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Physical Address
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Dorchester Center, MA 02124
I loved the elegant silhouette and wood grain finish of this Lasko tower fan. It was also the third loudest fan I’ve tested, staying on a few more decibels than The Honeywell. Furthermore, it features Bluetooth, which lets you control the oscillating fan via an app on your phone.
The problem is that the app is all you get in terms of remote controls. This is not ideal for a shared space, as the fan can only connect to one device at a time. In other words, if someone else is marrying the fan, your connection is cut off.
This might be forgivable if the app offered advanced features like voice controls or the ability to set a custom schedule, but it doesn’t. You can turn it on and off, turn the oscillation feature on and off, adjust between three speed settings or start a sleep timer; The same controls you’ll find on the fan itself. It doesn’t ask for any permissions apart from Bluetooth access, the app doesn’t seem to provide a privacy policy at all. All of which makes this Lasko fan easy to break the $80 mark.
The Tower Vornado V-Flow fan features a sleek-looking construction that twists the fan mesh around a cylindrical base. It’s one of the best tower fans I’ve tested, but it doesn’t oscillate like a traditional tower fan. Instead, it relies on this twisting design to move the air field wider throughout the room.
It worked well enough in my tests when I was aiming, but coverage varies at those side angles, where the Airstream is positioned lower or higher because of that diagonal grille. The biggest issue was that the Vornado V-Flow was the loudest fan I tested, buzzing at 50 decibels at its highest of three speeds from a distance of 30 inches. On top of that, my remote wouldn’t work, which echoes the frustration I’ve seen from user reviews at retailers where the Flow V is sold. That and the lack of features outside of the usual sleep timer, I wouldn’t say no thanks to the Vornado’s $70 price tag. $ here (and I was probably skipping it during the sale as well). That’s a shame, as the Vornado’s five-year warranty was the best of all the fans I looked at in this roundup, and more than double that of the $550 Dyson TP04.
Amazon continues to sell an increasing variety of products under its Amazonbasics brand, and these days that includes a tower fan. As the name suggests, it’s not anything too fancy. Remote batteries aren’t included, but you at least get a few natural wind settings on top of the typical, medium, and high-speed settings.
Unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience with this fan. The remote stopped working shortly after I started testing, and the fan disconnected from its dummy base after a few moves between rooms. Although the power draw of 35 watts is the lowest of all the fans I tested, airflow was poor, even at the highest setting. At $60, this tower fan is not worth the price.
Unfortunately, most tower fans won’t do very well with smart plugs.