Honeywell has a reputation for affordable and quality products, and its HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan is no exception. The HT-900 is a small fan measuring only 11 inches high and weighing just 3 pounds. It’s designed to sit near you on a desk or nightstand and can be used in small rooms that need extra cooling. We tested the fan in our home office, bedroom, and kitchen to see how the HT-900 handled the heat.
Setup Process: Nothing to it
The Honeywell HT-900 comes fully assembled. Simply open the box, remove the packaging, and pull out the fan. Nothing else is included in the box except the product card and warranty literature. There is no remote.
Performance: Personal-sized power
Fans come in all shapes and sizes, from tall tower fans to small personal fans that clip on your desk. The Honeywell HT-900 falls right in the middle of the spectrum in terms of both size and performance. The fan’s small size allows you to use it in tight spaces, but its blades are not big enough to circulate air in a large room like a ceiling fan. The fan has three settings: low, medium, and high. The lowest setting is quite low, while the medium and high settings only vary slightly in their power output. The low setting is ideal for working at a desk where you want a small breeze to keep you cool but not enough airflow to blow your paperwork onto the floor. The two higher settings provide enough airflow to circulate the surrounding air in a small room. These power levels will keep you cool while you sleep or watch TV. The Honeywell HT-900 packs some power for its size, but the fan works best when it is blowing on you or near you. We found it was ideal when it was a few feet away with the fan blowing the air immediately around us. It produced a pleasant breeze that would cool us down quickly when we were working at our desk or watching TV at night. We moved the HT-900 fan into larger spaces, but its performance suffered. When we put it in an open window to vent some smoke from overcooked bacon, the HT-900 did little to move the air in our combination kitchen and dining room area. The noise level is a crucial consideration tor many people when they are purchasing a fan. Most inexpensive fans are overly noisy, but not the HT-900. Honeywell reduced the noise in the HT-900, and it shows. On the lowest setting, the fan is quiet enough to listen to a video or watch TV. Crank it up to the higher settings, and the fan noise will increase, but not enough to be a nuisance. On the highest setting, the white noise is perfect for lulling you to sleep.
Design: Fit-anywhere footprint
The Honeywell HT-900 is a no-frills fan with a minimalist look that blends into any room. It has an all-plastic, all-black construction, which is more pragmatic than sophisticated. Though it matches most decor styles, its ordinary appearance may be a turnoff for those who want an elegant look in a fan. The fan is not only is basic in its looks, but it’s also simple in its operation. It has a dial that allows you to switch between the three different speeds. The dial is easy to turn and straightforward to use. The fan also tilts up and down in the stand so you can adjust the air stream to where you need it most. The tilting mechanism is notched so you can click the fan into the perfect position and not worry about it slipping while it is running. The Honeywell HT-900 is a small fan, so it will fit easily in cramped areas without taking up too much space. We were able to keep our phone and tablet chargers on our nightstand right next to the fan. If shelf space is at a premium, the stand also doubles as a wall mount, allowing you to permanently place the fan in an out-of-the-way location. Because it is so compact, you can effortlessly move the fan to wherever it is needed. The plastic housing even has a built-in handle that makes it easy to carry the fan with one hand.
Price: Affordable enough for everyone
The Honeywell HT-900 is an affordable fan that has a suggested manufacturer retail price of about $30, but most retailers carry the fan for less than $20. This low price makes it easy to recommend the HT-900 for everyday use.
Competition: Small versus big
The Honeywell HT-900 is the perfect bedside fan for a hot summer night—not to mention a cool office companion during the daytime heat. Though we appreciated the fan blowing on us when we worked, we found the fan was not powerful enough to circulate air in our living room and similarly larger rooms. For bigger areas, we’d turn to the Seville Classics UltraSlimline 40” Oscillating Tower Fan or the Vornado 660 Large Room Air Circulator, both of which we also tested. Vornado 660 Whole Room Air Circulator: The Vornado would be our first pick—it’s a powerful fan that uses the company’s Vortex technology to create an impressive flow of air even in oversized rooms. It moved cold air into the house from an open window and pulled warm air up through a grate in the floor. Seville Classics UltraSlimline 40” Oscillating Tower Fan: For more direct cooling, the Seville UltraSlimline tower was also a family favorite. As the name implies, the tower oscillates, allowing you to cover an entire room with a blast of air. Everyone in the room felt the cooling effect of the fan and appreciated the occasional burst of air as the fan rotated back and forth on its stand. If you want to add a powerful, small fan to your home arsenal, the Honeywell HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan is an excellent choice. Its small size allows you to use it in tight spaces and small rooms, and its small price tag saves you money. Use it in a dorm room or put in on a desk, an end table, or a nightstand. You won’t be disappointed.
