Customer Reviews

Dyson Air Multiplier Table Fan, 10 Inches, Blue

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I own this Dyson fan - no doubt it will end up in the Museum of Modern Art. It is a beauty but the noise is terrible. I just wonder at the great effort to design this unit but to forget the most important part of the fan. Anyone I show it to immediately remarks on the noise. I kept it on its beauty alone.

This fan is no air multiplier. See all those holes around the base of the fan? Those are the air inlets for the blower which they've thoughtfully hidden in the base. You can't get something for nothing - and that includes air.

Compared with a clip-on 6" fan, this fan is a waste of both money and space. That little clip-on costs $20 and moves 190 cubic feet per minute. The Dyson moves 40 cubic feet per minute (or as Dyson specifies: 5 gallons per second). Comparably sized tabletop fans move over a thousand cubic feet per minute.

Don't be fooled by the store displays. Those streamers are placed around the edge for a reason - that's the only place where the air is moving! Stand a few feet away from this fan and you will literally feel nothing.

Meanwhile, it's loud. That little 6" fan produces 37 decibels of sound. The Dyson is closer to 50. That's more than twice as loud (decibels are a log scale, every 10 is a doubling).

It's intriguing that some are so taken with this fan. It would have some benefits. It won't muss your hair, and it's unlikely to ruffle your papers. But let's be real - this is a fan, not a vase of flowers.

Buy this fan only if you prioritize owning a statement piece over owning a functioning fan.

You'll laugh yourself straight back in line for a refund once you figure out the secret behind this ridiculous device. The secret is that there is absolutely nothing bladeless about this device. What you're actually getting is a regular fan (inside the base) with a big ring on top that's designed, mostly, to confuse you into shelling out hundreds of dollars for a desk fan.

Repeat that- there is a regular fan inside the base, and a weird thing on top to divert the air at you. Take any portable fan, stick it inside a PVC pipe with an angle on the end, and you'll get the same effect.

It's just as noisy as a regular fan, it uses up the same power, it does not produce any more airflow (unless your old fan is getting really worn down). In fact if anything this is much less efficient than a regular desk fan, because instead of the air coming straight from the fan to you, now the air goes from the fan and through the big silly ring on top. It is not easier to clean, because you have to crack the base open to get at the fan if you ever decide to clean it, and I can't even imagine how you'd clean the top bit.

So what does it actually do? It looks like a giant iPod accessory, and it costs ten times as much.

I had the opportunity to check one of these out at a local Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday, and I don't think I've ever encountered such an overpriced, under-performing fan.

As others have mentioned, this fan does have blades, employed by a small impeller-type blower in the base. The top bladeless frame just outputs the air -- and looks nice.

Yes, this is a good-looking fan. But its air output is feeble. Pathetic. Totally inadequate.

I saw another positive review here where the customer was going on about what a pleasant stream of air this fan puts out, but a pleasant zephyr doesn't cut it on a hot day.

The goal of effective fan design is maximum air output in a minimum form factor with minimum noise, and this Dyson falls far short on at least two of those criteria.

Folks, it's really very simple to find a good fan. Look for a vortex grill, like the one on the Vornados. A vortex grill really streamlines air (or liquid) flow, as anyone who has seen the infomercial for that car fuel line gizmo can attest. Here a guy poured a regular gallon bottle of water, glug glug glug. Then he poured a gallon bottle of water equipped with a vortex grill on the opening -- zoop. The water poured right out; the improvement was remarkable.

So if you have too much money and too little sense, by all means get a Dyson Fan. Otherwise, you can find quiet, good-looking fans that do a MUCH better job keeping you cool for MUCH less money. Check out the Vornados first...

A hotel I stayed at recently had one of these in the room. I normally sleep with a ceiling fan or floor fan running, so when I entered the room and saw this, I thought it'd be perfect. Not so.

First, let's address why you probably are looking at this fan -- it doesn't look like anything else out there. Very slick. It's not exactly tiny, but it has an attractive modern design that makes it more acceptable to have out than a traditional fan. It certainly shows what happens when you get some creative types to develop products. We could use more style-conscious designs in everyday items.

BUT, it's noisy, very much so compared to the volume of air it puts out. The noise it makes is a hum + air moving, but rather higher-pitched compared to most fans. I found it to be more intrusive than the Vornado fans I have around the house. Not quite as obnoxious as a hair dryer, but similar in sound, just quieter. If Dyson had used a larger base, they could have used a larger fan that wouldn't have made as much noise. Or a squirrel-cage blower which would have been nearly silent.

It doesn't put out much air. While I didn't have another fan at the hotel to compare it with, an equivalent-size Vornado puts out as much air on low as the Dyson puts out on high, but with far less noise. I barely felt the Dyson all the way across the room. Heard it clearly though. Vornado fans actually use an "air multiplying" design, but they use it to feed air into the fan blades rather than the output. Not exactly a new idea here.

The toughest obstacle is the price. This price is completely out of line. The build quality of this fan isn't anywhere near worth what they're asking for it. Entirely made of plastic. Couldn't cost more than twenty bucks to make this in China. It feels like it'd break/crack if got tipped over and landed on a hard surface. I also question the longevity of this fan. Larger, lower RPM motors generally last longer. This fan has a very small motor that runs at high RPMs to move enough air for it to work. Similarly, the air intake on the base of the fan uses very small holes. I'd imagine these would clog easily, putting even more strain on the motor. I have Vornado fans which have been going non-stop for about 10 years now. I don't see this fan lasting that long.

Overall, slick appearance and unusual thinking, but falls short -- WAY short when you consider the price. Quite a shame. At 10-20% of their asking price, these would be a good buy. At that point you could forgive the poor performance for the slick aesthetics. Until then I'll gladly keep using the Vornado fans I've been using for the past 10 years.

I picked up this beauty at a local Bed Bath (discounted floor model) for $240 and was really excited to bring it home to replace my vintage aluminum fan that is so painfully hard to clean.

Once I set it up and ran it in my bedroom, I was really disappointed in the noise it made. I didn't notice the high-pitch "whirrrr" in the store, most likely because of all the surrounding ambient noise, but when focused in my bedroom, this high-pitched "hair dryer" tone was very off-putting. When stepping out of my bedroom, that high-pitch carries into the rest of my apartment, and becomes quite grating.

This is a deal-breaker for me. It's not so much the volume of sound, but the pitch/tone of the sound. Even on it's lowest setting, this high-pitched tone does NOT promote relaxation and calm, it is irritating and very difficult for me to sleep to. When the output dial is turned up, the pitch becomes higher and the overall volume becomes really loud, so loud it becomes almost impossible to tune out unless I crank the stereo or t.v. up. The sound is like a mini jet engine. Cute, but not practical for sonic well-being.

It's a shame, because the design is amazing, the materials are really nice, the build quality is very solid. I love the ease of use, the buttons are simple, functional, fun to interact with.

In form it's fabulous, in function, it's a fiasco. Dyson seriously needs to consider the aural effects of the high-pitched tone this product emits. Hopefully future models will address this issue, until then, I'm giving my ears a break and returning this noisy lovely thing.

I did not mind the quick fall off in air flow mentioned in other reviews because I was going to use it as a personal fan in close quarters any way and I liked the look of it. What surprised me was the vibration even at low speed. It transmits enough vibration down through the table, the floor, through the carpet that I can feel it in the wooden arm of my chair. It is not horrible, but surprising for an otherwise high tech product. Maybe the next generation.

I bought this fan and returned it after one night. In as few words as possible: this fan is loud and does not blow any air. Let me elaborate a little. I assembled it, plugged it in and turned it on. It made a very loud "whirring" sound but I couldn't feel it from half way across my small living room. I only give it 2 stars because it looks cool. I've never bought a Dyson product before but given the success of the company I figure their designs must be good for something. Well I don't know about the vacuum cleaners but this particular fan is a very expensive joke. I returned it and bought a bigger, traditional fan by Borg for a 7th of the price. This one even came with a remote control! Seriously, I now know why fan designs have not changed in 100+ years. Because they work. Dyson's Air Multiplier does not.

Well I'm a fan of Dyson engineering. I like the idea that he is trying to apply modern engineering to Post war appliances.

So I went to bed bath beyond full of expectations.

1st was this was a lot louder then i thought it would be. Considering i was in middle of Big box store which are noisy to begin with i expected barely audible for at least the first two speeds.

2nd was the total volume of air was not as much as i expected. I do think the focused air maximizes CFM. does seem to throw a long distance.

It is pretty cool but seriously 70-80 bucks for a desktop and half of america would own it. Fans are very energy efficient means of cooling a body on a hot day. AC is expensive. But if the fan cost more than many AC units its hard to justify. Since the capacity is limited.

Good fans will keep AC off in my house for 2-3 months a year easy thats hundreds in savings leaving only 2 months I have to run ac, maybe 30 days.

I just can't spend over 100 bucks on a fan. the whole machine is just too simple. An electric motor with a fan blade attached. should not cost more then 50 bucks. add 20 bucks for slick design and new factor.

This is just one more strong recommendation that you try this product out in a store before purchasing. Bed Bath and Beyond, if they're local to you, has them set up.

The fluid dynamics of it are admittedly neat, but the engineering of the rest of the machine is where it falls flat for me. To keep it short, it hums. In my opinion, there's only two factors to determine the quality of a fan. Noise and airflow. Airflow on the Dyson is adequate given its size and intended use. At 10", I'm not expecting box fan performance. But the noise, that constant hum--It's the kind of noise I find difficult to tune out when I'm trying to relax, sleep or work. I highly recommend you try it out for yourself. $300 is about $250 outside what I'm willing to spend on a table fan in the first place, but that's another story.