Vornado Silver Swan Alchemy Oscillating Vintage Fan, Gunmetal, Medium

First of all, the unboxing was a sweet surprise. Once you remove the cardboard, the fan is protected from scuffs by a big fabric bag rather than being wrapped in plastic. Nevermind the eco-friendly aspect, it's just a classy thing to see. And for the money it makes a nice impression.I've been hesitant about this model for a long time because of all the reviews about the rattling issue, but I decided to pull the trigger on one finally after hearing that the RMA process is apparently reasonable and that there's a 5 year warranty.Anyway this one is quiet and powerful out of the box. It's next to my bed. Build quality seems good so far. Nothing obvious to complain about.Oscillating feature works perfectly. There's a slight audible click at one point right before the direction changes but to be honest I kinda have to listen for it. Hopefully it will remain quiet over time.Engaging and disengaging the mechanism is easy and seems solid. The bakelite style controls are also a nice touch. Really keeps the period feeling. As big fan of retro design I'm loving the look of the fan.The design of the blades is a big reason why I bought it and it sure moves a lot of air. The size is perfect - takes up less space than the 12" it's replacing. Speeds seem pretty much standard for any fan these days. What I notice most is how much air it moves.As far as value for money, that's not why you buy this one. This is a beautiful statement piece of furniture that also cools you, rather than "just a good value fan". However for the money, which is a lot more than I would normally pay for a fan, it's great for me and is everything that I was hoping for. Hopefully it'll be quiet longer than the warranty period... We'll see. I have to say that I think a 5 year warranty is great though. Gives me peace of mind after blowing my budget like this on a fan.

This is a great take on vintage fan designs which were the best and lasted forever. It is so well made from metal, and it has the flow and power to manage a large, open room. It looks great - unlike so many of the plastic models, performs the way I want, offers options for speed and oscillation, and is quiet.

After using the medium-size Vernado Silver Swan Alchemy Oscillating Vintage Fan for most of a summer, I can report satisfactory results. Oscillation with 3 variable speeds sends nicely distributed levels of airflow into a room approx. 18x18 feet (6x6 meters). Its style and design remind me of oscillating fans I saw in un-airconditioned homes when I was young, but the Vernado is quieter than those old fans. We do need to turn up television or stereo volume a bit when using the fan, but the device is not loud enough to create serious interference. Our fan has one slight flaw: at the highest speed, it vibrates with an audible buzz for a few seconds when the fan reaches one end of its arc. I suspect this imperfection is unique to our particular device, and it is not a serious enough bother for us to return the fan for a different one. The short intermittent buzz does not occur on the low or medium speeds. Overall we are quite happy with the Vernado fan and can recommend it as a stylish touch of vintage design, as well as an occasional alternative to using the AC.

The media could not be loaded. The video speaks for itself but let me preface this review by saying that I really wanted to love this fan. I am a fan collector and have no less than 9 of them in my bedroom alone, but this thing is a piece of garbage and arrived rattling worse than something from the clearance rack at the discount store. I absolutely adore the quality of the older fans and was ecstatic to read how Vornado released this one to be "heirloom quality" just like they used to make them. After returning home from overseas and finding my work station a little warm I figured I definitely needed to get some sort of fan setup and I was more than hesitant to bring one of my beloved antiques where others might break it or it might decided to grow a pair of legs. I figured $200 was an awful lot for a fan (almost the most expensive fan in my entire collection), but knowing it will be used daily and I have a fan over a century old I should just stick to the philosophy of buy once, pay once, and when I graduate the fan will serve as a reminder of the wonderful times of my youth or I could give it to my own future kids when they are pursuing their studies. I also wouldn't have to be worried about it being operated by anyone else and chopping off fingers or being left on with no oil (issues with the true antiques) + If the worst happened I could replace it without any real effort unlike the real deal. Shipping with Amazon Prime was of-course excellent and the Box is wonderful and it is evident Vornado pays close attention to the details, loved the cardboard handles that lift the entire fan out of the box, love the dust cover, and ABSOLUTELY LOVE the owners manual and how they truly nailed the vintage feel. Lifting the fan up you start to think this is certainly quality since it is HEVY and although I didn't weight it, it most defiantly rivals the fans from a hundred Years ago that size and is heavier than the mid-century ones. Once you remove the dust cover though thats when you start to question the fans price tag... The appearance itself is fine, the knobs are cheap looking shiny black plastic that clash with the cast iron looking base and the "copper" accents that define the Alchemy line are a brushed finish that just looks like paint and its a real shame Vornado thinks this is worth the hefty premium over the standard line which itself is already quite high. Then there is the base that is just CHEAP black plastic has an off center (and I mean from the depression where its supposed to be) silver sticker that gives the model and serial and most importantly says MADE IN CHINA and looks just like what you would find on the cheapest fan you can buy. Why Vornado would charge so much for a fan and not make it here when they have a substantial US manufacturing footprint according to their website is beyond me. None of this however is a deal breaker of-course because, giving credit where it is due, it is still a beautiful fan and some fine quality products can come out of China. Anyways, I go to plug it in and when I put it on Hi you hear a rattle which is unacceptable in any modern fan and certainly not one costing upwards of $200. I switch it down to a lower speed (II) and the thing starts to sound like it was going to break apart. Truly unacceptable quality control and/ or manufacturing standards and Vornado should be ashamed, they say they expect the product to be perfect out of the box but maybe if you want that as a company you should institute some quality control when your asking customers to pay a premium because then (or really ever) that should not be our job. I can say they might have lost a customer at this point which is a real shame since I was planning on purchasing quite a few of the products since I love what as a company they stand for with their domestic manufacturing and pledge to quality (and their antiques are pretty neat being the proud owner of a couple) and I have not been disappointed in the air purifiers I ordered which do seem to work quite well and have always been quick to recommend. After this experience however I have a huge bitter taste in my mouth. More importantly though is I understand that defects do happen even to the best manufactures, and even if quality control should have caught it sometimes they don't. But I am someone who is familiar with fans and I can tell you beyond the looks this one is nothing special and is undoubtably not "built like they used to". This is a cheap fan in a nice case and I would not be surprised if opened up if it has the same motor as a $20 competitor. I know this because the thing is loud. I know some reviews say "oh it moves a lot of air so the noise isn't bad for what it is" but trust me it really is nothing special. The pitch as well is primarily fan motor and not air which sounds like the new box fan I just brought for $12 and is completely different from the over-built older ones where the motor was actually often drowned out by the sound of the air moving, and they still are much quieter.... The volume of air moved is also the same as these much quieter older fans if not less, so I really do not see where the claim is coming from. So Buyer beware and if you want a fan made like they used to, Check out the real McCoys and although the real Silver Swans (they were made by Emerson) are far and wide between, there are plenty of great heirloom quality pieces that even after, 40, 50,60, 80, 100+ years have more life in them than this masquerader.

It's a good looking fan. Metal blades was a must for me. No weird noise like other comments have said. Feels strong. It's only day one because it's a 10 outta 10 on day one.