Pelican's Air Flo Cooler chills out your PlayStation 3

Sony's PlayStation 3 certainly hasn't fallen victim to mass outages due to overheating like a competitor has, but there's nothing wrong with offering a product some cats are sure to nab out of sheer paranoia. Apparently, Pelican is aiming to launch a relatively dashing cooling device that hopefully won't encourage your machine to internally fry, and while the Air Flo Cooler does a commendable job in looking the part, this thing definitely elongates your already lengthy machine. Intelligently, Pelican has designed it to draw power from a dedicated AC adapter, and states that it can reduce your machine's operating temperature by some 15-degrees Fahrenheit. Moreover, the built-in Auto Thermo Sensing Technology allows it to speed up and calm down the fans based on the amount of cooling that's currently necessary. Priced at $29.95, the Air Flo Cooler is slated to launch sometime "in the coming weeks," and will include a black and chrome accent plate to satisfy the uniformity freaks in the crowd as well. Click on through for a few more snapshots.

[Via PS3Fanboy]

[Fatass of Kickassness @ Apr 24th 2007 2:50PM]

Judging from your comment, I can tell you *didn't* buy a Ps3.

[Runinintowalls @ Apr 24th 2007 12:50PM]

Honestly... if anyone has ever seen the heatsync and fan inside these guys you would know that they dont need these external fans.

[McGinley @ Apr 24th 2007 12:56PM]

Heatsync?Thats a good one.

[HLN @ Jun 3rd 2007 8:51AM]

DO NOT BUY THIS

I bought one of these Pelican Air Flo coolers thinking that it will help but all it does is stink up my entire room with the plastic smell. You see, the material of the device is made of cheap plastic (though it matches the PS3) and gives of this awful burned plastic smell that made me sick to the stomach. After 2 hours of use, my entire house has this smell. My wife came home and you can imagine the rest :)

Also, the fans are so loud that you must turn your home theater loud to cover the noise. I often watch a DVD with just using the TV speakers and can't because the fans are so loud. Pelican says that it has a temp sensor that operates the fan, though Pelican is right, but the fans are always at max speed because the PS3 is pumping out heat directly at the sensor.

Took it back to GameStop and got a full refund. DO NOT BUY THIS piece of crap. Save your money.

[Merkidemis @ Apr 24th 2007 1:00PM]

gah, why use the 3 tiny, whiny fans? Isn't there enough room for a 120mm, or at least a 92mm fan in there?

[JinKazama @ Apr 24th 2007 1:02PM]

Anybody thinking about this don't bother.

The PS3 gets pretty warm but not to the point of affecting the performance of the console. I've had more than my share of all-night RFOM frag fests without as much as a hiccup out of my PS3. As a matter of fact, I have yet to hear about anyone having had heat related issues with the PS3

[Aaron @ Apr 24th 2007 3:55PM]

Ever since the Folding@Home client came out I've left my PS3 on and running. The only problem I've seen is dust collecting on the vent grills.

[dov @ Apr 24th 2007 1:09PM]

I tought it's a Sony stapler.. lol..

[kingofwale @ Apr 24th 2007 1:10PM]

I keep my PS3 all day and night for last 2 weeks for Folding@Home. The fans run, and I check on it ever so often. it seems fine.

so, no thanks

[Bryan @ Apr 24th 2007 1:18PM]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't own a PS3 but I know it doesn't overheat like the 360 does.

This could flip around and overheat the PS3, kind of like that 360 cooler did.

[matio @ Apr 24th 2007 1:23PM]

Just another way to supersize your already overweight PS3..

[Ate @ Apr 24th 2007 1:28PM]

I must say, that's rather dashing!

[Tommy J?nsen @ Apr 24th 2007 1:37PM]

With the immense problems many Europeans are having with excessive fan-noise, this contraption would only make matters much worse (if that's possible - these "faulty-but-Sony-won't-admit-it" PS3s are really loud in the first place!)

[hemmy @ Apr 24th 2007 1:59PM]

"With the immense problems many Europeans are having with excessive fan-noise, this contraption would only make matters much worse (if that's possible - these "faulty-but-Sony-won't-admit-it" PS3s are really loud in the first place!)"

"Immense problems". That's too funny. If there's a console of late with "immense problems", it would have to be the 360 (excessive fan noise, daily red-rings-of-death, scratched discs, etc). My cousin in Toronto has one of these supposedly "loud" PS3s recently released in Canada. He also has a 360. Guess which one is still louder, by countless ear-bleed-inducing decibels? (Hint: It's not the "faulty" PS3).

[Tommy J?nsen @ Apr 24th 2007 2:15PM]

Hemmy: 360 was not marketet as a livingroom movie player. 360 was not marketed as only 22db. 360 was not said to be optimized for quit operation and optimal cooling. PS3 was. And a LOT of PS3's have the same noise-level as en idle 360. Way too noisy to use it as a movieplayer. But not all, and that's the problem - some are working objectively fine at a side-by-side comparison.

If you don't wanna believe me, just google for "PS3 fan noise" and hit the forums. Thousands on thousands of posts ind hundreds of threads confirm that this is a real problem for a select group of unlucky PS3 owners. In Scandinavia it's not even acknowledged as a fault, and we risk a fee for sending it to service. Many I know have returned theirs for a refund, waiting for a new hardware revision to fix the problem. So in reality PS3 hasn't launched in Europe yet, if you want to use it for watching movies. Forum polls say around 40% has a unit that's excessively loud, with real numbers probably higher as most people don't know that it's supposed to be silent.

[Mak @ Apr 24th 2007 2:52PM]

Nice attempt at trolling. However, there aren't "immense problems". The PS3 is cool and quiet.

What differs is peoples enviroment, airflow, ambient temprature and most importantly expecations.

Some people call the PS3 silent, this is untrue, Sony have never promised this. Is the PS3 quiet? My European one is something I clas as quiet, it starts silent, and after a while the fans whirr a little, from a couple of metres the fan noise is indistinquishable from normal background noise in my home.

You comments are typical trolling comments from a 360 owner, with fan noise of a jumbo taking off..

[strider_mt2k @ Apr 24th 2007 1:43PM]

I've seen this before.

You detach the hyper-drive when you want to maneuver around in-system with the lighter landing craft.

Nice.

[Dan @ Apr 24th 2007 6:02PM]

Save your breath hemmy, Engadget is home to many, many MS defenders. Defenders in white, on big white virile stallions, slaying demons wherever they imagine them to be.

HO! There's one now Gaston! Awaaaaaay!

[Ayle @ Apr 24th 2007 2:42PM]

It also depends on what you consider "loud" to be....

[hemmy @ Apr 24th 2007 3:22PM]

TommyJ?nsen: Sounds like typical 360 fanboy drivel. I've seen and heard enough evidence to know that the "faulty" PS3 is still nowhere near as loud as a "normal" 360. Your arguments about the drive noise levels don't hold water. The DVD drives in my laptop and PC are quiet in comparison. There is no excuse for the noise levels in the 360. As for PS3 movieplaying, it works quietly and it works well. I've also "visited google" and enough forums to see "Thousands on thousands of posts ind hundreds of threads" confirming that Microsoft is the one with abysmal quality control issues on the 360. There are *far* more complaints about the 360's noise levels. There are people with as many as -7- Xbox 360 replacements. There is evidence that the 360 failure rate may be far higher than 10% (which is already obscene by any electronics manufacturing standards). Louder PS3? Fair enough, but it's *working* at least, and I'm sure Sony will address it, if they haven't already. The 360 red-rings-of-death and noise levels seem *far* more prevalent in google searches than "PS3 fan noise", which btw, when I search for this I get tons of complaints about the 360, as described above.

[Tommy J?nsen @ Apr 24th 2007 4:55PM]

Hemmy, I couldn't agree with you more. I hate 360 with a good heart and MS did a really bad job of making a next-gen console. And I was betting my entire home theater setup on my new PS3, so I'm not really a 360 fanboy. And I'm not at all talking about drive noise - in that respect PS3 rule and 360 fail (I was talking about objective measurements of noise of an idle 360 vs. idle noisy PS3 vs. idle working PS3). But saying that the PS3 is silent because 360 is loud, doesn't make sense (my car is silent because a jet is loud - see, makes no sense). The problem isn't so much that a lot of PS3s are noisy - people could learn to live with that if they couldn't have it any other way. Problem is, that there ARE dead silent, wonderful, perfect PS3 units out there (again, objective fact)! We just don't know how to identify them, and the stores won't allow us to swap it every time we get a noisy one. Sony is of NO help in this matter either, as we've called and mailed them numerous times and just gotten a "there is no problem, and we won't fix it"-response. And THAT ticks me off!

[AdAstrum @ Apr 24th 2007 2:43PM]

I honestly think PS3 does not need these external "coolers". My PS3 is running very silent and not too hot for many hours doing different chores: playing games, movies, downloading, etc. At no point within last 5 months of use I felt the need to cool it beyond the level that PS3 was able to. Like someone above said, "don't fix it if it ain't broke".

[Paul @ Apr 24th 2007 3:00PM]

"from a couple of metres the fan noise is indistinquishable from normal background noise in my home."

which consists of traffic noise from the busy street right outside your window, the neighbors yapping dog and your pet parakeet? Ya I guess compared to all of that the PS3 -might- be considered quiet.

[Mak @ Apr 24th 2007 4:18PM]

Someone else who has no idea what they are talking about...

[Mark Gillespie @ Apr 24th 2007 6:24PM]

I'd be VERY suprised if there is such a thing as a dead silent PS3 out there.

The PS3 pumps out quite a bit of heat, so will NEVER be totally silent.

I am convinced all PS3's are the same (or at least very similar), and the problem here is 3fold

1/ People heard the PS3 would be silent (untrue), and have overly optomistic expectations.

2/ People's homes are different (ambient temp, airflow around PS3, and other factors)

3/ There is no definitation for quiet.

I think the PS3 is really good noise-wise, as it shifts alot of heat (nowhere near as much as the 360 thou), but manages to keep the noise to a absolute minimum

I reckon my PS3 is quieter than my slimline PS2, which wasn't noisy by any stretch...

[Tommy J?nsen @ Apr 24th 2007 7:06PM]

@Mark Gillespie: I can understand that you don't want to spend a few days reading through the thousands of posts regarding the noise problem, so I'll recap the situation for you all here. Remember, these are all facts, devoid of "what is noise" problems, placement issues, room temperature variations etc.

1: The problem has been thoroughly investigated using side-by-side comparisons of different PS3s, temperature-guns, pro decibel measurement equipment, and dismantling.
2½: There is at least 4 different fan speeds, and as such 4 noise levels. Level 1 is immediately after the spin-up at boot (most silent). Level 4 is reached when all vents are blocked by cloth. Level 3 is comparable to a normal desktop computer, and is clearly audible over normal movie dialog at 10 feet.
2: There is at least 2 different models in Europe, that behave differently under the exact same circumstances (standing vertically, in the open, at 20 degree C temp, nothing connected, cold start, idle): One will gear up to level 3 fan speed within 30 minutes and stay there indefinitely - the fan does NEVER gear down at normal room temp. The other will vary fan speed according to CPU workload and generally stay at level 1 or 2 at room temp (not totally silent, but totally acceptable).
3: There is no other discernible difference between the noisy and the silent units. Inefficient thermal paste was not the problem, there are no patterns in serial numbers, all components are visually the same as is firmware. Getting a silent unit is up to pure luck.
4: Sony claimed in several press releases that the PS3 would be as silent as the slimline PS2. This is clearly not the case with the affected units.
5: Official limit for idle noise level is 22db (I personally confirmed this with Sony). This is certainly not the case with the affected units.
6: Only official statement from Sony HQ has been: "There are no general problems with the PS3 fan". Support lines and service centers have admitted that this is a major problem, but isn't obliged to fix it according to above statement from Sony (own personal experience). They may swap the units, but odds are that the swapped unit will have the same problem (several people are at their fourth noisy unit)
7: the silent PS3 is NOT a myth, and the noisy PS3 certainly isn't either.

Now, there IS a lot of people who has no problem with a noisy PS3, God bless them. But many people bought the console BECAUSE it was supposed to be silent enough to be used in a home theater setup, as advertised by Sony. These people are now frustrated that their $1000 purchase is of the noisy variant, unusable in a HIFI home theater setup.

[Joseph @ Apr 24th 2007 7:02PM]

THIS THING BLOWS! Way more than the PS3. That is why people want it so bad.

[me @ Apr 24th 2007 7:12PM]

Not that anyone reads these comments, but..

For the hell that the net has given sony about everything they seem to be doing remarkably well. Their PS3 is a hit, in comparison to the 360 (silent majority anyone?), and the Blue-ray is dominating hd sales.

im no sony "fan-boi", but i recognize good products when i see them.

[icruise @ Apr 24th 2007 8:48PM]

I have both the 360 and the PS3, and the PS3 is MUCH quieter than the 360. The main source of noise on the 360 is the DVD drive. When it's running, the 360 is so loud as to be a distraction. But even when the drive isn't spinning, it's still louder than the PS3. I've also been keeping my PS3 on for 2-3 weeks straight running Folding@home and it seems to be fine, heat-wise. Say what you want about the lack of games, or whatever, but from a hardware standpoint, the PS3 is well put together.

[myscrnnm @ Apr 24th 2007 8:53PM]

"The PS3 gets pretty warm but not to the point of affecting the performance of the console."

idk. Personally, my PlayStation 3 doesn't even get warm after running Folding@Home for more than six hours straight. So far, it just pumps out a lot of hot air, but the system itself stays cool.

[PeteC @ Apr 26th 2007 10:37AM]

"auto thermo sensing technology" so it's basically got a temperature sensor in it. Great jargon!

[Ryan Grubis @ Jun 6th 2007 10:05PM]

I think this product is perfect for people who are a little paranoid. Nothing wrong with wanting a little extra protection. My friend reported a PS3 at wal-mart that was melted to the device holding it up. But they keep their PS3's running 24/7 sence they've been out, and will until the PS4s come out (if that ever happens). So no wonder it melted. I think it's a good (sounding) prouduct.

[Robert Sprout @ Jul 19th 2007 1:18PM]

I have both systems and they both run warm and quiet. I turn up the a/c in my apartment to 65 degrees. That's the best way to keep your systems cool. Give them cool air to start with.