Black & Decker 12 in. 3-Speed Oscillating Desk Fan for Home and Office

Decent fan for the price. Easy to assemble. Operates good. Light weight. Quiet. Not disappointed. The product seems to be trying to find a balance between robust construction, weight, features and economy. It’s a somewhat thin or “flimsy” plastic construction. Not quite what a Black & Decker product used to be… Be careful not to manhandle it or drop it. It seems a little fragile. Please note that assembly instructions do not first include the step requiring you to first remove the knob that would hold the blade on by turning clockwise. This can easily be figured out, but it is not described nor does not show as a step. Instructions do not include the step for putting the bottom cover onto the top half of the base after installing that top part of the base. Bottom cover snaps in place. But this procedure is reasonably intuitive and easy to figure out. The notch for the cord on the bottom plate goes to the rear. When you remove the two screws to attach the top half of the base, be careful not to over tighten when reinstalling the screws. Just snug them… This would seem intuitive, but the caution is omitted from the assembly instructions. I wouldn’t be surprised if many unknowing people ended up stripping the screw hole during re-insertion. No guidance is provided about tightness of the fan head up-down angle adjustment bolt. The right tension is needed to maintain the angle of the fan head that you desire. But over-tightening that adjustment could damage the fan during manual up-down adjustment. There is no warning about not trying to adjust the fan left-right oscillation manually, but relying only on its own mechanical action during operation. I think that warning should be present in the documentation. I’m not necessarily disappointed, but I have not been impressed either. My reaction is closer to neutral. It’s just a decent fan for the money. The construction just is not as robust as I’m used to from Black & Decker products in the past. Black & Decker products were always good, robust, basic and reliable. The jury is still out on this fan.