Quiet and cool...just the way I like it

I suffer from that female disorder known quaintly as "Power Surges". Yep, hot flashes...besides being overweight and warm natured, I get occasional hot flashes. That means that I've been surrounding myself with fans. And this is my favorite...so much so that I now have four of them.

I first went to Walmart to find a fan that was small and quiet, but powerful, to put on my window sill at work. I have my own office, but it is on the sunny side of the building and it is often WAY too warm in there in the summer time. Living in Maine, there really aren't too many days that are extremely hot, so occasions to open the window and turn on the fan are pretty frequent.

On low or medium, you can practically forget this fan is on, except for the delicious breeze. It is extremely quiet and blows a steady stream of air. On high, it makes a little bit of noise, but is still not loud by any far stretch. Since my window is about 7-8 feet from my office chair, I thought I would want the fan on high to enjoy the air. I soon discovered, though, that low is often adequate and medium is almost overkill. The few times I set the fan on high, I've had to "batton down the hatches".

I was so impressed with this little fan, that I went and bought another for the window sill in the living room. That window is physically closer to where I sit so I usually have the fan on low. Then, I bought two more. My son and I now each have one blowing on us at night. My husband forever thinks he's cold, so he didn't need one.

As I said, on low or medium, the fan is so quiet, you can forget it is on. Even on high, the noise level is low enough that I can sleep with no problem (for those really hot nights).

The Fan
Okay, I told you how happy I am with it...now let me tell you about the fan itself. It stands about 11 inches tall and the shape of the base makes it very stable, where ever you happen to set it. It has a nice handle on the back for easy portability.

The base is attached to the housing by rivets on each side, allowing the fan to tilt a full 360 degrees around for very versatile placement. You can aim the sucker just about any way you want to. As a matter of fact, since it is so easy to swivel, my son turned his upside down and wedged the base into the bottom slats of the top bunk of his bunk beds, then aimed the fan so that he had a nice breeze while sleeping. I have mine sitting on the nightstand and angled slightly upward to circulate air through the whole room.

The entire fan is metal and very durable. It is classy looking, without a lot of cheap plastic. I've had the first one for 3 years, the second for two, and the last two for a year and I have never had any trouble out of them at all.

The operation switch is on the back and very easy to reach and move. Facing the fan, the off position is all the way to the right and low is all the way to the left, with medium and high in between. A quick, one-handed flip of the lever allows you to set it how ever you'd like. I hate fans that require me to hold the thing with one hand and turn the knob or lever with the other. I'm lazy and I like to lean over, flick it, and be done. This one is very accomodating that way.

Four small screws hold the housing together so an occasional cleaning of the blades is a piece of cake. I prefer screws to clips because nothing works its way loose.

The fan offers little or no vibration and the base has little rubber feet on the bottom so once you place the fan, even if you run it full blast, you don't have to worry about migration. It sits where you put it...period.

SUMMARY
Overall, I love this fan. Occasionally, I see one in Walmart and wonder if I need another. I don't, but I love it so much I sometimes want to buy another one anyway.

The size is perfect for almost any spot and the ability to flip it around to any degree makes it easy to find a place to put it and aim it where you want it to go.

For such a small, inexpensive fan, it has a lot of power and can really move a lot of air around the room. By doing so quietly, it is great for every room from the family room to the bedroom.

UPDATE:
Okay, I just got back from a week long conference held on a college campus, where the attendees were housed in dorm rooms. Not sure about what to expect from the A/C in a dorm room in July, I took my fans with me!

The A/C was fine, but we loved having the fans in the room anyway to help keep the air moving. Also, we discovered that, with a power inverted plugged into the cigarette lighter, I could use one of the fans in the van to circulate the A/C in the van a little better.

Yep, you got it...I'm hooked on these little suckers. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking I might just buy another (woohoo!) to put in the van on a regular basis.