Disruptive sound is one of the most common reasons that people struggle to fall asleep at night.
Maybe it’s the sound of cars zipping past your window, or the noise of your neighbours that keeps you up staring at your ceiling. Either way, it’s tough to relax without silence.
The only thing better than complete silence for ensuring a good night’s sleep, is white noise.
That’s where the LectroFan Evo comes in.
The LectroFan white noise machine is a simple, small, and portable device designed to help you drift into a more restful sleep by eliminating noisy distractions.
Made by the Adaptive Sleep Technologies brand, this machine comes with a host of helpful sound settings to choose from, so you can select the one that works best for you.
The question is, does a device like this one really help you to sleep better?
Read through our LectroFan Evo review to find out.
LectroFan Evo review: Design
Let’s start with the basics. The LectroFan white noise machine is a futuristic-looking device that’s lightweight and compact enough to take with you on-the-move.
Although it might not appeal to everyone’s sense of style, it’s also small enough that it’s not going to take up too much room on your bedside cabinet.
The kit arrives in a compact box that includes the AC adapter, USB cable, and central unit. You can power the device either from your mains electricity, or a laptop, but it does need to be plugged in at all times.
The unit itself is a little larger than palm-sized, and comes in the colours of white, grey, and black. The design builds upon the success of the previous LectroFan model, although there are a few important upgrades.
For instance, there’s now a 3.5mm headphone jack where you can plug in your headphones if you want to sleep with white noise and your partner doesn’t.
There’s also the option to plug a speaker into the same jack if you’re looking for a louder sound — although we wouldn’t recommend turning the volume up too high.
We had no problem slipping this unit onto our nightstand without moving any other equipment around.
It’s also worth noting that the controls for the LectroFan Evo are on the top of the device, so you can easily reach out and fiddle with them when you’re in bed. The only real issue with the design is that there are no labels for any of the ports.
LectroFan Evo review: Functionality
At the top of the LectroFan Evo, you’ll find volume, timer, and power controls. That’s how you control all the noise variations that you might want.
The machine’s functionality is very straightforward. It uses basic white noise (and other colours) to aid sleep and relaxation.
Here are the kind of noises that you can get from the LectroFan white noise machine:
- White noise: A broad category of sounds, including high-frequency, mid-range, and low-frequency sounds. Similar to the sound of rushing water, a waterfall, or even the sound of your fan whirring at night.
- Pink noise: This is a lower-frequency sound spectrum that feels similar to rainfall. Some people will find this option more relaxing than white noise.
- Brown noise: This is a far more profound soundscape at the lower end of the spectrum. It lacks the high-frequency sounds of other noises and is similar to the gentle rhythm of waves on the shore.
All of the choices are relaxing enough, but it may take some experimentation for you to find the one that’s right for you. The good news is that you can cycle through your options very quickly using the white/pink/brown noise button at the top of the machine.
You’ll also be able to control the fan range to determine how soft or powerful you want the sound to be.
LectroFan Evo review: Performance
Perhaps the most critical question you can ask from any LectroFan review is: “How well does it mask sound?”. In our opinion, it’s very good — particularly when you consider the relatively small size of the unit.
The maximum volume is also loud enough — although we didn’t find it as relaxing when it was turned up to full.
If you appreciate sleeping with white noise, then the LectroFan should give you a fantastic experience, particularly with the addition of the new headphone jack to help you create a personal cocoon in your bedroom.
Although you probably won’t be able to cut out the sound of snoring if the person that you’re drowning out is sleeping right next to you, using the headphones can help with this issue.
With the headphones on and the noise levels turned up, you may be able to eliminate the issue of snoring once and for all. The only problem you’ll have then is getting used to the feeling of wearing headphones when you sleep.
Another thing that makes the LectroFan Evo more compelling for users today, is the fact that it comes with an auto-timer option. In previous versions of this white noise machine, you only had one option to turn the solution off automatically after 60 minutes.
However, this newer model allows you to choose anywhere between 1 and 8 hours of continuous play.
One issue is that the system available to help you change the timer settings isn’t the most user-friendly that we’ve seen. You only get one button to cycle through your time options, and if you miss your choice, you have to cycle through all over again.
We think that this device could be significantly improved if it came with a smartphone app or a digital screen that you could use to control the settings instead. Maybe that’s something for the developers to consider in future models.
LectroFan Evo review: Verdict
So, should you try using the LectroFan Evo white noise machine?
Well, it all depends on your preferences for sleep.
We particularly liked the fact that LectroFan included a series of automatic timer options with this new unit.
However, we do think that the interface available to control this timer could be simpler. An upgrade to an app or digital screen would be much appreciated.
