What I find maddening about the Fantastic vents, is that you can't get all the features you want in one fan model. For example, the design with the new switch (has 13 speeds) allows for a very low "low" that draws FAR fewer amps than the rheostat controlled 3-speed model (like .3 compared to 2.5 or something along those lines). BUT to get that control, you have to get the fan with the remote control. If you get the fan with the remote control, you CANNOT control it manually (except for an emergency way, but it's clunky). So that means if I have a fan right over my head that I can just reach up and operate... nope, I have to have a remote control stuck there to manipulate (and try to figure out all the buttons in the dark). Or if I have a remote controlled vent in the bathroom (say), and the remote out in the main room, if I go IN the bathroom... ha ha, no controls! And yet who would want a fan that draws 2+ amps and can't be set very low, when they could have one that draws a tenth as much and can be adjusted to a whisper flow (or a major flow)? Argh!!!
They also make a wired remote (uses phone type cable), which could be preferable in certain circumstances as they changed the RF remote to infrared, so you need line of sight. But they won't sell the wired remote to consumers because it's "too complicated" to install. So I guess we are skilled enough to cut a hole in the roof and wire 12 volts to the fan, but clicking in a Cat 5 cable is too much (?!?).
On the rain sensor: I never use it, but I had read reviews that said it would be open, rain would fall (and come inside before the lid closed), then the lid would close, then it would let up raining, the lid would open, then start raining again (water would come in briefly) the lid would close, the rain would let up, the lid would open, and on and on. Maybe that's why they changed it? Not saying they changed it for the better, necessarily, but if you were gone from your rig and there were five or six separate cloudbursts and each time some rain came in before the lid closed....
In many ways I wanted to change to a Maxx Fan, but they don't have an optional clear dome, and I like the light and (limited) view with the clear dome.
BTW, sounds like you had the "low profile" vent before, as it sounds like you figured out. They used to make both low profile and high profile. I think now they only make the high profile (although I've seen some websites still use the outdated photos). The high profile's controls project less into the room, but at the cost of sticking up higher. I have a wind noise problem due to the placement near the forward end of the rig, so I would love to be able to get a low profile.... but no.
I like the product and what it does; I just wish some of the choices would be more (to me) logical. Let us buy the wired remote if line of site is a problem. And make a fan that can be controlled by knobs on the fan whether or not we have a remote. And bring back low profile! Now that the tall motor has been replaced by a flat, pancake motor, I don't even see why it needs to be so tall anymore.
Hmph. If I ran the world....
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