The 10 Best Tower Fans to Beat the Heat

This year has been a hot one. How hot? So far, 2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record worldwide. July 2023 already broke the record for the world’s hottest month ever recorded. And guess what? Thanks to climate change, those records will likely continue to fall in the coming years.

So staying cool is critical, not only for your comfort but for your health. But running your air conditioner constantly isn’t the answer either. A/C units use a ton of energy, which is not only expensive but can both lead to blackouts due to overuse — leaving you to suffer in the heat — and exacerbate global warming even more.

So one way you can keep cool without A/C, or even use with it on a lower setting to increase its efficiency, is a tower fan. Tower fans use a tiny fraction of the energy of a window air conditioner (which in turn use less than a central A/C unit), making them a smart option to stay cool when temperatures rise.

What to Look for in a Tower Fan

Speed

At a minimum, a tower fan should have three speed settings, ranging from low to high. Beyond that, you can find tower fans that cycle through multiple speeds — to mimic actual breezes — or have a wide variety of speeds. Generally, cheaper tower fans will have fewer fan speeds, but that might be all you need.

Size

You can get a tower fan that’s big enough to circulate a breeze throughout the room or a fan that’s good for personal use, like one that can sit atop a table. Height usually doesn’t correlate with the strength of the fan, but the size can dictate which one will fit in the space you’re trying to fill.

Oscillation

Most tower fans will oscillate, meaning they can move back and forth instead of remaining stationary. This allows them to better circulate the air in your space since more air is being moved around instead of blowing in a single direction. This creates more of a breeze effect that in turn can better cool you down, especially if there is more than one person trying to enjoy the breeze.

Remote

A tower fan that lacks a remote can be a dealbreaker. While it’s not that hard to get up and adjust the fan speed, it’s also the same reason why all televisions come with a remote now. If you really can’t be bothered to get up to adjust a fan, then make sure it comes with a remote. And if you really want to level up your experience, get a wifi-connected smart tower fan that will let you control it with your phone or smart speaker.

Amazon

Best Overall Tower Fan

Lasko Portable Electric 42″ Oscillating Tower Fan

• $80.00 at Amazon

Every year, this fan seems to get another 1,000 five-star reviews, and right now it’s got over 26,000 of those on Amazon. It’s time you discover the coolness of this Lasko fan. The fan gets high marks for its affordable price point while offering all the things you could be looking for in a tower fan: three quiet fan speeds, a nighttime mode, remote control and wide oscillation. You can easily move the fan room to room because it weighs only 12 pounds and has a built-in handle. As one reviewer notes, “True love does exist.”

Dreo

Best Upgrade Tower Fan

Dreo Pilot Max Tower Fan

• $279.00 at dreo.com
  $359.00 (22% off)

Dreo, maker of some of our favorite space heaters, unsurprisingly makes great tower fans too. But instead of warming you up, they’ll keep you nice and cool. The Pilot Max boasts four modes, four oscillation settings and a whopping 12 speeds. Its brushless motor is capable of whisper-quiet operation — as low as 25 dB, which is about as loud as someone breathing a meter away. It’s also wifi-connected, so you can control it with your phone, Alexa or Google Home. But what we like best is its Auto Mode that adjusts the fan speed to the ambient temperature in the room, assuring you’re always nice and cool.

Levoit

Best Budget Tower Fan

Levoit Classic 36-Inch Tower Fan

• $70.00 at vesync.com

In 2023, Levoit entered the tower fan space for the first time and in doing so proved that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a well-specced, high-performing tower fan. For less than 70 bucks, you’re getting a three-foot tower fan with five speeds and a maximum 25 ft/s setting, four modes (including three that automatically adjust to ambient temperature), a remote control and just 28dB of noise on its lowest setting — one of the quietest tower fans we’ve come across.

Amazon

Most Powerful Tower Fan

Vornado 184 Whole Room Air Circulator Tower Fan

• $100.00 at Amazon
  $110.00 (9% off)

Vornado is really good at circulating air efficiently — that’s why it made our list for best space heaters. Because of its premium air circulation, the fan is really good for large rooms to help cool air reach every corner. The motor is designed to push air up to 100 feet, and there are four fan speeds versus the three fan speeds of most other tower fans.

Amazon

Best Tower Fan for Sleeping

TaoTronics Tower Fan

• $63.00 at Walmart

TaoTronics’ tower fan has three fan speeds, three wind modes and 65-degree oscillation. The fan is particularly good for those who want to keep it on through the night. Switch the fan into its sleep wind mode, and it’ll cycle through airflows to mimic an actual cool breeze. It’s also incredibly quiet for a fan so there’s no annoying buzzing or humming while it’s cooling you. There’s an auto mode on the fan that enables the fan to switch on whenever the temperature goes above 79°F and switches it off once the temperature hits 75°F or less.

Dyson

Best Air Purifying Tower Fan

Dyson Purifier Cool TP07

• $650.00 at Dyson

Dyson’s bladeless technology is pretty iconic by this point, pulling off the triple threat of looking stylish, performing exceptionally and exhibiting a magic-like quality that competitors have been unable to replicate. The TP07 is not just an oscillating tower fan but an outstanding air purifier too. Its Air Purifier technology pulls in pollutants from the entire room, traps them in its sealed HEPA H13 filter and then blasts clean air throughout your space. It’s surprisingly powerful for not having any blades and can be controlled via remote or through your phone/virtual assistants via wifi.

Walmart

Best Oscillating Tower Fan

Lasko Wind Curve Oscillating Tower Fan

• $81.00 at Walmart

All of the tower fans featured here oscillate, but the Wind Curve can do so a full 360 degrees. While that means you’ll be hit by the cool breeze less frequently, you can get the fan to hit all around your room. Besides its oscillation, the Wind Curve offers the standard three-speed fan setting options and a timer you can set between half an hour and 7.5 hours. The fan is surprisingly quiet, and a convenient remote control can be attached to the back of the fan for storage.

Taotronics

Best Cooling Tower Fan

TaoTronics Evaporative Cooler 008

• $170.00 at taotronics.com
  $190.00 (11% off)

While all tower fans cool you to some degree, they’re not actually blowing cool air. They’re just recirculating the air in the room. So if it’s very hot, the breeze they deliver to you will be fairly warm. But TaoTronics’ Evaporative Cooler is different. Simply fill its base with cold water and the included ice packs and you’ll receive actually cold air for 7.5 hours. Now, this isn’t as effective as an air conditioner, but it uses a lot less energy and is a good deal more effective at cooling than a standard tower fan (if a bit more work to operate and maintain).

Amazon

Best-Looking Tower Fan

Rowenta Urban Cool Tower Fan

• $112.00 at Amazon
  $131.00 (15% off)

Let’s say you have a stylish space and don’t want a giant monstrosity of noisy plastic killing your vibe. If that sounds like you, then Rowenta’s Urban Cool Tower Fan is for you. It has a sleek, striated faux wood body mounted to a black pedestal base with a diminutive LCD screen at the top. The whole thing just screams class, but it’s not just for looks. The fan oscillates, is remote control-operated and operates in near silence with three fan speeds — though for the price, we’d like to see some more features.

Home Depot

Best Portable Tower Fan

Holmes Stack-N-Connect 45 in. Digital Tower Fan

• $83.00 at Home Depot

Tower fans are generally not the easiest appliances to move and store. They’re tall — typically measuring three to four feet tall — relatively bulky and awkward to hold onto. But not the Holmes Stack-N-Connect. Despite standing a substantial 45 inches tall, this tower fan easily breaks down into three separate parts that twist in and out of place and it comes with a convenient carrying case that all those pieces fit neatly into. This makes moving and storing the fan a breeze (no pun intended) when the weather turns cold.

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