If your home includes excitable pets, clumsy children, or ungraceful adults, it’s important to have a sturdy fan that’s less likely to take a fall when bumped. We evaluated fans on their center of balance, weightiness, sturdiness, and other features that help to hold them in place, like rubber feet. Since many of these come with a tiny remote, we also considered extra features as a bonus in this metric. It has a small footprint with legs that can go around objects and a small head that’s powerful and can be pointed in nearly any direction, pivoting a full 90 degrees, from horizontal to almost vertical. The Lasko S11612 is a fairly average overall size but is much lighter than most and with a thin, wide base that can slide easily under most furniture.
You can also adjust the height and command it from across the room through the included remote control. There’s a lot to like about this pleasantly quiet fan from Rowenta. The Rowenta VU5670 Turbo Silence Extreme 5-Speed offers an impressive range of speeds, which we measured as low as 4.7 mph and as high as 12.9 mph.
Rather than needing a set of tools, it requires twisting and clicking pieces into place. The instructions were straightforward and in 10 minutes I had the pedestal of the fan screwed into the base and the fan head assembled. Match the wide blade to wide slot in outlet and FULLY INSERT. DO NOT attempt to bypass or defeat this safety feature. If the plug does not fit in the outlet, con-sult a qualified electrician. If you’ve been feeling the heat lately, you’re not alone — heat waves have been sweeping across the nation and Europe this year.
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. The super-wide, 21-inch circular base takes up a significant amount of room and slides readily across hardwood floors.
Though it can’t point down, it can be angled nearly vertically to bounce air off the ceiling and blow it effectively around an entire room. It’s the only one with the cord coming out of the bottom of the stand, as well, rather than dangling off the base of the motor halfway up the stand. The Double Blade also won’t recall your last settings when turned off and defaults to the lowest speed when powered on, without oscillation. It’s not a quiet fan, either, particularly on the highest settings, which makes it difficult to watch TV over without turning up the volume.
Additionally, this fan may not quite reach the top of your bed — at its tallest, it stands just 38 inches high. 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. Despite being the smallest of our tested fans, the Vornado 683 Medium is also among the most powerful.
Despite its small size, the Vornado packs some serious power into its three speeds and works well to circulate air throughout the room. CAUTIONAVOID the use of extension cords, power strips, power taps, outlet style air fresheners or other cord connected device, as alen breathesmart these devices may overheat and cause a fire hazard. ALWAYS unplug the power cord when servicing, cleaning or moving the Fan. DO NOT use the ON/OFF switch as the sole means of disconnecting power. NEVER leave children unattended when the Fan is on or plugged in.
It also lets out a chirping “beep” every time you plug it in or change a setting. Though its timer allows you to program more precise half-hour increments, the oscillation feature isn’t controlled by the remote — only by the classic push-pull tab on the back of the motor. It’s also a bit more wiggly than we’d like, though the very solid base adds a lot to its overall stability.
If you’re here hunting for a pedestal fan that works and won’t blow your budget, the Comfort Zone 3-Speed is that fan. It’s extremely simple and straightforward in operation and does precisely what you’d expect from Lasko Box Fan a basic fan. Its top-measured speed hit just above average at 10.9 mph on High. Unfortunately, this heavy gizmo is one of the most wobbly models we tested, literally blowing itself into a backbend at high speeds.