‘I ditched my posh Dyson for a bargain tower fan – and I don’t regret it’

In a bid to prove that cooling heat relief is possible on a budget, tech writer Chris Hall ditched his powerful Dyson fan for a much cheaper alternative

Dyson fans are a lot of things: they’re innovative, they offer connected features, they filter the air they circulate and they have trend-setting design. But they’re also prohibitively expensive.

While having a Dyson fan sitting in the corner all year round only adds kudos to that room, when the temperature rises, you might find the expensive price hard to swallow. I switched my top-of-the-range Dyson for a Russell Hobbs tower fan that was a fraction of the price, and I’m not looking back.

Tower fans are popular because the design means they can stand in smaller spaces. The enclosed design is less tempting to little fingers and they are easy to place compared to a regular desk fan.

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The oscillation (rotation) that they offer also means you don’t get a big fan head swinging around, which is the case with some other types of fan.

But the thing that really appeals to me is how quietly a tower fan runs on lower settings. I use the fan for sleeping at night and it’s a background hiss that doesn’t disturb me – and all I don’t have to prop the fan up or change the angle. I just turn it on and I sleep more comfortably.

It seems I’m not alone: the Russell Hobbs tower fan that I bought is out of stock everywhere. In fact, if you’re after a Russell Hobbs fan, the only model that seems to be available to buy is the black version instead.

This model stands 1m high, has three speed settings and rotates through 85 degrees. It has a 7-hour timer, and there’s also a Sleep Air Mode that reduces the fan speed after 30 minutes (when you’re hopefully asleep) and turns off the annoying LED lights.

Shoppers like it too, as one person said: “A decent tower fan that is almost a piece of furniture due to its size, but it’s very good at doing the job it’s made for.” Another shared: “It’s quieter than I thought it would be compared to my regular bladed fan”.

It also comes with a basic remote, rivalling some of the skills that Dyson offers, although the remote isn’t the best, as one customer commented: “The remote is absolutely pathetic”.

I’m a technology nerd (which is why I had a Dyson fan in the first place), and I didn’t just plug my tower fan in. Instead, I connected it to a cheap Tapo P100 smart plug, giving it Alexa voice control. When there’s a heatwave, sometimes all you want to do is sit and I can now turn it on and off with my voice.

Why do I think it’s better than Dyson? The price is the obvious thing, but I also find that the air stream is wider. Dyson is really good at producing a focused jet of air, and the fan offers a lot of adjustment and control to get that air precisely where you want it.

The Russell Hobbs can’t compete with that, just as I don’t get smartphone control for my cheap tower fan either. On Dyson’s most advanced fans, you can control it with the app, and that includes changing the direction of it precisely using on-screen controls, while there’s also smart home support. Yes, my Dyson also offers Alexa voice control.

Dyson also offers HEPA filtration, which is great for those with allergies, but as I’m in a room with all the doors and windows open, that filtration isn’t really doing anything for me. If a Dyson fan is what you’re after, then there is a discount on one of the more basic models, with £80 off the price of the Dyson Cool AM07, so it’s £269.99 from Dyson.

This Dyson model doesn’t have all the connected features that I’ve mentioned or the HEPA filter, but it’s the most affordable model they offer.

If you want a connected Dyson, then there’s a £100 discount on the TP09 model, offering access through the MyDyson app, HEPA filters and formaldehyde purification, for £449.99 from Dyson.