Holmes Dual Blade Twin Window Fan

1.You don't have to cycle through 10 settings to turn it off - hold the button down and count to 3.2.I noticed that a great deal of the negative reviews on this fan exactly match a similar Holmes fan at a much cheaper price point - I have to wonder if some of them are on the wrong product page.3.There is a trick to this fan that I believe some people don't understand - it only works if the outside air temperature is LOWER than the inside temperature. If the outside air temperature is higher than the inside temperature, you'll just be sucking hot air into your room.We use an indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer and immediately shut the fan off and close and cover the window as soon as the outside temp gets within a degree of the inside temp. If I didn't have the thermometer (which wasn't very expensive), I would just use the Weather Channel hour-by-hour forecast or something like that to make a judgement call on when to turn it off and on.In other words - it's mainly meant for nighttime use. You can use it as a floor fan or something when it's warmer outside than in, but take it out of the window for heaven's sake!I also wouldn't reverse the direction and expect it to do much unless you had some cooler air to pump into the room as the warmer air was sucked out; but it would work very well to clear hot air out before turning on the A/C or something along those lines. If the temperature was fairly equal inside and out, I could see fresh air being somewhat more relieving than just moving inside air around, and the idea of putting one on intake at one end of a room and one on outtake at the other end would be a very effective way to move air around, too.Otherwise - think before you decide when/how/where to use the window fan. It's not rocket science - but it's not plug-in and expect a cheap A/C miracle, either.4.It's not noisy at all. Compared to central A/C? Yeah, it's pretty loud. Compared to a box fan and most floor fans? It's whisper quiet.5.It doesn't seem to be any lower quality than any other plastic fan I've ever owned. I don't expect it to last forever, but I don't think it seems too cheaply made for a plastic fan. All things considered, quality control on something like this would mean that sometimes a bad ones will get through, so I would probably exchange it at least once before asking for my money back. (We ordered 3 and they all work fine, though.)The only negative I can really say is the thermostat gadget. When the temp is on the line, the thing can't make up it's mind and starts and stops for awhile. It *does* work though, so if you need it to 'think' for itself while you are at work or something it is a worthwhile and useful feature. For it to work smoothly it would have to be considerably more sensitive and expensive and I don't care to pay that much for a fan.Also - I have to say this. Some reviewers were disappointed that the thing was 'unsafe' and they had to take it out of their window to secure the house from burglers when they were away. All I can think is: REALLY?!? For a plastic fan at this price point, people seriously expected that?!? So, with that said: No. No, it's not secure and you will need to remove it and lock your window if you are concerned about your neighborhood and your TV. I refuse to remove a star for that, though. (You might be grateful however, if you ever get locked out and have to boost your youngest through a window. Not that this has ever happened to me or anything....)

This fan does a better job than I ever would have imagined.I have it in a second floor window of a home built in the 1700's. I originally bought it for the main bathroom for better ventilation and cooling, but decided to put it in our bedroom on a temporary basis.We had just moved and did not get all of our air conditioners put in upstairs yet. So, downstairs was cool and wonderful, but upstairs was literally like entering a heat wave as soon as you reach the top of the stairs. We put this fan in our bedroom window with both sides of the fan set to exhaust and the difference it has made is unbelievable. Our bedroom is cool and as long as we leave our door open you do not feel that heat wave as soon as you reach the top of the stairs anymore.We have actually decided not to put our a/c in the window now, since the fan does such a good job and we really only have about a month yet that we would need the a/c and then have to take it out anyway.I believe after it had a full day of running and circulating the air, it eventually started pulling the cool air up from downstairs since it was set to exhaust. I cannot believe the difference it has made and it is an excellent purchase. You can feel the air lightly circulating the room and it is just as good as the a/c would have been. The room is totally cooled and the hall way is cool and comfortable.It runs quietly, even set on high.The controls to switch from exhaust to intake simply slide to either setting and the fans reverse pretty instantaneously when you change it.I am throughly satisfied with this purchase and am in awe that a simple window fan does such an amazing job.If you're debating this purchase, just buy it. I will be ordering another one for the bathroom still, just for better ventilation as its such an old house and has no built in exhaust in the ceiling. I think if you had a couple of these scattered in windows throughout the house, you would not even need air conditioning.

OK, so this is going to be a weird review.I despise and therefore refuse to be one of those people who give a 1 star review for a product because THEY didn't know what they were doing. Saw someone post a 1 star review for an appliance because it was too big for his kitchen counter top. The size was shown, he's an idiot. I don't want to be that guy.The fan works very well. The reversible airflow works as intended, and you can set the fan to be one side extracting, one side on intake. Neither of the fans rattled in either position, extract or intake. Also it's a nice looking fan.But...My cat moves more air when he sneezes than this fan does, even on high. Now, if you have a small room, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this fan. It's really quiet. The room I wanted to put it in is approx 8' x 15'. On high, standing 6' away, I couldn't feel anything. I lit a lighter, barely a flicker.My own fault, I should have researched the specifications better. I got this to replace an aged Honeywell unit that, quite literally, disintegrated. It was very old, and had served me well. The fans were 6.5" diameter on the Honeywell. This Holmes is 8.5". I thought bigger fans, more air movement. But... whereas the Honeywell fans spun at approx a million RPM, this fan spins at about 5. The Honeywell sounded like a jet taking off, this fan sounds like a whispered confession.Bottom line: if you have a small space and want a quiet fan, by all means pick this up. It's a quality fan. If you have a bigger space, look elsewhere.