Dyson Pure Hot+Cool review: Versatile fan and heater blows hot and cold

Dyson has a nice line of all-in-one air purifiers and fans that will keep your home cool and your air clean all year round.

But I live in Ireland, which means that while we may have the need for a fan a few days a year, chances are I'd find a heater a lot more useful in the long run.

The Dyson Pure Hot + Cool steps neatly into the breach. Smaller than the Pure Cool tower air purifier from last year and a little larger than the desk fans, the Pure Hot + Cool will cool you in summer (if we get one), keep you warm in winter (which we definitely get) and filter all the nasty bits out of the air in the days in between.

Setting it up is simple. It comes almost fully assembled in the box, and all that needs to be added is the filters in the base, which clip in reasonably easily. Those filters are important; the 360 degree glass filter will trap particles that are smaller than the width of a human hair, the carbon filter will remove gases and odours from your room.

Once you have the filters in, you can get started. But it’s worth taking the time to set up the Dyson Link app and connect the fan to your home wifi. That allows you to monitor your air quality over the day even when you aren’t at home, and keep an eye on trends over the weeks.

You can get real-time information from the small display on the front of your machine, with a graph that veers between green and red as it picks up indoor pollutants and filters them out, but if you aren’t there to see it it is hard to keep track of what is going on.

Air purifiers aren’t standard devices in Irish homes, but maybe they should be. Indoor air quality can be hampered by everything from pollen and other allergens coming from your pets to cooking and burning scented candles.

The Pure Hot + Cool will filter all that out, trapping it in the HEPA and carbon filters in its base. Over time, they’ll need to be replaced, but the Dyson app will also give a heads up when that’s needed.

Couldn’t you just open a window though?

Air quality in Ireland isn’t noticeably bad in the way it would be in certain cities throughout the world, but it’s not really an option if you have allergies or respiratory conditions that are exacerbated by pollen for example, or live near main roads where traffic fumes could be an issue.

As a fan and heater, the device works very well, cooling your room or heating things up quite quickly, That’s all down to the airflow on the fan. The good thing about the Dyson is that you can reverse the direction of the sir flow, so if you don’t want it directed at you, you can set it to diffused mode, which pumps the purified air out the back of the machine instead.

From a safety point of view, a bladeless fan is better if you have pets or children, so the Dyson ticks those boxes too.

It’s clever too. Set it to auto mode and the machine does all the work for you, turning itself on when it sense pollutant in the air, and turning off when it’s not needed. You can also set it for specific temperatures, so if you want the room a comfortable 20 degrees and it drops beneath that, the heater will automatically kick in.

At night, there’s a specific mode that turns the fan settings lower while still purifying the air, although it’s not an overly intrusive noise as it is.

Which brings me to the one sticking point for a lot of people: the price. Dyson products aren’t cheap. The Pure Hot + Cool will set you back just under €600. If you want all three devices, getting the Dyson Pure Hot + Cool could possibly work out a similar price. And it certainly earns its price tag. But that will be down to individual budgets.

The good:
Heat and cooling in one, plus some air purifying to boot. The Dyson Pure Hot + Cool means you only need one appliance, which saves on space and expense in the long run.

The Pure Hot and Cool is also connected to the Dyson Link app, which means you can keep an eye on it remotely, or use the app instead of the remote control should it go awol.

The not so good:
These devices don't come cheap, although it's worth noting they replace three different devices. Also, you need to keep a close eye on the remote control, unless you want to be dependant on the whims of your wifi.

The rest:
The night mode comes in handy, especially if you want to leave the air purifier on automatic while you sleep.

Verdict:
The price tag may seem high, but the Pure Hot + Cool replaces three devices. Plus it actually works.