If you are in the market for a Vornado fan, but you can’t figure out which one is the most quiet, this is the guide for you. Vornado has been making fans since the 1940s, so it’s quite likely that there is one that fits your needs.
Fan vs. Circulator: What’s The Difference?
Vornado splits up there air-moving products into “fans” and “circulators” but it isn’t always clear what the difference is between the.
A fan is any device that blows air around the room using a spinning blade, but a “circulator” isn’t a term you hear very often. A circulator is what Vornado calls its fans which are designs to create air movement in a room as opposed to simply cooling a single person. This keeps the air fresh and moving in a space instead of just concentrating moving air on a single person or small area.
A fan and a circulator really aren’t that difference in practice, though some circulators will be designed to blow air up and towards the center of a room, creating vortex of air movement in the entire space.
Vornado Volume Levels
Keep in mind that we are are only rating volume here, not volume for the level of air moved. For example, the Clip3 personal fan is very quiet (31 db) but moves a tiny amount of air (18 CFM), but we’ve rated it “Low” even though the CFM-per-dB is quite high!
If you want the quietest fan possible, use the “Volume” rating or “dB Low” columns, if you want the most efficient air movers that look for the CFM per dB level.
We’ve made the main fans in the Vornado line bold so you can tell the top picks from the rest.
| Fan | Price | Volume | dB Low | dB High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 723DC Energy Smart Large | $170 | Very Low | 30 | 63 |
| 623DC Energy Smart Med. | $150 | Very Low | 30 | 55 |
| 133DC Energy Smart Compact | $60 | Very Low | 30 | 48 |
| PIVOT Clip Personal | $30 | Very Low | 31 | 41 |
| PIVOT Personal | $30 | Very Low | 31 | 41 |
| 610DC Energy Smart Medium | $110 | Very Low | 32 | 56 |
| Zippi Personal Fan | $40 | Very Low | 32 | 35 |
| 660 Large Air Circulator | $110 | Low | 35 | 54 |
| Transom Window Fan | $99 | Low | n/a | n/a |
| EXPAND6 Small Travel | $70 | Low | 34 | 46 |
| EXPAND4 Compact Travel | $50 | Low | 34 | 42 |
| 660 AE Large Air Circulator | $140 | Low | 35 | 54 |
| OSCR32 32″ Tower Circulator | $90 | Low | 35 | 45 |
| Breesi LS Medium Nursery | $80 | Low | 35 | 45 |
| 633DC Energy Smart Medium | $110 | Low | n/a | n/a |
| 560 Medium Air Circulator | $90 | Medium | 41 | 55 |
| Breesi Nursery Small | $80 | Medium | 37 | 45 |
| ATOM 1 Compact | $60 | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| PIVOT6 Med. Circulator | $80 | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| 460 Small Air Circulator | $60 | Medium | 39 | 52 |
| PIVOT3 Clip Compact | $55 | Medium | 40 | 52 |
| 630 Medium Air Circulator | $75 | Medium | 43 | 52 |
| 5303 Small Air Circulator | $60 | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| 623 Medium Air Circulator | $100 | Medium | 40 | 53 |
| 723 Large Air Circulator | $120 | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| 7803 Large Pedestal Circulator | $140 | Medium | 46 | 52 |
| 133 Compact Air Circulator | $40 | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| Flippi V10 Compact | $45 | Medium | 47 | 58 |
| EXO51 Heavy Duty Small | $70 | High | 51 | 63 |
| EXO5 Heavy Duty Small | $70 | High | 51 | 61 |
| 753 Large Air Circulator | $100 | High | 52 | 71 |
| 673 Med. Panel Circulator | $60 | High | 52 | 67 |
| 173 37″ Tower Circulator | $80 | High | 53 | 66 |
| 733 Large Air Circulator | $110 | High | 55 | 69 |
Vornado’s Best Quiet Fans
If you want a quiet Vornado you can look for the fan with the lowest volume (in dB) but if also care about moving a decent amount of air in a room (or you have large rooms) then you need a bigger fan.
That is to say, a tiny can can be quiet, but it won’t move much air. A tiny fan can also move a lot of air, but it will have to spin very quickly, which makes it loud. A big fan can be quiet and also move a lot of air.
Here are some of our picks for low volume and good airflow. We have calculated efficiency based on the amount of air moved given the noise level of the fan.
| Fan | Price | Lowest Volume | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7803 Large Pedestal Air Circulator | $140 | 46 | 10.25 |
| 660 Large Air Circulator | $110 | 35 | 9.45 |
| 783DC Energy Smart Large Stand | $190 | 30 | 8.04 |
| 723DC Energy Smart Large | $170 | 30 | 8.04 |
| 6303DC Energy Smart Medium | $150 | 30 | 6.63 |
| 623DC Energy Smart Medium | $150 | 30 | 5.85 |
| 693 Medium Stand Air Circulator | $120 | 40 | 5.67 |
| 533 Small Air Circulator | $55 | 36 | 4.93 |
So, you can see that a fan like the 7803 Large Pedestal Air Circulator is efficient, but not very quiet. Instead if you are looking for a quiet and efficient fan, you should opt for the Energy Smart series, which has more fan speeds and lower fan speeds, making it possible for the fan to go whisper quiet but also move a lot of air if asked to do so.
And some rules of thumb if we missed the Vornado fan you are considering:
- large fans are almost always more efficient than smaller ones
- fans with more robust cowls (the curved shaped around the fan) tend to be quieter and thus more efficient than simpler fans