Testing

Testing consisted of loading a variety of custom messages to see how well it was able to handle and display all.  This consisted of four different files transferred over that ranged from two messages up to six.  Most of them used all 16 characters per message.

Now, the biggest challenge of all was trying to give you all a demo of its functionality.  Due to all the lighting effects and rapid motion, it was difficult to capture some decent pictures.  Below are three of the best taken...

The pre-loaded messages are quite cheesy and you'll quickly want to change them.  From "Have a Nice Day" to "Happy New Year", they will practically force you to load up that software and go crazy with it!  Anyways, you'll note in the middle picture captured above how the simple two status LED's form an inner and outer "border" around the text.  Overall, I will say it does look quite nice and the whole effect is spectacular. 

OK, so I figured pictures weren't enough and put together a custom video of the fan in action with some custom text messages loaded.  Now, if the pictures themselves were hard enough to capture, the video proved a greater challenge.  The video below is the best I could capture after much trial and error to eliminate all the extra "aurora-like" lighting effects from the spinning fans and keep up with the rotational speed of the fans while keeping the custom video "web-friendly".  

Note:  Video below will require the latest flash plug-in installed and a broadband connection for best performance.

demo video clip

**click to play**

What I found is that depending on your choice of characters and/or symbols, the fan will struggle at times to display them properly.  However, this was mostly with some of their custom symbols and not with text.  Once you spend a bit of time playing with it, you can display many text messages properly without any issues during each transition.  The video above, while unable to fully keep up with original frame rates, is a perfect example.

Actual Performance

Now, while this is obviously a product for the avid case modder and clearly not one focusing on overall cooling performance, I will still briefly comment on it.  First off, as far as noise is concerned, it does run quite silent and what you'd expect from a 120mm fan in its class.  As far as cooling performance goes, it does provide some decent airflow but nothing like other high performance fans this size.

Conclusions

I'll be honest and say that I did not expect to write a three page article on a PC fan.  In fact, I typically decline all review requests of such products to begin with.  However, as most of you know by now, we focus heavily on unique PC related products and are constantly on the lookout for them.  The CoolJag Programmable Fan happens to be one of them.  The level of customization is beyond what you'd expect and it will truly please hardcore modders and enthusiasts looking for unique alternatives to make their rigs stand out from a majority. 

The software, although basic and a bit buggy at times, is a pleasure to use and offers plenty of options to design and "burn" a high number of custom messages.  In fact, you'll probably spend plenty of time experimenting with it and really pushing it to its limits.  I have personally used and evaluated similar products in the past but none come anywhere near to the CoolJag in terms of its high level of flexibility.  Each individual message can support up to 16 characters and you actually are capable of loading up to 32 individual messages for display.  In addition, each and every message can be individually customized to display a certain way via a variety of effects.  Does it work as advertised?  Yes, but those looking to load some highly custom messages may find it will have a bit of difficulty displaying all properly unless you spend some extra time somewhat "tweaking" them.  Also important to note is that between each custom message, the fan will display the current ambient temperature.  However, the readings are highly inaccurate and you definitely want to ignore them and stick to your most accurate temp monitoring utilities for thermal readings.

As far as the hardware in general is concerned, the fan itself is of high quality and does happen to double as a suitable cooling solution, providing adequate airflow for its size. Nothing spectacular and not quite up to specs, but it will certainly do the job well.  The interface hardware itself, while very cleverly designed, is quite fragile and you'll want to handle all with care if you plan on connecting and loading messages on a consistent basis.

In short, the CoolJag Programmable LED Flash Fan is easily the most feature-rich, "high-tech" PC fan on the market.  Yes folks, we are talking about a simple fan here, although it really is far beyond that and one that will certainly please those avid case modders out there looking for additional and unique ways to accent there rigs.  EMHz Recommended!

More information on the new CoolJag Programmable Flash Fans can be found on their US portal website.

If you would like to purchase them, you can snag them from Xoxide.com.  They do happen to come in a variety of standard sizes and Xoxide currently has both an 80mm model and the large 120mm model featured in this article.

Questions?  Comments?  Discuss them here...