I attempted this wearable air conditioner throughout a heatwave – it was a complete saviour

The reon pocket professional works equally to its predecessor: it sits within the base of your neck and makes use of thermoelectric cooling or heating to manage your physique temperature. Instead of blowing chilly air or pumping warmth, the plate will get chilly or heat on contact together with your pores and skin. The thought is that by cooling or heating your higher backbone – the place blood flows near the floor – the system helps your complete physique really feel extra comfy. It form of appears like an ice pack moulded in opposition to your pores and skin, or a heat compress.

What units the professional aside is the upgraded {hardware}. It’s bigger than the pocket 5 and has a brand new curved design with a greater match. It’s nonetheless mild at 194g, however the additional floor space means extra of your pores and skin stays involved with the cooling plate to enhance warmth switch. There are actually two heating and cooling modules – what Sony calls “dual thermo modules” – inside as an alternative of 1, which successfully doubles the floor space and makes the temperature modifications extra noticeable.

Rather than merely operating each without delay, the modules alternate with various depth to keep up extra constant cooling over time. Interestingly, Sony says that the newly developed fan delivers roughly twice the airflow of the reon pocket 5, serving to to dissipate warmth extra successfully whereas preserving noise ranges low.

The professional ships with a single adjustable neckband that bends to suit the contour of your neck, making it extra comfy and safe than earlier than. Sony says it’s added a versatile silicone extension on the ideas and a thicker tube across the wire body to enhance consolation and assist throughout longer put on. You additionally get two airflow covers within the field. There’s a shorter one for T-shirts and an extended one for collared shirts to assist direct warmth and airflow, relying on what you’re carrying. While there’s no official IP score, the system is splash-resistant, with a rubber cap protecting the USB-C charging port.

You can management it manually by way of the system itself or use the reon app. Both allow you to change between cooling and warming modes, in addition to select your most well-liked depth. But the professional additionally helps a wise auto mode that reacts to your physique and atmosphere. It comes bundled with the reon Ttg, a small wearable sensor that clips onto your shirt, feeding environmental information again to the app. Together, the system can regulate the temperature relying on the levels exterior, the humidity, and whether or not you’re indoors or out.

It even is aware of once you’re carrying it, routinely switching on or off when it detects contact together with your neck, like how wi-fi earbuds pause once you take them out of your ears. Sony’s additionally tweaked the sensible cool mode to react extra easily to modifications in temperature and humidity, so it feels much less like a setting and extra like one thing that’s simply quietly working within the background.

Sony claims the professional can last as long as 15 hours on sensible mode and as much as 34 hours on the first degree of the cooling setting. In my restricted time with the system to date, with use over a few days, the cooling kicks in quick inside a number of seconds of turning it on. The plate began to sit back my higher again nearly instantly, giving some cool aid to my physique.

The fan is quiet – Sony says it’s 50 per cent quieter than the pocket 5. It was barely audible even in a silent room, and the curved design makes it really feel extra steady and pure than I anticipated. It’s additionally surprisingly discreet. It sits flush underneath a shirt or T-shirt and stays put because of the malleable neckband that’s included within the field. I pulled it out within the footage simply so you may simply see it, however it may be tucked underneath your shirt so it’s not seen.

It’s not going to chill your complete physique like a correct air conditioner, however for focused consolation whereas commuting, working, and even simply sitting round at house, it makes a noticeable distinction, and is far more efficient than a fan that simply blows scorching air at my face. This one truly cooled my physique.

I’ve bought the brand new reon pocket professional at hand proper now, and I’ll be taking it on the sweaty Jubilee Line to proceed to check its effectiveness. Will or not it’s higher than a kind of dorky wearable neck followers? My full evaluate is coming quickly.