During a heatwave, the two most-bought cooling devices are portable air conditioners and evaporative air coolers. They're often confused, but they work completely differently — and buying the wrong one for your situation wastes money. Here's the honest comparison.
The core difference
A portable air conditioner is a real AC: it removes heat from the room and vents it outside through a window hose. It genuinely lowers the temperature. An air cooler (evaporative cooler) just blows air over water to cool that airflow a few degrees — it doesn't lower the room temperature and adds humidity.
| Portable AC | Air cooler | |
|---|---|---|
| Actually lowers room temp? | Yes | No — cools the airflow only |
| Needs a window vent? | Yes | No |
| Power draw | ~800–1,400 W | ~60–120 W |
| Running cost | Higher | Much lower |
| Best in | Any heat, incl. humid | Dry heat only |
| Price from | ~€250 | ~€60 |
Which is cheaper to run?
An air cooler wins on running cost by a wide margin — it uses about as much power as a fan (60–120 W), while a portable AC draws 800–1,400 W. Over a hot month, that's the difference between a few euros and a noticeable bump in your electricity bill. But you're paying for very different results: the cooler just moves cooler-feeling air; the AC actually drops the temperature.
So which should you buy?
- Buy an air cooler if you're on a budget, live in dry heat, can't vent a window, or just want cheap relief. See air coolers on Amazon.de →
- Buy a portable AC if you need to actually cool a hot bedroom to sleep, or your climate is humid (where evaporative coolers barely work). See portable ACs on Amazon.de →
- On the tightest budget? A plain tower fan (~€30) gives most of an air cooler's benefit for less.
Whichever you pick — earn cashback
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