We've been keeping a secret from you. Yep, it's true. And we can't keep it any longer. During this hot spell we've been keeping as cool as a cucumber. Even cool enough to wear a woolly jumper in some cases.

Our quick take

As with most Dyson products you are paying a lot for all that engineering and "cool factor". A standard cheap, and probably noisier, desk fan with blades will set you back £20 compared to the £250 asking price of the Dyson - and that is likely to hugely affect those interested.

Of course you could say that about anything, be it an expensive car, a flagship phone, or may other gadgets; you pay what you get for. And with the Dyson Cool AM06 you get a lot of cool from this clever and well made product. It works as it should, can be controlled from afar, has plenty of "cool factor" and will draw attention to itself from curious friends and family whatever room you put it in.

The question for you to decide is whether you are prepared to pay the premium to keep cool this summer and beyond. We think it's worth it.

Dyson Cool AM06 Desk Fan - 4.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • Looks cool
  • quiet
  • powerful
  • timer option for bedtime
  • safe
  • remote control
  • You are paying a lot for the "cool" factor
  • don't lose the remote

Dyson AM06

Amazon

How? Well, we've been testing the Dyson AM06 12-inch Desk Fan.

Is this latest Dyson something you need to buy if you too are planning on keeping cool this summer or, considering the high price, is it just a load of hot air?

A cool design

Dyson makes a three different fan designs: the desk fan, as reviewed here, which features a stubby base and a large 12-inch aperture; a taller tower fan (the AM07); and an even taller pedestal fan (the AM08).

All three work in the same way and feature virtually identical properties, designed for application in different sized spaces. There's a choice of three colours available too: black, black & blue, and silver.

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Pocket-lint

There is just one power switch button on the fan, and a small display that glows white numbers from behind the black casing. Everything is controlled via the accompanying remote control which magnetically sticks to the top of the fan when you aren't using it. Great for not losing it.

A big hole

The design hasn't changed much since previous outings - we saw the Air Multiplier back in 2009 - and, most notably, features a bladeless design. You won't get the nostalgia value in some beautifully crafted blades going around and around as captured in films like Apocalypse Now, but you do get to keep cooler more efficiently.

Unlike a conventional fan we think the absence of those rotating blades is very cool - it brought a smile to the faces of people we showed it to - as it removes the chances of a pet or child putting hand, hair or whatever else in there and causing a disaster.

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Pocket-lint

Although the 12-inch opening just looks like a big hole that you wouldn't imagine could do much, you get a tunnel of air firing at you when you stand in front of it. It works really well, based on Dyson's Air Multiplier technology which passes air over an airfoil-shaped ramp to create a low pressure area behind the fan which then pulls surrounding air in. It's kind of like a personal weather system in your home - but on demand, when you want it.

For those who want the airflow to not just be directed straight out on a horizontal line, you can angle the fan by about 30 degrees vertically both up and down. There's an automated left-to-right rotation mode to cover the horizontal movement and spread the cool jet of air around the room.

The remote control

On the remote there are six buttons to handle turning the device on and off, controlling the power output of the fan, whether you want automated left-to-right movement, and a timer so you can set it to turn off anywhere from 15 minutes through to nine hours.

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Pocket-lint

While you can control the fan with a secret selection of double taps and holds, losing the remote will be a pain. We like that the AM06 looks incredibly minimalist, but that's no good if you are one of those people who lose your keys or phone when just going to the bathroom.

Your number one fan

The big sell with the Dyson is that the AM06 fan is quiet. Really quiet. Dyson claims it is 75 per cent quieter than the last model and while that is incredibly hard to prove, it is noticeably quieter than the AM05 Hot + Cool we've already got in the office.

Obviously if you rack the power output up to its maximum 10 then it does emit noise, but at the low end of the scale you still get a good amount of air flow and a quiet experience that we were really pleased with. You can turn it all the way up to 4/10 before it gets noisier than a MacBook Air's fan when its processor gets excited.

Dyson also claim that the Dyson AM06 will consume 30 per cent less power in its usage that the previous AM01. We've not wired it up and measured graphs like some mad electrician-meets-scientist, but we like the green sentiment. We are happy to take energy savings where we can, thank you very much.

Dyson AM06

Amazon

To recap

The big sell is that the AM06 fan is quiet. Really quiet. It might be expensive but as with so many things, you get what you pay for.