How can a company with such a ridiculous name make such great products? Or, how did a company that makes something as prosaic as ceiling fans come to have such a hip name? No matter which version of that question you lean toward, this much is indisputable: Big Ass Fans makes great ceiling fans. They are quiet, energy efficient, impressively engineered, beautiful, and really expensive.
Big Ass Fans started out in 1999 as the HVLS Company (high volume, low speed) and specialized in big fans with slowly rotating airfoils (don’t call them blades) for stirring up the air in huge spaces such as warehouses and hangers. It wasn’t long before customers started referring to these products as, well, big-ass fans. With some models having a diameter of 24 ft., it’s hard to argue with that sentiment. A couple of years ago, Big Ass Fans took some baby steps into the residential fan market with its relatively diminutive 8-ft.-dia. Isis fan. Now its 5-ft.-dia. Haiku fan puts the company in a better position to compete with the not-so-big-ass fans in the marketplace.
The Haiku ($825 to $1045) comes with either composite airfoils (in black or white) or laminated bamboo. These sleek propellers make less noise than the whirling overhead paddles we’re all used to. The Haiku also uses a lot less energy than the 65w allowed by Energy Star for a typical residential ceiling fan. At the lowest of its seven speed settings, the Haiku draws only 2w; at full tilt, it maxes out at 30w. In addition to its seven speeds, the Haiku has a reverse setting, a timer, and a variable-speed setting called “whoosh” designed to simulate a breeze that waxes and wanes.
Photo: courtesy of the manufacturer
