Customer Reviews

Vornado 510W Compact Air Circulator

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can't say enough good things about this fan.

Four years ago, I was living in an apartment that had one window air conditioner in the living room which wasn't running all that well, and I couldn't convince the landlord to recharge the freon. So I was looking at big, powerful fans at Target to move cooler air into my bedroom when someone walked up and highly recommended this small fan - the 510W (just 12" high). Told me it would shoot air up a stairwell from downstairs to upstairs.

The 510W is so quiet that on the lowest setting, I sometimes can't tell by listening if it's running - I have to hold my hand in front of it. Yet I often don't point it directly at me (six feet away) when I'm sleeping because it effectively moves the air around the room even if you're not directly in front of it.

It cost more, but I can tell you it moves more air than all those cheapies I had combined. I soon got rid of a couple other fans because they were worthless by comparison. And I've checked out recent look-alikes at Home Depot, Target, etc., and they don't even compare. Vornado fans are built really sturdy and stable, and I'm convinced they'll be good for years and years. (new ones have a lifetime warranty)

This thing doesn't put out gale-force winds to be effective on low settings. Somehow it creates a focused "beam" of air so that you still feel a faint breeze on the other side of the room even on low. On higher settings, it then air moves back around the sides of the room so it makes a difference even when the fan's not pointed directly at you.

I was so happy with the small 510W that I later bought one of Vornado's mid-size fans on a stand (model 615?) and an air cleaner AQS35. This summer I picked up a couple of the reconditioned 610B fans from Amazon (perfect size to put in windows), to bring in cooler air from outside (esp. at night). The 615 (a stand model) is in the dining room of my apartment, and I sometimes aim it over the open "bar" between the kitchen and dining room when cooking gets the kitchen too hot (10 feet away). Instant results. Or I aim it into the bathroom with the door open (again, 10 feet away) after the mirror is steamed up, and it clears up in no time. And I'm convinced it's saved it's worth in air conditioning bills. (It's aimed at me from 10 feet away on the lowest setting as I write this, and it feels like a nice, gentle breeze). I usually only need the more powerful settings if it's *really* hot, or I'm trying to move lots of air in/out a window or from one room to another.

When people see (feel!) these fans, they decide they're worth the price. Friends and family bought three of the large 750B (reconditioned), two of the medium 610B, and three of the small 510W or 550G. My parents got the Vornado Intellitemp heater, and recently bought a second one for their unheated bathroom downstairs.

All three fans can move air a good distance. The difference is how wide the "swath" of air they send out, and how much air they move (to move air-conditioned air down a hall or through a window to bring in cooler outside air). The 750B feels as strong at 10 feet on lowest setting as the 510 does on medium or high (and will be quieter to get the same effect - they all make noise on higher settings). The 750B is a leap above the 500 and 600 fans in power - the main disadvantage of the 750B is it's a little wide for a hallway or doorway, and is a little large to sit in a window unless you could make some kind of platform for it.

Reconditioned Vornado fans I've seen have all worked like the new ones - a few of them are a little louder than new (will have a slight buzz at certain angles).

Wichita Kansas is big in the aircraft industry, and I'm convinced an aircraft engineer designed this fan. Vornado products are industrial strength, and are simply amazing.

Bottom line, I live in Southern California in a thirdfloor walkup studio apartment with no airconditioner and since all the windows face the same direction -- no cross breeze. During the summer my cats and I bake in here. But last summer I picked up this same make of Vornado. I cringed at the price tag but a friend assured me that it was worth it. She was right. It puts out as much airmovement as either one of my two large box fans (you know about 2 ft square and you either stand it in the window or have it on the floor). When I saw the price on this fan through Amazon I couldn't buy it fast enough. Oh, and it's so much quieter than other fans. I go deaf in the summer with a room full of fans to keep it cool, but these things are quiet. They really are worth the price. I'm told the larger ones are even better. If you live anywhere where you think you might need a fan, this is really worth the price. It's a deal.

I've had this fan for about 4 years, and it's been running for about 3 of those years continuously and I still haven't had any problems with it. For a little fan it circulates the air around your room with incredible ease. In fact, you get so used to having one around, that you're not comfortable without it. I love this fan so much that I've purchased other fans for other rooms! I would highly recommend this specific fan!

You cannot find a more powerfull fan in such a small package. It has stepless speed control. At the highest speed it blasts as much air as a massive box fan on high except it does it in a higher velocity compact stream of air. It is amazing how this stream stays together over a long distance without much divergance. This meant I could use it to channel air directly into my bedroom 25 feet and two rooms away from my single window unit airconditioner. It is somewhat noisy at its highest speed because of that massive volume of air being moved. At its lowest speed it gives a nice breeze and is very quiet.

Turn this small but mighty fan on and your hot flashes in the middle of the night aren't!!!!

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but the other reviews on this item made it sound like this fan was some miraculous new advance in electric fan technology. I bought it, and I'm satisfied with my purchase, but so far it hasn't radically changed my life and I'm not in any hurry to tell all my friends to go out and buy 10 of them. It's a fan. You turn it on, it blows air. It doesn't seem to blow air any further than any other fan I've had. It works fine in my average-sized bedroom. It is pretty quiet and is small, two features I like. I think I'd like it a little more if it had the ability to oscillate back and forth.

Own several Vornado 510 and 610's for a few years, quite happy.
Decided to add another one and got a substitute - Mexico-made 530,
with substandard quality and unbalanced rotor. So my 2-star rating is mostly about vendor fashion of conducting business, fan itself is perhaps worth 3 stars. Now I am stuck with this one, because would loose $8.50 from original payment + return cost.
But if you are not yet in this trap, beware of Polsteins and their business practices.

This tabletop fan is a telling reason why Vornado has been around for a long time. Great air output, high quality, well-built, very quiet on low speed, adjustable so you can tilt it at any angle you want, and just small enough to fit on your desk, table, or in our case, the bathroom counter. My wife uses this fan to cool off in the bathroom while getting ready in the morning, and it really does the job. It has a very focused air flow so she can aim it on herself without bothering me. It's very smooth running, so there's no danger of it vibrating off the counter. It costs a bit more than the typical portable fan, but then there's nothing more frustrating than having a fan that won't cool you off. No worries with this one! The extra money is well spent here. This fan lives up to the saying, "You get what you pay for"!

This is a high quality fan that is in very short supply as of July 2007. One of the last of the U.S.-built Vornados, it is superior, in my view, to the current China-built model 530 (see my review, which compares the newer 530 to the older 510; BTW, in Vornado-speak, the alpha stands for color: s = slate, w = white, etc.).

WARNING: I tried to snag a new 510 from True Value/ Polstein's Home and Beyond (they seem to be the same outfit -- look at the customer service phone numbers) through Amazon, but Polstein substituted the inferior 530 without the courtesy of asking my permission. Polstein has added fine print that says they can substitute an item (is this what they mean by "beyond" I wonder?), a somewhat devious practice; other sellers that once offered the 510 have dropped out because they have none. Customer service is unresponsive, verified by feedback from other users. Thank goodness for Amazon's A-Z guarantee with marketplace sellers; got my money back.

We originally bought the product for our toddler's room and then ended up buying a second Vornado for our master bedroom. This is an excellent buy for several reasons. First, it is sleek and stylish, especially given its neutral color. Second, it provides a great wind speed given its small size. Third, it provides a constant soothing wind sound, which is great for drowning out any annoying pheripheral noises. Lastly, I have not seen the product in a retail store any cheaper than on Amazon.com. We have had the product over 8 months with nightly use with no sign of defficiency in performance.