HOMEBASIX LF-4PB Personal Fan, 4-Inch, Assorted Colors

I am "of an age" where I go from cold to hot in a flash. (Maybe that's why they call them hot flashes???) Anyway, I was at my doctor's office, waiting to check out, when I started to go up in smoke. The receptionist immediately opened her desk drawer and whipped out this cute little dinky fan. She plugged it in and aimed it at me, and saved my life. I could not believe how quiet and compact it was, plus it gave off a wonderful flow of air. I stood soaking in the breeze, head up, looking like a dog hanging out of a car window. Yes, the receptionist was also "of an age", and that's why she kept the little fan handy. When I was no longer worrying about spontaneous human combustion, I carefully examined the wonderful little fan and wrote down the name, Polar Aire. A quick search of Amazon, and BAM, my own cute little fan arrived at my door in two days, courtesy of Prime. I just love my little fan. It sits on the end table by my chair, and then goes with me to the sewing room, to sit next to my sewing machine. Then at night it goes on my bedside stand. I am considering buying a second one, just so I have a spare. It's a great little fan. And it's cute!

So, this looks identical to a same size Polar-Aire I got for office staff over the summer, from a local department store -- or, actually, three Polar-Aires I purchased in total that day, all of which worked great, were quiet, perfect size for a desk top, and produced a perfectly strong, but never annoying, current of air that was ideal for keeping a work space cool on a hot day.Well, fast forward to the Fall season, and, wow, every store just stops selling fans, like no one is ever going to need one until swim suits come back on sale. In our case, despite it not being eighty degrees outside, we needed one more fan as an added cooling option for a laptop which was having some periodic overheating issues, but, it being a day after August 31st, and the store gods decreeing the end of fan sales, not a single one could be found anywhere except for a few huge box fans.Came here to Amazon, thinking surely there is a work around to find a fan out of season, and, wow, was so happy to find this one, that looks like the same fan, same brand, so I got all excited (since the ones we have work SO well), and then this one arrives, and, cue the sad music, it barely coughs out the slightest whisper of air. Looks exactly the same as the ones we have, but has maybe a quarter or a third of the power, so, overall, quite useless for the need we have.I'm not sure if it's a dud, or just some cheaply made knock-off of the good ones we do have, and I see there are quite a few of these, with varying names, here on Amazon, so it seems many iterations abound, and apparently we just didn't get the version that works, or perhaps simply received one with issues from the factory.In any case, very disappointing, and, since I don't feel like playing Fan Roulette, trying to find one of another kind that works well, I will likely just obediently do as the consumer industry demands, and just wait until next summer until stores stock the good ones again, pretending, in the meantime, that a need for a fan only exists between May and August. Until then, we'll just use one of the good ones we already have, since we're not using them for other cooling needs, at present, so we have three to spare.At least I see the Christmas stuff is already out in stores....I guess taking all the fans off the shelves made room for something!As for this fan, I'm not a fan! :) So, gotta say I can't recommend this item, or certainly I'd say to buy at your own risk, since the one we received was vastly underwhelming.

The fan is very nice looking and seemed like it was well made. However, five minutes after turning it on, it stopped working. I know there is one in every group which has a default. Unfortunately I got the one that does not work.

Very loud and powerful. As some of you may be looking for a powerful fan, I needed this on my night stand and it's simply too loud and powerful to sleep with.

perfect for my desk at work! does make white noise, but doesn't seem to bother my close co-workers at all.

My third of these little fans, and I love this one as much as the first. Reliable, move a fair amount of air for their small size, easy to move around my desk or end table ... very handy.UPDATE APRIL 2015 - Just bought my fourth one and it's just as great as the others. Quite, puts out a good breeze and works reliably.

This fan was not what I expected. It is extremely small. It's way smaller than my head, so it definitely can't keep me cool when I don't want to run air in the winter. I'm sending it back.

These little fans are perfect for use on a desk. They are sturdy and give a nice cool breeze. There are other brands that look like this little fan but they are not as heavy or give off a good amount of breeze. This fan is very quiet, too.