arobodude

A taller thinner design would probably work better for cooling since you are trying to get as much evaporation to happen... but it would probably be harder to design. The big plus on this one is the simplicity. And as far as noise... totally. I mean at Burning Man the fan will be the least of your worries as far as noise but for another venue I could see that being an issue. You could also get the same size and airflow fan but just buy a higher quality/more $$$ one. People like their PCs to be quiet as well :)

Nice design

Main issue with putting them lower is that you can't fill the bucket with as much water. Since it's an evaporative cooler you are literally trying to evaporate the water as quickly as possible and thus it runs out. In the current design I had to refill it every day or two depending on how much I used it.

You are right in that it didn't cool the inside of the tent a ton, especially since most of the top of the tent is mesh and any bit of wind caused hot air to just blow in and the cold air out. The tent also isn't insulated much at all. However, with the flexible hose I basically pointed it right towards my back so the cold air would blow over me and up towards my neck. Having the cold air blowing on me definitely allowed me to sleep a couple extra hours that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.During the day I would take it outside and basically put it next to my chair and point it right at me. Felt incredible!As far as water usage - I brought four, 1 gallon jugs and I think that lasted the whole time.