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Don’t Just Fan Your Face--Chill It

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Can you imagine sitting in the baking sun at Dodger Stadium enjoying your own little cool-air zone while everyone around you is sweating and sweltering?

Just in time for summer, the Sharper Image has introduced the Personal Cooling System, which chairman Richard Thalheimer describes as a “high-tech version of the old ice-soaked towel.”

It’s a lightweight collar. You fill its two chambers with a few ounces of water, rest it securely around your neck and switch it on. A quiet motor drives a tiny fan that moves air across the water to create evaporative cooling--up to 20 degrees cooler than the hot, dry air around you, according to its catalog description. The flexible sides hold the aluminum cooling plates against your neck.

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The Personal Cooling System lets the wearer stay in the heat for up to four hours--active or inactive.

“We’ve never had anything quite like this,” said company spokeswoman Davia Kimmey. “It’s a new technology, a patented process, that is a major advance in miniaturized evaporative cooling.”

And although the system may be too restrictive for riding a motorcycle or a bike, she said, it’s a great way to stay comfortable when walking, mowing, gardening, or watching sports or concerts.

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Made of plastic and aluminum, the Personal Cooling System weighs about 16 ounces filled with water and 12 ounces when empty and is powered by a single AA battery. Price is $49.

The product has been on the shelves for almost a month at the Sharper Image in Beverly Hills. “We’ve been selling quite a few with no returns, which is good,” said store manager Sam Gianos. “People like it for anything outdoors, like washing their car or yardwork. It’s like having a nice cool rag around your neck.”

Customers are also buying it from the store’s Web site (https://www.sharperimage.com), said Kimmey. “Right now it’s our hottest item--or maybe I should say our coolest.”

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