For many years now, I have used Dyson products: two Pure Hot+Cool HP04, one Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 and a few of their vacuums. When it comes to the vacuums, I couldn’t be happier with the performance and experience provided. As for the humidfier and heaters, though… it is complicated.

Originally, I purchased a pair of Pure Hot+Cool HP04 heaters for the winter time. I keep one in my bedroom and one in my office where my pet guinea pigs live. I made a quick assumption during my purchase that you “get what you pay for.” Dyson’s products are attractive and expensive, so I figured they would offer the highest performance. As it turns out, in this case, it isn’t true.

These devices are noisey as hell.

My first and chief complaint about these devices: they all suffer from build quality defects that lead to noise pollution. I don’t use that term lightly. It is seriously unbearable at times, to the point that I *must* turn the device off for my own sanity. Typically, the issue happens at the lowest speeds. There is some sort of fan oscillation going on that leads to the highest pitch squeeling imagineable. This happens with three of my Dyson fans; this is no fluke. When the fan is set to run above level 4 (out of 10) the squeeling will subside. Still, not ideal. Nearly a deal breaker for the product as a whole, in fact.

These devices are not good for air filtration.

My second complaint is that the air filtration offered by these machines is horrifically poor. The CADR (clean air delivery rate) rating is laughably low, and cheaper products exist that do the job far better. In fact, strapping MERV 8 rated HVAC filter on to a box fan does a better job. No, I’m not kidding. Check out this CBC News video for details on that one.

Not only is the filtration unbearably slow, the filters within the unit cost around $80 to replace as of writing (2023), and they only last about one year before the Dyson app warns about ordering a replacement. In contrast, BlueAir offers a 211+ auto model with a filter that lasts WAY longer with over 4x the CADR. The replacement filter for the BlueAir? It is only $50. As of the time of writing, the BlueAir machine costs a whopping $250 less than what I paid for my Dyson, and it costs less in filter replacements, too. All of this is why my dining room / kitchen area is proudly accompanied by a BlueAir 211+ Auto.

The humidfier takes a long time to humidify.

My final complaint (whew, as if I could be any more negative) is that the Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 takes what feels like forever to humidfy a room of any size. I believe this problem is very much aligned with the CADR problem. These fans simply do not move a lot of air, and that is by design. They are very nice to use as a personal fan, as they are (supposed to be) quiet and focused.

However, the Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 has a benefit I haven’t seen in other humidifiers in that it actually cleans the water before it puts it out into the room. It does this with UV light, which rocks, because typical humidfiers you see on Amazon are utter garbage in this respect. Don’t believe me? Buy a random Amazon humidifier and let it run while it sits next to a smart air filter such as a Dyson or BlueAir. Your air filters will fight for their lives trying to pull the gunk out of the air. With the Dyson PH01, no problems, the air is clean.

Somehow, these devices are still better than the alternative.

Now here is where things get complicated. These machines all perform a very specific subset of features that you will not find elsewhere. After getting fed up with the compromises, I started looking for alternatives only to find myself at an impasse. I wanted the best possible result in each of the respective areas (do one thing and do it well).

If I wanted the best possible air filtration system, I could get a BlueAir for my bedroom and for my office. However, these are not heaters. Because of this, I’d also need to buy a set of heaters, and as it turns out, really good space heaters cost really good money. For example, De’Longhi offers a very nice oil-filled radiator style heater for around $170. Ouch! But wait… the BlueAir filter is not a heater, and it is also not a fan. So now a pair of high-quality fans are required. At this point, I’m up to a total of six devices (three for each room) to replace the two Dyson machines that I have. That means three total electrical outlets instead of one, and three times the space (which I do not have). The total cost of these machines added together would be in the same ballpark range as a Dyson. Whoops! No money saving to be found here (this wasn’t the goal, but it would have been nice).

All of what I have touched on so far doesn’t address the problem of finding a good humidifier that outputs clean air (good luck with that shit, I tried). The integrated IoT (internet-of-things) capability was also not accounted for in my quest for the best, though you likely won’t find anything that works together as seemlessly as Dyson.

I guess this is essentially where Dyson has the market. It’s a bit strange, but this is a case where the market leader is a jack of all trades, and master of none: It’s not the best fan, it’s not the best heater (or humidifier), and it’s not the best air filter… but it does all three of these things while using very little space, and for a competitive price.

For now, I’ll be coughing up $80 for an air filter.