I bought this as a replacement for a Lakewood Kool Operator Jr. (8"), a fan which I've used everyday (and sometimes 24hrs/day for weeks on end), for nearly 20 years. Although the Vornado is a bit bigger, it's not so much so as to be a problem, and it actually seems more robust - which I can only hope to mean another 20 years with this fan. Compared to a cheap one I'd found online, well, there really is no comparison, on low this moves considerably more air than the cheapie does on high, and while a tad louder (vornado on low, cheap one on high), it's not appreciably so. When cranked up to high, it's quite loud - which is what I needed for a whitenoise while sleeping - and why I marked the rating as 5/5 for quiet, as it is quiet, but also produces a volume that I was looking for.