Appreciate they now have the remote control ones but thought this would be of interest.
For anyone interested, Cleva now have a sale on!
Hi everyone, the Vacmaster Cardio54 fan is currently £79.99 with free delivery. Plus, if you sign up for the mailing list, you’ll get another 10% off. Enjoy. Team Cleva. Vacmaster Cardio54®Headwind Fan & Remote Control for Turbo Trainer, Cycling, Running, HIIT - Only £79.99 – by Cleva (cleva-uk.com)
I’ve just bought the plain one…strikingly quiet in comparison to my 18 inch turbo prop unit. An example of a fundamentally clever design winning out.
Yup, lower noise and better air flow from a smaller package. Pretty much full of win when swapping from a circular to a blower fan.
Reminds me of Thomson seatposts. Same design, 20 years on, still epic.
I bought the plain one too. I have the luxury of a power strip within arm’s reach, so I plugged it in via a “Variispeed fan speed controller” (approx £10), which means I saved a bit of money over the premium model. This works reasonably well to control output in a more granular level than the 3 default settings. However, it’s not a flawless linear control. There can be some transformer noise with a mid-throttled dial setting and especially below the output of setting 1. So, I often still utilise the power switch on the unit to set my max fan speed appropriate for the workout and use the speed controller to set off or mid-to- fully on during the workout. All in all, slightly more granular control, but only just, than the three settings.
The Vacmaster is positioned low to the front left.
I now have my older 2x Honeywell 23cm fans blowing mid front right at my face and mid rear left at my lower back. Both controlled by remote switches. Once the Vacmaster gets going, these are a little overwhelmed by the net front left airflow.
@ArttuP @Arttu_Pekkarinen I really like your nozzle to spread to spread the air flow. Do you mind sharing the stl-file or is it already somewhere available for download?
I have finally access to a 3D printed and I‘m curious to test it.
Hi,
Yes, I have the stl file for that nozzle. If you want the exact same nozzle, I have to modify the model, because the original one was not good.
I have developed the nozzle of my fan even better. The speed of the nozzle guide can be changed and stopped in different positions with the remote control
I finally got around to buying this (after my pup chewed the lead on my Vornado fan) and it’s great. Two power points on the side makes it easy to plug the Kickr in too. Was worried that with all the floods around it would be hard to get but did click and collect and it was in stock. Recommended.
Here is the link to the stl file
That‘s genius! You are awesome.
Thank you very much for modifying the model. I will try it and report back once I have it.
Just took delivery of the Vacmaster cardio54 yesterday. First time using this morning at 5:30am in an outside shed at close of 0 degrees. Workout was a endurance maxing out at 70%. Have the fan on the ground directly in front of front wheel a few feet so main focus is torso and small bit on the face.
No need for the fan for the first 15 mins. Start working up a bit of sweat when got to 65% so turned the fan on level 1. Wearing a short sleeve jersey arms were freezing so turned it off. Throughout the rest of the workout I turned it on sporadically for no longer than a few minutes.
Overall it was too much air and really needs a few levels below 1 even for these type of scenarios. I am back doing some sweetspot next week so will reserve full judgement until then but it just feels like the remote was added to make it sports specific but really there should have been adjustments to levels and the channel of air it creates (more vertical than horizontal).
I live in Ireland and do all workouts early 5am so this unit could be overall kill as even in summer its cool enough.
It gets rave reviews here so perhaps from sunnier more humid climates?
Also workout in cold garage, I put the fan behind me and one setting ‘1’ its pretty spot on for endurance work in the cold. I also find that my arms freeze if fan is in front of me as they are non-working muscles.
Give it a go ‘from behind’ and see what you think
Interesting, usually preference is sideways or full frontal
I train in a slightly warmer corridor (9-13deg usually) but my prefer to start with the Gym Fan on my back, and two wall fans on my side. Whilst I use a front fan its on remote control and doesn’t get switched on till I warm up. For me whilst the front fan feels the most effective it also the most ouchy if I start it up before I’ve had a chance to warm up. A few intervals later though I’m screaming for it to be stronger
I think generally I will be training around 6 - 8 degrees so might just need to wait until workouts are more intense and temps rise. I just wish the level 1 air flow is at least half what it currently is. Can’t ever see myself using level 3 ever as it would blow down the shed
Lol at 9deg start - 12 deg finish my 3 fans (back and side) are on full and whilst I start with the front fan off its full blast by the end of the session. In my parents garage though at 8deg I got away with the two 7inch side fans on full just. On previous visits to their house I’ve had to have the outside door of the garage to -temperatures opened
Move it further away if 1 is still too much. That’s what I do depending on ambient room temperature. May require adjusting the tilt angle.
It takes a bit of experimentation to get the right cooling. Jersey thickness plays a part - needs to be warm enough on cold days before warmed up. In the winter I use a medium weight and in summer an Aero Race (wafer thin). Full zip allows further cooling possibilities.
In the UK summer months I have 3 Vacmasters going full blast on hard sessions
Distance is a quick and possibly easy option if there is enough room. Another hack I’d consider for extra cold environments is a bit of packing/duct tape over part of the outlet, to restrict the flow a bit. That or even make a small diverter from cardboard to push some air in a different direction. Those temps mentioned are rather cool, so it makes sense that the fan is a bit much in that situation.