Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan Review

Is the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan worth it?

Most people set a fan down in front of themselves, turn it on and hope to feel cooler. However, if they move outside the breeze, they immediately become uncomfortable. The best models circulate the air throughout the entire room, ensuring there are no hot or cold spots. Instead, the whole space feels comfortable.

If you want to get the most for your money when you buy a fan, look for a model that can be used year-round. It should have a variety of speeds and enough power to get the air circulating to save on both your cooling and heating bills.

According to marketing claims, the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan "offers a more effective way to circulate air." It's a fan that can provide "comfort all year long." To find out if these statements were true, BestReviews Testing Lab evaluated its performance to see how it held up under real-world conditions.

Testing the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan 

To make sure products perform as expected, BestReviews sends them to its Testing Lab. The testers come from a variety of backgrounds to more accurately represent the average consumer.

Vornado's tower fan was evaluated to get a good sense of its overall performance and capabilities. The lab considered the product's setup process, effectiveness, noise level, variety of speeds and more to determine if this model was a good buy, and if it is, who would benefit most from using it. 

What is the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan?

When the Vornado arrived, it was securely packaged and only had a few parts that required assembling. The instruction manual detailed how to snap the two pieces of the base together and screw the fan to the assembled base using the four included screws. As long as you have a screwdriver set on hand, you can accomplish the setup in minutes.

The base has a small footprint, yet the fan felt sturdy — it would not be easy to knock over accidentally. The model the testing lab received was a neutral black that could fit in with nearly any decor. After reading through the instructions and exploring the fan, BestReviews discovered it's lightweight, has a sturdy build and is about 41 inches tall. The Vornado has three on-board controls for power, speed and setting the timer, but it also comes with a remote for convenience.

The Vornado tower fan has more in common with a ceiling fan than other types of fans because its purpose is to create a wide span of constant airflow without the need for oscillation. This V-shaped pattern provides whole room circulation that evens out the temperature in all areas, reducing the tendency to change the setting on your thermostat. This allows you to save money on your energy bill.

See how the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan compares to other products in its space — check out our reviews for the best tower fans.

Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan price and where to buy

The Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan is available for $109.99 on Amazon and Home Depot websites.

How to use the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan

The Vornado 184 only has three buttons: power, fan speed and timer. This makes operation intuitive — you can use the fan without reading the instructions.

To turn the fan on, touch the power button. There are eight dots on the unit that increase in size as you move to the right. Touch the fan button to cycle through the speeds. The first tap engages low speed, which is indicated by two lights. On the second tap, the speed increases to medium and four dots light up. The third and fourth taps move you through high and turbo speeds, respectively.

If you want to set the timer, it functions in the same manner as the fan speed. The illuminated dots turn orange when you press the timer button and you can set it for a one-hour, two-hour, four-hour or eight-hour interval.

The remote has the same three buttons as the tower fan, and they function the same way.  When you aren't using the remote, it sits nicely in the top of the tower fan for storage.

The testing lab found the four fan speeds to be beneficial, as it allowed the user the opportunity to adjust them throughout the day, as needed. Since the fan gets louder as the speed increases, it can be distracting during the day (or night) if you run it at the highest speed. However, if you have trouble sleeping due to a noisy environment, the higher speeds could help block out some sound.

While the timer was a thoughtful feature, in practice, BestReviews found it was easier to just manually shut the fan off when leaving the room. This feature could be used to automatically turn off the fan when you're sleeping, but then the air would stop circulating, so the testing lab didn't see a real benefit to this feature.

Overall, the Vornado performed as expected and seemed to be a high-quality appliance that circulated air throughout most of the room. Even though oscillation is specifically designed out of this model, it's hard to get used to the idea that it's just as effective if it doesn’t move back and forth.

Cleaning the Vornado 184 is easy. All you have to do is unplug the fan and vacuum it using the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner. For a little extra care, wipe down the outside of the entire tower with a soft cloth.

Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan benefits

The Vornado has more fan speeds than BestReviews typically finds on other models. This lets the user fine-tune performance to both their own needs and the needs of the room. When used in the turbo speed mode, this fan has a great deal of power that seems to be very effective at circulating the air. The remote operation and the timer were nice features to have, while the setup was simple.

Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan drawbacks

The biggest drawback of this tower fan is arguably the noise level. However, if you desire some white noise to block out other environmental sounds, it could be considered a plus. If you're used to using an oscillating model, it could take a little time to get used to this fan. 

Should you get the Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan?

The Vornado 184 Circulator Tower Fan is made for the person who doesn't mind (or can get used to) white noise. It's a high-quality, powerful air-circulating fan that doesn't take up a lot of room but can make your living space more comfortable.