Dyson’s handheld fan is more powerful and louder than I expected | The Verge

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Dyson’s handheld fan is more powerful and louder than I expected

You can find quieter alternatives to the Hush Jet Mini Cool, but you may not find a more powerful fan this pocketable.

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Two years ago I attended a picturesque outdoor wedding in August where the hot and humid weather had guests occasionally ducking into their cars to enjoy a blast of AC. Dyson’s new $99.99 handheld fan would have provided some much-needed relief then, although I’m not sure I would have been comfortable powering it up during the service or reception. The Hush Jet Mini Cool is as slim and sleek as Dyson’s recent thin vacuum and hair dryer, but it’s not quiet enough to earn the name “Hush.”

That’s unfortunate because the Hush Jet Mini Cool is yet another product Dyson has redesigned to look and perform better than what’s already on the market. All of its components — including the motor, 5,000m Ah rechargeable battery, and spinning blades — are safely contained inside a cylindrical body 38mm in diameter that’s easy to slip into a pocket. Many handheld fans use flexible or folding blades that are left exposed and not ideal for kids, or they stuff the moving parts into a bulbous section on top that limits pocketability.

At 208 grams the Hush Jet Mini Cool is about the same weight as an i Phone 17 Pro, so it’s not a terrible burden to schlep around when temperatures soar, and it’s incredibly easy to use. A toggle switch turns the fan on and off, while a rocker button lets you step up and down through five different fan speeds indicated by a strip of five small white LEDs. There’s also an even stronger Boost Mode that’s only activated while you’re holding down the “plus” side of that rocker button.

You’ll need to remember not to block the intake vents on the bottom of the fan when holding it.

The only learning curve was remembering to grip the fan above the vent that wraps around its base so as not to block the airflow. Some added texture on the outside of the Hush Jet Mini Cool to naturally guide where your hand should grip it would be welcome.

The Hush Jet Mini Cool’s controls are easy to operate. There’s a sliding switch that turns it on and off, while a single button steps up and down through speed settings.

Dyson claims up to six hours of battery life at the fan’s lowest setting, but at its highest speed (not Boost Mode) it died after 62 minutes. I was still impressed, because I didn’t expect the fan to last that long at full power. The remaining battery life is displayed using the fan’s five white LEDs, but only when it’s turned off. Being able to track how fast the battery level drops with the fan running would be a useful way to estimate how much cooling time you have left.

The Hush Jet Mini Cool can be used as a standalone fan with an included accessory that widens its base, but when plugged into power with a USB-C cable, it’s limited to its lowest speed setting.

The Hush Jet Mini Cool is bottom-heavy and can be used as a self-standing fan, and Dyson includes an accessory to widen the base and improve its stability. It helps, but it’s also an accessory that’s easy to lose. And while you can power the fan indefinitely by connecting it to a power source over USB-C, you’re limited to the lowest speed setting. At that setting you’ll need to stay within about 5 feet of the fan to feel anything.

The fan’s nozzle can be rotated to direct its blast at an angle (left) or straight up (right), allowing you to wear and use it hands-free hanging from a strap.

Dyson’s marketing for the fan, including the Hush Jet branding, emphasizes how it’s engineered to be quiet. “Dyson’s obsession with acoustics means tonal comfort: with the Hush Jet nozzle, we’ve lowered frequencies, eliminated high-pitched whirring, and silenced the sound of whining motors,” the company said in a press release. But it was definitely not as quiet as I expected it to be.

It doesn’t get anywhere near as loud as Dyson’s cordless vacuums or hair dryers, but the Hush Jet Mini Cool isn’t whisper-quiet, even at its lowest setting. The handheld fan also has a similar high-pitched whine as those other Dyson devices, despite its tiny electric motor spinning at less than half the speed of theirs.

The Nitecore izz Cool 10 Pro fan (left) my family has been using for the past year is shorter than Dyson’s (right) but much harder to slip into a pocket.

For the past year my family has been using Nitecore’s izz Cool 10 Pro fan to beat the heat whenever AC isn’t available. Its design makes it harder to slip into a pocket, and at full power its blast is nowhere near as strong as Dyson’s — even at half power. While both fans were similarly loud at their lowest settings (measured using the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app on my i Phone), Dyson’s was well over 10 decibels louder at full power. That’s not surprising given Dyson’s fan far outperforms Nitecore’s, but the sound of the Hush Jet Mini Cool was generally far more noticeable, since it produced noise at higher frequencies.

At a noisy outdoor music festival, crowded carnival, or bustling state fair I can see myself comfortably pushing the fan’s speed to its third or fourth speed setting without worrying about getting too many annoyed looks. But in quieter settings, like that stifling-hot outdoor wedding I attended, I would be hesitant to fire up the Hush Jet Mini Cool. At least until the wedding DJ took over.

The Hush Jet Mini Cool is Dyson’s smallest fan to date, but not one of its quietest.

Compact electric air dusters like the Wolfbox MF100 are stronger and cheaper than the Hush Jet Mini Cool, but they’re typically much louder because they’re designed to be pointed at keyboards covered in Doritos crumbs, while fans are designed to be pointed at your head. Dyson’s Hush Jet Mini Cool is better at balancing size, performance, and battery life. If used nonstop it can last half a day at an amusement park. You can definitely find a quieter alternative, but I doubt you’ll find a more powerful one this size.

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