If you are struggling to get to sleep at night, there may be a tiny computer that simply may be the ideal solution. The LectroFan Micro2 is a white noise machine this is just 5cm tall, and weighs as an awful lot as a common apple – and it is brilliant.
Right now we’re in the middle of Sleep Awareness Week – an annual event organized via the National Sleep Foundation to emphasize the connection between excellent sleep and better health – and to mark the occasion I’ve been inserting a massive array of sleep tech via its paces, together with sleep trackers, sleep earplugs, wake-up lights, and under-pillow speakers.
They can all assist you to drift off more effortlessly at night time (or assist you to apprehend why you can’t), however for my money, an easy white noise machine is one of the quality investments you can make – and this is one of the best.
LectroFan, as the title suggests, specializes in noise machines that use mechanical followers to generate a nondescript sort of history noise. If you grew up in a warm climate you would possibly be used to having a fan running at night time to maintain your bedroom cool, however, it additionally has the advantage of providing a low ambient sound that helps mask any annoying noises.
There are lots of noise machines and sleep apps that aim to create the same experience with natural sounds like raindrops on a window or whistling wind, but after a while, you might be able to spot where these recordings loop around, which can be more distracting than your neighbor’s TV. That’s not an issue with a fan, since the sound never loops.
The LectroFan Classic is one of the company’s best-known machines, however, it is recently branched out into smaller wireless devices that you can toss into your luggage and use whilst you are traveling if you have a hard time getting to sleep in an unfamiliar hotel room.
The LectroFan Micro2 is one such machine, and it certainly lives up to its name, standing 5cm tall and weighing the identical as a common apple. In fact, it is too small to house its personal fan (or at least now not one that would generate enough sound to be useful), so rather it plays seamless pre-recorded samples of actual fan noise. It’s very convincing though, and in our tests, I found it not possible to tell when the samples looped. Kudos to LectroFan’s sound engineers.
Some of its pre-programmed noises sound like the gentle whirr of a household fan, whilst others have the dull background drone of something a great deal better and extra industrial. In fact, I was once very impressed simply how an awful lot sound this little machine is successful in kicking out. You’ll possibly choose to stick to the lower volume settings most of the time, however, if you favor recreating the effect of sitting in a turbine corridor for some purpose (if you grew up in a nuclear energy facility, perhaps), you can.
More than meets the eye
The LectroFan Mini2 is cleverly designed as well. The vast majority of white noise machines have buttons on the side and a speaker on top – nothing more – but this little one allows you to twist the top to reposition the speaker for directional audio. It’s a cool feat of engineering, and it’s not the only trick the Mini2 has up its sleeve, either. Unlike all the other white noise machines I’ve tested, this little one also moonlights as a Bluetooth speaker.
It’s now not going to supply the audio engineers at Bose any sleepless nights, and it is ever so slightly tinny, however, it sounds lots higher than it has any proper to, and would be excellent for making a hotel room sense a little extra like home whilst you are away for an enterprise trip. There’s even a very respectable sounding built-in microphone so you can use it for hands-free calls.
It’s a shame that there is no timer, so you cannot have the fan noise flip off automatically after a certain duration of time, and if you want a protective case you may want to purchase one separately, however, in all different respects, this is a simply tremendous little system if you find your self restless at night. It’s handy international for $34.95 so it is additionally one of the more cost-effective white noise machines I’ve used. Give it a spin – I suppose you will be impressed.
Price and availability
- Cheaper than a full-sized noise machine
- Available globally
The LectroFan Micro2 costs $34.95 and is widely available from various stores including Amazon in the US.
That’s considerably cheaper than most full-sized white noise machines that plug into an electrical outlet, including the LectroFan Classic, which is $49.95, though if you’re on a tight budget then you may prefer to opt for an under-pillow speaker like the Roberts Radio Pillow Talk, which you can use with a free white noise app on your phone.
Design
- Very small
- Adjustable speaker grille
- USB-C charging
The LectroFan Micro2 is an attractive little white noise machine that resembles a small jar. It measures 52 x 52 x 53mm (much smaller than machines like the LectroFan Classic) and has a soft-touch casing topped with a black speaker grille that can be twisted for directional audio.
On the side, you’ll find a USB-C charging port, plus a switch to toggle between Bluetooth speaker mode, sleep sounds, and power off. There are also controls to play or pause audio, skip back or forward between tracks, and adjust the volume.
It’s available in black, white, blue, and red – though not all retailers stock the full range of colors.
Performance
Great choice of sound effects
No noticeable looping
No timer
The LectroFan Micro2 is extraordinarily handy to use. For ambient noise, simply flick the switch to the ‘Zzz’ position and it will commence playing instantly. There are 11 effects to choose from, even though due to the fact this little machine does not contain a mechanical fan like full-size LectroFan machines, they’re pre-recorded clips that run on a loop.
That said, we weren’t in a position to spot when that loop happened, which stopped us from being distracted. There’s a combination of fan noises (some of which include a mechanical hum in the background), plus white noise and rainfall sounds.
The rain noises are not as detailed as these provided by way of Rainy Mood, for instance (you can not make out occasional giant drips) and there may be no capacity to customize them beyond changing the volume, however, when you simply want something to help masks background noise, it works well. We appreciated the fact that the number affects cowl a wide range of pitches so you can find something that masks the specific noise it really is keeping you awake whether it is a shrill car alarm or a droning washing machine and the extent controls work in very small increments so you have masses of control.
Battery lifestyles are good, too; we observed it without problems lasted two total nights between charges, which is some distance higher than many sleep headphones.
