Those looking for a reasonably priced tower fan for the home will not find themselves short of choice in today’s market. Levoit’s feature-packed tower fan is an Amazon best-seller and one that’s keenly priced too, but is it all just hot air?
Unboxing the Levoit
My Levoit sample fan was fully assembled within minutes of opening the box. The base of the fan arrives in two halves and is secured to the unit with a locking nut - no tools are required and everything is very well explained in the instructions. Even the fan’s remote control arrives pre-packed with a coin battery.
The unit is particularly light at 3.9kg / 8.5lbs, meaning I had no problem moving it out of its packaging and around the flat.
The instruction manual advises leaving a minimum distance of 15in/38cm between the fan’s outlet and any other objects. Thankfully the lengthy 1.75m power cable makes placement flexible.
The Levoit may not hold the good looks of say Dyson’s Purifier, but its design is clean and inoffensive. Given its size, I think this fan does a good job of blending in with modern decor.
Facts at a glance
- Size: 16.5 x 16.5 x 92cm / 6.5 x 6.5 x 36.2in
- Weight: 3.9kg / 8.5lbs
- Rated power: 39W
- Angle of rotation: 90 degrees of oscillation
- Timer: 1-12hr
- Fan speeds: 5 settings
- Maximum air velocity: 3.9 metres/sec
Levoit 36-inch Classic Tower Fan features
The Levoit’s 36-inch tall plastic chassis can rotate through 90 degrees, directing airflow evenly throughout a room.
At the top of the unit is an LED display and 6 touch sensitive buttons. Unlike the sister model of this fan, the LTF-F361-WUK goes without a second display on the front of the fan. Although this isn't a huge deal, it’s a bit of a shame as without this the fan’s display remains only readable from above. It means you have to be somewhat familiar with the fan and its settings to really be able to make the most of its remote control.
Still, all functions can be accessed entirely from the included remote control which itself is small and particularly light. Audible bleeps go someway to help with the lack of a second screen, so you at least get acknowledgement of your remote inputs. If you choose not to use the remote then it clamps neatly into the back of the tower itself.
Four different modes are available:
Normal Mode gives you full manual control over the fan speed - with 1 (low) through to 5 (high).
Auto Mode uses a thermostat to automatically adjusts the fan speed based on the temperature of the environment. For example, in a room that’s sub 23 degrees celsius, the fan will run in its lowest setting. If the room was at between 25 and 27 degrees celsius, it would choose the third highest setting. Environments over 30 degrees put the fan in its fastest speed. These values are pre-determined and cannot be adjusted.
Turbo Mode is what you’d use to quickly reduce a room’s temperature. It’s ideally used in conjunction with air conditioning and initially places the fan in its highest setting complete with oscillation turned on. Once the fan reduces the room temp by three degrees celsius it then switches back to automatic mode.
Advanced Sleep Mode is a really nice feature that optimises the fan for your sleep schedule by dimming its LED display and muting any selection sounds. One hour after being activated, the fan reduces its speed as the room temperature stabilises. It’ll then increase or decrease the fan speed depending on temperature fluctuations right the way through until you wake up.
The fan will remember its last setting, too – even if it’s unplugged. As well as these modes, the Levoit Classic Tower Fan can be placed on a timer that can be set for anything between one and 12 hours.
Levoit 36-inch Classic Tower Fan performance
Although a blessing in the winter, the generously insulated walls of my modern flat trap hot and humid air during the British summer. Open the windows, I hear you cry! I’d love to, but a wide open window could mean curiosity gets the better of my indoor cat.
So, with windows open just a crack, the Levoit was left to do the heavy lifting. Placed in my bedroom, the 39W rated fan does an excellent job of cooling the small to medium space. For a large bedroom or larger rooms in general, I’d opt for Levoit’s 42-in version of the same fan.
This fan is whisper quiet if you need it to be. At its lowest setting, it’s a claimed 28 decibels which although not market-leading, is particularly good for the price. As you’d expect, noise levels increase as you raise the fan’s power but it’s only really the highest two fan levels that produce a noticeable uplift in volume.
The Advanced Sleep Mode remains my go-to and meant I had to do nothing more than switch the fan on before sleeping and off when I woke up. It’s this excellent mode that also allows me to live without the need for a second display on the tower, though it isn’t ideal that you have to be above the fan to see its display panel.
The gentle left-right oscillation combined with the quiet operation makes for a fan that’s ideal even for a light sleeper. Keep your cooling expectations in check though, this fan is after all not an air conditioner, but I always felt the fan did a more than adequate job of improving the comfort levels of my room.
Unfortunately after a few weeks of use my review sample did start to make a creaking sound when used in its oscillating mode. A replacement fan was sent through and this unit did not develop the same fault.
Look closely at the fan and you’ll notice that it only expels air through about two-thirds of its grille - so you won’t get full top-to-bottom coverage. In real-world use, this wasn’t a problem at all.
Maintenance of this fan is limited to external and internal cleaning. It won’t need to be done frequently and the manual shows you exactly how to do it using either compressed air or a vacuum. The remote control also uses a replaceable 3V CR2025 battery.
Should you buy the Levoit 36-inch Classic Tower Fan?
After months of real-world testing, I’ve found this fan deserving of its Amazon best-selling status. It’s well priced with impressive performance and features that make it ideal for overnight use.
Not sure this is the fan for you? Our previous group test of the best tower fans includes plenty of other options.
