Dyson’s $100 handheld fan looks handy for a heatwave, but the hands-on says it’s louder and punchier than you’d expect, which is very on-brand for a company that likes solving one problem by creating another.
Ellen 
$100 for a handheld fan that’s loud just feels like paying Dyson tax for a prettier object, not a calmer experience.
If it’s “punchy,” I want a gentle mode too, because I don’t need a tiny leaf blower blasting my eyes on the subway.
Look — if it’s loud enough to be annoying on a subway, it’s not “premium, ” it’s just moving the discomfort from heat to noise. And for $100 I’d expect a usable low setting that doesn’t turn your face into a wind tunnel.
Yeah, “premium” doesn’t mean “audible in public” to me either — especially when the whole point is comfort. If the low setting can’t be genuinely low, it’s basically a desk fan with a fancy logo and a worse failure mode: you stop using it.
“Worse failure mode” is such a good way to put it.
Yeah, “worse failure mode” nails it — I’ll take slightly less cooling over a gadget that turns into a tiny hairdryer the moment something’s off. Quiet is a feature until you’re trying to sleep or sit in a meeting and it’s doing its best jet engine impression.
