Review: Dyson AM01 Fan

If you’ve walked into a department or electrics store in the past couple of years, you’ve seen them: Dyson’s blade-less fan, also known as the Air Multiplier. With a hot summer now here, it’s time to check out the AM01, the baby of the range that brings with it a $400 price tag and the ability to make your air colder.

Features

The smallest fan in Dyson’s Air Multiplier range, this breed of fan works similarly to another device using this technology that we checked out last year.

Like the “Hot + Cool” released in time for the colder months, the AM01 sucks in air at its ambient room temperature from near the base of the fan and passes it through a motor which speeds up the air.

From there, that sped up air – which is now also colder from the process of having its speed increased – is pushed out from the frame of the fan.

In essence, all the cold air is being generated inside the base of the Air Multiplier fan, and the only reason it has a shape remotely like a fan is because that’s how it was designed to look.

The Dyson AM01 uses this technology in a small fan with only two buttons and a dial at the base of the unit: power and oscillation, while the dial is for changing the fan speed, which also controls the how cold the air is.

Dyson has designed the AM01 to have its fan head removed easily for storage, and you can twist it in place to unlock it from the top, or conversely, twist it in place when it’s on top to lock it, which you’ll have to do when first setting it up.

With a white colour scheme on the Dyson, we put our review unit near a Sonos. It worked nicely, cooling us down while we jammed to our tunes.

Performance

Fans don’t have to do much other than cool you down, and do it well, and Dyson’s AM01 does succeed in doing that rather easily.

Simply plug it in, turn it on, and then dial the speed you want in, similar to how you can press a button for different speeds on a regular fan, albeit with a little more manual control here.

From there, air comes out faster and colder, although you do have to put up with a very loud and whiny fan noise, almost to the point where it sounds like a vacuum is going off in your room. Hardly surprising given that Dyson makes vacuums.

We compared it with a regular $30 fan from a department store, and while we like the feel of the air from the Air Multiplier, the loud noise doesn’t exactly make it suitable for sleeping with it while it’s switched on.

For that matter, neither does the lack of a timer or remote control, both of which are things we’d expect in a fan that costs over $300.

Dyson’s AM01 carries a $399 price tag, and what you’re essentially paying for here is that nifty Dyson air technology, which consumes less electricity than our $30 generic fan, and provides colder air in a smaller footprint.

Conclusion

It’s not that Dyson’s fan is bad; it’s not, but we can’t help but feel spending a hundred short of half a grand is a little excessive for what’s on offer here.

The air is colder, but we’re not sure the temperature difference is worth the massive price difference, especially when there are other fans out there that can push out more air across the entire fan, not just the edge, and for much less moolah.

 

Overall
Features
Value for money
Performance
Ease of Use
Reader Rating0 Votes
Lightweight; Colder air than a regular fan; Much safer for children than a conventional blade-based fan;
Very, very expensive; Loud; No remote or timer;
3.2