Introduction:

VIZO Mini Ninja & Ninja HS Notebook Coolers (front)

    And we're back again with another notebook cooler review, or in this case, a pair of notebook coolers for you guys to check out. They come from VIZO, a well reviewed company here at VH, and are geared for low noise and adjustability. The full sized unit goes by the name of the Ninja HS, with the smaller unit going by the Mini Ninja. Let's start with the Ninja HS features and specs.

Ninja HS Features:

• Dimensions :350 x 291 x 62 mm

• Housing Material :Aluminum + plastic

• USB Bus Power :5V/500 mA

• DC Fan Dimensions : 70 x 70 x 15 mm ( 2 pcs )

• Bearing Type : Sleeve Bearing

• Speed : 2000 RPM

• Noise Level <20 dBA

• Max Air Flow : 13.72 ( Min:11.22) CFM

• Rated Voltage : DC 5 V

• Rated Current : 0.24 A

• Compatibility : 12"~17" Widescreen Notebook PC

• Weight : 620 g

Packaging:

   The retail box is well done and the product inside was well protected. The Ninja HS is unlike any notebook cooler I've reviewed thus far in that it's a 3 piece design with the leg position and the fan positions being adjustable. However the fan speed is not adjustable. It's set to ultra quiet as the only option.

   Assembly of the Ninja HS only took a few minutes, however most notebook coolers have zero assembly. I think this unit could have been accomplished with some folding mechanisms or the like, versus 3 separate pieces that need to be screwed together using the included thumbscrews. This unit is large enough to a 17" notebook, as evidenced by my test book, my personal 17" HP DV9500T. It says it will do 12"-17" comfortably.

In order to adjust the legs, or the fans, your laptop would need to be removed and the screws loosened, etc. This process is a bit bulky at first but providing you're not having to adjust it to numerous laptop sizes very often it should be fine once you're happy with it.

Once positioned and powered up, the unit is virtually silent. I actually had to put my hand near the fans to see if anything was moving, and it was, barely. The fans are set to ultra quiet and therefore move very little air, but a little air movement is exponentially better than no airflow with the laptop vents being mostly covered. This will add some space under the laptop vents by propping it up in the rear so that alone will help cooling, however you could do that with a book if that was all you wanted.

VIZO makes good on it's minimalistic design because there isn't much to this unit. And for the USB Hub, VIZO does not include the 5v DC adapter, however it doesn't appear that one is needed when the USB cable is connected to the laptop to power the Ninja HS. With just the laptop connected to the Ninja HS, you can run other USB peripherals using the Ninja's Hub. I'm guessing the 5v DC plug is there if you need to power high power USB devices with this Hub versus simple lower power devices like mice, etc.

Overall the Ninja HS is a pretty nice notebook cooler for those in need of something totally silent. I wouldn't use this to cooler high power (and high heat) gaming laptops, for the majority of you out there, this should be just fine and certainly better than using nothing at all.

Got News? Send 'em in!