Review on Enhance Your Cooling Experience with the Madison Electric Products MSBFAN Adjustable by Mike Barnes

I'm writing as someone who loves Madison smart boxes. Well, I don't know about love, but I use it because it's convenient, if not without flaws. The two biggest drawbacks to these boxes are that they move when the screws are tightened and they are difficult to hold directly into the hole (flat against the drywall). With wallboxes, you can play around with them, customize them, and eventually get what you want. This is almost impossible with a ceiling fan box. The instructions ask you to make sure the flat side of the box fits snugly against the beam. This is practically impossible with this construction. I also had one of the hex fasteners break off, which caused a whole different set of problems. The other major disadvantage of all of these is the very difficult strain relief to use in these boxes. They are "closed" shaped and need to be opened - I usually use a knife and cut the thin parts and then pry them out with a big screwdriver. However, the wire in them is still very taut and they pinch and scratch the NM cable jacket. If you ever need to remove a cable, good luck - it's very, very difficult. And there are holes designed for 12 gauge and 14 gauge holes (I believe this could even have a 10 gauge "hole"). In any case, the placement always looks like the size you need is on the wrong side of the box. When I installed this box, the first problem was that one of the included fasteners broke when I moved it. What are you doing there? I managed what I thought was a repair by removing the rest of the fastener (difficult) and screwing in a new screw next to the old hole. Pretty crappy for something that needs to support a vibrating weight (fan). I was then no longer able to attach the box to the side of the roof structure. Attempting to attempt this caused another broken clasp and was unsuccessful, but there was much cursing. In the end I gave in and thought it was good enough even if it's at an angle to the drywall. Later when trying to hang the fan I found that this angle would prevent the fan from installing properly. Buy a genuine Raco all-metal box at your local hardware store - they're easier to handle and use, you don't have those pesky Madison Gauge-specific strain reliefs and harsher environments (what's the deal with a little metal brace in a plastic box). The Raco box offers both old and new features and is MUCH easier to set up and keep straight, plus it's a heavier weight class. I ended up in a lot of trouble and wasting time removing Madison's crappy plastic box while struggling to unplug the cables. of strain reliefs and the fitting of a nice Raco box (which was cheaper and all metal anyway). Avoid this product.