The Good: Good air flow, Remote can be helpful
The Bad: Expensive, Not at all energy efficient, Very large footprint
The Basics: In a pinch, we picked up a Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote and while it was helpful, it was very overpriced for the results it delivered.
This year has been the hottest one in my conscious memory, which has been supported by record high temperatures in my area even now in September. In August, our air conditioning broke down, and it was then that we realized that our prior Lasko fan had broken down (the motor burned out) and the only other fans we had in our home were window fans. Given that out apartment is on the sunny side, with windows that are right off the first floor roof, window fans were not a good option for us to try to beat the August heat. The middle of one hot night was not the night to debate with my wife the merits of trying to repair a fan or come up with another solution, so we ended up running out to buy a fan. We ended up picking up a Lasko Stand Fan (S18601) for $60 and we continued using the fan for the past month and a half, even though our air conditioning got fixed.
And, having had an inexpensive Lasko Stand Fan that was under $30, which lasted for a few years, the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote seemed vastly overpriced for what it offers.
The Lasko Stand Fan model S18601 is a floor fan with an adjustable height function. The Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote requires assembly when it comes out of the box. The base is a very heavy circular stand that is 21" in diameter. While this has a very large footprint on the floor, the base is sufficiently heavy to keep the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan completely stable on the floor, regardless of how high one turns up the speed on the fan head (which is more of a problem with stand fans than one might initially think!). The large size of the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote continues into the fan head, which is also 21" in diameter and 10" deep. The Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote has an adjustable height that allows the unit to go from being 41 1/2" to 53" tall. The footprint of the SL18601 is increased by the cord for the unit. While that would not usually be a factor, with the Lasko S18601, it becomes one because of the oscillating factor; if the fan is near anything that protrudes, or too close to a wall, the fan knocks against anything nearby.
The Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote has a black finish which is fairly stylish, broken up by the brand name in stainless steel in the center of the fan head. To the credit of the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote, it does exactly what it promises. This stand fan moves air with considerable force; even at the lowest of the four settings, we can easily feel the air flow from over ten feet away. On the highest setting, the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan keeps the whole room cool, even when it's blowing air from our kitchen when the oven is on! I'm not certain how it does that, but the Lasko S18601 manages to work, even on the hottest day.
Use of the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is decidedly variable. While it took us less than fifteen minutes to assemble the fan out of the box - it was thoroughly intuitive, which is a real plus - there are a number of adjustments that can be made to change the experience one has with the S18601. The height may be adjusted by unscrewing a cuff at the bottom of the stand, pulling the fan head up and then retightening the cuff. There are no gradations to force any specific height upon the user; the cuff is enough to hold the head at any height along the foot of potential heights. The oscillating function is controlled by a similar physical manipulation, by adjusting a peg at the back of the fan head.
As the name suggests, the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote features a remote control, which seems like an initially cool feature. The remote is a 3 1/2" long, 2 1/8" wide by 3/4" thick remote control that runs on two AAA batteries. It has two buttons: one that activates the fan, another that adjusts the speed of the fan blades upward. The issues with the remote are two-fold. First, the stand's control panel has to be facing the user. My wife and I sit on a couch and a chair separated by a small endtable; we are usually separated by about two feet while we are working. When the unit's control panel is facing her, I cannot use the remote to turn on the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan. If the S18601 is facing me, both of us can activate it, so it is somewhat finicky. Ostensibly, the purpose of the remote control for the S18601 Stand Fan is to be convenient for people who do not want to get up to turn the fan on and adjust the speed. What one cannot do using the remote is turn the oscillating feature on or off. In other words, the remote is not "full function" for the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan.
The Lasko Stand Fan is not at all quiet. The Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is very obvious when it is on, for much more than just its air flow. When it is on one of its lower settings, from my vantage, sometimes I cannot feel the flow from fifteen feet away, but even then I have to adjust the volume on our television because of the noise from the S18601. The only other big detraction I have found for the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is the maintenance factor. No other variables have changed in our apartment between our first Lasko Stand Fan and getting the Lasko S18601 Stand Fan, but this stand fan attracts dust and hair at a ridiculously accelerated rate. While we had to clean our first Lasko Stand Fan about once a month, the fan blades and the metal basket that houses them attracts such significant amounts of dust that we must clean the full fan head once every two weeks.
Cleaning the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is fairly easy, though. The front of the fan head pops off and can be washed off easily enough. The fan blades may be wiped off easily, as well. The only part of the fan that is tough to clean is the back portion of the fan head; the plastic latticework behind the fan blades is nowhere near as easy to clean as the front of the fan head. The Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is not a particularly energy efficient fan and I did notice a slight uptick in our electric bill the first month we started using the S18601 (which was saying something given that we had a whole week without using the air conditioner in that month!).
Ultimately, the Lasko S18601 18" Stand Fan With Remote is a mixed product with higher initial cost and cost of usage than comparable fans that provide similar amounts of air flow (some with less of a footprint).
For other electronic devices and appliances, please check out my reviews of:
Dyson Air Multiplier Fan
Feature Comforts FTT-4 3-Speed Oscillating Tower Fan
Meco Digital Kitchen Scale
4/10
For other appliances, please check out my Home And Garden Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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