Swan SFA12620BN Black Retro 12 Inch Desk Fan, Metal Blades, Oscillation and Tilt Function, 3 Speed Settings, Aluminium, 35 W

I think I'm going to start my own fan building company because I just can't find one I am totally happy with, and this is no exception. I bough it because I am sick of the cheap plastic ones, but in reality they are better, they don't try to be anything other than what they are. this fan on the other hand tries to come across as a quality piece of kit, but fails. Don't get me wrong, its not a piece of junk, but it isn't well made, at least mine wasn't. One of the first things you have to do is to unscrew four screws from the motor housing so you can then fit the back half of the fan cage to the motor housing using the 4 screws. some screws came out easily, others did not, like they had been cross threaded or something, and it was the same when refitting them - inconsistent and not well engineered. Next thing is to fit the fan blade onto the onto the metal bolt which pokes out from the motor, this is accomplished by sliding the blade onto the bolt then screwing a chrome plated plastic nut on the end of the bolt to fix the blade in position. Again, poorly engineered, i got about 3 revolutions on the nut before it too felt like it was cross threading, not sure if the threads are poorly machined or what but to get the right amount of leverage to actually tighten the damn thing i had to exert a lot more pressure than I wanted to. the final step to put it together is to add the front half of the cage/guard. this fan is no different to the cheap chinese stuff, it has those little clips plug a tiny nut and bolt, and when it was all put together and i went to pic it up, it clunks about, its like the motor housing moves up and down on the vertical shaft.Turning it on is ok, the switches don't feel too shoddy, but on the lowest setting it blows a gale and its super loud, I was hoping to sleep with it on, but there is no chance, and I have slept with fans on all my life, even in winter, because I like a bit of white noise, bu this is too much. why can't fan manufacturers spend a bit more time refining the speed and noise characteristics of their fans - surely its not rocket science - guess I will find out when i start my own fan company :)

I’m holding out on this. I’m going to use it but not throw away the box. Visually it’s an ok fan. The colour is nice, this one is a pale retro green. Assembly? Talk about over kill in plastic but once you’re through that rubbish you realise you need a screw driver. For some reason these screws were screwed in, soft screw metal meant it was a pain to unscrew and then add the back of fan. Really unnecessary. Other than that assembling was ok. How the fan performs, it sounds like somethings caught in it so there’s a background noise I find irritating. I don’t think the balance on it is very good. Those mobs that supposed to allow you to tilt fan don’t allow you to tilt much as the fan head is too heavy for the base. The base doesn’t have a rim of rubber on its edge so that’s going to scratch surfaces. The top swivel knob is alread loose like it’d snap off if used to often. Fan gusto is very good. But other than that it doesn’t feel like a fan that’ll last the distance. I’m disappointed. I think it’s more style ( if that) than substance.

OK the good - this is a nice enamelled metal fan and has a really good retro look and it's pretty solid. It wouldn't look out of place on Indiana Jones's desk.The Bad - the number one thing you need to get right with a fan is BALANCING THE FAN BLADES, i.e. making sure they are EXACTLY the same weight and size or within as little tolerence as possible.This wasn't the case with mine they were off badly - they were packed well inside the cage of the fan so they definitely came this way from the factory. Also the paint on the blades was poor and peeling off, which will also make the blades irregular.This created a huge amount of vibration, which increases the noise and will most likely reduce the lifespan of the unit. This is probably why the reviews here vary so much as some people get lucky with the blades and some don't.I swapped the metal blades (which very fortunately have a standard fitting) for a clear plastic fan blade and it TRANSFORMED this fan into a far quieter unit that won't shake itself apart in a few months.If Swan want to ship me some metal fan blades they have actually machined correctly and QA'd - I'll swap them back and update my review score.

I was so pleased with this fan last year.It has sat atop a set of drawers over the winter ( in a dry living room) I took it apart yesterday to dust inside the grille before using-( if you want to store in it’s box you have to dismantle it, so I didn’t bother). Inside the metal grille was covered in rust- and beginning on the outside, when I looked closely.Just over a year old and unless I want to breathe in rust particles, only fit for the bin.There’s are not cheap- I bought for the brand, expecting something functional and well made.Avoid.

Like a lot of recent reviewers, the heatwave of summer '18 has caused many to acquire any fan they could get their hands on. At the time of ordering there weren't a lot of fans in stock but this one looked like a reasonable fan.Firstly I think it's a pretty nice looking fan. I went for the bland black colour but the more colourful options looked great. I didn't find assembling too tricky, although they diagram isn't brilliant, but looking at the photo of the fan on the box provided enough extra detail.I already have a Dyson fan as a point of comparison. The Swan noisier but not so bad that it kept me awake (I'm a light sleeper too). It has three settings, and it's lowest is actually pretty powerful, and to get the equivalent air flow from the Dyson it also begins making a fair bit of noise.I do wish it had some extra settings: one or two slightly slower speeds so that if the fan is close by it's not too overwhelming.