Lasko Wind Curve T42905 Oscillating Tower Fan

I love the sleek silhouette and wood grain accents of this Lasko tower fan. It’s also the third quietest fan I’ve tested, measuring just a few decibels noisier than the Honeywell. On top of that, it has Bluetooth, which allows you to control the oscillating fan through an app on your phone.

The problem is that the app is all you get as far as remote controls are concerned. That’s not good for a shared space, because the fan can only connect to one device at a time. In other words, if someone else is pairing with the fan, your connection will be disconnected.

That might be forgivable if the app offered advanced features like voice controls or the ability to set a custom schedule, but it doesn’t. You can turn it on and off, turn the oscillation feature on and off, adjust to three speed settings or start a sleep timer; the same controls you’ll find on the fan itself. It doesn’t ask for any permissions other than Bluetooth access, the app doesn’t seem to offer a privacy policy at all. All of this makes this Lasko fan easy to pass up at $80.

Vornado V-Flow Air Circulator Tower Fan

The Vornado V-Flow tower fan has a neat looking construction that rotates the fan grille around a cylindrical base. It’s one of the best-looking tower fans I’ve tried, but it doesn’t oscillate like a traditional tower fan. Instead, it relies on a winding design to move more air throughout the room.

It worked well in my tests when I pointed it at me, but the coverage varies with the side angles, where the airstream is located lower or higher due to the diagonal grille. The bigger issue is that the Vornado V-Flow is the noisiest fan I’ve tested, ringing out 50 decibels at the highest of its three speeds from a distance of 30 inches. On top of that, my remote doesn’t work, echoing the failures I’ve seen from user reviews of vendors where V-Flow is sold. That, plus the lack of features beyond the usual sleep timer, I’m not saying thanks to the Vornado’s $70 price tag here (and I’d probably skip it on a sale, too). That’s a shame, because Vornado’s five-year warranty is the best of all the fans I’ve looked at for this round, and more than doubles when you get the $550 Dyson TP04 .

AmazonBasics Oscillating 3-Speed ​​​​Tower Fan

Amazon continues to sell a variety of products under its AmazonBasics brand and these days include a tower fan. As the name suggests, it’s not very pretty. Remote batteries are not included, but at least you get a couple of natural wind settings on top of the usual low, medium and high speed settings.

Unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience with this fan. The remote stopped working shortly after I started testing, and the fan dislodged from its thin base after a few moves between rooms. Despite its 35-watt power draw which is the lowest of all the fans I tested, the airflow is weak, even at the highest setting. At $60, this tower fan is not worth the price.