Up until now, hot flashes from menopause have been disrupting my sleep for weeks. My only way to cope has been to crank the thermostat down to 70 degrees at night (wasting energy to cool the entire house), and set up a fan next to the bed to blow directly on me. Even so, I'd wake up several times a night, fling off the covers, cool off, then get too cold, and pull the covers back over my head. The annoyance and sleep deprivation made me desperate enough to spend $80 on a solution, and I'm glad I did.
The Bed Fan took me about 5 minutes to set up, and worked great from the very start. I started out with the unit turned to a medium-intensity setting, and soon discovered that I could turn it down to a very low setting and stay plenty cool. The fan is blissfully quiet compared to the room fan I'd been using, and I appreciate not having to supercool the bedroom. There's enough clearance under the top sheet (where the fan frame holds up the sheet at the foot of the bed) to allow me to turn over, move around, get in and out of bed without the sheet coming undone. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that it does seem rather overpriced, especially given the less-than-substantial feel of the plastic.
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While the idea behind this product is a very good one (get air moving under the sheets for hot sleepers), they didn't quite nail it down.
For starters in order for this to work as advertised you have lay still while you sleep, in my case I'm a very active sleeper, this sometimes causes the sheets to come undone near where the bedfan sits, blowing the sheets off my lower body and at this point might as well just use a ceiling fan, however to prevent this we used a comforter but then that caused a different problem because of the heavier nature of comforters it held down the sheets to the point that no air was moving to my upper body and my feet would get very cold, making me turn off the bedfan.
Also the unit I received had very loud fans, made of mostly ABS plastics and velcro, for the price I'm sure they could've found some better fans, with better CFM and less DCB.
I'd be willing to give this product another try if they ever have a redesigned version.
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Bedfan pulls the heavier, cooler air from under my bed, and routes it under my sheet, keeping me cool, while the higher parts of the room can be warmer.
The manufacturer recommends using a top-sheet, with 400 threads per inch.
The air leaked out of my budget, 200 thread-count sheet, so it would not fully inflate.
If you are warm, it is counter-productive to put a comforter over your top-sheet, which is like donning a parka, because your windbreaker was flapping in the wind.
Instead, make your top-sheet extra-secure, by also using Sheet-Straps4 BED Sheet GRIPPERS garters bedding straps suspenders. These are elastic, with garter-style ends, that you put diagonally under the corners, especially at the foot of your bed, if you tend to have "restless legs."
My feet hang off the end of the bed, so I the Bedfan at the side, about knee-level. I use a Sheet Straps on the opposite side of the Bedfan, helping seal the sheet, holding it firmly against the unit. Duct tape could work, as well, but I don't like its adhesive residue.
If the Bedfan were made of metal, it would have to be stamped and formed, or extruded, which is more expensive to fabricate. The increased weight would add to shipping costs.
The velcro for the Breeze Bar is an excellent idea. This way, the Breeze Bar can give way, when kicked by "restless legs." If it did not, someone would damage their feet, sue the company, and thereby, deprive everyone else access to a great product, if the company were put out of business.
~From included manual:~
To Get The Most Out of Your Bedfan:
Sheets with a low thread count will allow air to pass through at the foot of the bed...
The higher the thread count on the sheets, the tighter the weave...
With a loose weave the air will exit from between your sheets, very early and never make it to your upper body. We recommend a thread count of 400 or better.
When you have the full effect of the Bedfan, thanks to quality sheets, you will not have to turn it up as high, it won't make as much noise, and you will sleep much cooler.
How to use your Bedfan:
When you are lying in bed you should be able to put your big toe under the breeze bar, just to make sure that it is high enough.
If you cannot put your big toe under the breezebar, it is not high enough.
If it is not high enough, it will not put out enough air. You will end up having to run the Bedfan at a much higher speed than is needed.
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This is just a tentative review as I just received the Bed Fan today. Setup is super easy, it's as simple as plugging it in and adjusting the height of bar that directs airflow. The fan is really quiet until you get close to having it on full-blast. So far it works just as described, however, I have a rather heavy down comforter and I'm not sure the airflow is strong enough to circulate air underneath it. After trying it a night or two I'll write an update. Let's hope it does work because it could be ice cold in my bedroom and I'd still wake up soaked with sweat in the middle of the night!
**Update**
A couple of frustrations have cropped up as I have used The bed fan for a couple of weeks now. First and foremost, it is way too light to remain stable, even with the sheets tucked around it as per the instructions. Pulling the covers up toward my shoulders pulls the fan forward with them and makes the base slide away from the bed. Any further movement from the covers at this point causes the fan to clank against the wooden platform base of my bed. Very annoying! What I plan to do is tape the fan to the bed with some clear box tape. Oh yeah and the little Velcro thing doesn't work on my particular platform bed.
The next annoyance is the noise. Usually the sound of a fan is actually quite soothing to me, even a roaring attic fan somehow lulls me, but the sound of The Bed Fan is quite irritating. The box fan I use in my room is much louder and I find it very pleasant, so the problem is not decibel level of The Bed Fan, it's the sound quality. The only way I can make the comparison is to say that The Bed Fan creates an unpleasant droning hum as opposed to the rushing, white-noise sound of a typical fan. Perhaps I sound picky-unish but in the middle of the night the gravity of these minor annoyances is greatly magnified.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Bed Fan
I have extremely dry eyes in the morning, it can be agony to open them. Any fan, including the ceiling fan, moving air around the room just made it so much worse. So, I got this for my husband who prefers a fan and moving air.
It does take a little fuss and trial and error to get it right, and you do need to use sheets with a fairly high thread count, and hubby says occasionally he needs to wear socks so his feet don't freeze while the rest of him is cooling down.
Otherwise, it works pretty well. Occasionally, I can feel it on my side of the bed, but I've found that throwing a pillow between our feet fixes that. It has cut my morning eye pain in half, and that's worth a lot of fussing to get it set up just right.
