I personally like the Emerson line. The maui bay seems to be a popular seller with them. i like the way you can mix and match finishes with different blade samples. The odyssey is another favorite of mine. I like the technology of the control enabling it to move both forward and reverse in six speeds as well as dimming both the up light and down light independantly of each other.

Yes the Odyssey is a great fan. This fan has the K55XL motor in it. The K55XL is said to be one of the top 3 motors on the market.

I'm just wondering, what separates a good fan motor from a bad motor?

Bob @ Most motors used in ceiling fans today are a stamped housing motor and the blades are screwed directly into the houseing. These motors use a cast to produce the finished product and the cast usually gets worn down with about the last 10% of production. Giving about a 10% defective rate and less efficient operation due to the non seperation of the blade arms from the motor.

The more efficient motors are the flywheel stack motors. These motors have an axis that resides in the center of thousands of feet of copper bound wireing. This axis is secured to a flywheel and the blade arms are attached to the flywheel instead of directly to the motor. This insures a smoother longer operation.