It has minimal cooling, not as quiet as one would expect. I got a $12 fan from the drug store that works just as well. I bought this to stay cool in church, so it is useless for that because of the noise. The sponge idea is neat but there are musty odors often and the sponge must be cleaned a lot. This means that, after 30 minutes or so, the top part of the sponge will dry out, and any other water will drop to the bottom part of the sponge (and the intake won’t draw air through it). This means that suddenly, it only becomes a fan that moves air. Price was right, and it does the job! This little thing is powerful and easy to carry around. She does not tolerate the heat well and a friend sent this to her in late 2010, knowing we would be taking her Make a Wish trip later this year and thought it would help with heat related concerns. We tried it out last fall and it seemed to work great for the few moments we tested it. My hand gets too hot under the strap padding. The only ideal situation where this evaporative cooler would be beneficial would be under dry, hot conditions where the air is warm. I run on the treadmill and take group cycling class. It unfortunately cannot be clipped onto anything for constant cooling off, but it is great for putting in front of you when exercising so that you can use it to cool off whenever it is getting really hot in the humid gym room.