Panasonic WhisperCeiling Bathroom Exhaust Fan, 50-80-110 CFM, FV-0511VQ1

This is the best bathroom fan we’ve ever had! We have a medium sized bathroom and it’s whisper quiet and completely effective at removing excess moisture from the air. There are a few suggestions/caveats I have to offer but they are not deal breakers. The night light could stand upgrading to about twice the brightness it is now. My eyes are old and the light being that dim and distant up on the ceiling makes it of limited utility. Installation was not as simple as just plugging it in. Make sure you know what you’re doing or hire someone competent to do it. We bought a 3-way switch to be able to turn the lights on independently of one another, with a separate switch for the fan. We did have connection trouble but it turned out that one of the original wires behind the drywall was broken so that had nothing to do with the unit. The Panasonic phone tech support was absolutely stellar at helping us determine the problem. We are well satisfied with our purchase and it is so nice not to have a jet engine racketing overhead when the fan is in use.

This is my second high end Panasonic fan. My first fan is now 7+ years old and has performed perfectly since it was installed. When my 20+ year old Broan fan started vibrating and getting louder and vacuuming it didn't help, I went back to Panasonic and purchased this FV-1115VQ1 when it was on a deep sale at Amazon (discounted $80+). I paid someone else to install it and it took him a while (he faithfully followed all of the instructions) so I can't comment on the installation but I'm extremely happy with the fan. This fan had a bigger footprint than the fan that was originally there but the installer used the provided template to cut the new larger hole in the ceiling and it went in without a hitch and seated perfectly against the drywall with no gaps that needed to be sealed. This fan is whisper quiet; you can barely hear it when it's on and this with it set to its default 130 CFM setting. It's so quiet that a real problem with this fan is that you'll forget to turn it off because you can't hear it unless the room is very quiet. With my earlier Panasonic fan, I wired up a switch that lit up red when it was on to remind my kids that it needed to be turned off and I might do the same with this one. As you can imagine, at 130 CFM it moves a lot of air and humidity is not a problem in the bathroom. I used 6" insulated flex duct from Home Depot to vent the fan and it works perfectly and I shouldn't have issues with condensation. If you've installed this and the fan isn't whisper quiet for you then you should look at your ductwork; is it 6" duct? Did you install it so the duct goes straight for a couple of feet before slowly curving towards its destination? If you install the duct correctly the fan should have very little pressure to fight against.

Works well and very quiet, but: 1) the exhaust port is only 4", but the cowling is compatible with 6" duct work. So even if you use 6" ducts, there's still a 4" constriction in the airflow. 2) the motor is in a box that connects to a frame. Only the box can be inserted from below. The frame must still be installed from the attic. That's where the power and ducts are connected. So you'll still need to crawl around up there to install this. But, I still gave this fan 5 stars. I'm quite happy with it.

This wasn’t as easy to install as I thought it was going to be. But that was mainly because I was working above a cabinet and had to lean in over a ladder to work. What I can tell you is that fan, of which I have set on the medium setting, is so so so so quiet, you really have to listen hard to even hear it, even in a quiet room. Be really careful with the edges of the mounting bracket, as well as the rest of the fan, they are really sharp. If you are on the fence about installing a remote fan versus one mounted in the ceiling, stop beating yourself up as to which is quieter. This is without a doubt the quietest fan I’ve ever installed.

Nice vent fan, with good fit and finish, but worst instructions ever - YouTube has installation videos that will walk you through the process. The flex bracket makes install from inside the room a bit easier and is sturdy, unlike cheaper options. Packaging is well thought out - you even get a cardboard ceiling cutout template out of the box that perfectly matches the fan housing size. The supplied screws are the worst/cheapest quality metal I have encountered in years. Pitch them and use your own or be very careful to not strip out the heads. The 8 second delay when turning it on made me re-wire twice thinking something was wrong before consulting Google. Other than that it works fine for our 80 sq ft 2nd BR. I know that sounds like a lot of complaints, but the rest is all good. Much quieter than the builder-grade fan we had and yet moves much more air. Completely inoffensive appearance. It does what it’s supposed to do. I’ll be buying a second one for our master BR next week.

Very quiet, works well in our bathroom. The light is bright and it was easy to install.

Installed two of these in upstairs bathrooms. The directions are not the best so the first one took a while but second one was super easy. Tip - the side panel with hose hook up and junction box needs to come off first. One screw then it slides up/off. Then you can wire it up and then attach that unit to bracket in ceiling before sliding the rest of the unit up and then two more screws to ceiling. This will allow most of the new unit install to be done from below although to remove old unit, or add ventilation hose, you’ll probably need access to attic. Also note it’s very large. Many houses such as mine could not accommodate this fan in downstairs bathroom as my ceiling joists are not tall enough. But no issues upstairs with attic. You will need to add your own wire nuts and a wire relief for the electrical knock out. Those are not provided. Nightlife function needs separate circuit. Once installed I am quite impressed. The fan airflow volume is adjustable. I’m using on the lowest setting as it’s actually fairly loud on higher settings- but that’s not the fans fault. I’m using existing flexible hose and it’s air turbulence making the noise. At a Future date I’ll upgrade to hard metal but even on low it moves plenty of air. Led light is a good compromise on color. Not yellow or super blue white. You might want a dimmer switch it’s pretty bright. Overall I am very impressed with this unit. Glad I spent the extra money on Panasonic. A noticeable improvement in quality over others I have installed in past.

I bought this to replace another fan that wasn't giving me the power I needed - there was moisture on the bathroom ceiling after a shower, for example. Not only does this fan work better (no more moist ceiling) but it's really quiet. Like at first I wasn't sure it was actually working. It's not totally silent but sounds a little bit like what it sounds like when someone has the water running in the house and you can hear the water in the pipes. Installing it was easy, the hardest part was getting out the old fan.