After going through all that work, I realized something: Many of the stats and facts I found, while technically accurate in the strictest sense, don’t mean much for the average fan buyer. The truth is, it’s easy to find a decent fan. At least a half dozen manufacturers make perfectly good and affordable fans that will last you a decade or even longer, and they all fulfill the basic functions of moving air with essentially silent and steady operation.
But time and again (specifically, seven times across three different homes), I find that I keep going back to the Westinghouse Comet 52-Inch Indoor Ceiling Fan. While it would be a lie to claim that it—or any other fan, for that matter—is the singular best ceiling fan among the thousands of available models, the Westinghouse Comet has consistently proven itself to be silent, powerful, affordable, and understated. And when it comes to a ceiling fan, that’s all you really need.
In four rooms in Los Angeles, with over five years of continuous operation as of 2022, these fans are all doing well. So well, in fact, that we’ve never had the opportunity to execute a true comparison test, which is a weakness of this article relative to a standard Wirecutter guide (like the one on, say, room fans). We understand that what works for one home might not work for another, and we haven’t given up on the idea of truly testing multiple ceiling fans side by side in some cohesive, consistent way. Meanwhile, we’ve put together some advice on what to look for when you’re shopping for a new ceiling fan.