I'll go the other way. I've had much more success with thermo fans than any combination of engine driven fans and shrouds.

Although there are good and not so good thermo fans. I haven't found any good aftermarket fans.
Also depends how they are set up. Even a good set of fans won't do the job if they're not set up right.
How many factory cars these days use engine driven fans????

When the fan needs the most air moving though it, Car at standstill or nearly, a engine driven fan is spinning slowest. Whereas a thermo runs flat out whenever they switch on.
On the highway, where there's plenty of air getting pushed through radiator, thermo's are generally off, not needed. But engine driven fan is doing engine revs, wasting fuel and HP. A clutch fan may help here, slightly.

The get thermo's working well, there are a few things I look for.
1. Fans with good motors,& good blades that draw plenty of air. A good indicator of which cars have good thermos is standing beside them when the fan cuts in. If they're good fans, you can feel the hot air blowing out under the car.
2. Good shrouds, that cover all the radiator and seal on the edge of the radiator. That way, all the air that the thermo's draw, gets pulled through the radiator. Not like many of the aftermarket ones that have round shrouds and use pull though clips etc through the cores to hold them on the radiator. Look at the area the shroud covers, cos thats the area that air is getting pulled through the radiator.
3. trying to get fans to run cooler than thermosat. This will make fans run all the time as while the fans are cooling, the thermosat is trying to warm it up to it's set temp. I generally set fans to cut in aprox 5*C hotter than the thermostat setting.
4. Know what your thermostat setting is in *C. Know what your temp gauge reads in *C. With many factory gauges just maked C - H, it's hard to know what the span of the gauge is without checking. While the needle on the gauge may move, what might seem a lot, it may not be that much change in temp.

I had a 377sbc that had the block filled with grout to 3.5" from the deck, 400 siamesed bore block, 11-1CR, big cam etc etc, that would run around in traffic, go racing, haul trailer on the hottest of days and never had any overheating problems. Had 2 camira fans on(don't laugh) they have good metal shrouds, that joined together fit neat on a HQ radiator, pull heaps of air. Ugly as, with big long motors. But they worked great and haven't broken down in 15+yrs.