Kaycee Erickson
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2025
I am absolutely thrilled with my Vornado 530 Compact Whole Room Air Circulator Fan. This little fan packs a big punch, circulating air effortlessly throughout my entire room. Its compact size is perfect for small spaces, and its sleek design looks great on my desk or floor. The fan is also incredibly quiet and energy-efficient, making it a great value. I've noticed a significant difference in the comfort level of my room since using this fan. Highly recommend!
R W
Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2024
this small fan easily moves the air in a large bedroom and it takes up very little space. Highly recommended
Mark N
Reviewed in Canada on July 1, 2024
Small but mighty.We had our air conditioner go down during a heat wave and couldn't get someone out to look at it right away and got this fan.I went for the smaller model due to the price and intending to use it for the bedroom. I think that was the right choice for us as it does work very well.It does have an odd hum on the low setting but its not bad.It's not super quiet, but it's not too noisy, especially considering the amount of air it delivers. The sound is consistent, so we had no issues sleeping with it on.It made a huge difference, and I bought a second one.
JR
Reviewed in Canada on June 22, 2024
Noise level adequat
Jimmy G
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2024
This fan does a great job moving air helping me keep my office cool. It runs practically all the time. I've tried other manufacturers and they just don't hold up. These fans just keep going and do a great job all along!
Southern City Reviewer
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2022
I avoided Vornado for years because it seemed like a hype product. Expensive, and I didn't see how on earth a small Vornado could replace a much larger oscillating fan. It creates a very different kind of airflow than traditional oscillating fans, but Vornado is no hype. These things work.I live in a long, narrow 1500 sq. ft. mid-century ranch house with HVAC vents along the exterior walls, closed-off rooms, a long central hallway, and an absolutely terrible layout for airflow. I've been buying cheap fans to put on the floor in front of the HVAC vents to help push air throughout the house, but those cheap fans keep needing the bearings cleaned and oiled every few months. I decided to try a Vornado because of it's 5 year warranty, with no real expectation that it would perform any differently than my cheap fans.It does perform better. A lot better, in fact. Just one strategically placed Vornado, turned on its highest speed, pushes enough air that it can be felt throughout the entire house.The kitchen is on one end of the house with no exposed HVAC ventilation. I put this Vornado in the adjacent dining room, on the floor, next to an HVAC vent, and pointed it at the stove. When the fan is on high, nearly 20 feet away, cold air can be felt in the kitchen every time the air conditioning comes on. Even without the AC on, the kitchen feels as though a window is open and a breeze is coming through. In fact, the air circulation that Vornado advertises is so effective that I have to turn the fan off completely if I'm cooking anything that produces a lot of steam or smoke, because the stove hood can't overcome the airflow of the Vornado that's 20 feet away and the steam/smoke ends up collecting underneath my cabinets.Here's the crazy thing. If I forget to turn the fan back on, the other end of the house, where the bedrooms are, gets several degrees warmer than the front of the house, where the kitchen is.Oddly enough, in my living room—which is almost entirely closed off, but roughly the same area as the kitchen and dining room combined—this fan didn't move enough air to produce any noticeable effect. I ended up buying a slightly larger model, a Pivot 6, for the living room and liked it enough that I bought a second Pivot 6 for my bedroom. With these three Vornados running 24/7, the air conditioning comes on half as often as it use to and when it does come on, it only runs for half the time it use to. During a recent multi-week triple-digit heat wave, my electric bill was only $20 higher than it had been in the spring (before I got the Vornadoes) when the temperature stayed in the 70s.Unlike traditional oscillating table fans, this Vornado creates a single jet of air that disrupts the rest of the air in a room. I would not want a Vornado pointed at me the way I would a traditional table fan, it's not comfortable to be in front of one turned on high speed. Aside from the Vornado in my dining room, I point these Vornados at a doorway and let them push air out of the room. You can feel this air movement in the hallway and in other rooms that have no fans in them.Prior to having any fans in the house, my HVAC was set to 72 and parts of the house still felt too warm for comfort in the summer. After buying six oscillating table fans to place throughout the house, my HVAC was set to 77 and the house still felt warm in places. Adding these three Vornados let me set the HVAC to 78 and I'm contemplating setting it to 79, because I keep putting on a hoodie throughout the day. Overall, the house feels cooler now than it did when my HVAC was set to 72, and the energy bills are much lower.I've also taken this fan apart and put oil around the front bearing. The grill and blade are easy to remove. I have not taken the Pivot 6 apart to clean or oil it yet. Time will tell how long this Vornado lasts. However, I'm concerned that the motor looks like a similar bearing arrangement to the cheap fans I have to clean and oil so often. I'm hoping Vornado is built better than that, though, but at least the Vornado has a really good warranty if it does start to act up like my old fans did. The Vornado Pivot 6 seems to have a much better motor design, just from looking through the grille, and I expect it to last longer.UPDATE: April 2024, the black Vornado 530 started squeaking pretty loudly. It's been running 24/7 on speed II or III ever since I got it, so this wasn't unexpected. I took the apart, unscrewed the motor and unscrewed the bearing caps, and oiled the bearings. Other than the motor being difficult to turn by hand, the bearing caps showed no signs of wear. If you take everything apart like this, there is a tiny little washer in the front bearing cap—make sure it doesn't fall out.The motor is very simple to remove and take apart, although the retention clip for the up-down pivot was a little tricky to get back in. The two prongs go from the fan neck into the holes just above where the bottom screws go. Not terrible to get everything put back together, though. When I got it back together, it ran perfectly without making any noise. I ended up taking my white Vornado 530 apart and oiling the bearing in it as well.UPDATE: July 2024: The black Vornado started squeaking again, for about a week. Then the power went out and the black Vornado didn't turn back on. I took it apart and the blade wouldn't move at all. I took the bearings out and the back bearing was essentially locked up. The plastic washer was split in two as well. I took the bearings apart, cleaned them, and got the re-assembled fan blade spinning freely again. However, it wouldn't power on. Using a multi-meter, I checked the fuse and found that it was still good, and I could trace power through the switch. I believe the motor capacitor burned up, likely due to the bearing getting stuck. I contacted Vornado and they issued a warranty replacement within a week. The new fan is running very smoothly and putting out a lot of air. It's amazing how rooms the airflow of this one fan affects. I'm still a fan (no pun intended) and hope to have many more years of use out of my Vornados.
shyla
Reviewed in Canada on September 1, 2019
3 speed PLASTIC fanreally wish it was not all plastic, but it seems relatively sturdyThe highest speed is LOUD but on a hot day it does blow air around just as effectively as an oscillating fan, better than actually. I found I was able to sleep with it on the 2nd speed, but not as well as I do when it is on lowIt seems to not be as powerful as it was when first unpacked tho, and I was worried after reading all the reviews of the bad fuse problems, and so far it still is working. Would not be very happy if a fuse did go and if they are that easy to go then the company should be providing 2 extra fuses with each of their expensive fans. They make enough money to do that. But with any luck that will not be something I encounter.Overall I am very happy with the fan as long as the reputation of this Brand stands the test of time. I have a fan that is 20 years old all metal that the only issue is the plastic housing brackets broke / cracked earlier this year and I have it rigged up with velcro strips to hold the motor to the fan but hey it still works and no fuse problems. It too is not an oscillating fan and if positioned correctly facing a wall, will actually give a similar effect that this one does for circulating air. Price point for the old one is very similar to the cost of this one although I am not sure it will last for 20 years. Again, time will tell and one can only hope it lasts at least the full 5 years of the warranty .I am using it in my bedroom, and as I indicated, I was able to sleep with it on level 2 speed, but the best speed to sleep with it on in the bedroom is at level 1. and it is a very soft gentle breeze you feel in bed, not perfect for a very hot day/night but I can tell that if it cools down at night it actually gets too cool in the bedroom on that lowest level.I am considering getting a second one next year once I see if this one continues to perform well year round, and no I do not live in a very hot climate, but there are days when it is too cold to open up the windows with out freezing pipes that I will more than likely run the fan just for some air circulation. To my understanding the bigger ones are even noisier, so again time will tell it may not be prudent to have 2 very noisy fans running in a small apartment.
VB25
Reviewed in Canada on January 1, 2019
The VORNADO 530 is very similar to the older, US made 180 circulators. The build quality isn’t quite as good as the original (The plastic is a bit stiffer, and motor bearings smaller) but it’s still top notch considering the garbage fans other manufacturers are producing, and expected when moving production overseas. The performance is great on all speeds, and low speed is super quiet. It’s great for a bedroom. High speed moves a lot of air and isn’t overly noisy. It performs just about as well as my 1992 VORNADO 180s, which is the older version of this fan with variable speed. The 530’s fan blade is also very well balanced, and runs with little to no vibration, which is rare nowadays. I’ve read reports of people having these fans seize after a few years of heavy use, I don’t think that will be an issue since I oil my fans when I disassemble them. (It’s not difficult, manufacturers say motor is perma-lubed but it’s not, it’s a wick bearing like almost every fan ever.) This fan being so easy to disassemble for cleaning and servicing for those of us who fix not throw away is a main reason it’s a favourite of mine, even in my assortment of over 10 Vornado fans. I also just had to do a warranty claim on a 4 year old vornado 633 with a defective motor, and the process was very easy. Vornado is helping me out without me even having to ship the defective fan back. Wonderful customer service if needed. Good company with good fans! I paid full price, btw. And more because Canada. So Not a shill review.
Icewalker
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2013
OK, I haven't paid some $300+ for a Dyson, but a fan that costs $300+ better give me a ...This is my second Vornado 530L. Why pay $45 or so for a fan? Well, I run my fan CONSTANTLY 24/7, and have for 3+ years, and no problems. Why did I order a second one? Because the electric rates went up and I decided o create a cross breeze and wait longer to turn my air conditioning on. Oh yeah, I live in Chicago -- hot in the summer and radiator heat (read intermittent) in the winter. Sooo, keeping the air circulating from carpet level up to ceiling (~9 ft in my loft studio) to maintain a comfortably stable temperature is key. Also, this thing really blasts air on high, though a little noisy on max, I don't mind if I can keep the air off and save $$ on electric.An American design that literally, as their literature states, creates a column of air (I have yet to figure out how, but I guess the front frill pattern and the fan blade pitch, but that's why it's patented) that on this fan does go for the 70 ft they say. I can point this fan at the ceiling and feel the air literally bounce off the ceiling and be felt as a light would travel and bounce off a mirror.So, considering I can buy 6 of these for that Dyson that I don't know really works, I'll take this one. But BEWARE, buy the 530 model (the 530L is the beige color, the 530B is the black -- because this fan pushes so much air and I live in urban Chicago, I opt for the beige). Their 630 model does push a somewhat (I owned one and returned it) more air, it is not as directional as this one.My next fan purchase will be, of course, a Vornado, model 660. The 660 which has four, not 2, speeds (compared to the 630) is about ~$40 dollars more than the 630, maybe $50-$55 more than the 530. However it pushes TWICE as much air as the 630! and FOUR times as much as the 530! (compared literature as to CFM -- cubic feet per minute, an apples-to-apples air volume measurement). Why do I want a model 660 when I have two 530's? Because, I have a home recording studio and have acrylic insulation layers on the windows, and my actual screen opening for my whole studio is only 2' x 2'. So, I am sure I can pay for the 660 in one summer season. Oh, and I still need the 530's for cross breeze, to ventilate my kitchen which still has gas pilots (whoa talk about heat in the summer!), and on cooler days, I think the 660 will be overkill.So, about noise: yes on max, speed 3, it makes noise, but show me a fan that doesn't pushing the air in such a small unit as this. If I want massive air circulation noise is the trad-off. HOWEVER, on speed 1, the lowest, it really is very quiet, and because of the column of air being directional, it produces a very nice, gentle cool breeze (OK, not like the Caribbean, but w/o air fare)Bought from Amazon, and as a Prime Member amazingly fast shipment, and I get to watch Prime videos free!! (in the cool breeze of a 530)OK, if you have read this far, push "add to Cart" already!!