

• Weight: 23.6 ounces

• Packed size: 5.75 x 5.75 x 7.5 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you’re looking for a super cheap camping fan pick, there’s probably no better option than the Odoland camping fan.

And if you’re looking for a fan-and-lantern combo, you’re in luck, because the Odoland comes equipped with a 398-lumen super-glaring lantern, which can light up an entire 6-person tent:

However, I’m not a big fan of the Odoland because it runs on two D batteries each time. I much prefer using a rechargeable fan, because this gets really expensive in the long run.

On top of that, it doesn’t have a lot of pros. Here are some cons that I didn’t quite like:

• Small blade diameter (4 inches)

• A little noisy

• Plastic used is a little lower-quality

• Not great in the rain (lighting function stopped working after 30 minutes of heavy rain)

But I do think that ultimately, you get what you pay for – a functional fan for less than $20.

Overall, I’d recommend this Odoland camping fan only if you have (1) no more than $20 to spend on a fan, and (2) a ton of spare D batteries to use up.

Otherwise, I’d save up a little bit of money to get the Nitecore NEF10 fan instead.

Check out the Odoland:

To recap, here are all the camping fans that I recommend:

1. Best Overall: Claymore V600+ (Updated model: Claymore V1040)
2. Best Fan With Lantern: Nitecore NEF10
3. Best Value for Money: Nitecore NEF10
4. Best Big Fan for Groups: Geek Aire Camp Fan
5. Cheap Budget Pick: Odoland Camp Fan

Why You Should Trust Me

I personally buy each of these best camping fans with my own money (no free or sponsored gear posts), and test each one of them over months. (This review took 2 months to test and another 1.5 months to produce!)

I also run a YouTube channel with over 20,000 subscribers that focuses just on reviewing camping gear. It’s my jam 🙂

The Other Camping Fans I Tested

Above are the 4 recommended best camping fans. Here are 3 more that I tried and tested, but just didn’t make the cut:

• O2Cool Treva: More of a RV-camping fan than a tent-camping fan. The base is small and isn’t the most stable on uneven ground.

• Coleman OneSource: Would only recommend if you have other OneSource products from Coleman (they have interchangeable rechargeable batteries). Otherwise, it’s just an average fan that’s nothing spectacular.

• Coleman CPX 6: The worst camping fan ever. Blades are made of foam, and don’t push enough air. Please avoid!

If you’re interested in how any of the above camping fans have performed, here are all my detailed reviews and testing data:

How I Tested My Camping Fans

I tested each of my best camping fans for wind power, run-time, noise level, features, durability and portability. Here are the results from each of the tests.

A. Wind Power Test

For this first wind power test, I looked at these three things:

• Wind speed

• Blade diameter

• Airflow distance

For the wind speed, I purchased a mini anemometer, and used it to record the different wind speeds on each fan mode:

Camping Fan	Maximum Speed (m/s)	Minimum Speed (m/s)
Nitecore NEF10	4.2	2.7
Claymore V600+	4.2	2.6
Geek Aire Fan	3.9	1.6
Coleman CPX6	3.7	2.8
Odoland Fan	3.6	2.6
O2Cool Treva	2.9	2.2
Coleman OneSource	2.9	2.0

But wind speed isn’t the only thing you should look at. The blade diameter is equally important. Even if a camping fan has a low max speed, a bigger fan will move much more air than a tiny one.

Camping Fan	Blade Diameter (in)
O2Cool Treva	9.25
Geek Aire Fan	8.5
Coleman CPX6	7.5
Claymore V600+	6.0
Nitecore NEF10	5.25
Coleman OneSource	5.0
Odoland Fan	4.0

Now, to test for this airflow distance, I laid out a measuring tape diagonally across the tent, I stuck a windmill in front of each fan, then I recorded the distance that the windmill stopped spinning:

Camping Fan	Airflow Distance (in)	Tent Size
Geek Aire Fan	108	5-person
Claymore V600+	100	4-person
Nitecore NEF10	95	4-person
O2Cool Treva	90	3-person
Odoland Fan	70	2-person
Coleman OneSource	66	2-person
Coleman CPX6	5	0-person

Based on all three mini-tests above, here’s how I rated the wind power for each fan:

Camping Fan	Wind Power Ratings
Geek Aire Fan	9.3
Claymore V600+	9.0
Nitecore NEF10	8.3
O2Cool Treva	7.7
Odoland Fan	6.3
Coleman OneSource	5.3
Coleman CPX6	3.3

B. Run-Time/Battery Life Test

The next test is the run-time/battery life test, which is how long each of these camping fans can last on a single charge.

So, what I did was to give each of these fans a full charge, and then I set them aside, while timing their run-times with a stopwatch.

Camping Fan	Max Run-Time (hours)	Min Run-Time (hours)
O2Cool Treva	85.0	60.0
Odoland Fan	40.0	21.0
Coleman CPX6	35.0	25.0
Nitecore NEF10	32.0	9.0
Claymore V600+	31.5	6.25
Geek Aire Fan	29.5	6.0
Coleman OneSource	17.5	5.75

Now, this may not be the fairest test on battery life, since different camping fans will run on different speeds.

So, I took a speed that’s as close as possible to 3 meters or 10 feet per second, so they range from 2.6 to 3.1 meters per second here, and then I took the run-time of that particular speed, and arranged them from longest run-time to shortest run-time:

Camping Fan	Wind Speed	Run-Time	Power Source
O2Cool Treva	2.9m/s	60.0 hours	6 x D batteries
Odoland Fan	2.6m/s	40.0 hours	2 x D batteries
Coleman CPX6	2.8m/s	35.0 hours	4 x D batteries
Nitecore NEF10	2.7m/s	32.0 hours	Rechargeable
Claymore V600+	3.1m/s	15.75 hours	Rechargeable
Geek Aire Fan	3.0m/s	9.25 hours	Rechargeable
Coleman OneSource	2.8m/s	5.75 hours	Rechargeable

Take note here that the best camping fans that run on D batteries (an external power source) have longer battery lives (and hence longer run times) than rechargeable fans with a built-in rechargeable battery.

Based on the above, here’s how I rated the camping fans for their run-times:

Camping Fan	Run-Time Ratings
O2Cool Treva	10
Odoland Fan	9
Coleman CPX6	8
Nitecore NEF10	8
Claymore V600+	6
Geek Aire Fan	6
Coleman OneSource	5

C. Noise Level Test

The next test is how much noise each of the camping fans produce when they’re turned on. To test this, I got a mini sound meter.

The base sound level without any of the fans on, comes in at about 41 decibels.

Now, with each of the fans turned on, here are all my results:

Camping Fan	Slowest (dBA)	Fastest (dBA)
Nitecore NEF10	45	56
O2Cool Treva	53	57
Claymore V600+	46	60
Coleman CPX6	55	61
Odoland Fan	59	63
Geek Aire Fan	42	66
Coleman OneSource	55	67

And based on the sound levels above, here are each camping fan’s ratings:

Camping Fan	Noise Level Ratings
Nitecore NEF10	10
O2Cool Treva	10
Claymore V600+	8
Coleman CPX6	8
Odoland Fan	7
Geek Aire Fan	5
Coleman OneSource	5

D. Features Test

The next test is on the number of features each camping fan has, and I looked at:

• Hanging hook

• Legs/stand

• Battery lights

• Fan head rotation

• Removable cage

• Sleep timer

• Lighting

• Mobile charging / power bank function

Camping Fan	Hook	Legs/Stand	Battery Lights	Rotation
Claymore V600+	Yes	Yes	Yes	45°
Nitecore NEF10	Yes	Yes	No	360°
Geek Aire Fan	No	Yes	Yes	360°
Coleman OneSource	Yes	Yes	Yes	180°
O2Cool Treva	No	Yes	No	0°
Odoland Fan	Yes	Yes	No	360°
Coleman CPX6	Yes	No	No	0°

Camping Fan	Removable Cage	Sleep Timer	Lighting Features	Mobile Charging
Claymore V600+	Yes	Yes (1h, 2h, 3h, 4h)	No	No^
Nitecore NEF10	Yes	Yes (1h, 3h, 5h)	Lantern (34-124 lumens)	Yes (10,000 mAh)
Geek Aire Fan	Yes*	No	No	No
Coleman OneSource	No	No	Flashlight (57 lumens)	Yes (4,800 mAh)
O2Cool Treva	Yes*	No	No	No
Odoland Fan	No	No	Lantern (398 lumens)	No
Coleman CPX6	No	No	Lantern (150-470 lumens)	No

• *Technically removable, but requires a screwdriver and more time that I would have liked.
• ^No mobile charging for the V600+, but the updated V1040 has this function.

Based on everything above, here’s how I rated each of my camping fans for features:

Camping Fan	Features Ratings
Nitecore NEF10	9.4
Claymore V600+	8.4
Coleman OneSource	7.8
Geek Aire Fan	7.5
Coleman CPX6	7.3
Odoland Fan	6.1
O2Cool Treva	6.0

Update: I realized I didn’t test a stroller-fan function with foldable and adjustable legs. When I update this review in the future, I’ll try to include one.

E. Durability Test

The next test is durability, so I first put all my camping fans through half an hour of moderate rainfall, and checked each one after the test:

Camping Fan	IP Rating	Rain Test
Coleman OneSource	IPX4	Passed
Geek Aire Fan	IPX4	Water leakage
Coleman CPX6	None	Water leakage
Claymore V600+	None	Water leakage
O2Cool Treva	None	Water leakage
Odoland Fan	None	Spoiled (Light)
Nitecore NEF10	None	Spoiled (Fan)*

Note: *My Nitecore NEF10’s fan didn’t work after the rain test, but came back to life after 4 months.

I also looked at the main material each camping fan is made of, as well as the warranty length of each fan, and here are all the details that you need to know:

Camping Fan	Materials	Warranty
Geek Aire Fan	Metal	1 year
Coleman OneSource	Plastic	3 years
Nitecore NEF10	Plastic	1 year
Coleman CPX6	Plastic	1 year
Claymore V600+	Plastic	1 year
O2Cool Treva	Plastic	None
Odoland Fan	Plastic	None

Based on everything I went through for this fifth durability test, so that’s the rain test, the materials, and the warranty, here’s how I rated each camping fan:

Camping Fan	Durability Ratings
Coleman OneSource	8.0
Geek Aire Fan	7.7
Claymore V600+	6.3
Coleman CPX6	5.3
O2Cool Treva	4.3
Nitecore NEF10	3.3
Odoland Fan	3.0

F. Portability Test

The next test is portability, and here’s a quick table showing you all the info that you need:

Camping Fan	Weight (oz)	Packed Size (in)	Disassembly?
Claymore V600+	20.6	7.25 x 7.75 x 5.5	Yes
Coleman OneSource	22.4	7 x 7 x 11	No
Nitecore NEF10	23.0	7 x 7 x 4.5	Yes
Odoland Fan	23.6	5.75 x 5.75 x 7.5	No
Coleman CPX6	45.2	10 x 9.5 x 5.75	No
Geek Aire Fan	61.7	14 x 12 x 5.5	No
O2Cool Treva	64.4	12 x 12.75 x 2.8	No

And here’s how I rated each of the camping fans for their portability:

Camping Fan	Portability Ratings
Claymore V600+	10
Nitecore NEF10	10
Coleman OneSource	9
Odoland Fan	9
Coleman CPX6	7
Geek Aire Fan	5
O2Cool Treva	5

Those are all the tests that I put my camp fans through. Now, to recap, here’s everything that I recommend:

1. Best Overall: Claymore V600+ (Updated model: Claymore V1040)
2. Best Fan With Lantern: Nitecore NEF10
3. Best Value for Money: Nitecore NEF10
4. Best Big Fan for Groups: Geek Aire Camp Fan
5. Cheap Budget Pick: Odoland Camp Fan

If you’re still having trouble picking the best camping fan or tent fan for your next car camping trip or some other outdoor use to beat the heat, feel free to reach out to me via the comments on my YouTube channel.