Holmes HASF-99 10-Inch Velocity Blizzard Stand Fan
Hot time, summer in the city--there's nothing like a powerful fan to keep you cool and collected despite the heat. The Blizzard oscillating fan from Holmes features three speed settings and a hard-working Blizzaire motor to ensure you have the temperature control to keep your wits about you. And if you can't decide whether you need a standing or tabletop fan, this fan's flexibility makes it the perfect solution. With three height settings (16, 26, and 40 inches), you're sure to keep cool no matter where you need a cooling blast. The fan head features a swirling grill design that is fully adjustable so you have complete control over the tilt angle, and it can oscillate from any position. The fan's wide base includes a weighted removable insert for stability when using the taller height settings, although you should always use caution with any standing fan around toddlers or enthusiastic tail-wagging dogs. Crafted from durable slate-gray poly, the fan has a three-year limited warranty. --Ariel Meadow Stallings
Customer Review: Blizzard = LOUD
This is the loudest fan we've ever owned - and unfortunately we've owned many. We cannot have it in our bedroom or the kids bedroom at night and even in the family room it's so loud we have to turn up the TV volume a bunch and it's very hard to have a conversation. We're getting rid of this "blizzard" fan and buying a more traditional one that's quieter.
Customer Review: Holmes Blizzard Fan - Won't Last Long - Stay Away
The Holmes HASF-99 10-Inch Velocity Blizzard Stand Fan is no longer sold by Amazon and now only seems to be sold by third party merchants. That should be your first clue that this item is sub-par. I am sure they had to deal with many returns and complaints due to it arriving broken or breaking shortly after. While the fan itself does have some good qualities, everything around it (the body, extender bars and base) is made of really cheap plastic and will definitely break sooner than you think.
I probably would have given this 4 stars too if I would have written this as soon as I got it. But after a full summer using it this gets no more than 2 stars, and that's being generous. For starters, the price offered by Amazon was much lower than any of these sellers. At this price, I personally wouldn't be buying this under any circumstances.
The Bad
The base of this fan has some cheap concrete in it to weigh it down. The concrete in mine was cracked in shipment, however, because the packaging didn't secure it well. I thought I would still give it a chance. Check your shipment! If the concrete in the base is damaged in transit, just return this. It will eventually break all the way just from using this fan, as you will soon read.
The height is somewhat adjustable because you can use or not use one or all three bars that are interlocking. But the problem is that the weight of the base slowly wears on those bars whenever you have to pick up the fan to move it. It only took a few weeks for one bar to break. Then the next bar broke a few days later. Now I have the equivalent of a table lamp. And after all that, the base broke too. The only wear and tear on it was from moving it. That's not enough to justify the short life span of all these parts. It's almost painfully comical to see just the fan head sitting on the floor like that because all the supporting parts have long broken.
The Good
The fan itself is nothing special but works ok. There are multiple speeds and you can set it up to sweep from side to side, both features that are common with almost every fan. At the greatest speed, this fan is pretty good and creates good circulation. I have used some larger circulation fans, and this doesn't rise to the level where it deserves to be called a "blizzard fan." Still, the fan mechanism held up longer than any of the body parts, and like I said works well enough to get this guy up to 2 stars.
These days there are more options in fans available. I recently got a Honeywell 3-Speed Digital Tower Fan with Ionizer that I've been quite satisfied with. The air flow is comparable and the design is much more efficient space wise. It's a higher cost, but if you need something for a room it's much better looking too. Other than that, if you are looking for a circulation fan there are other options, though I haven't tried all of those.
Versa-Kool 12 Inch Circulation Fan 12 Volt
Hunter 90021 Century 12-Inch Performance Oscillating Fan
Honeywell HFS641P 16-Inch Remote Control Stand Fan
Just don't try this one though because it's really got a short life span.
I'm surprised by the cheapo construction from a brand like Holmes. Regardless, some people may still buy this. Perhaps if the wear hadn't already started in delivery this would have lasted a little longer. But if you don't want it to break on you, the minute you set it up don't move it at all. And don't pay anywhere near list price for this, because frankly it's not worth it.
Happy shopping. Good luck.
