Fans have always been a necessary part of life for both Maggie and her easily overheated dog. From her home gym to her home office, she knows what it takes to find the right fan for any space. She tests several types of fans and has been testing all types of home and outdoor gear for both OutdoorGearLab and TechGearLab since 2017. Currently we offer FREE FedEx/UPS small package Ground shipping and FREE ABF/YRC freight ground shipping on most orders of $199 or more within the 48 contiguous states. We tested each fan’s performance through a battery of tests that cover four metrics. We put together a complete picture of each model through laboratory tests, precision measurements, everyday usage, and qualitative analyses.
We almost couldn’t hear it at its lowest speed amongst all the other sounds in the house. The remote is both simple and fully functional, controlling every aspect of this fan — including oscillation — with a beep-less push of a button. Cool large rooms quickly with this Lasko 20-inch oscillating remote control pedestal fan. The 20-inch blades and powerful motor deliver impressive airflow, and the four speed settings let you choose your ideal level of cooling.
It includes a timer and a remote — though no CR2032 battery — and features a remote caddy on top of the motor. We also love that it remembers its last settings when you turn it back on and is surprisingly quiet and pleasant at every speed. Our favorite pedestal fan is the PELONIS Silent Turbo for its myriad options and fully functional range of speeds. This fan has 12 different speeds, allowing you to achieve the ideal airflow for your needs. The Lasko S16612 with Thermostat offers surprisingly convenient functionality beyond its optional thermostat functionality — which we love. This fan emits a lower-pitched hum that more easily fades into the background than many other models’ higher-pitched whirring noises.
To find the best pedestal fans on the market today, we spent hours combing through the top options before selecting the most promising models to purchase and test side-by-side. Tasked with cooling us off through some of the hottest days of the desert summer, we put these fans through a litany of laboratory and real-world tests. We used them while watching movies, sleeping at night, reading books, and working out at home. We measured airspeeds alen breathesmart and took decibel readings, comparing them all head-to-head to see which ones offer the most settings, the most power, sturdiest bases, and quietest experiences. Oddly, the jump from speeds 8 to 9 is far more noticeable than any other speed change, jumping a full 6 decibels. It doesn’t have a memory for its last settings, instead always powering up on level 18 with no oscillation and chirping offensively as you scroll through all 24 speeds.
Being able to tilt or oscillate a fan also makes a big difference in where it can live in your home, so we considered these abilities as well. To score each model’s overall noisiness, we started off by taking decibel readings of each fan at all of their various speeds. We then qualified each fan’s sound, including relative pitch, quality of noise, and respective annoyance levels. We noted if they had extra noises, like clicking, beeping, whirring, or vibrations. And because gunk getting stuck in your fan can affect its noisiness, we also inspected how easy they are to clean.
To test each pedestal fan’s power, we performed multiple airspeed tests on different settings and combined that with how well it translates into what you can feel across a room. We measured airflow, placing each fan across a large room and standing on the other side to gauge how easily we could feel each setting, both directly in front of and off to the sides of every fan. And we considered how many settings, modes, features, and timer options each model has, alongside the use of those settings. Though the Lasko Cyclone does have a timer, it only goes up to 4 hours, which may not be enough for some folks. It has a push-pull tab on the motor to control oscillation, rather than including that on the remote like many others.