Review: Dyson Hot + Cool Fan and heater

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Once in a while a product comes along and completely solves a problem so efficiently that you wonder why you tried to get along without it for so long. Dyson’s Hot + Cool Fan is such a product. a year-round game changer.

Having grown up in the tropics, I’m quite familiar with electric fans. In my grandparent’s house, they had sturdy fans with metal blades and through the years these were replaced with cheaper plastic ones with more features but less durable build quality.

The issue with traditional fan design is that it is potentially dangerous (hello, high speed blades) and also that the parts eventually wear out and more often than not, you need to replace the whole device. The vibration resulting from the motor can also be annoying though time and everything eventually gets loose

Fast forward to 2014, I live in a large one bedroom apartment which has a central heater which heats up the entire area until it’s too stuffy or dry,  or that fails to provide ample heating when it is really cold. The baseboard heaters help a little bit but only focus on the floor.

Imagine my surprise when testing the Dyson Hot + Cool Fan and realizing that it could easily warm up my bedroom and even focus on a designated area with the right temperature. 

Easy to assemble and set-up, the Dyson Hot + Cool Fan can sit on top of a table or on the ground. It can be conveniently angled and also features an oscillator. Since my son is a little over two years old and extremely curious, It is comforting to know that the Dyson Hot + Cool fan, which we’ve put in our bedroom, is safe for him and won’t hurt his little fingers.

The Hot + Cool Fan has no blades, in typical Dyson fashion, they completely re-invented the way a fan works.

Since there’s no propeller, vibration is heavily minimized and the wide base makes it possible to place the fan above a table and be sure that it won’t vibrate itself off the ground.

Dyson’s patented Air Multiplier technology takes surrounding air and channels it in the desired direction. There’s a surge of sound kicking in initially which is easy enough to get used to. I also liked the fact that I didn’t get that burning electrical smell common to electric heaters. The thermostat on the Dyson Hot + Cool fan seems very accurate and it can easily warm up most size bedrooms within an hour and then put itself to sleep.

It’s remarkable that the Dyson uses 30% less energy to heat the whole room than other fan heaters out there, the included remote control is also responsive and precise and is quite handy. It can also be magnetically attached to the top of the fan which is convenient but it does fall off if you employ the oscillation feature.

The price and some of the features may not be for everyone but I found that the Dyson Hot + Cool Fan was ideal for my needs. At my sister’s house this holiday season, four families are coming together to spend time together and we decided to get two of these fans to ensure warmth for the kids camping out at the basement. The compact size, versatility as well as the two year Dyson warranty really make it the best option for varied use cases throughout the year.

Rating: 5 out of 5