It's no secret that 2020 onwards has left many thinking more and more about air quality. From pollution in major cities, to airborne disease, there's a lot out there to aggravate your lungs - even the increased amount of cooking you're likely doing at home causing gases and odours.

That's where the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool comes into play: this large floorstanding product can act as a fan, cooling your skin by circulating room air (hence the 'Cool' bit), but also purifies the air from gases, odours, particulate matter and more (hence the 'Purifier' part of the name).

Likely to be lesser used in a UK setting is the 'Humidify' part of the equation: the product also has a water container base, which you fill with water, and can set to add UV-cleaned moisture into dry air. Indeed, the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool is a veritable one-stop shop for most things air quality related in your home. So just how well does it work?

Our quick take

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool is one of those products that we didn't really know we needed - but its constant monitoring and reaction to various real-world situations, such as invisible smoke particles, has ensured cleaner air to breathe. That's had a positive knock-on effect for our asthma, no doubt, while come the summer months any mitigation to our hayfever symptoms will be most welcomed too.

This Dyson Purifier can also cool, and does so well - you can even control front and rear fans separately if things get too direct and chilly - but to think of it as just a very expensive fan would be to ignore its capable and easily controlled purifying functionality. That's where the real strength of this product is - and for many that peace of mind (and ease of breath) be worth every penny of its asking price.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool - 4.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • Quick to monitor and react to air quality changes - detects for PM2.5 / PM10 / VOC / NO2
  • Dyson Link app is super for live monitoring and details
  • Phsyical remote is handy
  • A little noisy in some settings
  • Obviously expensive - and HEPA filter replacements costly too
  • Limitations to humidification in larger spaces

What can the Dyson Purifier do?

  • Dimensions: 923mm (H) x 312mm (L) x 280mm (W) / Weight: 8kg (unfilled)
  • Included remote control / Dyson Link app (Android, iOS)
  • LCD panel with real-time readout on display
  • Voice control via Amazon Alexa products

The Dyson Purifier certainly isn't small, standing at almost a metre tall and just over 30cm in diameter. It's pretty hefty, too, especially as its 8kg weight will clock in at 12.5kgs once you fill that water tank to its maximum 4.5-litre capacity.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool review photo 15
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But then you're not all that likely to be moving this product around much: find it a sensible home and leave it there to do its thing, measuring air quality and adapting as per your settings, knowing you can move it should you need.

The finish, while somewhat plasticky looking, is still robust and well-built, delivered in typical Dyson style. The silver model in these pictures would go hand-in-hand with your Dyson V15 Detect vacuum cleaner, no doubt.

The large open section to the uppermost portion of the Purifier is where the vents for the fans live. There are two pairs to the 'stems' on each side of that opening - a set to the front and a set to the rear - which rotate on their own axes individually when pushing air around the room. The whole product itself doesn't rotate, as many who've seen it have expected, it's effectively static in its approach.

There's also an included physical remote control, which magnetically clips onto the top of the product for safe keeping, for quick and easy adjustment of the main controls and automation.

For a deeper dive into controls there's the Dyson Link app, which is easy to setup and sync with the product (indeed, multiple Dyson products if you have more), where you can not only adjust the same settings as the physical remote, but also setup a schedule, link Amazon Alexa voice control, and view real-time and historical readouts of what the Dyson has been monitoring.

You don't just have to look in the app to view the current data, though, as the little LCD display front and centre of the Purifier gives a real-time read of the overall air quality reading. If it suddenly steps up the fan speed, it'll be in response to a change in what's detected in the air - and this panel is a great way to visualise the 'AQI' or Air Quality Index in your home.

How well does the Dyson Purifier work?

  • Monitors for PM2.5 and PM10 (particulate matter particle sizes), VOC (volatile compounds), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide)
  • HEPA filter: captures 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns
  • Carbon filter: removes odours and gases

If you're looking for a fan that simply cools you down then there are more affordable and better equipped alternatives on the market (the Meaco 1056P springs to mind). Good as the Dyson Purifier is for cooling - not that we've been actively using this during the wintery months in the UK - it's the purifying aspect that makes it well worth considering.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool review photo 2
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The Purifier Humidify+Cool is doing a lot of monitoring and all of the time. In addition to the AQI read, which is default front and centre on the product's display, it also monitors indoor temperature (but can't heat this, that's something the older Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool can do), relative humidity (RH), particulate matter (PM2.5 & PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOC), andNitrogen dioxide (NO2). There's no Formaldehyde (HCHO) monitoring here (that's something for the Formaldehyde version of the product), despite its terminology being listed within the Dyson app.

A little more on some of those important ones. PM2.5 relates to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, such as smoke. Now, you might not think this is an issue, but we've noticed when cooking - such as frying fish, skin-side down - that more smoke is present in the air than we ever thought. Which explains why, one, our asthma has been bad and, two, why the Dyson Purifier roars into action to combat this content within the air. It certainly earns its stripes and does its job - and, as a result, our breathing has improved.

PM10 relates to particulate matter smaller than 10 microns, such as pollen. Now, winter isn't exactly a mecca for plant life in the UK, but those who suffer from hayfever can clearly see the life-saver that the Dyson Purifier could be for them when working in a home office.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool review app screenshots photo 2
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NO2 relates to nitrogen dioxide, such as vehicle emissions. Hopefully your home or place of work isn't flooded with these kinds of gasses, but inner cities may present more if you live facing onto a road. It's been interesting watching the Purifier go from a flat read of zero to a slight rise if we, for example, open a door and position the product facing a roadway.

In short: if you have asthma, hayfever, poor cooking extraction, are concerned about various substances in the air where you live and/or work then the Dyson Purifier does a lot of heavy lifting - without you needing to worry. This is clearly where its strong suit lies, in its HEPA and Carbon filtration system, although replacing these isn't cheap - especially on top of the already high price tag. But, hey, clean air is worth it right?

The last part of the Humidify+Cool's puzzle is, of course, its humidification potential. You can turn this off - we largely have, as too often we're using a separate dehumidifier to extract moisture from the air, especially problematic if drying washing indoors - or set it to function between 30-70 per cent in 10 per cent increments. Note: it doesn't 'mist' the air, like some products do, instead Dyson's 4.5-litre tank - which is cleaned with ultraviolet light to ensure the water is clean - is "drawn through the evaporator's 3D air mesh" to humidify that air (and therefore not as quickly as some misting products can).

To recap

It's no secret that 2020 onwards has left many thinking more and more about air quality. From pollution in major cities, to airborne disease, there's a lot out there to aggravate your lungs. That's where Dyson's Purify product comes into play, helping mitigate the likes of asthma, hayfever and more by removing unseen particles from the air - plus the bonus of humidifying and cooling too.