Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was one of the most interesting/frustrating/satisfying projects I have tacked in recent years. The fan when complete is beautiful. Nice size, great air flow and lights up the glass crystal lookign things quite nicely (after a fix). However getting there was anything but simple. SHIPPING -The fan was shipped quickly and well packed. Received from DHL when they said it would be there. It was wrapped tight and packed well. Nothing was broken, however here is where the adventure starts. No pretty art work on the outside, just a brown box so you can’t look at any pictures to see what it looks like installed to help you with the next step! INSTRUCTIONS – WORTHLESS. They do not apply to this fan. They are generic at best. Good for crumpling and practicing your jump shot. There is a little part that talks about wiring the remote but again, generic and not specific to the unit. HARDWARE – ummmm someone forgot this step. Now I read somewhere else that someone had the same issue, did not think anything about it at the time. Went through every piece of bubble wrap and foam 2 times but not a bit of hardware. This means, mounting screws for the main bracket, wiring nuts, and counter weights. Trip to LOWES fixed this. Not a big deal unless you do not have a hardware store around you. If that is the case, you might be able to reuse the ones from the fan you are taking down, if not. We you have a nice big paper weight. PARTS, PARTS, PARTS – I recommend to lay everything out. Having done a number of fans I was pretty much able to line up the order of assembly. Good thing the blades are already attached to the unit so you do not have to put them on. There is a grey cup looking piece. Could not figure out what it was for but it did fit upside down and sit on top of the fan pole base (see photo). Take care to pull the 3 wires through all the pieces otherwise you will be taking it apart to run the wires. On mine, the mounting bracket did not have the holes for the junction box screws quite lined up so I had to dig out a dremel and make the holes more oblong to fit the screws. DON’T BEND it out to fit. This will cause the unit to not be tight against the ceiling when tightened down. Hopefully yours will fit but mine did not. WIRING – wiring is straight forward, black to black, white to white, and ground to ground. The blue wire is for the remote control. Pay attention to this little gem. The remote controller (not the one that controls the unit with button but the brains of the unit has to be wired up and then tucked above the ball in between the bracket. Use small wire nuts or wrap well with electrical tape. It is a TIGHT FIT. Keep all the wires on one side and tuck them in a close the mounting bracket as you can so you can put the cover over it to finish the unit. THE BEEP - One thing that drives me nuts about this unit is it beeps every time you push a button on the remote. WHY? I have no idea. I tried to see if I could plug the hole or something but could not. So every time you change setting, it will beep. No problem unless you have a neurotic little dog that freaks her little mind out with every beep. Sounds like a muffled smoke detector chirp. Go figure. LIGHT – well to say it is bright is a bit of an understatement. This light is a single LED plate with multiple diodes that itself is pretty cool. It attaches to the bottom of the fan with magnets. No screws. Which is good (see hardware). The problem I found was it was bright, not like a little bright but a whole lot bright. The light is around the 4000k+ level so pretty blue in color. It not only lit up the dining room table, but also the kitchen, living room, outside patio, and a couple of neighbor’s houses. WAY too bright for normal house use in my opinion. My friend Amazon did not have a replacement so I ended up over at aliexpress.com and ordered the following replacement: Round 36W 360MM 5730 SMD LED Chip Light Bulb Ceiling Lamp 3 circle Plate Replace Board with Transformer and magnet AC110V-240V (whole lot of words I know) It was $21 and took about 10 days to get over to the states. It is a bit larger but still fit fin It is around 3500K and is much easier on the eyes and actually makes the crystals look better. You will need to use the magnets from the original (they just unscrew) and the new little transformer it comes with. Oh by the way this little transformer has magnets as well for sticking in the middle of the light (see photo) REMOTE – well it is nice little unit but is not made to fit over an existing light switch like some of my other fans have. It comes with a plastic bracket and the remote. You have to mount it next to switch. Not what I wanted to do but not much of an option. Oh by the way. No screws or batteries. The battery you will need is an A23. Get it when you are getting the rest of your hardware. I hope my fan was an exception to the missing hardware and yours has it. Again not a big issue but annoyance that you have to stop to go by things for an already expensive fan. CRYSTAL (glass) BOWL – the focus point of the fan is the very nice crystal shaped glass wired bowl that you mount after you install the light. This actually had the 3 screws in the unit to mount it. Problem is they are brass. Fan is chrome/brushed and then you have 3 brass screws….hmmmm. Perhaps they are figuring if you use the light that it come with, you will be blinded by it and not able to see the screws. I just used a chrome colored sharpie and touched them up. Perhaps you won’t notice. (not a deal breaker) Use a microfiber towel to help hold it up to screw in so you don’t’ get glass all gummed up with finger prints. Again this would have been a nice time to have a 2nd person there to help put the screws in since the circumference is big enough that it is hard to reach around to put screws in one handed while balancing the bowl. There are wires that hold all the glass pieces in place and a few had some sharp ends sticking out so just be careful. FUNCTION – This is a pretty slick fan and really moves the air. Has 3 settings for fan speed but only on/off for the light. You also have a timer function, although I am not sure what that is all about. Overall I give the fan itself (5) stars for the appearance and final function I give the installation (2) stars for the difficulty of not having instructions and needing to wing in. Relatively heavy unit so it might be a good idea to have someone help lug it up the ladder to hang. Having to enlarge the screw holes was another low point. Light Level (1) star for the stupid bright 4000k+ level. Get a replacement and it goes (5) stars Wife's entertainment watching me install fan (5) stars. My level -(2) stars End of the day with happy wife liking the sparkling glass (4) stars.