So, apparently my preferred fan wasn’t good enough. It’s a shame because I really liked the design, but it apparently has noise issues. So I had a quick look at the Choice article and came up with the following decisions. Briefly considered the Haiku, which is gorgeous, but too exxy for us (unless we win lotto or otherwise get an amazing deal).
(If you’re not a member but would like to see the Choice article*, email/PM me and I’ll send it to you.)
For the inside, the Aeratron 503 looks like it will suit our modern styling. It comes in white, silver, and black. I’m leaning towards the silver at this point, because I’m not sure what shade of white our ceiling will be. The interior designers were recommending painting the ceiling and walls in the same shade of white, and my concern is that the white of the fan may look off against the white of the ceiling. The black somehow looks too dark (not something I ever thought I’d say!). First world problems!
Aerotron e503
The Aerotron is made of plastic and aluminium. Interestingly, it’s being sold at Bunnings, which at least it means I can go and have a look at it. We’ve only specced a fan for the bedroom at this stage, but we’re also considering having one in the living room as well (if we did this, it would replace a light fitting and we’d rely only on downlights for that area. We’d still have a light fitting over the dining table though).
For the alfresco, we thought we’d try going with something different. The Brilliant Galaxy scored the same as the Aerotron, but has a more relaxed look about it, which should suit the outdoors. The Galaxy has a metal body and solid timber blades. It comes in white, silver, and “antique bronze”. We’re favouring the antique bronze colour. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a local supplier, which is a bit annoying.
Brilliant Galaxy 54″ Propellor-Style Ceiling Fan
Alternatively, I think the Aerotron in black would also work in the alfresco, as the ceiling will be lined with timber (probably jarrah), and I’d prefer the fan blend in rather than contrast.
*A note on Choice articles. While we find them to be a very good guide to buying something reliable, they often don’t test all the product models we’re interested in. I especially find that they tend to test in the low to middle price range, and occasionally they’ll throw in a popular high-end brand. Sometimes we have to extrapolate from their results if they test a similar model in the same brand, but that’s not always a good indicator either as results even within brands can vary a lot (I just checked the results for 3 different models of Miele dishwashers and the results we quite different). We tend to be of the view that if we find something we like and it’s not reviewed, we might still buy it anyway if we really like it. On the other hand if something gets a bad review (or performs poorly on an important aspect) we probably wouldn’t buy it.
I really like the brilliant galaxy fan. I’d put it inside too! I know what you are saying about Choice. The concept is so good, but often the reviews are not worth buying because of the limited selection of products reviewed.
The galaxy fan is pretty, I like it more every time I look at it. It would probably look OK inside too, the wood blades should lend a bit more warmth to the interior. Hm. Food for thought. I worry that the aerotron will look too plasticky. Must make it down to Bunnings to have a look.
I feel we have been blog-friends long enough to tell you that I don’t like the aerotron fan. It may look better in reality, but it looks to me like it belongs on the side of an airplane. I checked out the other colours and I think either the silver or bronze would be nice inside.
I’m sitting here chuckling because I knew you would hate it *lol* To be honest I’m not sure I like it all that much either. Luckily I’ve got a while before I need to decide!
I’m with Jo on the Brilliant Galaxy – like the idea of wooden fan 🙂
Yeah it’s pretty cute! It comes in 3 colours I think, but I didn’t like the other colours as much.
I would think in this case a choice article wouldn’t matter? (I’m also a Choice member) How wrong can a fan go? Does it create a current? Does it have different speeds? Does it have a summer/winter mode? And does that matter. Maybe I’m being too simplistic about it? We ended up buying a ceiling fan which was the cheapest on line with the view of spray painting it if we didn’t want it to be white (we got the most basic fan possible I think it was a Martec). (This was for a different house).
So my take is get the one you like the look of 🙂
Well, it kind of does. We’re building an energy efficient house, so we also want the most efficient appliances we can get. We need it to be reversible and with different speeds as our aim is to not have to rely on aircon for cooling and heating, except during extreme temperatures. We also have a lot of ambient noise as we live on a busy road, so we don’t want noisy appliances adding to that. 🙂
My hubby was super keen on the Haiku but no way I’m forking out $$$ for a fan! Love the look of the galaxy. How does it compare to the Haiku price wise?
Price-wise, it’s about a third the price of the Haiku I think. So wayyy cheaper.
Hey Trixee, just a quick heads up to let you know I’ve nominated you for the Liebster award. Please don’t feel obliged to participate but if you’re keen, you can read more about it here http://ourhudson.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/leibster/. Thanks
Hey Sheilzy, thanks for the nomination, finally getting around to working on it now! 🙂
Look forward to reading your answers
Hello E&M, landscaping looks fabulous! I’ve nominated you for the Liebster award. Please don’t feel pressured to participate but if you’re keen, you can read more about it here http://ourhudson.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/leibster/. Thanks
Oops double post. Thanks Deb for alerting me!