533DC Energy Smart Small Air Circulator Fan with Variable Speed Control, White

Finally, a fan that is suitable for keeping you cool at your desk that is *silent* at the lowest speed. The continuous speed control lets you set the speed to anything you want. At the lowest setting it's really slow but still moving air, and you can't hear it at all. The 9 inch size is big enough to be efficient at moving air at low fan speeds, and small enough to fit on or near your desk. If you set it within a few feet of you, you don't need to set the speed high enough to be noisy.Of course, as you increase the speed, the fan makes more airflow and you can hear some air turbulence, proportional to the speed setting. At the highest setting it blows a LOT of air and it's pretty loud, but that's the sound of moving air. At the halfway mark, it's already blowing a lot of air, and quieter than other fans I've tried. The DC motor itself doesn't make any noise, as far as I can tell.And - it doesn't smell at all. In my house we are very sensitive to the smell of plastics and electronics, and we can't smell this one.

This is the small fan in Vornado's small/medium/large series of DC motor fans without external DC transformers. The transformer must be contained within the base, making them far more use-friendly than the series with external transformers. We have all three sizes and they all share energy efficiency, excellent movement of air, and a constantly variable speed knob. That variability is a real plus because it allows you to find the best combination of air movement and low noise, making an already quiet fan to be optimized for truly quiet operation. The prices are high but we justified the cost with consideration of Vornado's promise of longevity and low energy use, and the superior functionality of which we can attest. The world is getting hotter folks and these fans allow you to create less CO2 and waste, through efficiency, reduced use of AC, and fewer old plastic fans clogging our landfills.

Best fans on the market. Love the DC option, though I have their AC option as well. The fan is super quiet in comparison to other and moves a great deal of air. They also last years over other brands. Have these throughout my home and they help keep cooling costs on balance.

I placed this in my office, about 9x9 room. I was worried that it would be too small but vornado proved me wrong and I am happy for it. We have a larger version in our living room and a medium one in the main bedroom. This one has been perfect for this small office where I also do my workouts. It has kept me cool this summer and wasn't too loud despite how strong it circulated the air. This is on the pricier side with its DC motor, but well worth it for the power and quality.

I was debating between the Vornado VFAN Jr. and this Vornado 533DC. I wanted the VFAN for its vintage make and look, but I also wanted a fan that is as noiseless as my 30 year old Sanyo table fan. I ended up getting the Vornado 533DC because I was afraid the VFAN would be too loud and I did not like that the VFAN Jr. only has two speed settings.I am very pleased with the Vornado 533DC. It is noiseless on low settings (<45% turn of the knob). To iterate what another reviewer mentioned, you have to go up to about 25% to feel a light airflow, but between 25%-45%, airflow can be felt 7-8 feet away. When it is 85 degrees outside and my bedroom is on the third floor (with the sun beaming on the roof and heat rising up from below), I only need the fan on low to feel comfortable. The fan is a little loud on medium and high settings (>50% turn of the knob), but for the level of noise, you get equivalent airflow.The mechanical turn knob/variable speed settings is really what distinguishes this fan from other fans. It is a little pricey for a fan, but I am hoping it will last me 10+ years and it will help me save on my electrical bill.

I first started buying Vornado fans decades ago because of their high output to size ratio, and the infinite speed control which no other brands had. Sadly they dropped the infinite speed control and switched to the same 3 speeds limitation as other manufacturers. At that point there was not much difference between Vornado and others, except that the Vornados used cheap squirrel cage motors with a design that made them prone to dust clogging. This model however with its DC motor and infinite speed control seems like a step in the right direction, and it will be interesting to see how it holds up in the years ahead. I think marketing it as some kind of energy efficient "eco" fan is sort of silly since fans generally don't use much power anyway. More to the point is the infinite speed control and hopefully the improved reliability of the DC motor. We'll see. At the moment this fan is only available in white, and the speed knob and grey power cord look sort of incongruous, but hopefully they will refine the design a bit, offer it in black....and lose the unnecessary "energy smart" logo on the front. It's a nice little fan.

The dial is my favorite feature on this fan. Being able to pick the exact speed is extremely helpful. It is quiet and does not use a lot of energy for the power it produces.

I've had this fan for over 2 years and have used it almost every day in my bedroom/home office. In the blistering hot summer, it runs virtually 24/7. In the winter, it runs on low speed at night just for some air circulation. The title of this review isn't totally accurate: the fan isn't 100 percent silent, but it is very, very quiet unless at top speed. Honestly, it's so powerful that I don't think I've ever had occasion to run it at full speed even in the summer with no AC. It puts my much larger floor fan to shame.Summary: Powerful, quiet, durable, good value.

I absolutely love this fan. I bought it a year ago to replace my tower fan and it's still going strong. It feels very well made, solid and thoughtfully designed. I use it in my bedroom mainly - I open the skylight and put this in the window facing outward on full speed with the door closed before bed and it helps clear out the hot air from the day. Then I place it so it is directed towards me in my bed while I am sleeping. It is very quiet on the low/medium settings, but like any fan it is quite loud when on full blast. I wouldn't sit in it full blast though as it is too powerful. It seems to move more than just the stream of air in front of it, which is the design. I move it downstairs while I'm working on hot days and I love how portable it is and that I can set it to the perfect speed so it isn't annoying at all - (it has a continuous speed setting, without set levels so you can fine tune). If i need any more fans i wouldn't hesitate to spend on this one again. definitely worth the cost.

Very satisfied with my purchase. I use this fan to cool my bedroom on hot nights by placing it in front of an open window. This fan is extremely quiet at low speed and very powerful at max, it cools the room in minutes, whereas my old fan would barely make a difference.

I was looking for a quiet, powerful fan for my bedroom and this does the trick. The most air flow is in the direct stream of the fan, but it does seem to move the air around it. It is near silent until you get to about the halfway mark on the dial--as I am not a fan of fan noise, I don't ever turn it up past the halfway mark, but it still moves a lot of air at halfway.

C'est le deuxième ventilateur/circulateur Vornado que j'achète. J'avais sous-estimé l'utilité au quotidien d'un ventilateur aussi efficace et silencieux (à petites vitesses). Il y a moyen avec ça de dormir paisiblement même certaines nuits où une air climatisée aurait été, sans cela, nécessaire. C'est cher? Oui, mais pas pour ce que ça vaut.

I can kinda fine-tune things, but even putting light pressure on the knob without rotating it randomly causes the speed to start pulsing back and forth. No idea what speed it'll actually be until I let go of the knob. Even when I leave it on a certain setting, the thing sounds like its speed is constantly adjusting by itself within like a 2.5% range of what I set. It's pretty minor, but I don't recall having this issue with cheaper AC fans.I also probably should've picked a fan with half the maximum RPM, as I find anything above around 30% gets annoying after a while. Max on this thing is pretty insane, so I'd say that's probably a positive for those that want it. In my case, it just cuts my adjustment range by a huge amount.I basically gained the ability to control noise levels more precisely in and lost consistency when it comes to RPM. I should mention that, yes, I am pretty picky.