Official Launch: The Dyson Airblade

We've just returned from the Airblade unveiling on 42nd Street. We got to the AMC Cinemas at 10:30 to attend this press launch and got a chance not only to try out the new machine, but also to have a short chat with Mr. Dyson.

Enter Slideshow

But first, the Airblade.

This new Dyson invention has the same genetics of his others: it attacks a common problem, it's highly intelligently engineered and it works very well. The Airblade is simply a very high powered motor that pushes air at 400 mph through a very fine slit which then allows the air to "squeegee" the water right off of your hands.

Unlike a common dryer, it does not use hot air to evaporate the water, the ultra strong airflow simply "wipes" it off and the water falls to the floor of the machine (and then runs to the ground).

We tried it a number of times and it did exactly as it was supposed to do. It removed the water from our hands very, very swiftly, leaving them with a dry, but pleasingly moisturized feeling. It also worked well around jewelry. The results really did beat both the towel and the conventional dryer.

Now, Mr. Dyson.

Perhaps the secret to James Dyson's being a good pitchman for the company is that he's so bad at it. He seems so honest and shy (like he's been let out of the engineering lab which he misses), that he covers all the basic points well enough, but is far from slick and slightly unconvincing. You feel for him as he goes through his paces.

He spoke to us first about the traditional air dryer and paper towels. Aside from not always working very well, he pointed out that both are tremendously wasteful and unhygenic. Paper towels require manufacture and trees, while the air dryer uses a great deal of energy in both fan and heater to attempt to evaporate the water from your hands. This evaporation technique is a highly impractical task.

Enter Slideshow

So the Airblade doesn't try to do it. It tries instead to get the water off of your hands by blowing it off in a very short time. You can see it happen, as the water from your hands flies off and gathers on the machine (and floor) below. The only questionable issue concerns this gradual covering of the machine and floor with water.

Mr. Dyson says that this is not a problem and far more hygenic than the alternatives as washrooms are regularly mopped and cleaned. While we are not in total disagreement, we have seen some pretty skanky bathrooms and do feel that the random and rather messy water "offage" is a potential problem and potentially sullies this elegant design.

Finally, we asked him the JAPAN question (from this post).

Is the Airblade just a ripoff of the type of hand dryers they've had in Japan for years? Not at all, said Mr. Dyson. Those dryers are quite different in that they blow hot air through holes and attempt to do the same thing that conventional dryers do, only faster. They do not blow air at the speeds of the Dyson machine, and the Airblade does not use hot air. Quite different. We were satisfied, but we've never seen the Japanese version, so we were really passing on this question from you, our readers.

In conclusion, we continue to be big fans of Dyson products and we thanked Mr. Dyson personally for doing such a good job and bringing it all to the US. We also discovered that he's got many more tricks up his sleeve. In talking with engineer John Churchill, he said that they have many ideas in development, and it is just a matter of time until they roll them all out.

Comments (15)

I wouldn't want to use this because it looks like it would be impossible to insert and remove your hands without at least once touching some part of the machine itself. Knowing that many other people would have done the same thing, quite possibly without washing their hands first, why would I want to contaminate my hands again with others germs after just washing them?

Its great, and I'm sure that it'll be a hit in public bathrooms everywhere. But would anybody want one of these in their homes? I personally wouldn't. Especially since I've got a solution that works great already, a cotton towel. Zero electricity usage. Zero mess.

The water problem is going to be a big hurdle. I'd imagine most people want at least the illusion of tidiness when washing and drying their hands.

Well, it looks better than those new "Xlerator" hand dryers popping up in rest rooms all over the city. The air is so strong from those dryers, they practically push you out of the bathroom! (Their claim is 10 - 15 seconds...)

Aghman - if you have to wash that cotton towel - you use electricity for that correct?

I think the big problem with the Airblade is the size might be prohibitive for small apartment bathrooms. And renters might not want to deal with installations.

Yes, I use some electricity in washing the towel. But I'm not using electricity to spin up an electric motor every time I decide to wash my hands. Plus, my little towel takes up a lot less space than this beast.

It seems like they could just wall off the sides of the machine to prevent the water drippage issue. Is there something I'm missing as far as the machine's operation? Or was it purely an aesthetic decision?

Um, I don't read anywhere where he is hawking this for home use, unless I missed something.

Anne in Chicago--
What water problem are you referencing? Water on the floor? That happens already with regular hand dryers.

Daily Nuance--
Why would people use this if they hadn't washed their hands first?

p(too) - yeah, the way this post is written, it sounds like there's a worse water problem than with hot-air dryers, because the machine is actually blowing all the water off your hands onto the machine and floor (whereas with a hot-air dryer, you get some dripping, but evaporation as well). I could be misinterpreting.

This is apartment therapy. Why would it be on here unless its for home use? This isn't public bathroom therapy.

I live in London and we have used several of these in restaurants/pubs (maybe test-market versions or we just launced earlier?). They are fantastic - do EXACTLY what you would expect from a Dyson.

Am I the only one who finds this guy repellant?

I'm not particularly wowed, mostly b/c the outer design is a direct rip of a Japanese version. I have a picture of myself using an almost identical looking hand drier in a Japanese subway station, but the Japanese one didn't have high pressured air (I don't recall anyway) and had UV light (I assume to kill germs).

The exact same concept (i.e. using high pressured air to blow water off your hands) has been used in industry for years. Typically those are spinning chambers that blow air on every part of your hand so that you don't even have to move your hands. Heck, there's even a local BBQ joint that has one for people to use. Personally, I wish more bathrooms had them in order to cut down on paper towel use.

dear people at dyson,

it looks like a very nice solution you've built with this hand-dryer.
the only thing for me is, if I would walk upon this device in a russian bistro for example, i would try to put my hands in from the side. afraid of having them cut off by some corrupt inbuilt knive.

anyways. like the idea.

I don't imagine this is for home use. Its on here, because like all things Apple, the AT folks have a thing for all that is Dyson.

I've used one at a rest area on I-95 before. My husband was SO excited to see one--it may have been the highlight of our trip for him! I didn't figure out how to use it until it cycled off, so I probably didn't get as much drying out of it as I could have.

A restaurant or home may be a more appealing place to use one than an interstate rest area, as the slot is rather small and I didn't want to touch something that had the potential to be contaminated by so many people.