The Modern Forms Renegade ($499.95) is a stylish indoor/outdoor smart ceiling fan that uses eight blades to cool down the inside or outside of your home. It offers six fan speeds and comes with an LED light kit, and its built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios allow you to control it with a mobile app or with your voice. It doesn’t support Apple HomeKit or IFTTT applets, but its compatibility with a handful of popular smart home platforms and whisper-quiet operation earn it our Editors’ Choice award nonetheless. If HomeKit support is a must, consider our less expensive Editors’ Choice for smart fans, the $349.99 Hunter Romulus.
A Versatile Design and Connectivity
The Renegade has a modern look and comes in four different finishes including Graphite Weathered Wood, Matte Black, Matte White, or Oil Rubbed Bronze Barn Wood. It uses eight 52-inch fan blades, and both the aluminum motor enclosure and the ABS plastic fan blades are weather resistant and designed to withstand the outdoor elements. The fan measures 14.8 inches high, 53 inches wide (from blade tip to blade tip), and has a hanging weight of 20 pounds (it also comes in a 66-inch model for an additional $100). It uses a six-speed reversible motor with a sound rating of 15dB and a maximum airflow rating of 7,445 cubic feet per minute.
An LED light kit included in the box delivers 1,600 lumens and has a 3,500K white color temperature and a 50,000 hour lifespan. Also included in the box are the motor assembly; eight blades and eight blade mounting brackets; assorted canopy parts; a downrod assembly; assorted screws, mounting brackets, and wire connectors; a 4.5-inch remote with power, fan, and light control buttons; a receiver unit; an LED light kit; and an installation guide.
The receiver module connects the fan to your electrical wiring and contains a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio for connecting to your home network and Bluetooth circuitry for use with the remote control or an optional Bluetooth wall switch. The fan works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands and can be included in routines to work with certain Alexa and Google devices. It also works with Control4, Josh, and SmartThings home automation platforms, as well as Ecobee thermostats. However, it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit or IFTTT applets that allow it to interact with a variety of third-party smart devices, and it lacks the temperature, humidity, and motion sensors that you get with the Big Ass Haiku fan.
The Modern Forms mobile app (for Android and iOS) lets you control the fan and the fan’s lighting levels. It opens to a dashboard screen with semi-circle sliders for lighting brightness and fan speed. The lighting slider lets you increase/decrease brightness (0-100%) and the fan speed slider offers six levels (six being the highest). There’s also a power switch that turns both the fan and the light off.
Below the sliders are buttons for Sleep Off, Away, Breeze, and Reverse fan direction. The Sleep Off button lets you set timers to have the light and fan turn on or off after a set period of time, and the Away button suspends all active schedules. The Breeze button fluctuates the fan speed to create the feeling of a natural breeze, and the Reverse button changes the direction of the fan’s rotation.
At the very bottom of the screen are four additional buttons. The Fan button takes you back to the dashboard screen and the Group button takes you to a screen where you can create groups that allow you to control more than one device at a time. The Calendar button lets you create on and off schedules for both the fan and the light, and the More button opens a screen where you can adjust settings, add users, and get directions for Amazon Alexa, Ecobee, Google Assistant, and SmartThings integrations. Here you can also enable the Adaptive Learning feature that allows the Renegade to learn your daily and weekly habits and recommend a schedule based on this activity.
Installing and Using the Modern Forms Renegade
Installing the Renegade fan isn’t difficult, but it requires working with electrical wiring and climbing a ladder to hang a 20-pound fan, so if you’re not up to the task it’d be a good idea to hire a professional. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, an extra set of hands will make the job that much easier.
Following the installation instructions, I turned off the power to my existing ceiling fan at the circuit box and proceeded to remove the old fan. Prior to disconnecting the wires, I took pictures for future reference. Once the old fan was out, I attached the new fan blade brackets to the motor assembly and then attached the fan blades to the brackets. Next, I secured the fan mounting bracket to the junction box and installed the hanger ball, downrod, and canopy assemblies as illustrated in the directions. I lifted the fan up to the mounting bracket, seated the hanger ball in the socket, and secured the safety cable to the junction box.
I connected the fan wires to the receiver wires and then connected the receiver to the my home’s Hot (black), Neutral (white), and Ground (green) wires. I installed the LED module using the included screws, plugged in the LED wires, twisted the module into place, and restored power to the circuit. A quick test using the remote confirmed that everything was working correctly.
Next, I downloaded the mobile app, created an account, confirmed that the fan was powered up, and used my phone’s Wi-Fi settings to connect to the fan’s SSID. After a quick firmware update, I selected my home Wi-Fi SSID, entered my Wi-Fi password, and gave the fan a name. I linked my Modern Forms account to my Alexa account, and when Alexa discovered the fan, the installation was complete.
The Renegade worked perfectly in testing. The six-speed fan provided excellent air circulation and was very quiet, even at the highest speed level. Both the fan and the light responded quickly to commands made using the remote as well as to app commands, and they both responded to Alexa voice commands without issue. Additionally, my Alexa routine to have the fan turn on when a Ring Floodlight Cam detected motion worked every time without issue.
Smart, Powerful, and Quiet
Equipped with eight fan blades and a powerful six-speed motor, the Modern Forms Renegade Smart Fan moves a lot of air and does so quietly. It offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and can be controlled with a mobile app, an included remote, or with your voice, and it works with several popular home automation platforms. Support for IFTTT applets and HomeKit would be welcome, but neither omission prevents the Renegade from earning our Editors’ Choice award for smart ceiling fans. That said, if you require a HomeKit-compatible smart fan, the Hunter Romulus might be a better fit.
