Honeywell HY-048BP Tower Fan

Let's face it, fans (also known as Air Circulators) have not changed much over the years. It's usually a motorized mini propeller housed in a cage. The oscillating feature added excitement to the fan community BUT in the tradition of Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze Air Purifiers, a new breed of fan was born. The tower fan. But this particular tower fan has a few more bells and whistles than usual.

Ahhhh, the months before Summer are not quite warm enough to run the whole-house air conditioner, so the use of room fans or ceiling fans help cool you off in a more cost effective way.

Usually, Home Depot's selection of fans are sold out, but we either got lucky or they learned a lesson from last year's sell out ordered many more this time around. These fans sell for $49.99 at Home Depot.

For the record, the HY-48 and the HY-47 are identical except for a slight appearance factor. This was the response I got from www.kaz.com - Honeywell's customer service: "The difference between these 2 fans is the trim color. Both fans have black bodies and the 047 has gray trim while the 048 has shiny "chrome" trim. The features of both fans are identical." Oh, there's one more difference - price. If you must have the faux chrome trim of the HY-48, it'll set you back about $3-5 more. Both fans are available with a white or gray body color on www.kaz.com but they charge about $15 more.

In the box:
There's the tower unit, the 2-piece round base that snaps together, the manual, the 2-piece base riser that snaps together and the remote control. You have the option to install the base rise or attach the fan directly to the base.

Assembly:
Once the base and the riser are snapped together, I fished the electrical cord through the base. With the use of three thumb screws, the base was connected to the tower. One more thumb screw at the base (for the oscillation) and that's it! Oh wait, I lied, there are two AAA batteries that need to go inside the remote. Took me all of four minutes to complete.

Controls:
Each of the buttons works like a 4-way switch. For instance, the fan speeds are as simple as touching the fan speed button once for high, twice for medium, three times for low and once more for off.

The other buttons (on the head unit) include temp/timer, breeze, up, down (for temp adjustments) and the oscillate/ionizer.

The digital monochromatic display within the circle of buttons is well designed and quite intuitive with its icons.


Features:

Easy-To-Use Push-Button Operation
Timer Function
Programmable Thermostat
Turbo Wind Generator Blades moves far more air than typical blades.
Breeze Mode to simulate a gentle outdoor wind.
Remote control
Strong, quiet 3-speed motor
Over 40 Inches Tall
washable filter
Ionic air cleaning


What I like:
I like that the remote fits in the top of the tower or it detaches and has an integrated LED flashlight. I love that I can set it to go off in 2, 4 or 8 hours and that it has a thermostat. This means that the unit will turn on and off at temperatures I choose.

Not only does it oscillate but I can select various breeze settings. These will randomly run through high, medium and low wind gusts like what might happen in nature.

The most obvious is that it does not have large propeller-like fan blades, so it takes up less room and looks more stylish. The other great thing is that a child can't hurt itself with tiny fingers versus rotating fan blades.

Love that there's a FIVE year warranty.


What I'm on the fence about:
The remote only allows for basic functions. You must select sleep timer or temperature from the base unit.

The electrical cord could be a bit longer.

This fan tries to "filter" the air of dog hair, dirt, pollen, etc. I think this is just a cosmetic feature because the filter is not a HEPA filter and smaller particles get recycled. As far as the Ionic feature goes, I think it's not very powerful, but only time will tell.

I wish the buttons on the remote and the head unit were illuminated. Having a tiny flashlight is good for finding stuff on your end table at night, but you can't see the buttons of the remote in the dark.


What I don't like:
Nothing really. I'm very happy with this machine's performance. It really cools down the room, but I have not used it in extreme Summer temperatures yet.


Cleaning the Filter:
It couldn't be easier. Remove the filter from the back of the unit and run it under cold water. It must be dry before it can be used again.


This is my most favorite fan. It actually blows pretty cold air with very little noise all while saving me money in different ways.

Any questions? Try www.kaz.com or (800) 477-0457