NSA UK Dual Position Midi review: One cool gimmick makes a cracking compact tower fan

We’ll say one thing for NSA UK: it’s never content to dish out just another bog-standard fan. Its Ultimate Column Fan lived up to its billing, with one of the most feature-packed and powerful tower fans we’ve ever seen, and its Rechargable Column Fan combined cordless operation with a scent-tastic aroma-spreading skill.

So, what’s the twist with the Dual Position Midi Tower Fan? Simple. It’s the tower fan that works standing up or lying down, giving you all the advantages of your average tower fan, but with a secondary mode that works surprisingly well for sleeping or more targeted/completely selfish cooling.

NSA UK Dual Position Midi Tower Fan review: What do you get for your money?

One big advantage of this two-position design is that it’s very simple. There’s no rickety plastic base to attach to the bottom of the column, with just a sort of cap underneath the main cylinder that’s attached to two square plastic runners, which both run to a matching cap at the top of the fan, where you’ll find the controls.

When the fan stands vertically, this intriguing design helps give it some extra stability while the central section oscillates left and right. However, you can also lie the fan horizontally, with the central section oscillating upwards, then behind the fan, before returning to blast air forwards. At first, I wondered what the point was. Does anyone want a fan that can sit so low to the floor?

After a few hours of use, though, it started to make sense. The Dual Position works just like any other tower fan, giving you maximum cooling in a minimal space. Turn the oscillation on and turn up the speed, and it will cool a good-sized living room or conservatory, though the 90-degree oscillation range is a bit limited.

Placed horizontally, though, the fan is great for placing next to a chair while you work or watch TV, keeping you cool when things get hot, even if it does virtually nothing for anyone else. You can turn the speed down and keep the noise low while still getting a nice draft, and this also works well at night when you’re trying to get some sleep. Just place it on the floor a small distance from the bed with the outlet tilting upwards.

At just under 2.4kg, this is also one very portable fan. You can cheerfully grab it by a runner and lug it around the house without any major strain or effort.

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NSA UK Dual Position Midi Tower Fan review: What features and settings does it have?

Beyond the physical design, this is a relatively simple fan, with just eight speeds, a timer and a choice of three modes. A compact remote is provided, which you’ll need to switch between the modes, or you can use the four buttons on the top/right-end to change the speed, set the timer and turn oscillation on and off.

As far as modes go, you’re limited to the basic mode, a sleep mode and a natural breeze. In natural breeze mode, the fan speed varies to give you the feeling of a gentle wind, and there are three different speeds to use depending on whether you like to keep things easy or go for the occasional short gust. Sleep mode, meanwhile, reduces the fan speed over time, until it hits and maintains a low speed until you turn the fan off, or the timer does it for you. The timer itself turns the fan off after a choice of one to eight hours of use, and there’s also a preset function you can use to set the fan to start after a set period.

There’s one final feature worth pointing out: the central drum containing the fan can be pulled out for cleaning if you need to. If you’ve watched a tower fan fill up with dust and debris over a summer, you’ll know that this is a good thing.

NSA UK Dual Position Midi Tower Fan review: How well does it perform?

Generally speaking, tower fans aren’t as powerful as your average pedestal fan, or even some of the larger floor and desktop units. All the same, the Dual Position dishes out more than enough airflow to keep you cool. At maximum speed, we measured an airflow at 1m of 2.2m/sec, and while that sounds a little puny compared to the 3.5m/sec of the Ultimate Column Fan, it’s pretty good by the standards of other tower fans, including the Bionaire BT191UK and the Honeywell HYF1101E.

At full power, though, it’s fairly noisy. We measured sound levels from 1m with a smartphone at 48.5dB. But with the speed turned down to 4 or 5 you can still get an airflow of 1.2 to 1.3m/sec, and the sound was barely noticeable above ambient levels, partly because the 33 to 36dB low hum seems to get masked by background noise. At the lowest speeds (1 or 2) you’re looking at a weak draft that will barely lift paper off a surface, but I could happily snooze through at the medium settings, or even natural breeze mode at the low or medium speeds.

This is also an energy-efficient tower fan, consuming 1.5W on its lowest speed settings and only reaching 13.2W at its maximum speed.

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NSA UK Dual Position Midi Tower Fan review: Is there anything we didn’t like?

This is a really minor grumble, but every interaction with the fan takes two taps of a button – one to wake the controls up and another to do whatever it is you want to do. I’m guessing this is all about energy efficiency and not changing settings by accident, but it’s still slightly annoying.

NSA UK Dual Position Midi Tower Fan review: Should you buy it?

This isn’t the most powerful or feature-packed fan out there, but the NSA UK Dual Position Midi is compact and effective and its gimmick is a good one. As long as you’re not trying to cool a massive space, it’s one of the quietest and most practical small tower fans around.