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- Works effectively
- Battery life is good
- Very quiet
- Cooling is quite subtle
- Charges quite slowly
- Bulky
When the temperature rises, we in the UK go into meltdown. And it doesn’t have to be particularly hot, either. Other nations will scoff, but anything warmer than 30℃, and the whole country begins to lose its collective mind.
Next time, we tell ourselves, we’ll be better prepared. We’ll install air conditioning, buy fans for every room – but what about when you’re walking around town, sweating buckets on the Tube? There’s only so much a handheld fan can do – and they can get quite obnoxiously noisy, too. That’s a problem Sony’s Reon Pocket personal air-conditioning products have attempted to resolve for some time now, and there’s a new upgraded model out this summer, called the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus.
How much is the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus and how does it work?
The idea behind this model is much the same as the Pocket Pro we reviewed last summer and the price is similar, too, at £199. It uses peltier technology – the same sort of thing you’ll see used in camping fridges and electronic coolboxes – to cool (or heat) a metal plate that hangs around your neck and contacts the area of skin between your shoulder blades, just below the base of your neck.
Technology and design
The idea is that by cooling an area of the body where blood vessels run close to the surface of the skin, you cool the blood slightly, and this cooler blood is then transported around the rest of your body. It’s why you’ll see tennis players use ice-collars during hot weather, and why putting your feet in cold water helps keep you cool while working at home – it brings the overall temperature of the body down.
It’s a simple idea, and the device itself is a straightforward thing, too. The cooling plate is backed by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lasts up to ten hours per charge, and all it’s housed in a slim, white plastic body. To keep it in place is a slender harness comprising a pair of flexible rubberised arms that fit over each shoulder and around your neck.
Controls
There are buttons on either side of the device that let you switch it on, toggle between modes and adjust the cooling or heating levels. But the Reon Pocket Pro Plus is best controlled with its smartphone app, which lets you take full control, adjusting cooling levels from one to five, or heating levels from one to four.
Alternatively, as Sony recommends, you can leave it in “Smart” mode. This adjusts the cooling levels automatically based on the temperature and humidity data supplied by a small, coin-cell-powered tag you attach to a belt loop or bag.
What’s new?
The main difference between this and the previous Pocket Pro device is that this one is capable of dropping to 20℃, where the last model could only reach 22℃. The arms on the new device have also been redesigned and the alternative taller vent attachment provided in the box is now adjustable, allowing you to tilt it back and forth.
How did we test the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus?
Whether by luck or (more likely) design, the Reon Pocket Pro Plus arrived at my house on the Friday before the hottest May week on record in the UK, so it gave me ample opportunity to assess its effectiveness as I commuted to work on the baking hot Central Line.
I also carried out a number of objective measurements in order to verify the manufacturer’s claims. I measured the maximum and minimum surface temperatures of the Pocket Pro Plus using a Fluke 62 MAX+ infrared thermometer.
I also tested the battery life in maximum and minimum cooling modes and timed how long the device took to charge from 0% to 100%.
How well does it cool?
First, let’s get into the temperature measurements. In warm mode, I measured the device reaching temperatures of up to 32℃ – hot enough that it began to feel uncomfortable after just a few seconds applied to my bare skin. To be honest, I’d only use this at level one of the four available because the rest of the settings felt a little too hot for me.
In cooling mode, it’s more practical. At level five (the maximum) I measured the plate reaching 20℃ as per the specifications, which even on a relatively cool summer’s day felt pretty chilly to the touch. However, it only seemed to be able to reach that level in relatively short bursts.
And don’t expect miracles. This thing is designed to keep your overall body temperature in check, but it will not make the burning heat of the sun go away, or humidity levels instantly more tolerable. Putting it on isn’t like walking into an air-conditioned room.
In combination with regular hydration and a small electric hand fan, though, I felt far more comfortable than I would otherwise have been: the pulse of cooling metal it delivered on my back was a welcome sensation on a baking hot day. Think of it like someone dropping an ice cube down your shirt – except not quite that cold (or wet) – and you’ll be close to the reality of what this device provides.
A couple of things to be aware of, though, before you get carried away and think you can wear it out absolutely everywhere or during any activity. The Reon Pocket Pro Plus is splash resistant, not fully water resistant, so you’ll need to pop it away in a cloud burst or make sure you take an umbrella out with you. And Sony doesn’t recommend you use it for intense exercise “at a level that causes intense sweating”, either.
How comfortable is it?
It doesn’t look like it should be a comfortable thing to wear. However, as long as you’re wearing loose clothing – a T-shirt or a dress with a high neckline – it’s actually not that bad. The arms, which are covered in silicone rubber, do a great job of keeping it in place without rubbing or digging in uncomfortably, too.
But there’s no getting away from the fact that this thing is bulky and there are situations where you may not be able to wear it. It sticks out around 26mm from your back, which means if your clothing is tight or you have to wear a tie, it’s either not going to be comfortable, or it won’t fit.
You’ve also got to take into account that it is going to look odd if you’re wearing a low-back strappy dress, vest top or similar clothing that exposes the area below the neck.
You may not care, of course, if it keeps you from passing out due to heat stroke. And a couple of other things to bear in mind: once in place, your hands are free to do other stuff – you don’t have to make the choice between playing Wordle or keeping cool while standing on the train; and it’s also much quieter than most handheld fans.
How good is battery life? How fast does it charge?
Battery life is great. As highlighted above, Sony rates the Reon Pocket Pro Plus at up to ten hours; that’s in Smart mode, which adapts to the ambient temperature and humidity and doesn’t run continuously. But even if you turn it up to level five, the battery life is still pretty good: you’ll get more than six hours of continuous use out of it.
I found that easily enough to cope with a couple of days of commuting to and from work (around two hours in total each day) with room to spare. And I think it’s good enough to last you a full day of hot-weather holiday sightseeing, too.
Charging is on the slow side, though. Sony says that, depending on the charger, it will go from 0% to 90% in 130 minutes and to 100% in 200 minutes (over three hours); in my testing it actually beat those figures, but not by much, taking around three hours to charge from empty to full. You just need to remember to plug it in overnight.
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Battery rundown (max cooling) | 6hrs 18mins |
| Charging (0-100%) | 2hrs 56mins |
| Temperature (max cooling) | 20℃ |
| Temperature (max warming) | 32℃ |
Should you buy the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus?
I like the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus. Despite its rather ludicrous name and rather high price, it works effectively and the software is well designed. It’s quite comfortable to wear, too, and it delivers plenty of battery runtime for daily use.
It’s important to realise, however, that this is no silver bullet. It won’t make you feel like you’re in your own personal air-conditioned bubble and, on a hot day, it won’t mitigate the impact of high humidity and the burning sun on your skin very much. It’s also quite expensive, even compared with premium handheld fans such as the Dyson HushJet Mini Cool or the Shark ChillPill.
Still, if you’re looking for an extra arrow in your heatwave quiver, it’s definitely one to consider, especially if you want to keep your hands free and you’re bothered by the sound of battery-powered fans.
