Sporting a round display at the top that lends a sort of retro speedometer vibe, the 519S is Dreo’s first brushless fan. This means it uses an electronic system instead of physical brushes in its DC motor, extending its life and ostensibly requiring less maintenance. Though its top wind speed is nowhere near as impressive as the MC706’s, this fan is still no slouch at 1,100 ft/m. It’s got nine speed settings, as well as all the goodies you’d expect from a mid-range smart fan, including a timer option, sleep mode, a remote, and operability through the Dreo app, Siri, Alexa, and Google Home

The only down side I found is that the display lights automatically shut off after a short time, and I wish there were a way to disable this. Paired with the quiet motor, there was more than one occasion during my testing period where I inadvertently left it on overnight, as I didn’t realize it was running in another room as I walked by. Regardless, this is about as feature-packed and reliable a tower fan you can buy for around a hundred bucks. (There’s a non-smart version that’s even cheaper.)

The no-frills Lasko box fan is an enduring classic—it’s got plenty of surface area, there’s a handle so you can move it around, and the shape makes it easy to stick in a window or sliding glass door. It’s also reliable and widely available at most big-box stores. (If you live in a wildfire-prone area, you’ll also know it’s popular for making a DIY air purifier, also known as a Corsi-Rosenthal box.) It’s not the strongest or the quietest, but for around 20 bucks you wouldn’t expect it to be. It’s also less than 5 inches in width, so it’s easy to store in a closet.

Lasko recently added a Cool Colors line, offering the same long-time utilitarian staple in fun colors like red, blue, fuchsia, and purple. It’s no different than the old-school white versions, but the color does make it look more intentional in your home instead of a remnant of some water leak emergency or AC malfunction. Some online complaints mentioned wobbling at low speeds, and there was some slight shaking at medium and high speeds in my tests, but not so much that it affected function.

The VFan series is an official rerelease of Vornado’s original 1945 classic, in authentically retro colors like off-white and green. Just like the first version, it’s all-metal with three features: It turns on, it turns off, and it can run at high or low speed. That’s it. No apps, remotes, oscillation, lights, or other doodads. It’s awesome. Even the box it comes in has a vintage look, which makes it a good potential gift for dads, grads, or even a coworker.

I tested the small but more powerful Mini and the larger but slightly quieter Jr., which are both desk- or table-sized fans. At their lowest speeds they run 275 and 413 feet/minute, respectively, which is strong enough for a hot day but not so strong as to be distracting or blow too many papers all over the place. (If you want to use it as a desk fan, I found the 6-foot cord plenty long enough.) Note that there are also larger “Sr.” and pedestal versions if you like the look but need something bigger.

As unbecoming as this may be for a fan reviewer to admit, I didn’t think I liked box fans. Why have this big, ugly, industrial-looking thing in your house when there are so many other cool-looking fans that do cool things? I wondered. And then I tested Vornado’s Model 80X.

“It has 99 speeds,” the brand’s rep told me when it came out. “Yeah, right,” I thought. But, sure enough, this thing actually has 99 speeds, accessible via up and down buttons. I have no idea under what circumstance one might need this many speeds, but if you’re picky about your airflow, the 80X is one to consider. It’s also got a kickstand to reduce wobbling, a digital display, and a 1-to-12-hour timer. Plus, the silver-and-black casing looks good—like you meant to have it in your house, not a remnant from that one summer your AC broke during a heat wave.

This category is overrun with entries from auto-named Amazon brands like Amacool, Gaiatop, and my personal favorite, Hotsales, but this Jisulife is recommended all over the place. When folded down it’s roughly the shape of a full-sized, pill-shaped candy bar, with plastic ears and a printed-on bear mouth. Pry open the front (not always easy with short nails, so often I had to use something else), and it extends to become a two-bladed, two-speed fan. It’s also got a flashlight on the bottom and a USB output to serve as an emergency power source.

The fan is stronger than I expected, measuring 472 feet/minute on my anemometer, but due to its small size, you still have to be very close to feel the breeze. And this means you will frequently bump it on your neck, phone, sunglasses, etc. It turns itself off when this happens, so every time I used it during the testing period I felt like I turned it off about 10 times. However, it’s reasonably quiet at 44 dB on low, and you won’t really notice it outdoors amid lots of ambient noise. It only weighs about 4 ounces and is small enough to slip into a pocket. I also like the fact it comes in six colors.

Where this fan really excels, however, is its battery life. The packaging says it can last up to 19 hours on one charge. While I did not leave the fan on nonstop for this length of time, I was able to use it intermittently over the course of five days on a single charge. It also held its charge after a month on a shelf, with both the fan and flashlight operating strong as ever.

As is the case with handheld personal fans, Amazon is overrun with word-salad brands whose neck fan offerings all look more or less interchangeable. So in vetting fans, I looked for a combination of brands that have been around a while with at least a year of positive reviews, plus battery life beyond the typical 4,000 mAh (milliampere-hours). The ChillGo was appealing because not only did it meet these criteria, it’s foldable and fits into a little faux suede bag you can throw in a tote or backpack. The ends are also bendable, so you can angle them at just the right spot.

I tested this during a week-long trip in southern Louisiana, where the heat and humidity were often too much for my Pacific Northwest–dwelling self. I definitely got some stares walking around Audubon Park—I thought they looked enough like headphones so as not to attract attention, but my almost-13-year-old son assured me they do not. (If you do choose to wear a neck fan, you need to accept that you will embarrass your kids.) The reading of 49 dB on my decibel meter surprised me, as it doesn’t sound that loud outdoors amid all the ambient noise; the noise didn’t seem bothersome, and I didn’t feel like I had to talk over it. The fan does feel a little heavy after a while, and I didn’t like that I couldn’t feel any air blowing on the back of my neck, since the vents in back point straight up. However, it did operate off and on the entire time with only one charge. I’ll definitely take a less comfortable fan all day instead over a more comfortable fan for half the day.

Unlike more utilitarian misting fans, the FlexBreeze looks great—with its matte-black finish and contemporary gold accents, it wouldn’t be out of place amid a style-forward deck or patio setup. It also helps that it has a remote, allowing for discreet adjustments of its angle and five speed settings. It also happens to be one of the quietest fans I’ve tested. The mist deployed by the detachable misting attachment (Update May 2025: Shark now makes a version with a tank) is a bit on the heavy side—it made most of my deck quite wet and dampened the clothes of anyone sitting within 5 or so feet. On the plus side, this meant the mist didn’t immediately blow away, as was the case with the FlexBreeze’s portable sibling, the $150 HydroGo (below).

The Shark is rechargeable, so it can be used without an electrical outlet nearby, and the head detaches from the pedestal with legs that fold out, allowing it to double as an easy-to-transport floor fan. Shark claims the FlexBreeze can reduce nearby ambient temperature by 10 degrees with the misting attachment. Though I was never able to measure a reduction of more than 6 degrees using multiple thermometers, the difference in air temperature using the FlexBreeze versus without is dramatic enough to make the difference between an unbearable summer dinner outside and a pleasant one.

“Dreo’s highest cooling performance to date!” crowed the press materials for this fan/heater combo released in November 2024. Having tested a couple other combination fan/heaters, I admit I was dubious—usually the fan is either half its usual size to accommodate the heater or is partially blocked internally by the heating apparatus. However, the MC706 is the strongest tower fan I’ve tested to date.

It accomplishes this feat through auto-shift positive temperature coefficient (PTC) technology, which moves the heater’s ceramic element aside to allow full fan airflow. (This is also a key component in electric vehicle heating systems.) Pair this with a boosted DC motor and 12 fan speeds and you’ve got a tower fan that not only rivals but exceeds any stand-alone version. Other perks include a flame-resistant plastic body, inset carrying handle (the fan weighs 13 lbs.), 120-degree oscillation, and tip-over protection for the five-setting heater. Note, however, that though there is a remote, there are no smart features, and this fan does not work with the Dreo app.

Also note that this is currently flagged as a “frequently returned item” on Amazon due to heating issues, but I’ve been using the MC706 as both a fan and heater for nine months and have had no issues.

My family loves this combination air purifier and tower fan. Though it is on the larger side and looks almost like a cylindrical patio heater, it costs a hundred less than a similar Dyson; offers 99.97 percent HEPA filtration and an air quality sensor; and has control capability through a remote, the Dreo app, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.

Both the 12-speed fan and purifier can operate independently, and the large, heavy base with its blue or orange motor just looks cool. After a year of nightly use, the MC710S is still going strong, and its filter ($40 for one) has only needed to be replaced once.

Though this newer bladeless fan from Shark (read our full review here) is billed as a tower fan, it doesn’t look or act like any tower fan I’ve ever seen. It evokes a windmill more than it does a fan, with a horizontal bar that sits on a telescoping base, like a big “T.” The ends of the bar, which are articulated, feature the vents, and each end can be bent straight up, straight down, or at any point in between for fully customizable air direction. The whole bar can also be turned vertically to look more like an “I,” if you’d rather have a breeze going up and down instead of side to side. It has all the usual features you’d expect of a fan at this price point, including 10 speeds, oscillation, a magnetic remote, and three settings, including “Sleep,” which makes sense as the TurboBlade, in its “T” configuration, is about the right height for a bed.

It’s a great choice if you need airflow in different directions at once, but be forewarned that it makes a fairly loud, jet engine-like whine, which is noticeable even on lower settings.

Not only does Vornado bill this as its most powerful tower fan (accurate, according to my anemometer) but also as Vornado’s first tower fan to double as ambient room lighting. An amber LED light running in a strip up the back and around the base has five levels of brightness. Most of the fan body consists of a sleek, black, honeycomb-like finish, with the actual fan vent composing a 4-inch vertical strip. There’s a magnetic remote that sticks to the top if you want to control the Ara’s five speeds or two oscillation angles (90 or 180 degrees) from afar, though over extended testing I found the remote to work only intermittently; I’m not sure if it’s a battery issue or the fact I’m not pointing it in the right region.

I especially like that it’s not immediately evident that the Ara is a fan, especially with its LED lights turned on, and it looks especially high-tech in the dark. (Photo shows the back side.)

A fitness fan, you might be asking yourself? Does one really need a special fan just for riding a Peloton or running on the treadmill? I wouldn’t have thought so, but that was before I tried the Fly Max. I live in a neighborhood filled with steep hills, so I find myself running indoors on a treadmill any time the thought of scaling a steep hill is just too unappealing to manage. (Which, I’ll be honest, is most days.) This fan has turned this activity from a hot, sweaty, unpleasant mess into something I don’t mind doing even on a hot day.

I’ve used other fans next to my treadmill before, but the makers of the Fly Max have thought of everything to make this as perfect as can be for indoor workouts. It doesn’t oscillate, but it does tilt 180 degrees to the angle where you need it, and the airflow is meant to simulate air resistance while exercising outdoors. My favorite feature: There’s a little round magnetic remote with a cradle on a Velcro strap that you can attach to your machine to turn the fan on and off or up and down—it fits perfectly around the handle on my treadmill. (It looks like a watch, but an icon on the back reiterates that it most certainly is not.) I wish the fan cord were a little longer, and I wish it had a handle for moving around, as it is heavy and bulky, but overall this is an amazing addition to any indoor workout room or machine.

• A fan you can take to the gym: Vornado makes another fitness fan, the Fly Move ($70), which is small, USB-C rechargeable with a 17-hour run time (I haven’t tested this, but I have also used it for a week’s worth of hour-long workouts and never had it run out), and has a leather-esque strap for carrying. The output is not super powerful at 750 feet/minute. It’s not adjustable and sits right on the floor, propped up by a little bumper, so it’s mostly good for floor work, but I have found I love putting it on a weight bench to keep me cool while I do my reps.

Sometimes one simply needs a fan to provide a breeze on hot, lazy days, other times a fan is necessary for less pleasant purposes—flooded basements, dishwasher leaks, clearing out smoke. Or the time a freak snow- and windstorm blew several inches’ worth of snow through my home’s gable vents, which I didn’t realize until it melted and started leaking through several light fixtures.

You could always rent a high-velocity commercial fan, but keeping this commercial-grade, three-speed floor fan on hand could potentially save time and money. It’s small enough to be stored in a garage or basement for when it’s needed, but this is no wimpy box fan—its 1/5 horsepower motor almost blew my anemometer out of my hand during testing.

It’s got a handle for carrying and two 120-volt outlets on the side for auxiliary power or daisy-chaining other fans, plus a 6-foot cord to facilitate placing it in the middle of the room. Be forewarned, though, that this truly is a utilitarian piece of equipment—don’t expect to be able to carry on a conversation in the same room.

• For less intensity: Our previous top pick, the Lasko Superfan Max ($85), is slightly smaller and thus easier to store, and it’s more widely available. However, it is only about half as strong, with an output of 1,200 ft/m. It may be easier to live with, however, if you need to have it on for long periods near your living area.