****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I avoided Vornado for years because it seemed like a hype product. Expensive, and I didn't see how on earth a small Vornado could replace a much larger oscillating fan. It creates a very different kind of airflow than traditional oscillating fans, but Vornado is no hype. These things work.I live in a long, narrow 1500 sq. ft. mid-century ranch house with HVAC vents along the exterior walls, closed-off rooms, a long central hallway, and an absolutely terrible layout for airflow. I've been buying cheap fans to put on the floor in front of the HVAC vents to help push air throughout the house, but those cheap fans keep needing the bearings cleaned and oiled every few months. I decided to try a Vornado because of it's 5 year warranty, with no real expectation that it would perform any differently than my cheap fans.It does perform better. A lot better, in fact. Just one strategically placed Vornado, turned on its highest speed, pushes enough air that it can be felt throughout the entire house.The kitchen is on one end of the house with no exposed HVAC ventilation. I put this Vornado in the adjacent dining room, on the floor, next to an HVAC vent, and pointed it at the stove. When the fan is on high, nearly 20 feet away, cold air can be felt in the kitchen every time the air conditioning comes on. Even without the AC on, the kitchen feels as though a window is open and a breeze is coming through. In fact, the air circulation that Vornado advertises is so effective that I have to turn the fan off completely if I'm cooking anything that produces a lot of steam or smoke, because the stove hood can't overcome the airflow of the Vornado that's 20 feet away and the steam/smoke ends up collecting underneath my cabinets.Here's the crazy thing. If I forget to turn the fan back on, the other end of the house, where the bedrooms are, gets several degrees warmer than the front of the house, where the kitchen is.Oddly enough, in my living room—which is almost entirely closed off, but roughly the same area as the kitchen and dining room combined—this fan didn't move enough air to produce any noticeable effect. I ended up buying a slightly larger model, a Pivot 6, for the living room and liked it enough that I bought a second Pivot 6 for my bedroom. With these three Vornados running 24/7, the air conditioning comes on half as often as it use to and when it does come on, it only runs for half the time it use to. During a recent multi-week triple-digit heat wave, my electric bill was only $20 higher than it had been in the spring (before I got the Vornadoes) when the temperature stayed in the 70s.Unlike traditional oscillating table fans, this Vornado creates a single jet of air that disrupts the rest of the air in a room. I would not want a Vornado pointed at me the way I would a traditional table fan, it's not comfortable to be in front of one turned on high speed. Aside from the Vornado in my dining room, I point these Vornados at a doorway and let them push air out of the room. You can feel this air movement in the hallway and in other rooms that have no fans in them.Prior to having any fans in the house, my HVAC was set to 72 and parts of the house still felt too warm for comfort in the summer. After buying six oscillating table fans to place throughout the house, my HVAC was set to 77 and the house still felt warm in places. Adding these three Vornados let me set the HVAC to 78 and I'm contemplating setting it to 79, because I keep putting on a hoodie throughout the day. Overall, the house feels cooler now than it did when my HVAC was set to 72, and the energy bills are much lower.I've also taken this fan apart and put oil around the front bearing. The grill and blade are easy to remove. I have not taken the Pivot 6 apart to clean or oil it yet. Time will tell how long this Vornado lasts. However, I'm concerned that the motor looks like a similar bearing arrangement to the cheap fans I have to clean and oil so often. I'm hoping Vornado is built better than that, though, but at least the Vornado has a really good warranty if it does start to act up like my old fans did. The Vornado Pivot 6 seems to have a much better motor design, just from looking through the grille, and I expect it to last longer.
