Just a touch makes the unit tilt smoothly to direct warm air for personal heating.
The first thing that struck me about the Dyson hot+cool AM04, which recently hit the Japan market, is its trendy design—just like the firm’s other fans (all with Air Multiplier technology) and its popular line of stylish vacuum cleaners. Moreover, its compact design and light weight (2.4kg) make it easy to carry and move around. Nevertheless, at first blush this model did not appear to have the power to heat large spaces—such as the Custom Media office. But how wrong can one be!
As soon as the hot+cool AM04 was switched on, a jet of warm air streamed forth to flood the room—in sharp contrast to the heater I generally use, which tends to warm the area around my head. A key feature of this new Dyson product is its smooth oscillation that distributes the heat evenly across the entire space.
The temperature control (up to 37C) is very precise. Should it detect a fall in temperature, the intelligent thermostat causes the heater to warm the area to the set temperature.
For safety, the Dyson hot+cool AM04 automatically switches off should it topple over, while the lack of blades and visible heating elements makes cleaning easy.
Intrigued by how a fan can have no blades, I found the explanation on the Dyson website: “Air is accelerated through a narrow aperture around the fan loop. This creates a jet of hot air that passes over an airfoil-shaped ramp, which channels its direction. Surrounding cool air is drawn into the airflow, amplifying it six times”. Well, you learn something every day, don’t you?
Changing between hot and cold modes is easy, and just a touch makes the unit tilt smoothly to direct warm air for personal heating, no clamping in place required.
The handy remote control, curved and magnetic, can be easily kept on top of the fan. And besides having an on/off switch and controls for oscillation and the thermostat, the remote control also can be used to adjust the airflow.
The unit’s attractive design is complemented by the choice of iron/blue and white/silver metallic colours, as well as the LED display, which is easy to read when adjusting the temperature.
Some people might think a timer would have been a nice additional touch, while I originally thought the price would be a critical factor. However, bearing in mind the unit’s dual function—to heat or cool the air—makes the product affordable and good value for Dyson’s legions of fans in Japan.
In fact, the more I use it, the more I love its functions and attractive design.
