Maxxair Maxxfan is often considered the most popular RV vent fan on the market, and for good reason. In this review we will take a deep dive into the 5 most popular maxxfan models, their specs and power consumption, and stack them up against their biggest competitor in our Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan Challenge.
Do You Even Need a Vent Fan?
Do you really need a Maxxair Maxxfan? Or any RV roof vent at all? Well just imagine that…
It’s been a long day hiking and you get back to your camper van to find out that the shade you’d parked in has vacated…
It’s been hours since your home on wheels has been sitting out, baking under the hot afternoon sun.
Or, were you out mountain biking and needed to leave your camper van’s solar panels in the sun to recharge after your Strava speed run?
Or maybe you’ve been sitting in some café in Sedona working while your van has been sitting out under the blazing desert sun.
Whatever the situation, anyone who lives the van life will need to park under the warm sunlight at some point and we all know what it’s like to get back into a hot car after a long day of work or play.
It isn’t fun.
That’s where the Maxxair Fan comes into play.
The Maxxfan is the leading van roof vent on the market, and there’s a good reason for this. Most of the products from Maxxair offers the ability to blow air up or down, and while it may not seem like much, this makes a huge difference for someone living in a small space. We talked about scenarios where you might want the fan to blow air down into your camper van, ie: when it’s too hot inside and you need to circulate air quickly. But there are plenty of other times people living the van life may want to use a RV vent fan.
What happens when you cook a curry meal only a few feet from your bedding?
Or when you spend ten minutes on your composting toilet while your partner brews coffee?
Or when… well you get the point.
There will be times when you want to air inside of your van to leave. There’s no better way of doing this efficiently and discreetly than the Maxxair Maxxfan.
Now, let’s get into the different models and specs, as well as how the fan stacks up in the Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan challenge.
If you wan’t to skip to the FULL Fantastic Fan Review, head over here. (We suggest you finish this review first!)
Dometic Fantastic Fan Review – All Models + Maxxfan Comparison
Table of Contents
The Maxxfan Deluxe
This is Maxxair’s top of the line rv roof vent and fan. As their website states, it is the only RV fan on the market that includes a built in rain guard vent cover. With the Maxxair Deluxe you can ventilate your camper van conversion, even in the rain, at a rate of 900 cubic feet per minute (CFM).
That’s a ton of ventilation.
To put that in perspective, the Home Ventilating Institute recommends a ventilation system of 50 CFM for a 1000 square foot home. The Maxxair Deluxe provides nearly 20x that rate of ventilation, if you want to turn it to max, of course. Even on the lowest setting, a Maxx air fan will offer 274 CFM of airflow.
It’s also mad quiet and will run off very little power.
Maxxair offers four models of the Maxxfan Deluxe – the 5100k, 6200k, 7000k, and 7500k models are the ones you want for your ideal cargo van roof vent fan. All of these models offer both intake and exhaust features, allowing you to blow air either out or into your camper van, and at 10 different speeds.
Of course they all come with the rain guard vent cover, and all fold down to a low profile. You can use these RV roof vent fans when they’re folded down as a sort of built in ceiling vent to allow for air circulation as well.
MaxxFan Deluxe 5100K (WHITE) and 6200K (SMOKE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL CONTROLS
- RAIN SHEILD
- THERMOSTAT
- BLOW & SUCK (hehe)
- 10 SPEEDS
DOESN’T HAVE
- REMOTE CONTROL
- ELECTRIC LID CLOSE/OPEN
MaxxFan Deluxe 7000K (WHITE) and 7500K (SMOKE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL & REMOTE CONTROLS
- RAIN SHEILD
- THERMOSTAT
- BLOW & SUCK
- 10 SPEEDS
- ELECTRIC LID CLOSE/OPEN
DOESN’T HAVE
- REGRET
- THIS FAN HAS NO REGRETS
There are additional benefits of the Maxxair Deluxe 7000k, including a remote control with a wall mount, temperature control that allows the fan to act as an air conditioning unit, and two support arms allowing you to use the fan in high winds or while driving.
These features, along with the built in rain guard set the Maxxfan Deluxe apart from the competition. In fact, we can go as far as saying that the rain guard itself makes the Deluxe worth the money. Having proper moisture control in the rain is key and no other product on the market can do what this rv roof vent fan does—ventilate air even in a downpour.
While at first it may seem like all fans are created equal, this is not true. A simple and often overlooked aspect of the perfect camper van conversion build, having a reliable and effective ventilation system is hugely important. This is why we recommend the Maxxfan Deluxe, as it gives the user the most versatility in ventilation.
You can literally use this RV vent fan at any moment, and its power draw is so small that you can run it all day and night with a solar set up.
One of the largest benefits of the Maxxair Fan is it’s low power draw. The Maxxair Deluxe 7000k draws only 2.66 amps of power while on the highest setting and 0.2 amps of power on the lowest setting. To put this in perspective,
You could run a single Maxxfan Deluxe off of a standard camper van 100watt solar panel and a deep cycle battery 24/7, all summer long.
A quick rundown on roof vent usage...
Brought to you by Paradigm Van Conversions
Trying to conserve battery power, but still want to run your roof vent? A quick physics lesson may help you manage your usage!
The fan affinity laws expresses the relationship between electrical power and speed such that power is equal to the cube (^3) of speed.
So what does that mean?
It means that if you reduce your fan speed from 100% to 80%, you use approximately 50% less energy.
The graph shows the power draw of a MaxxAir Deluxe fan across it’s 10 different speed setting, and you can see that the power draw is not a linear 1:1 relationship. The efficiency of the fan gets dramatically worse at higher speeds.
So, the takeaway is this: Simply avoid speeds above 80% as much as possible and you will effectively double the run time of your fan. If you are trying to decide on what kind of fan to buy, consider one with variable speed, not just for comfort reasons, but for energy efficiency reasons.
Happy camping!
–Paradigm Van Conversions
Of course, the Deluxe model may not fit into everyone’s price range, but Maxxair offers other fans as well. Enter, the Maxxfan Plus.
The MaxxFan Plus
Budget conscious van lifers can choose the Maxx fan Plus, which offers many of the features of the Deluxe—exhaust and intake, 10 speeds, and easy installation. The 4500K model even comes with a remote control, electric lid opening, and a rain sensor (NOTE: Not a RAIN GUARD. The rain sensor is supposed to sense the rain, turn off the fan, and close the lid to protect the inside of your camper van)
The MaxxFan Plus 4000K (WHITE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL CONTROLS
- THERMOSTAT
- BLOW & SUCK (hehe)
- 10 SPEEDS
DOESN’T HAVE
- RAIN SHEILD
- REMOTE CONTROL
- ELECTRIC LID CLOSE/OPEN
The MaxxFan Plus 4500K (SMOKE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL & REMOTE CONTROLS
- RAIN SENSOR (NOT GUARD)
- THERMOSTAT
- BLOW & SUCK (sorry, still doesnt get old)
- 10 SPEEDS
- ELECTRIC LID CLOSE/OPEN
DOESN’T HAVE
- RAIN GUARD
The Regular Maxx Fan
Last in the line of these Maxxair fans is the plain ol’ regular Maxxfan. It only offers exhaust, and neither of the models have the thermostat or rain guard.
Other companies offer similar products, such as the popular Fantastic Fan, but these products also fall short of what the Maxxfan Deluxe offers. However all the Maxx air fans, and fans such as the Dometic Fantastic Fan, fit into one standard 14”x14” opening.
This means that you can always upgrade to a higher end RV vent fan later in your van life journey. Here’s the spec’s on the regular Maxx fan. Please note, the only difference between the two models is the color scheme.
MaxxFan 4301K (WHITE) and 4401k (SMOKE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL CONTROLS
- 4 SPEEDS ONLY
- EXHAUST ONLY
DOESN’T HAVE
- NO RAIN GUARD/SENSOR
- NO INTAKE FAN
- NO REMOTE CONTROL
- NO THERMOSTAT
There is also one less talked about model of the Maxx air line of rv roof vents that is basically just the Regular Maxx Fan, but with a rain guard. This model is the MaxxFan Deluxe Model 5301K and 6401K (only difference, again, is the color). We put this fan down in this section, even though it sports the “Deluxe” title, because it has such basic features.
MaxxFan 5301K (WHITE) and 6401K (SMOKE)
DOES HAVE
- MANUAL CONTROLS
- 4 SPEEDS ONLY
- EXHAUST ONLY
- RAIN GUARD!
DOESN’T HAVE
- NO INTAKE FAN
- NO REMOTE CONTROL
- NO THERMOSTAT
A Quick Review of the Specs
That was a lot to take in, so here’s one more chart that put’s all the Maxxair Fan features and specs together:
Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan
It is pretty obvious that Maxxair and Dometic (Fantastic Fan) are the leaders in the RV vent fan industry, but how do they stack up against eachother?
Now we went into a bit more detail over on the Fantastic Fan Review (found below) but we will summarize the differences between the Fantastic Fan vs Maxxfan here.
Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan in PRICE POINT
Now this might be the only thing the Fantastic Fan hands-down beats the Maxxfan in… price point. When you do a side by side in the models, you can typically get the Fantastic Fan anywhere from about 15-35% cheaper than the Maxxair.
For example, check out the prices of each of the company’s top-of-the-line models.
Now, of course if you factor in the cost of the additional rain guard (for the fantastic fan), this difference in price starts to dwindle. Also note that the more basic models of each brand are more similar in price.
Fantastic Fan vs Maxxfan in SPEED CONTROL
Speed control is one thing that Maxxfan reigns supreme over the Fantastic Fan. 3 out of 5 of the maxx fan’s have 10-speed, the other two have 4-speed. The Fantastic Fan, on the other hand, only has one fan that has more than 3-speeds, and that’s their model 7350.
Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan in POWER DRAW
Again, the maxxfan wins this one. On their lowest setting, the fan uses only 0.17 amps / hr on it’s lowest setting! Compare that to the WHOPPING 1.86amps/hr that the Fantastic Fan uses on it’s lowest setting and it’s clear to see who wins this Maxxair vs Fantastic Fan matchup.
Fantastic Fan vs Maxxfan WRAP-UP
A final note is that NONE of the fan tastic fans come with a rain guard. None.
You have to buy that separately.
Now, for people doing a budget build (and don’t plan on being anywhere that rains) then I would recommend the Fantastic Fan.
For everyone else, I’d go with the Maxxair Maxxfan.
Conclusion
Overall, we believe the Maxxair Maxxfan is the best van roof vent. No other fan is going to do what the Maxx fan Deluxe does, working in any condition and on such a small power supply. Nor will any other fan be as reliable.
Like many things in a good van build, it is worth it to spend the extra money on important components and one should not overlook the importance of ventilation and air flow.
However, if you are looking for a more budget-friendly option and plan on being in drier climates, go check out our Dometic Fantastic Fan review below.