Dyson's £200 Air Multiplier: We're not a fan

By Nate Lanxon on 13 October 2009, 11:48am

James Dyson can do no wrong. Neither can his PR monkeys, it seems. The 21st century's answer to Clive Sinclair has dropped the trousers on his latest piece of kit -- a desk fan with no blades -- and everyone from the FT to the Guardian, down to UK bloggers Pocket-lint, have rushed to spit out the same nonsense from the press release.

Apparently, the Dyson Air Multiplier fan "expels 405 litres of cool, smooth air every second," at least according to the Guardian. The FT weighs in with some insightful commentary too, by informing us the new Dyson "[pushes] out 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air every second."

But wait! That's not all it does! Because apparently, if we're to believe Pocket-lint, it "uses engineering to 'multiply' air 15 times and push out 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air." Can you believe that? Engineering of all things! Dyson sure is clever. Not to mention smooth.

Current.com.au goes one step further in its press release re-hash, by telling us the Air Multiplier actually uses "patented technology to multiply air 15 times, circulating 450 litres of cool, smooth and uninterrupted air every second."

Engineering, patented technology, uninterrupted air? Colour us convinced.

Really, we all know traditional desk fans are riddled with problems. No-one has ever been happy with their atrocious assault on the concept of cooling the human face, have they? Finally it's time to stow that woe, because the Dyson Air Multiplier takes the raw danger out of the desk fan. And that problem with air not being smooth when it hits your face? Pah! A mere entry in the historical tome Name That Fail.

The 10-inch and 12-inch desk fans both cost £200 in the UK (weirdly -- you'd think the small one would be cheaper) and are available for pre-order from Dyson's Web site today.

In related news, our US cousins at CNET.com have the fan in-house for a first look. If you like seeing things flapping in the wind, well, it's your lucky day.