Therefore, any of the fans we tested would be suitable for most spaces around your house, home office or dorm room. A floor fan is great if you need something that’s compact enough to fit on a table or desk, and it’s something you can move around to use as needed. Circulator fans — the design made familiar by Vornado and also found in units like the Black+Decker and Lasko Box Fan Honeywell models we tested — are great examples of personal fans that don’t take up a lot of space. Controls were straightforward and easy to use, and the Rowenta’s remote control fit nicely in our grip; the remote stores in a slot on the back of the head unit when not in use. Some of the others lacked anywhere to stow the remote, meaning it’s likely to be lost.
It was not sturdy and rigid like the other towers we tested, which gave us pause in recommending it to anyone with pets or small children, for example. We did like the remote control of this fan, which let us turn it on and off, select its three speed settings, set it to oscillate and set the timer for one, two and four hours. This timer button was surprisingly alen breathesmart missing from the remote control of the Honeywell Quietset Whole Room HYF290B tower fan, even though the Honeywell includes a timer on its control panel on top of the unit. The Sunpentown 14-Inch Oscillating Standing Fan features three fan speeds, and has the ability to move 1,695 cubic feet of air per minute when placed on its highest setting.
There are different types of fans, including tower fans and desk fans. Many of these are oscillating fans — oscillation lets fans move side to side, up and down or both , which helps move cold air around rather than in one direction, as explained in our guide to the best cooling fans. Ahead of the official start of summer, which is on June Lasko Box Fan 20 (also Father’s Day), we gathered a few oscillating fans to take out for a spin. They had the tower fan available as well as the 18 inch pedestal fan. I found these in the first few sections next to all the other home goods items. If you’re looking to really cool the house & don’t have A/C, check out the portable evaporative coolers .
It’s also quite loud on higher settings, though the lowest speed is reasonably quiet. But if you’re looking for a pedestal fan with far-reaching power that you can stick in the corner and forget about, the Vornado may be exactly what you want. The housing and curve of the blades cause the air to spiral, allowing it to travel farther than standard pedestal fans.
This was unlike the dial on the Vornado, which lets you grip it comfortably as you smoothly and quietly rotate it around clockwise and back. This Lasko fan was easy for us to set up since, like the other circulator fans we tested, it requires no assembly; we just lifted it out of its box and plugged it in. We liked its fully tiltable head, which we were able to push all the way around to cool off either side of our testing area. But we found its blue control knob on the back of the fan to be a bit cumbersome to reach, as we had to tilt the fan down to access it, and even then, the knob felt a bit wobbly in our grip. This was unlike the firm, smooth motion we enjoyed while turning the knob on the Vornado Energy Smart 533DC circulator fan.