Dyson Designs a Clunker

By -
Dont get me wrong - most Dyson designs are amazing. He revolutionized vacuum cleaners (though personally - I would give the biggest credit to iRobot and the Roomba, which I have much love for), he developed a completely amazing hand dryer that fixed a problem I did not realize annoyed me that much until I had used the "blade" in some random airport somewhere, and he recently re-invented handheld vacuum cleaners with the highest RPM engine in any consumer product.

However, he just released a real clunker. In terms of fail, this one is going to be up there with the Segway (though obviously, not really, because the Segway had more hype than a boxing match between Don King and George Lucas).

It is this:



What is it? Its a $300 "bladeless fan".

What does it do? It blows air at you.

How does it do it? Inside that little base is the high-rpm engine which does so much for Dyson, it sucks in air then blows it out around the edges of the circle (as far as I can tell). This high speed air brings other air with it, creating a nice breeze.

What is the benefit? It is "98% more efficient than air conditioning," and gets rid of that annoying "buffeting" caused by normal fans... yeah... oh that buffeting, how it drives me crazy....

Why is it a clunker? Because it is 10x more expensive than an expensive desk fan, it has no appreciable benefit other than looking cool, and it does not solve a problem which exists in the first place. Sure it is 98% more efficient than AC... but what about versus... oh.. I dont know... a fan? I bet it is less efficient (high RPM motor moving small amount of air very fast? Probably less efficient than a low-speed motor moving more air more slowly). And as for "buffeting" - yeah, I feel that when I turn my box fan on high and shove my face into it, but other than that, not really a problem. Right now I have a $20 "Hawaiian Breeze" stand up fan (the tower kind with vertical blades inside) circulating the air in my office. It does a great job, I dont feel buffeted, and I assume it is pretty efficient.

So, sorry Dyson. I love the design, I love your quest for making everyday things better - but in this case, you missed the mark. Charge $70 for it, and you might be able to sell some on sheer looks alone. But for $300? Sven from the Svedish Design House Sven and Svenson might get one to go with his Macbook Air and his Bang & Olufsen desk phone, but that's about it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Doomsday Bunkers for What? "Preppers" Are Idiots

By -
Image
Recently I wrote about the 10 best doomsday survival shelters in the world . These make sense - they are for continuity of government, they are so mankind will survive, they are all about long-term planning or strategic defense. But, I just came across a brand new show on Discovery - "Doomsday Bunkers" - and it's stupid. Interesting, but stupid. It turns out that there is a whole community of people out there who believe Y2K is still coming think Fallout 3, the Book of Eli, or Mad Max is just around the corner. And so they are "prepping" - getting ready for the zombie apocalypse. The craziest of them - or perhaps just the most obsessive or those with the most money.... spend $50,000-$1,000,000 building underground bunkers to protect themselves from... something. Cozy... I hope you like Progresso   And that's where the idiocy comes in: they don't know what they are protecting themselves from. The vast majority of them are built to offer...
Read more

Top 10 Ways to Not Suck at Driving

By -
Image
There are a lot of shitty drivers out there. Actually, most people are shitty drivers. They don't really know anything about cars, about driving, about limits of adhesion, how to react when things go badly, or what snow does to your ability to drive. In fact, most people think that driving slowly, regardless of what lane you are in, whether you are merging onto a highway or holding up 50 cars behind you, means "being a good driver." Just because you have spent many years driving in the left lane at 65mph does not make you a good driver, in fact, just the opposite. A good driver means you know how to drive, not that you have gotten lucky or simply average for the past 10 years. Personally, I would love to see a class in high school devoted to driving. I think it could be fun and informative while greatly reducing the number of accidents (especially fatal ones) on the roads every year. Right now, the driving exam is basically a joke, it means that you know what the pedals...
Read more

Coming in from the Cold: Climate Sceptics move mainstream

By -
Image
The "global consensus" on climate change is increasingly being exposed for what it is: a sham. Thanks in part to the recent hacking of emails at one of the centers for climate shamatoligy, the skeptics so long lambasted and blacklisted are now having their rightful say. Sunlight it is said is the best disinfectant. This should continue a trend already going on: increased reluctance on the part of the public to swallow the global warming charade. "Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says" was the result from a Pew poll a few weeks ago. Two must read articles today: The first I will just link, it is basically why the climate change scam has been foisted on us, and the simple answer is money, specifically huge amounts of research money going to the cabal that created the mirage. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703939404574566124250205490.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:...
Read more