If you have heard of Herman Miller, you, like most people, are probably only familiar with their chairs. The company’s Aeron has set the standard for performance seating for years and they have been able to follow it up more recently with a number of other models. In addition to making seating though, the company has expanded outward into other areas, one of which is their Be Collection. This part of their product line is focused on personal comfort and optimizing worker performance through keeping their environment as agreeable as possible.
The most well-known product from the Be Collection is the Leaf light which has gotten a lot of press for it’s design, LED lighting, and environmental friendliness. Aside from this there is a full range of other options, most of which fall under two categories–ergonomics and organization. Like the Leaf, another standout is the C2 Climate Control, a personal device that is designed to raise or lower the temperature in a person’s workspace in order to maximize comfort. All too often offices set their temperatures so that most people are happy, but individuals are either too hot or too cold. This can be even worse when individuals work in low temperature areas, like a server room, or near a large window where they are often colder than the other people they work with.
The C2 is a small, plastic device that is about 10″ tall and looks like it belongs in the Museum of Modern Art store. At the bottom is a circular base that is perforated so air can be drawn in and at the top is the exhaust grill. The main feature on the C2 is a touch-sensitive control strip that can adjust the fan speed, turn the product on or off, and toggle between hot and cold. The only other features on the C2 are an adjustment behind the exhaust that will tilt the airflow up for down a few degrees and an air intake right below it. The C2 is low-key, but pleasing to look at, and weighs about a pound.
The C2 plugs into a standard outlet (110V) so it should be able to work in any environment. Once it’s plugged in the user holds down a finger on the top of the touch-sensitive tab (the Herman Miller logo) and the device turns on. Touching the logo again switches between hot and cold air coming from the C2. By dragging you finger up or down on the tab you can raise or lower the fan speed. An upside of the product is that in addition to heating and cooling it acts as an air filter that is GREENGUARD certified and that can be cleaned and reused.
The C2 is designed to heat an area about 12-18 inches from the source, so it has to be placed pretty close to the user. The documentation makes it clear that this is not a space heater or air conditioner so don’t expect a dramatic change in temperature over a wide area or to be able to comfort more one person. The C2 should be able to shift the temperature up about 30 degrees (F) above ambient in your immediate area or down to seven degrees below ambient. This is not a replacement for a real heater, but it is enough to tweak the temperature at your desk or in your cubicle and get you comfortable.
The design of the C2 means that it is pretty much aimed at your face and neck, assuming you place it on your desktop. While the temperate change was as much as a I expected given what I had read about it, the C2 is somewhat louder than I would have thought. It won’t be drowning out your conversations, but it is audible even at the lowest fan speed. At the upper reaches of the fan’s operation it is about as loud as a good-sized desktop fan, so it is not distracting, but you might want to turn it off if you are straining to listen to a conference call.
Herman Miller tells us that the C2 is 90 percent more efficient than a typical space heater, which is a great selling point, but then expressly states that the C2 is not a space heater. This summarizes some of the conflicts people will have with the device. It sells for $300, which is a lot of money considering that it is neither an air conditioner or a heater, but chances are that companies will be footing the bill, so the price is a bit higher than it might be if it was aimed at home users. If you work in a home or a SOHO environment though, you could just raise or lower the temperature without it affecting many other people though.
Overall the C2 is an interesting product that is well built and super easy to use. It does just what it says it will and while it is louder than I expected it is able to tweak the temperature in your microclimate just enough to make an office space that is too hot or cold tolerable. It does this by blowing that air on your face and neck so it is not a cure for cold hands (now that would be amazing) or you not turning on the air conditioning in your apartment.
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