Our Picks View details $70 at Walmart View details View details $46 at Walmart View details View details $56 at Walmart View details View details $450 at Amazon View details Table of Contents Tower fans are a great way to cool down a space in your home without compromising a sleek modern look or too much space. In addition to keeping the area cool, they will also improve the circulation throughout the area. They are very energy efficient and can help you save on your energy bill. Read more: Best Gifts Under $300 for 2024We love tower fans' capacity to enhance airflow through cross-ventilation, effectively lowering indoor temperatures at night and keeping your space cooler for far longer. Additionally, tower fans occupy less space than box fans or AC units, minimizing the risk of tripping hazards for you and your pets. Tower fans are also fairly light and designed to be easily picked up and moved from room to room. Plus, their smaller and slimmer size makes it easy to tuck these fans away without blocking walkways or obstructing views.In case you didn't know, the shape of a tower fan isn't just for looks -- it also ensures that a well-positioned one can quickly create a comfy temperature across an entire room. The best tower fans usually oscillate from side to side, covering the majority of a room -- ideal for living rooms so the whole family can enjoy the cooling effect. Furthermore, tower fans come in various designs, with features like programmable timers, quiet operation and oscillation. Some even have built-in air purifiers. Alongside these nifty features, brands like Lasko's Smart Oscillating Tower Fan are incorporating phone controls and voice activation via Alexa or Google Assistant.After hours upon hours of testing multiple models, our team of CNET experts selected several top tower fans for hot, humid days. Best tower fans $70 at Walmart $70 at Walmart $70 at Best Buy Tower fans generate noise, which might be a problem if you're planning on using one while you sleep or binge-watch your favorite TV shows. Fortunately, the quietest fan I tested, the Honeywell QuietSet, was also a pretty well-rounded appliance across the board.Along with holding its highest-speed setting to a best-in-class 41 decibels (measured at a distance of 30 inches), the QuietSet was also one of the most energy-efficient fans I tested, drawing just 36 watts at full blast. Speaking of settings, the QuietSet offers a whole bunch of them, ranging from a near-silent, 26-decibel Sleep setting and a comfortably quiet, 28-decibel White Noise setting up to Relax, Refresh, Cool and Power Cool settings that move greater masses of air while keeping the noise at bay. The slim, rocket-shaped design is sturdy and relatively compact, the batteries-included remote control docks neatly in the back when not in use and the upward-angled controls on top are easy on the eyes. You can customize the brightness of those LED lights on top too.I wish the warranty ran longer than one year, but that's just about my only criticism of this impressively quiet tower fan. It's also pretty affordable with a list price under $70. Photo Gallery 1/1 $46 at Walmart Best for small spaces TaoTronics TT-F001 Oscillating Tower Fan $46 at Walmart At less than $50, the TaoTronics TT-F001 isn't an inexpensive tower fan, but it makes up for it with a great mix of features and packing plenty of cooling power into a compact, 35-inch build. Among the fans I tested, its 60-watt power draw was second only to the Dyson, but its highest-speed setting was the second noisiest, ringing in at 48 decibels. Neither factor is a deal-breaker, particularly if you need a smaller tower fan but don't want to sacrifice cooling power.As for the features, the TT-F001 includes an ambient temperature reading on the admittedly dated-looking display. Those readings proved to be completely accurate when I used some of the thermocouples left over from my waffle maker tests to double-check them. Better yet, those readings let you run the fan in autopilot mode, where it automatically turns on whenever the temperature rises above 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Except for the Dyson, none of the other fans I tested offered an autopilot mode like that. I also appreciated the artificial breeze modes and the removable cover in the back, which makes the fan easier to clean. Photo Gallery 1/1 $56 at Walmart Best overall value Better Homes and Gardens 5-Speed Tower Fan $56 at Walmart Usually available at Walmart for around $50, this Better Homes and Gardens-branded tower fan appears to be a reskinned version of a well-rated model from HomeLabs. Alongside the sleep timer and the three speed settings, you'll find two additional modes that simulate a natural breeze. The remote attaches magnetically on top of the device when you aren't using it a nice, high-end touch not commonly found at this price.The sturdy, understated design features a grill that oscillates within a fixed base, making it less conspicuous than a tower fan that turns entirely from side to side. I found it plenty powerful enough to cool off a medium-to-large room on a hot day, it still managed to keep things a little quieter than smaller tower fans like the Vornado V-Flow and the TaoTronics TT-F001.I'd like it better if the warranty ran longer than a single year and if the build weren't quite so plasticky, but those trade-offs are more than fair at this price. If you're looking for a capable tower fan that feels more expensive than it actually is, this one fits the bill better than anything else I've tested. Photo Gallery 1/1