Bluegears b-flexi and b-cool120 Cooling Fans

Introduction:

     "The fans in the case go round and round, round and round, round and round. The fans in the case go..." well, you get the picture. In this short and simple review, we are going to take a look at three fans from Bluegears.com. Two of the fans are from the b-flexi line of fans- one is 120mm and the other is 80mm. These fans have a four-position switch to change the colors of the LED's. The third fan in this head turner of a review is the b-cool120, which can monitor temperatures and fan speeds and display them within the spinning fan blades.

About the Company:

Bluegears is the forerunner of innovative products related with home entertainment and computer system. Bluegears Taiwan R&D office and Bluegears China factory has been established since 2000 and has been focusing on OEM and ODM market initially for many leading PC brands in the computer industry. Bluegears USA was established in California, U.S.A. in March 2005, focusing on manufacturing and distributing top-quality consumer electronics products under Bluegears brand for worldwide market.

Currently our R&D and manufacturing facilities reside in Taiwan and China. Bluegears' R&D has over 20 years experience in computer industry and vowed to develop the highest quality products with cutting-edge technology. In early 2006 Bluegears has quite a few newly developed products with patent pending and are very excited to introduce these products to the worldwide market by mid of 2006.

Specifications:

Features:

Trio Front

Trio Rear

A Closer Look:

b-flexi	Blue	Green
Red	PCI Bracket	LED Color Circuit

    We are going to start this off with the b-flexi fans. The b-flexi line of fans come in 80mm and 120mm and are coated in a Titanium chrome finish. This finish gives the fan structure and fan blades a gunmetal bluish color to them. The other feature, which is nice, is the option to change the color of the LED's with a simple slide switch. The switch is a 4-position switch with the options of the LED being Off, Red, Blue, and Green. The switch is mounted to a PCI bracket, which means we have to reach around the back of the case to change colors. A 3pin to 4pin Molex adapter is included for those who don't have any spare fan headers on the motherboard.

b-cool120

LED bar

3 to 4 pin adapter

OHHH AHHH

    Next up is the b-cool120 fan, which actually displays the air temperature inside the case and the fan RPM. The fan housing is black with the blades in white. The white helps with displaying the information while the blades spin. So, how does this display work? Well, it uses the same principal design that is found on digital clocks that display the time in the air. Instead of an arm going back and forth quickly to display the data, the arm spins on the fan. This arm has eight tiny LED's that flash in random-looking patterns that make no sense when the blades are not moving. When the fan is spinning, however, the random flashes create letters and numbers we can read. A 3pin to 4pin Molex adapter is also included with the b-cool120.

Installation:

Blue and Red

b-cool120 installed

    Now, if you can't handle four small screws, then maybe computer upgrades isn't your thing. Find a spot for either the 80mm or 120mm fan and secure with the four screws. The b-flexi users will need a free PCI slot on the case for the LED switch, while b-cool120 users require a clear shot from a side panel window to see the fan information.

Conclusion:

    The Bluegears fans will make nice additions to any case. The ability to change the colors of the LED's on the b-flexi is the nicest option to have on a LED fan. Some days you may want a different color or no color at all. The b-cool120 is definitely cool in the way it's able to display the RPM and case temperatures within the spinning blades. Not only does it just display them - it does so with flair by having the information rotate around and by scrolling in and out. The best of all the features is not the fancy LED's in my opinion. It's how loud the fans are, and the b-flexi and b-cool120 are both quiet compared to a few other fans in my case. So with that said, the Bluegears line of fan are a definite hit with me. I would like to thank Bluegears for sending out the fan for VH to review.