Evercool Zodiac II Notebook Cooler

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Introduction

Evercool set a high expectation for itself with ASE Labs when we reviewed the »Evercool Royal NP-901 notebook cooler. The Zodiac II holds itself to that expectation with its quality construction and individuality. The Zodiac II does a nice job establishing its own identity using the zodiac symbols cut out into its single 120mm fan vent. We were excited to find out if its performance met the same standard.

About Evercool

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EVERCOOL is headquartered in Taiwan and has its own factory located in Guang Dong China. This means that you can count on availability, as EVERCOOL warehouse is full of components and ready to ship goods, at all times.

Our China factory occupy approximate 30,000 meters, there are around 1000 employees. Our production line produces about 2.5 million pieces per month at present, which are manufactured in accordance with the approvals of ISO 9001, therefore you can be guaranteed your special request will be completed in the shortest amount of time. Growing numbers of happy customers such as Hewlett Packard, Acer, FIC. ....etc. can weigh our success and growth. It is rely on our steady quality, fast delivery and reasonable price.

EVERCOOL provides the very best products of the highest quality which are cost effective and incorporate the latest in technology and technical design. And backed by first class service and support.

We would like to emphasize that we put our entire strengths on the research and improvement of our innovative "PC Thermal Solutions" and ensure you that we do our best to meet the needs of our customers.

http://www.evercool.com.tw/overview.htm

Packaging

The Zodiac II comes in a low profile fully printed cardboard box wrapped in shrink plastic. The front of the box has small showcase windows that reveal the Zodiac II logo and a few of the zodiac symbol vents of the cooler. The Evercool logo and Zodiac II product name are in foil lettering everywhere they appear on the box. On the back, there’s a list of features each with an accompanying photo. There’s also a performance graphic that graphs test results to illustrate the products performance. The Zodiac II specifications are listed on the right side and some feature graphics are printed along the bottom.



Inside the box is just the Zodiac II cooler and retractable USB cable.

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Specifications

• Overall Dimension 290 x 240 x 38.5 mm
• Speed 800±15% RPM
• Color Selection Titanium Black (NP-311T), White (NP-311W)
• Noise Level < 25 dBA
• Bearing Type Sleeve Bearing
• Weight 850 g
• Amazon Link

Feature Summary

• 12 CM big fan provides silent and great wind power.
• Its ergonomics design makes users feel comfortable while using.
• Compatible with Netbook and 11”~14” Notebook.
• Constellation marks and Sun radiated design for punched wind holes are classical technical art. P.S. Adding LED into constellations design in Starlight version is eye-dazzling.
• Two USB ports for USB flash drives, speakers or other accessories. (One port for power)
• The thickness of Aluminum is 2.2 mm that provides great cooling efficiency so that users feel comfortable while using for a long time, it also protects NB and extend NB’s life.
• Reserved DC 5V power supply hole for users if they need.

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The Zodiac II

The Zodiac II looks really sharp and feels very well made. The platform is made from solid 2.2mm aluminum. The model tested is painted white with black accents around each of the zodiac symbol vents. The Zodiac II name is printed in the center of the fan vent in black and blue. The Evercool name is printed on the bottom right of the platform in metallic silver. Underneath the platform is a black plastic component casing that houses the 12 cm sleeve bearing fan, two USB ports, additional 5V DC power port, and on/off switch with an LED. The cooler rests on the front and rear edges of the platform. At each of the four corners is a small plastic foot to keep it sturdy.



The retractable USB cable provided is simply a USB ribbon cable on a retraction wheel. Give a quick tug on each end and the cable retracts to keep it neat.



To use the Zodiac II, connect the USB cable to one of the USB ports on the left side of the cooler to one of the USB ports on a laptop and flip the power switch. There are two USB ports on the Zodiac II, so a port isn’t lost to power the device. Once turned on, the blue LEDs underneath each zodiac symbol illuminate and create a really nice effect.



The Zodiac II elevates slightly toward that back and is comfortable to use on a flat surface or lap. It weighs a little over a pound, so it’s easy to move around with. Unfortunately, the feet on the bottom of the cooler fell off the first time it was used. Luckily, it was the only quality inconsistency with the Zodiac II construction.

Cooling

The initial tests took place with an HP Elitebook 6930p with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 with 2GB of RAM. Measurements were taken during both idle and full load. In order to hold the processor at 100% utilization, we transcoded some video using Avidemux. Temperature measurements were taken using Speedfan. Each test was run for an hour. Here are the results:



Unfortunately, the numbers didn’t change by much but a few degrees while using the Zodiac II. Even stranger, it appears that having the Zodiac II on during idle actually made the laptop hotter. Using these numbers, the Zodiac II appears to work better as a passive cooler. We found this to be really disappointing considering the Zodiac II appeared to be a well constructed quality device. So, we ran each of the tests using a second laptop to verify the results. The second laptop is an HP Pavilion ze5460us with a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 processor and 512MB of RAM. Here are the results:



This time the Zodiac II made a bigger difference during idle, but during full load, we saw the same problem that using the Zodiac II can actually make a laptop hotter. Based on the results of both tests it’s safe to say that the Zodiac II's cooling ability is inconsistent. As a passive cooler, it always brought temperatures lower, but not drastic enough to deem it highly effective.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the Zodiac II just didn’t deliver in performance. It consistently brought temperatures lower as a passive cooler, but not enough to impress. This is a really big disappointment because it seems to be well made with quality materials. The Zodiac II retails for only around $25 (Amazon Link) and we really wanted to like the it, but nifty motif and flashy lights isn’t enough. Based solely on it’s performance we just can’t recommend it.

ASE Labs would like to thank Evercool for making this review possible.