Lasko Wind Curve T42905 Oscillating Tower Fan
We love the sleek silhouette and woodgrain accents of this Lasko tower fan. It was the third quietest fan I tested, only a few decibels louder than the Honeywell. In addition to that, it has Bluetooth and allows you to control the oscillating fan via an app on your phone.
The problem is, when it comes to remote control, you can only get it through the app. This is not ideal for shared spaces, as the fan can only connect one device at a time. In other words, if someone else pairs with the fan, the connection will be broken.
It might be acceptable if the app offered advanced features like voice control or the ability to set custom schedules, but that’s not the case. You can turn it on/off, turn on/off the oscillation feature, adjust between three speed settings, or start a sleep timer. These are the same controls found on the fan itself. It doesn’t ask for any permissions other than Bluetooth access, and the app doesn’t seem to offer a privacy policy at all. Considering all this, this Lasko fan is an easy skip for $80.
Vornado V-Flow Air Circulator Tower Fan
The Vornado V-Flow Tower Fan has a clean-looking construction with a fan grill twisted around a cylindrical base. It’s one of the best-looking tower fans I’ve tested, but it doesn’t vibrate like traditional tower fans. Instead, it relies on its sinuous design to move air more broadly throughout the room.
It worked well enough when pointed at me in my testing, but coverage varies depending on the angle of the sides, whether the angled grille directs the airflow lower or higher. An even bigger problem was that the Vornado V-Flow was the noisiest fan I tested, blaring 50 decibels at the highest of the three speeds from 30 inches away. On top of that, the remote control didn’t work. This is the same complaint we received from user reviews from retail stores where V-Flow is sold. Add to that the lack of features beyond the usual sleep timer, so I don’t appreciate the Vornado’s $70 price tag here (I’d probably skip it even when it’s on sale). That’s a shame, because the Vornado’s five-year warranty is the best of all the fans we looked at in this roundup, and it’s more than twice as long as the $550 Dyson TP04.
AmazonBasics 3-speed oscillating tower fan
Amazon continues to sell an increasing variety of products under the AmazonBasics brand, which recently includes tower fans. As the name suggests, it’s not very fancy. It doesn’t come with a battery for the remote control, but it does allow for at least some natural wind settings in addition to the typical low, medium, and high speed settings.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good experience testing this fan. First, the remote control stopped working shortly after I started testing, and after carrying it between my bedroom and living room several times, the fan itself came loose from its flimsy base. Its 35-watt power consumption was the lowest of all the fans we tested, but even at the highest settings we felt a lack of power in the form of overwhelming airflow. At $60, this tower fan could be selling for twice its list price.
Unfortunately, most tower fans don’t work well with smart plugs.
