The Vornado 660 Large Room Air Circulator is more than just a fan. It’s a whole room air circulator designed to keep warm air flowing in the winter and cold air circulating in the summer. It is equipped with Vornado’s signature Vortex technology, which promises to create a flow of air that encompasses an entire room. This Vortex technology is so efficient that the company claims Vornado fans can exchange air between adjacent rooms and pull air down a hallway and even up a set of stairs. Will it blow away the competition? We spent some time with the Vornado 660, using it in various rooms to see if it lives up to its hype.
Performance: A whirlwind experience
The first thing to remember about the Vornado 660 is that it is not a “point-in-your-face” fan to cool you off. It is an air circulator that is designed to push air around a room to help keep it cool. It uses a combination of deep-pitch fan blades, a specialty grill, and other aerodynamic elements that are designed to circulate air. Perhaps you have an air conditioner or an open window, and you want to move that fresh air from one side of the room to the other; the Vornado 660 is the perfect fan for the job. It can circulate air up to 100 feet, allowing you to use it in a range of room sizes. The fan does not oscillate, but it doesn’t need to. The vortex airflow is powerful enough to circulate the air in an entire room without having to swing back and forth. We tested the Vornado 660 in our office, bedroom, and living room and found it moved the air effectively within each room. When we placed the fan in our upstairs hallway, It even pulled heat from our woodstove through the grate in the floor. It doesn’t have the “blow on you” feeling of a ceiling fan, but it still moves air effectively within a room. The Vornado 660 moves air with some gusto, but it does so quietly. Across all four of its speed settings, it’s one of the quietest fans we have ever used. You can barely hear it when it is at its lowest setting. The second power level is slightly louder, but you can still talk and watch TV without any interference from the fan. It’s only when you reach levels three and four that the Vornado starts sounding like a real fan. Even on its highest setting, you can still talk over this appliance.
Design: Blends into any room
The Vornado 660 Large Room Air Circulator ships pre-assembled and has a compact, contemporary design that would blend discreetly into any room. It fit right in with each of the aforementioned spaces in which we tested it. The base is a sturdy, durable plastic with rubber knobs on the bottom. When we placed the Vornado 660 on a carpeted floor, the rubber knobs on our unit would fall out after a few weeks of daily use. We ended up using glue to keep them securely attached to the base of the fan. Our favorite design feature was the chrome glide bar that allows the fan to tilt a full 90 degrees. The fan slides so smoothly on the glide bar that adjusting the angle is a breeze. You are not constrained to a set number of angles and can adjust the fan to any position you need. There are no springs or clamps to break or wear out over time. We expect the tilting mechanism to last as long as the fan if not longer. At the top of the unit, there is a power button and four speed buttons, from low (600 revolutions per minute, or RPM, which moves 257 cubic feet per minute, or CFM) to high (1,375 RPM and 587 CFM). Between those extremes, there are two other options: medium-low and medium-high. The buttons are easy to locate, even in the dark. They press easily andy beep to let you know that your press was registered. Unfortunately, every time you press the power button to turn on the fan, it defaults to high. We would love to see a memory setting that remembers the power level you used when you last turned off the fan. One handy feature is the removable front grill that makes it easy to vacuum out the interior of the fan.
Placement: Position is a priority
To get the most out of the Vornado fan, we found we needed to experiment with it and find the best location for air circulation. In our experience, the larger the room, the more careful we had to be when placing the fan so we could get the maximum movement of air. In the summer, you should angle the fan so the vortex hits a wall and bounces off of it, creating a pattern of circulating air. In the winter, you should point the fan at the ceiling to mix the hot air that rises with the cold air below.
Price: A reasonable price tag
The Vornado 660 lives up to Vornado’s reputation for its quality design and a price tag to match. At around $110, this is one of the more costly fans in this category, but you get Vornado’s quality workmanship and a five-year warranty for the price.
Competition: More than one option
When you want a fan to circulate the air within a room or even between two rooms, then one of your first picks should be the Vornado 660. However, it’s not a fan you direct towards you to cool yourself off. Technically, you can use it that way, but then you lose out on the primary feature of the fan: whole room air circulation. If you want a fan to provide a directed blast of air, then you should consider the Honeywell HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan or the Seville Classics UltraSlimline 40” Oscillating Tower Fan, both of which we also tested. Honeywell HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan: This model is a compact, personal fan instead of a room-sized fan. It is small enough to sit on your desk or the nightstand next to your bed, but it has sufficient power to keep you cool. Seville Classics UltraSlimline 40” Oscillating Tower Fan: This 40-inch-tall tower fan delivers a blast of air that covers an entire room, but it does not circulate air as the Vornado does. The UltraSlimline does oscillate, so everyone in the range of the fan will receive some benefit. The Vornado 660 Large Room Air Circulator creates a whirlpool of air in even the largest room. It effectively circulates fresh, cool air on a warm day and moves the warm air where you need it the most when it is cold.
