I initially purchased this fan for a covered patio in a rental home in South Florida. All I can say is that it worked TOO well for that purpose. Even on low setting, the air movement was such that it was not possible to sit 8 feet away from the fan and, at the other end of the 18 foot patio, it was difficult to carry on a conversation with this fan running. I moved it to a different property, sitting out in the open air as opposed to under a covered patio. In that setting, it could be moved a bit further away and the noise was less so it is perfect. It has been in use only a couple of weeks so no comment on durability yet. Note that the "noise" mentioned here is strictly from moving air and not from any rattling or squeaking. The fan arrived quickly, well packaged and went together easily. Overall, this thing is AMAZING for the price as outdoor rated fans are hard to find and quite pricey. The air movement is just incredible ... it truly has an industrial type capacity. The base is sturdy. Highly recommend, as long as you have the right setting (it is sorta of ugly, as shown, so best not to have it front and center either)!