Mega-minireview: Vornado 633 "whole room air circulator"

[LongRunner]

This is rather long, I know. But to qualify as a "proper" review, by my standards, requires objective measurements of performance. That's why I ended up calling this a "mega-minireview".

First of all, apologies in advance for the awkward angles and uneven lighting in many of the photos here; I really can't do much better there with my current (lack of) photography equipment (which boils down to a basic camera, one small tripod, random objects to serve as platforms – and whatever light sources are already present, which usually just amounts to the available sunlight).

My previous experience with the home fans I came across was nothing fabulous. The last two fans I had until about a month ago were two Dimplex GDC-DF40MCs which, although "posh" in appearance, were just plain disappointing in every practical aspect. I still have them, but for most of the time, they sit safely unused in the shed.

For a while, I didn't bother throwing away money on any more of them. But lately, I happened to wander into a Harvey Norman (by no means my favourite retail store chain, I know) and thought to take another look to see if there was something decent on offer. I didn't get any in-store photos for you, unfortunately, but I saw something that caught my attention, and here's the box:

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"Whole room vortex circulation." "Moves air 23m." Very impressive if true, although I'll be the judge there. "Superior engineering." A bit of a pompous statement, perhaps, but one I'm quite open to examining.
"Saves energy. Saves money." Fair enough, when used properly (which is to say, to keep the air moving so you don't need to go as cold with the air conditioner in summer).
I'm not entirely sure why they felt the need to individually trademark each of those icons, though.

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The right of the box talks about the "Inlet Air Accelerator" (a deep plastic ring midway between the outer frame and the motor hub, designed to straighten the flow paths of the incoming air), deep-pitched blades (in distinct contrast to the shallow and questionably effective blades of "typical" home fans), and their signature grille designed to focus the outgoing air, to promote effective heat exchange over greater distances than typical unfocussed fans. That third item is in fact the same idea as used on many high-power equipment cooling fans such as Delta's FFB series (although those have only a few fins, as any safety grille is a separate item as with the regular types) – but due to the added thickness, among other design trade-offs, lower-powered equipment fans usually don't bother with them. The thickness isn't such a big deal here, though!

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The back of the box provides a diagram illustrating the difference in flow pattern between the Vornado and a typical pedestal fan. (While primarily suggested for whole room circulation, it isn't bad for personal cooling either if you prefer. It's also much less clumsy than a typical pedestal fan – especially the flimsy cheapo ones with highly unstable bases. In that role, you'll have little need for the higher speeds.)

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The left of the box mentions quiet operation and the 5-year warranty (standard for most of Vornado's line – with the notable exception of the small "Flippi" desktop models, not yet available in Australia, which have 3 years – and nice to see, compared to the typical 1 or 2 years). It also shows that there are three speed settings, which are arranged Off-High-Medium-Low (as seems to be standard practice in the U.S. at least, ostensibly to ensure more reliable starting; not that I've experienced a problem with that).

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The top of the box provides the URL and the bottom is fairly plain, as usual (apart from that extraneous sticker, which says nothing that the box itself doesn't already say). It does include marks indicating a thermally protected motor (which I believe is mandatory nowadays) and double-insulation (Class II) – which is rather obvious to expect given that the casing is entirely plastic (bog-standard ABS, according to the visible stamps – which is fine given that not much, apart from the motor itself, gets hot).

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Just as the front-of-box picture shows, it sure looks distinctive. (Note that the blue is more vivid in reality than it appears in these photos, partly because of the somewhat restrictive sRGB colour space and partly because of the unexciting camera I'm using.)

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The label on the base mentions the power draw of 60W (on high, assumedly), a few patents and the serial number (starting with the manufacture year and month). And the speed settings are indeed in the counterintuitive reverse order; technical arguments aside, it's annoying to have to turn the switch all the way across when you only need low speed (and then turn it all the way back to the off position afterwards).

There are of course many other models in the Vornado line-up – those currently offered here in Australia include the 533 (smaller sibling to the 633), 733 (a larger model with a different base), 783 (another large model, which stands at heights of 106.7 or 68.6cm), 660 (the "next-generation" model with electronic push-button controls; since the review, models with DC motors have released in the U.S., but have yet to come to Australia), the 143 compact Tower Circulator (which are designed to provide airflow across a wider space than typical tower fans, removing the need for oscillation), a pair of purifiers (AC300 and AC500) with HEPA filtration, and the TVH500 fan heater (said to operate at a very low surface temperature – only 50°C on high! – while still doing 2100W).
The website(s) provide a decent set of specifications, with the strange exceptions of noise measurements (although, to be fair, they can be somewhat misleading).

Vornado's U.S. About page offers some interesting history, including the inspiration from aircraft design and the 1989 reincarnation of the company. It even includes a nice little video.

(I should note now that this is actually the second 633 I've purchased, as I've had to give the first one to my sibling.)

The cord is a bog-standard H03VVH2-F2X0.75 type, 1.8m long and manufactured by Unirise Electric Wire & Cable (with the model number UE-231 on the plug). It's not the most flexible H03VVH2-F2X0.75 cord I've examined (even after straightening it out), although it's been a common trend for mains cords made in recent years to be stiffer than before as the plasticiser content is cut back to the minimum. (I saw in-store that the 660 had the tougher H05VVH2-F cord, curiously enough.)
I would of course (as you may have predicted if you know me) much prefer to have an IEC C8 inlet, and just re-use the cords I already own – too bad that whenever someone actually sees fit to offer a product without forcing the user to accept another cord, the majority of people reject the idea as being "inconvenient". (Which I suppose it is, if you don't already have a suitable cordset; but for me with my monster stash, getting more is just wasteful.)

Internal examination
Fortunately, they haven't used any screws with strange heads, or those treacherous tabs that hold on for sheer life and then break if you look at them funny.

There are three pairs of screws holding the front and back sections of the base together, of which the uppermost pair (black), at the tilting joints, are rather long and mate with nuts (that are normally hidden from view, but accessible without too much difficulty by tilting the head unit to the right angle), with blue threadlocker applied to prevent them from working loose in normal operation. The other four are ordinary self-tapping machine screws mating directly with the plastic front part, which is OK although plain machine screws mating with tapped brass receptacles (or similar) would be nice to have.
Release all six screws and the switch wiring is accessible:

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(The switch terminals you can't see labelled in the shot are marked L {active/line from the cord} and 2 {medium speed}.)
The wires to the motor are 22AWG (≈0.33mm²) and insulated for 300VAC (UL AWM 1007). The temperature rating of UL AWM 1007 is 80°C – more on the importance of the temperature ratings later. They are bundled in an outer black PVC tube (rated for 105°C, the highest thermal grade usually available for PVC – although there are conditions to running PVC that hot, notably precautions to be taken against plastic "flow") for supplementary insulation.

They are colour-coded as:

• Black = common
• Red = high speed
• White = medium speed
• Blue = low speed

So if you want the speeds in the order 0-1-2-3 instead of the original, weird 0-3-2-1, swapping the red and blue wires from the motor will do it (I've done so in both of my units, and it does indeed work). (The manual, for the record, says about switching: To turn on unit - rotate knob one position clockwise. Turn the knob clockwise to decrease airflow. Turn counterclockwise to increase airflow. Well, whatever…)

The fan head is held together by three more screws, which look similar to the four main base screws but are a little longer and with tighter threads. These are in deep recesses between the spokes of the intake grille, which are thankfully indicated with little arrows:

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This one is at the bottom, the other two are just above each of the joints (one per side). Then you just have to release four tabs around the perimeter, which thankfully aren't very tight so don't require precarious bladed screwdriver involvement.

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There is a thin foam strip at the top of the back part, most likely to prevent buzzing from vibration. (That photo should also give you an idea of the blade depth.) The impeller is held in place by one of those nuts that mate with a reverse-threaded shaft (common in these applications, to avoid unintentional loosening), which as usual is keyed with a flat section to prevent the impeller from ever spinning independently of the shaft.
The impeller is made quite thick and sturdy, although if you look very closely you may see that the central hub part isn't perfectly round. I also noticed that (at least in this sample) it presses onto the shaft tight enough to turn it from the friction alone, making it a bit tricky to line up the keying correctly to reinstall it.

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Motor

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The motor is a capacitor-run type, and its label confirms the 60W rating indicated on the base of the fan. With a claimed working temperature of up to 120°C (Class E), the use of hook-up wires only good for 80°C seems a bit iffy; sure, it won't normally be at the maximum temperature constantly, but I don't think it would be prohibitively expensive to use leads insulated with silicone (150°C) or at least cross-linked polyethylene (up to 125°C for some grades). Not that this is unusual to find, but I could sure smell some of that characteristic "hot PVC" odor on initial operation. It subsides after a bit of use but still…
The capacitor used is a 1.75μF±5% 450VAC "CBB61" type made by Xunwei (whoever they are). A single screw mounts it to the motor casing.

I had previously examined inside the casing of the motor in my first-purchased unit and getting that back together was a bit hard, so I'd rather not be doing it again (at least, not for a while). The winding job wasn't totally beautiful either – not that I expected it to be (consider just how many turns of wire are required…).

The DC resistances across the input, incidentally, measured at 588Ω on low, 474Ω on medium, and 333Ω on high (approximate only, as I didn't control for temperature, which will increase the resistance as the windings get hotter).

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These are most of the screws used in the fan, along with the impeller mounting nut (and the flat washer used underneath it).

The front grille can be removed without having to take the base apart, as shown here:

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This will be enough for thoroughly cleaning the impeller, although you will still need to disassemble the base in order to be able to get enough slack in the motor wires for access to the back bearing (should you ever need to – hopefully not until over a decade of use).
Note that as the motor itself has only basic insulation between its windings and core, it is important to unplug before removing the front grille, even when leaving the base alone. (At least, according to European and Australian requirements – some other regions, including North America, are more lenient about it in small appliances.)

Operation
Now for the real cool part…

My point of comparison will be one of the pair of Dimplex fans that I mentioned in the intro. That Dimplex fan is much larger in diameter – at 40cm between blade edges, significantly bigger than even the "full-size" Vornados – but can the Vornado design make up the difference? Let's find out. Both of the compared fans have three speeds so…

• Speed 1: The Vornado's noise output is subdued in overall level and has remarkably little tonality, although some low hum is audible under certain conditions (but nowhere near the drone of the Dimplex – although that sounds like more of a motor, instead of impeller, noise). The perceived cooling effect of the two both on this speed is similar at 20cm in front, the Vornado has a definite advantage at 50cm, and by 1.5m it's no contest. Double the distance again and the regular fan doesn't stand a chance.
• Speed 2: The Vornado gets significantly louder, but stays fairly broadband in overall characteristic, and moves enough air to justify it. The Dimplex has no hope of winning or even coming close, and its tonality is becoming quite annoying now.
• Speed 3: The Vornado gets quite loud now, and finally becomes rather tonal, but lives up to the name in that it does feel rather like a tornado up close. As for the Dimplex, it's getting rather obnoxious, and still can't match the Vornado on even speed 2.

The Vornado also starts much quicker (in 2–3 seconds rather than 6–10), given its lighter-weight impeller. I should note, though, that both of my units exhibit a bit of a "warm-up" period; on cold starting, speed 1 is significantly slower than its "correct" speed and speed 2 slightly slower, for some minutes. The bearings look to be lubricated adequately and aren't making nasty noises, but maybe the oil used is a bit on the thick side? (Well, the Dimplex fans also seem to be rather temperature and perhaps voltage-dependent, so sometimes they'll go faster and move somewhat more air, but of course will be even louder then. Keeping up a fight with a fan almost twice the diameter is quite commendable, though. A Vornado sized around 40cm would be something I'd like to see.) I'm not sure what else could be responsible…

Tactile vibration can be felt, but isn't a major problem (as long as the surface you place the fan on is steady). Oddly enough, if I place my ear to the back of the fan, I hear a lower pitch than the hum component audible from in front/at range; I don't know exactly how it works, the pitch at the back agrees with the stated RPMs (1700 on high and 975 on low) and 3 blades, yet the relative frequencies of both tones are tied to the rotation. Unless we're dealing with the 4th harmonic of the rotation (which I wouldn't intuitively have expected to be more prominent), I'm not sure what it is, but there must be something to explain it…

OK, but does the air flow for the claimed 23 metres? Well, my house isn't that big so I can't actually verify it that far, but even so, by the time it goes from one end to the other (somewhere in the realm of 10–12m), it's hard to feel. We can probably assume that the quoted limit is at the measurement threshold of Vornado's test equipment, although it isn't specified what that is.

Now, I don't have the means to compare the volume of air moved, not that air volume in and of itself is particularly critical for household fans (or even always for equipment cooling fans); and if compared solely on that metric, the Dimplex fan may still win. But you can find the specified figures on Vornado's sites, and they look reasonable enough (although they previously wrote "CMM" instead of "m³/min", and now bizarrely write "cm³"…).

So, now for some grades:
Airflow: A. If anyone else outdoes these fans in this department, I would really like to see it.
Noise: B+. For the air moved the fan is very quiet indeed, but its lowest speed is still higher than most "silent PC" enthusiasts (for example) would really like.
Appearance (if you care): B+. The "swirl" pattern of the flow-focussing grille is rather slick, in addition to its aerodynamic function, and the mix of textured and smooth finishes looks quite decent.
Controls: C. I find the reverse order of the speed settings on the switch to be rather annoying, although I've lightened up a bit from the original score given the starting argument. Its placement at the back is also less than ideal, although I suppose they had little choice there with the basic rotary switch.
Build quality: B−. Most parts of the fan are quite solid, even though the design is all-plastic, and it's still lightweight enough to carry around without substantial discomfort (unlike the unlovable Dimplex fans…). The motor, however, while certainly powerful enough for the job, isn't impeccably constructed. The screws are of decent quality (not visibly triangular in cross-section like a lot of truly cheap screws in PCs among other items), but some of them seem to have been overtightened a "tad" at the factory. The worst part was with the nut mounting the switch, to the point that in the unit in the review, it couldn't be fully tightened during reassembly after the above-mentioned wire swap. (It didn't actually ruin the switch mounting outright – as I still got it back together and usable – but it does concern me.) The switch knobs evidently aren't the world's most robust, either.
Cord: C. Nothing in any way special here.
Truth in advertising: B. Although the claimed distance is kind of optimistic, and a few of their other claims might be slightly extravagant, this fan otherwise does pretty much what the box says.

Overall: B. While it has a few non-trivial flaws, it is a very respectably engineered fan (or "Air Circulator", as they say). At my current standards, being a product I'd buy again is worth something.

Vornado have said from the beginning that they've made ordinary fans "obsolete". And I agree with that; the majority of other household fans are indeed engineering relics. Just look at the Dimplex fan:

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See how crudely designed those blades are? It's like something from a full century (or even longer) ago.

And as for Dyson…forget them. Those "bladeless" fans are quite clearly inferior to even a boring budget fan in practical airflow/noise performance; given how convoluted the whole concept is, that should come as no surprise. They technically didn't even invent the idea – Toshiba did (in 1981, although they never proceeded to manufacture it). And frankly, I don't even get how "buffeting" is supposed to be a problem in the first place, given that natural wind moves (pseudo-)randomly to begin with.

In conclusion, if you haven't owned a Vornado fan (sorry…Air Circulator ) before, you owe it to yourself to check them out; I'm not aware of many competing household fans in the same league – although if you find any (even if not available in Australia), do post them here, as I'd love to know. (I was almost bordering on giving an A+ for airflow, but in my view it's not that the Vornados are amazing, anymore, as much as the regular fans are just anachronistically outdated.)

Anyway, I hope you've found this an interesting read. I suppose I was a bit "late to the party" so to speak, but do you know of someone else who examines the construction of such items in this depth?

[Behemot]

That cap could be X rated I guess.

Most important information is missing - how much does it cost? I can see here are some non-stock Vornado zippy and one non-stock 30cm for over 100 AU equivalent. On their site it is cheaper but still 55 US bucks. For the price you can get 4 to 5 ordinary table fans, one for each person…

If it was 20 bucks that would be great deal but this At least that it has 5y warranty.

[LongRunner]

That cap could be X rated I guess.

Motor run capacitors get their own classifications and certifications. (As do the capacitors used for power factor correction of old-style iron-cored ballasts for fluorescent lighting.) You can see that there's a VDE mark; is that good enough for you?

By the way, the reason for the 450VAC rating is because the phase shift (which is the reason why the capacitor is used the first place) can result in more than the supply voltage appearing across the capacitor itself. So an actual X cap (which are typically rated for 275VAC) may in fact be unsuitable there.

Most important information is missing - how much does it cost? I can see here are some non-stock Vornado zippy and one non-stock 30cm for over 100 AU equivalent. On their site it is cheaper but still 55 US bucks. For the price you can get 4 to 5 ordinary table fans, one for each person…

If it was 20 bucks that would be great deal but this At least that it has 5y warranty.

I got mine for AU$169 each time, which I'll be the first to admit is quite excessive even after applying the current exchange rates (the 633 being officially priced at US$75.). Not that the Dimplex fans I mentioned were especially cheap, either – AU$100 each from memory. I believe they call this phenomenon the "Australia tax"…

Of course, the cheap fans can't be expected to be as sturdy, either. Genuine competition would be nice, but it doesn't seem to extend further than superficially imitating (parts of) the look of the Vornados, without properly working out the aerodynamics.

[LongRunner]

Now I've also got a 533 (the price for this one at Harvey Norman or JB Hi-Fi is $129, but I found an online source that provided it for $9.06 less including shipping). In short, it's pretty much as you would expect from it being the next size down from the 633, although this time the back part of the fan housing is polypropylene (the rest is still ABS) and the motor is shaded-pole (though still spins up just as quickly, and on the plus side, there's no capacitor to potentially deteriorate and inhibit starting) - and this time the motor wires are coloured differently:

• White = common
• Grey = high speed
• Blue = medium speed
• Red = low speed

It's the same deal with 22AWG, 80°C (I don't see any sign of CSA TR-64 rating here) wires going to an allegedly Class E motor, though. The cord is also identical to that on the 633. The power consumption this time is given as 52W on the base, but 50W on the label on the motor core (I'm going to assume that the rating on the motor is rounded and Vornado made a more precise measurement).

Otherwise there aren't any really noticeable differences from the bigger model, apart from a slightly wider spacing between the front grille spokes - which is good for airflow, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable operating this in the vicinity of a toddler.

I may make a more detailed post on the 533 in a few days…

[LongRunner]

So, here are a few photos of the 533:

Not a lot here to tell it apart from the 633, apart from the size.

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There's a bit of difference at the back, due to the different shape of the motor (an additional reinforcing ring present in the 633 is also absent here).

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The foam strip is shorter than in the 633, and (in this sample at least) noticeably off-center. The plastic "handle" part holding it (while still strong enough to carry the weight of the unit, even with the front removed) is also slightly flimsier than most of the rest of the construction of these fans. Also this time, the back part of the fan housing is polypropylene (although I haven't photographed the identifying stamp, you can see also in this view that the finish is duller than with the 633, which uses ABS).

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The different motor is rather hard to miss, here.

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A shaded-pole motor, this time (not that it's any slower to start than the 633).

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A little bit of a mess is present here (the lighting is horrendous, I know). While it doesn't really affect operation, it would be nice if they would remove it during QC inspection (or better yet, improve the moulding process so it doesn't happen in the first place).

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Another quality "glitch" I would prefer not to see, even if it doesn't deteriorate performance or reliability.

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At least the mounting thread on the switch in this sample wasn't stripped (or not nearly as badly as in the initially-reviewed 633), although this was probably just down to luck. I haven't noticed the hot-PVC smell that was present during "break-in" of the 633, so it would seem that perhaps the wires don't cop as much of the motor heat here (plausible given the open design of this motor, compared to the more enclosed motor in the 633). Still, the cost increase to use better motor leads (e.g. UL AWM 3266, with XLPE insulation good for 125°C) shouldn't be more than a dollar, if that (remember, we're not talking about a discount-store PoS fan here).

Grades (this time, I have not bolded those equal to the 633):
Airflow: A (the air speeds are similar; the volume is smaller but what else can you expect)
Noise: B (a tad quieter on low than the 633, although possibly slightly coarser in signature but still good overall; vibration is a bit higher, however)
Appearance: B+
Controls: C
Build quality: C+ (slightly worse than the 633, overall)
Cord: C (as already mentioned, the same as with the 533)
Truth in advertising: B

Overall: B−

This one, I'm bringing with me when I go out to certain places in order to combat the sin of stagnant air in buildings (which even with the air conditioners at those places, has at times gone out of my tolerance). At home, it often resides in the kitchen, and I use it to cool down cooked food faster. It does an excellent job at both tasks, and even the 133 (the smallest "room" model in the Vornado family, although it isn't available in Aus, and nor is the 753 which is the true full-size variant of this series) might have been usable if it was locally available.

Also, a minor correction about that remark I originally made about the "resetting" thing: The whole U.S. Vornado site does it (don't ask me why). And the Flippi V10 and V variants appear to have 5 years of warranty (although this is, or was, confused a bit on their site when I wrote the original post? The V6 and V8 clearly have 3 years).

[LongRunner]

As of today, the switch knob on my 533 broke. I'll be looking around for any replacements; the switch shaft appears to be a standard quarter-inch type, too bad it's oriented such that the indicators on commonly-available "stock" knobs would point in the wrong direction.

Of course, the arrangement of the speed settings from highest to lowest probably hasn't helped (I mostly use low speed and rarely high).

[Behemot]

Should still be under warranty…or not?

[LongRunner]

Yes, but I'm not convinced that another original knob would fare better (I wouldn't expect many random failures of such a simple part, barring truly dreadful QC, so this is probably a design weakness).

Maybe if I source a knob that fits and then ask for a refund to cover the cost of it? (Retaining the broken original knob as evidence.)

Or better yet: Notice the subject of my latest mini-review? Maybe if I could step up and design a stronger replacement knob for the Vornado family, in much the same fashion as that example… I could use the (so far intact) knob from my 633 as a reference (it's the same knob on both of them, and presumably on various other Vornado models as well).

[LongRunner]

Another year later, another knob has broken (on the first 633, still in use by my sibling); so I had to give another one (originally on the second 633, then moved to the 533) as a temporary replacement.

On the upside, I found a Shapeways offering for a replacement knob (albeit rather crude in design), so I've ordered 3 black + 1 white (for another 633 since purchased on clearance, which is currently my "main" unit) to try.

From further reading in the meantime, I've found that the "reverse" order of speed settings isn't a Vornado exclusive; at least in North America, it's standard practice, with the intent of ensuring more reliable starting. So I might lighten up on that part of the scores…

[LongRunner]

Well, they've arrived. As it turns out, they're not entirely compatible with Vornado x33 models; for a start, the switch shaft is differently dimensioned, so the knobs alone won't grip it at all. Fortunately, this can be cured by adding a shim of 1mm thick plastic to the flat side of the shaft.

The marker is also in a different position, so with these knobs on the x33 series the marker ends up 135° clockwise from where it should be (so when the switch is off, the marker points to the far-clockwise setting; and in any on position, the marker points to a blank area). My fix for this will be to make new marks with a drill, and fill in the original-designed marks with some epoxy resin or other.

Otherwise, they seem strong enough and look well-made (certainly for being 3D printed). So, I can't exactly complain, but I might add a comment there regarding use of the knob on the x33 (I'll tell you when/if I do).

Photos will be added (hopefully) when I get a new tripod (and camera?)…