Dreo
Pilot Max S DR-HTF004S Tower Fan
About the product
A smart tower fan bursting with cooling options
The Dreo Pilot Max S promises a high-end experience that is worth its cost. It combines Dreo’s signature motor for super quiet operation and high airflow with smart capabilities that Dreo says makes it easier than ever to control.
The BestReviews Testing Lab checked these claims, a process that involved multiple tests, including recording ambient temperatures before and after use and taking decibel readings during operation, and found the Dreo Pilot Max S lives up to them.
We’d even say it's the most impressive tower fan of the six we tested, though its high cost and smart connectivity make it more of a specialty fan that’s best for people who can take advantage of its many smart home features.
What is the Dreo Pilot Max S Tower Fan?
Product Specifications
Speed settings: 12 | Height: 42.52” | Airflow: 26 ft/s | Weight: 10.12 lb | Oscillation: 120 degrees max
The Dreo Pilot Max S is a high-end tower fan made for anyone with a large, smart-connected home. Its 12 fan speed settings can blow a maximum of 26 feet per second. We found the maximum made our testing room feel practically frigid after only five minutes, though it never lowered the temperature of the room a full degree. It also has four modes, including a Natural mode that alternates between high and low speeds, which perform exactly as described.
Setting up the fan’s smart connectivity is a matter of downloading the Dreo app and following the instructions, making it user-friendly for anyone starting a smart network in their home. Its brushless DC motor is nearly silent at most speeds, with no registered decibel increase on our meter until speed setting four. Those readings were 38.2 decibels at speeds one through three and 39.8 decibels at speed four, which is quieter than a whispered conversation. Finally, it doesn’t hurt that the fan looks sleek and stylish and comes in either silver or gold.
Price and where to buy
The Dreo Pilot Max S retails for $149.99. You can find it on Amazon.
Why we like it
Multiple fan speeds and modes
With its 12 fan speed settings and four modes, you can easily fine-tune your cooling experience to your exact need or preference.
Quiet operation
Its peak decibel reading at speed 12 is 52.8, about a point lower than the loudest reading we registered on other fans. At speed 9, it’s only 45.8 decibels, which is quiet enough to forget it’s on (we actually forgot it was on).
Smart connectivity
Being able to adjust every setting with a quick voice command makes this the easiest tower fan to control of the six we tested. It works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
What we don’t like
Input delay
We had issues with the buttons on the remote control, which needed to be pressed several times before the command was recognized by the fan, and voice commands can take several seconds to process and trigger.
Size
Because this Dreo is rather large (12.76 by 12.76 by 42.52 inches), it looks out of place in small rooms. It would be overkill in a small apartment, for example.
Dreo Pilot Max S Tower Fan setup
Setting up this fan includes assembling the unit and configuring the smart capabilities.
- Physical setup is easy. Remove the two halves of the base plate from the box, snap them together, attach the base plate to the bottom of the tower and plug it in.
- Smart setup is also easy but a bit more involved. Download the Dreo app and set up an account. Then tap the Add Device button in the Dreo app and find the Pilot Max S on the device list. Click it, and the app will walk you through the rest.
Airflow and cooling efficiency
We were more than pleased with the Pilot Max S’s 12 fan speed settings and four excellent modes. While it didn’t actually drop the testing room’s temperature after 30 minutes at speed setting 9, its powerful winds made us feel significantly cooler after just five minutes. Its adjustable oscillation angles of 30, 60, 90 and 120 degrees allowed us to have more control over how wide of an area we wanted to cool.
Design and construction
We like the look of the Dreo Pilot Max S, with its sleek oval shape and shiny exterior that comes in silver or gold. However, it’s a fairly large fan, weighing in at 10.12 pounds and measuring 42.5 inches high and 12.76 inches wide. It felt big, almost daunting, in our 100-square-foot testing room. This isn’t an issue in large rooms, though.
Inside its shiny metal frame is a black grill on the front and one on the rear; the rear grill can be removed for cleaning. An easy-to-read LCD screen at the top of the fan provides information about the fan’s speed, mode, and timer and whether the sound is muted.
Features and functionality
The Dreo Pilot Max S’s features are four wind modes, a 12-hour timer and adjustable oscillation.
- Normal mode blows air at a stable speed of your choosing and works exactly as it should.
- Natural mode alternates between high and low speeds to create a faux wind current. It’s a nice mode for the right person, but we found it distracting.
- Sleep mode turns off the display and the beeping noise, plus slowly lowers the speed to one of the three lowest settings. It worked as described, and it’s a great way to stay cool at night while saving on energy costs.
- Auto mode adjusts the fan speed based on the ambient temperature to save energy. Our testing environment was too stable to test this, but everything else worked perfectly.
- The timer can be set up to 12 hours before switching off the fan. We had no issues with it.
- Oscillation can be set to 30, 60, 90 or 120 degrees. This is a rare feature since most oscillating fans have only one 90-degree setting.
Controls
There are three ways to control the Dreo Pilot Max S. The easiest is to connect it to your smart home network, a connection we found slow at times but otherwise simple to use. Otherwise, you can use the included remote, though we found the tower didn’t always respond to the signals we tried to use. Last, you can use the onboard controls on top of the tower.
How does it compare to other tower fans we’ve tested?
The Dreo Pilot Max S was the only smart tower fan we tested, so in that sense, there is no direct comparison.
As a tower fan, it most closely compares to the other two Dreos we tested: the Nomad One and the Cruiser Pro T1. The Pilot Max S costs twice what those do, but it also includes double the fan speeds of the Cruiser and triple the speeds of the Nomad One. It otherwise has the same motor, general design and extra modes as the other Dreo tower fans.
Testing the Dreo Pilot Max S Tower Fan
We performed six tests on this Dreo.
- Setup included noting the difficulty of setting up and installing the fan.
- Cooling effectiveness combined temperature readings over time with a subjective assessment.
- Smart connectivity followed every part of the process, from how easy it was to connect to the accuracy of commands given through a smart speaker.
- Design and aesthetics considered both the practical and decorative elements of the general design of the Pilot Max S.
- Noise level included recording a decibel reading at each of the 12 fan speeds on Normal mode.
- “Real life” had us consider the results of the previous five tests, combined with using the fan in everyday ways rather than solely in testing lab trials.
Should you get the Dreo Pilot Max S Tower Fan?
Adding the Dreo Pilot Max S to your network is easy to recommend if you already have other smart devices in your home. It’s also an excellent choice for anyone with a large house and large rooms that need cooling. For small homes and those without smart connectivity, we’d say this fan is too large and expensive.