Dyson is one of those companies whose products are a lot like Apple’s: they’re innovative, but expensive. I’d long wondered about their “bladeless” fans, and I decided to buy one last week, when, stumbling on the Dyson website, I saw they had a sale.
Dyson’s fans come in several shapes and sizes. I opted for the AM07 Air Multiplier Tower Fan. (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) I wanted something bigger than a desk fan, but I didn’t want the pedestal model with the round air multiplier. This tall, slim device fits perfectly by my office door, where I used to have a standard fan on the floor that always got in the way.
I was skeptical at first. This fan is several orders of magnitude more expensive than a standard fan, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that this fan, um, this “air multiplier,” really is different.
These fans work with a motor in their base, and air is pushed up into the circle or column, where it exits through slits in the back. You get a solid column of air moving across the room, rather than the more turbulent air that comes from a blade fan.
The fan has ten speeds, and oscillates, and has a timer. It comes with a small remote control, which is magnetic, and sticks to a spot on the top of the fan. There is also a single ON/OFF button on the base of the fan; if you press and hold the button, the speed increases. There’s no way to control the oscillation, however, without the remote.
I’ve got the fan on now, at the lowest setting, blowing air to one side of me, creating a slow, cooling airflow throughout my office. It’s nearly silent at this speed. Using the fan it higher speeds means a bit more noise, but at its highest speed, it’s less noisy than a standard fan, because of the turbulence that blades create. I don’t expect to use it often at such speeds, but when it’s at the max, it really blows a lot of air.
The exterior of the fan is all plastic; I would have expected it to be metal at this price, but it means the fan is very light. I bought the “iron/blue” model, which you can see at the left, and looks quite futuristic. But the best thing is the small footprint, which means that I can have a powerful fan that takes up very little space.
I’d say this fan is overpriced, but it really works well. The desk fans are cheaper (though not by much), but they need to be positioned in precise locations; the slim size of this fan (it’s about 18cm, or 6 inches across) means I can put it anywhere in the house without it getting in the way. It’s a good buy if you want an efficient, quiet fan that doesn’t take up a lot of space.