I was left with disastrous balance after a tumor was removed from my Cerebellum shortly before the Persian Gulf War, and I have to lean heavily on a walker to get around. Therefore I don't like unnecessary walking, especially during the middle of the night. I also don't like hot rooms. It's a bad combination, since during the summer my bedroom becomes stifling, hot, and airless. My house in Costa Mesa, CA is much too "centrally located," (i.e. noisy,) to leave my window open. When I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of a summer night (and I always have to,) I want to switch on the air conditioner for the few minutes I'm out of the room. The a.c. is on the other side of the room than the bathroom, but that's O.K., because it has a remote. (I love remote-control units, and so would you if you were handicapped.) The problem is that the a.c. unit has a typically anemic little fan. It needs all the help it can get for the 4-5 minutes it's on. I had a conventional desk fan, but I had to push the damn walker `round my bed to switch the noisy thing on and off, a real bummer, so I searched the Internet for a desk fan with a remote, and there wasn't a wide selection. I came across this model on the Amazon site, the customer reviews were good, and even though it was back-ordered (which I hate,) I grudgingly ordered it. I ordered it on Thursday, July 21st (2005,) and resigned myself for a long wait. (To make things worse, we were having a heat-wave then.) Astonishingly, it came on Monday the 25th. Disappointingly, it looked pretty flimsy for a $45 fan, with the "feel" of an item made in China. (If it's not, then I apologize to "Windchaser." I couldn't find a "made in" sticker anywhere.) The remote did not work as the owner's manual led me to believe it would, nor would the front grill rotate. (Which it's supposed to do to provide oscillation.) Fortunately, none of these affected my long-term enjoyment of this fan. All the fan controls are on a simple "toggle switch" principle, and anyway the fan always turns on to the same setting. A piece of packing material was caught in front grill, and after I removed it and gave a nudge with my fingers it started rotating like a champion. The six-bladed fan circulates a lot of air, (much more quietly than my old fan,) and gives my air-conditioning unit the assistance it needs to lower the temperature in my room the critical two or three degrees, and I love the fact it's remotely controlled. A mark-up that must be over 100% doesn't make this fan absurdly over-priced in this sad era.
I know, because last year I bought the identical fan (excuse me, "air circulator") at [a store] for twice what I'm ordering this second one! I keep this fan in my bedroom window during the summer to keep the air circulating and to pull in the cooler evening air. You can position the rotating grille to direct the air flow as desired, or just let it oscillate. The remote control is wonderful--if I awaken in the middle of the night and find that I'm too cool (or not cool enough) I can make the necessary adjustments without having to get out of bed and trip over one of the cats. Although this isn't as quiet as a Vornado (which I also have), I can go to sleep with it set on the low or medium setting. I'm buying this fan to place in my west-facing living room window to help cool off in the evenings.
