I bought this fan based on the other reviews that claimed it provided some cooling for small areas.
This has not been my experience, though I'm still giving a 5-star for reasons that follow.
I have a small (850 sq ft) third floor apartment. The bedroom gets quite hot during heat waves. I tried putting this fan in the bedroom (10'x10' space) and running it on medium with ice and icepacks in the water bin. When I walked into the bedroom 1/2 hour later, the room actually felt *warmer* not cooler. I suspect that was from the added humidity.
However, it's a very nice fan with 3 solid speeds. It's much stronger than the older tower fan I had, so I'm keeping it. Plus, its ability to add some moisture to the air will come in handy during the winter when the air becomes so very dry.
Note that when you use the “Cool” function, you do hear the water moving in the unit. Sounds almost like water trickling somewhere. After a short amount of time, I decided I liked the sound - it was like hearing a small creek outside. However, if you are expecting super-quiet function, it will be disappointing.
Lastly, set-up was a breeze. I had it out of the box and running in 5 minutes or less.