I tested dozens of tower fans. I hated everyone – until now.

I hate tower fans.

I know I'm here in the minority. Many other people seem to love them, because if I can search the Internet for new fans every year, the majority of them are tower fans. Even at a glance you can see that you all suffer from the same problems that make every tower fan so unbearable. There is the narrow, shaky structure, such as the Leaning device from Pisa. The big, slim wind power that is never completely satisfied. The oscillating system that always seems to squeak or break or both.

And then there is the air filter. Each fan needs a semi-regular cleaning, but Tower fans transform it into an absolutely miserable process. You can vacuum the dust outside the machine, but you can never find a way to leave the Gunk inwards. The dust and hair and tiny spots of WHO-KNOWS-WAS builds up over time, makes the poor draft even more poor and rejects the already perfect pendulum swing of the breeze.

But every year I still give tower fans a shot. I find some who arouse my interest and call them to test. Every year I try to find a tower fan that is not terrible.

And every year I am disappointed. This means that I tried the new Vornado Ara last summer, and it literally brightened my life.

Vornado makes some of our absolute favorite fans to the point that we have consistently recommended the same basic model since 2017. When I saw that the company published a new tower fan, I thought it was worth a look.

At first glance, like any other tower fan, it seemed around the fan blade with a more stable build and a real metal grille. But the LED light ring that ran around the base and back made me pull an eyebrow. Who is that for? I wondered. Why should someone turn to a tower fan for mood lighting?

I soon found the answer when summer got involved. We often rely on a season of fans to circulate the air conditioning. On a particularly clever day, I set the Vornado Ara in the kitchen as a temporary break. It was basically in the middle of our house, right next to my 4-year-old's bedroom. And since then it has not been moved from this place. In fact, we rarely switch it off.

The fan on the ARA moves the air on the lowest setting about 2.7 miles per hour and up to almost 13 miles per hour. Even in winter, this low backdrop helps to move the heat And In order to prevent the scents of the kitchen from entering the children's room. (He has a very sensitive nose.) And since its volume is less than 40 decibels, we hardly notice it. If we have to boost the fan even higher – for example in summer or when someone burns the popcorn again – It is still a bit quieter than what is usually considered a “normal conversation” of around 60 decibels.

This fan does not use that much energy thanks to its energy-efficient DC engine. With the fan and the lights on the height, it uses 50 watts of electricity per hour. But in the lower settings in which we normally keep it, the ARA only pulls about 10 watts. That costs me less than 20 US dollars in a whole year, even if the lights shine around the clock.

And speaking of light, the Vornado Ara has a strange wonderful ambience with a nice warm color temperature. During the day it helps to lighten the unpleasant corner between the kitchen and the bedroom. At night there is the perfect level of lighting to take us where we go. Regardless of whether my wife comes home late from the rehearsal, our child has a bad dream and wants to come to our bedroom, or someone needs a midnight break, the ARA offers the right amount of pleasant light to take her through the darkened house without overwhelming her pupils.

At the end of the day, the Vornado Ara is of course still a tower fan. And that means that the cleaning process is still quite bad. The long -lasting metal grille catches most of the dust and hair and is light enough to wipe or suck. But there is still no way to get into the machine to make a real deep cleaning.

On the bright side, the ARA comes with a reliable five -year guarantee with Bornados. This gives me the confidence that it was built in such a way that it was last – or at least that you don't throw your money away when something goes wrong. And that's good because this thing costs $ 250.

When I asked the company to explain the price, a representative told me that this was due to a combination of the larger size of the fan, the more powerful air flow, the “elegant metal details” and of course the accentation. This makes a certain amount of sense, although I suspect that an old saying comes into play old economy – that the price for something is just as much as everyone who is willing to pay for it at a certain point in time.

If you had asked me a year ago, I would have not said anyone to spend $ 250 for a tower fan. But during this time the Vornado Ara has become a heart of our house. It is a functional piece of decor that literally keeps the river running day and night. I can't say that about another fan that I have ever tested, susceptible or tested in any other way. On the other hand, the ARA is not only an attractive, powerful, well-made fan-es a lamp, with the guarantee, to take at least half a decade. When you express it like this, the Vornado ARA feels like a really good price -performance ratio.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers and Maxine Builder.