Two years in the past I attended a picturesque outside marriage ceremony in August the place the recent and humid climate had friends often ducking into their automobiles to take pleasure in a blast of AC. Dyson’s new $99.99 handheld fan would have supplied some much-needed reduction then, though I’m undecided I would have been snug powering it up throughout the service or reception. The HushJet Mini Cool is as slim and smooth as Dyson’s latest skinny vacuum and hair dryer, however it’s not quiet sufficient to earn the title “Hush.”
That’s unlucky as a result of the HushJet Mini Cool is yet one more product Dyson has redesigned to look and carry out higher than what’s already in the marketplace. All of its elements — together with the motor, 5,000mAh rechargeable battery, and spinning blades — are safely contained inside a cylindrical physique 38mm in diameter that’s simple to slide right into a pocket. Many handheld followers use versatile or folding blades which are left uncovered and not ideally suited for teenagers, or they stuff the transferring elements right into a bulbous part on prime that limits pocketability.
At 208 grams the HushJet Mini Cool is about the identical weight as an iPhone 17 Pro, so it’s not a horrible burden to schlep round when temperatures soar, and it’s extremely simple to make use of. A toggle change turns the fan on and off, whereas a rocker button allows you to step up and down by means of 5 totally different fan speeds indicated by a strip of 5 small white LEDs. There’s additionally a good stronger Boost Mode that’s solely activated whilst you’re holding down the “plus” facet of that rocker button.
The solely studying curve was remembering to grip the fan above the vent that wraps round its base in order to not block the airflow. Some added texture on the skin of the HushJet Mini Cool to naturally information the place your hand ought to grip it might be welcome.
Dyson claims as much as six hours of battery life on the fan’s lowest setting, however at its highest velocity (not Boost Mode) it died after 62 minutes. I was nonetheless impressed, as a result of I didn’t anticipate the fan to final that lengthy at full energy. The remaining battery life is displayed utilizing the fan’s 5 white LEDs, however solely when it’s turned off. Being capable of monitor how briskly the battery stage drops with the fan working can be a helpful option to estimate how a lot cooling time you’ve got left.
The HushJet Mini Cool is bottom-heavy and can be utilized as a self-standing fan, and Dyson contains an adjunct to widen the bottom and enhance its stability. It helps, however it’s additionally an adjunct that’s simple to lose. And whilst you can energy the fan indefinitely by connecting it to an influence supply over USB-C, you’re restricted to the bottom velocity setting. At that setting you’ll want to remain inside about 5 ft of the fan to really feel something.
Dyson’s advertising and marketing for the fan, together with the HushJet branding, emphasizes the way it’s engineered to be quiet. “Dyson’s obsession with acoustics means tonal comfort: with the HushJet nozzle, we’ve lowered frequencies, eliminated high-pitched whirring, and silenced the sound of whining motors,” the corporate mentioned in a press launch. But it was positively not as quiet as I expected it to be.
It doesn’t get anyplace close to as loud as Dyson’s cordless vacuums or hair dryers, however the HushJet Mini Cool isn’t whisper-quiet, even at its lowest setting. The handheld fan additionally has the same high-pitched whine as these different Dyson gadgets, regardless of its tiny electrical motor spinning at much less than half the velocity of theirs.
For the previous yr my household has been utilizing Nitecore’s izzCool 10 Pro fan to beat the warmth every time AC isn’t obtainable. Its design makes it tougher to slide right into a pocket, and at full energy its blast is nowhere close to as robust as Dyson’s — even at half energy. While each followers had been equally loud at their lowest settings (measured utilizing the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app on my iPhone), Dyson’s was nicely over 10 decibels louder at full energy. That’s not shocking given Dyson’s fan far outperforms Nitecore’s, however the sound of the HushJet Mini Cool was usually far more noticeable, because it produced noise at larger frequencies.
At a loud outside music competition, crowded carnival, or bustling state truthful I can see myself comfortably pushing the fan’s velocity to its third or fourth velocity setting with out worrying about getting too many aggravated appears. But in quieter settings, like that stifling-hot outside marriage ceremony I attended, I can be hesitant to fireplace up the HushJet Mini Cool. At least till the marriage DJ took over.
Compact electrical air dusters just like the Wolfbox MF100 are stronger and cheaper than the HushJet Mini Cool, however they’re usually a lot louder as a result of they’re designed to be pointed at keyboards coated in Doritos crumbs, whereas followers are designed to be pointed at your head. Dyson’s HushJet Mini Cool is higher at balancing dimension, efficiency, and battery life. If used nonstop it may final half a day at an amusement park. You can positively discover a quieter various, however I doubt you’ll discover a more powerful one this dimension.
Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge