Air Blade Hand Dryers – Their Features & Benefits
Within the hand drying market, there are many options of air blade hand dryers. The first, and most well-known manufacturer is Dyson. Their development of a digital motor and high-speed air, channelled through a thin slit enables rapid hand drying. Their AirBlade® dryers typify a new approach to water collection, fast-drying, efficient use of power, and a hygienic HEPA filter.
Since 2006 and the arrival of Dyson’s revolutionary air blade hand dryers, the technology they developed has driven forward the reimagining of hand drying in commercial properties around the globe.
Whilst Dyson have been instrumental in pushing the envelope, they have placed a high price on their innovation. Historically, inventors are not always the beneficiaries of their innovation. Every innovation we see, from the lightbulb to the match was once exclusive and over-priced, but then new engineers perfected a way to mass produce them more cheaply resulting in a more affordable product for all.
As a result, many other innovators have stepped in to exploit the opportunities made possible by their technology. In this article, we look at four manufacturers of blade hand dryers and compare them side by side, explaining why a blade dryer is a strong option for your establishment.
Air Blade Hand Dryers – The Options
Option #1 – The Dyson AirBlade
The irony about this iconic hands-in dryer is that you can no longer purchase the AirBlade® from Dyson’s website. Replaced by even more innovative, even more ridiculously priced dryers, the AirBlade® is now only available from resellers.
Priced at a minimum price of £849, the Dyson AirBlade® is the highest priced blade technology dryer in the market. With speeds of 224 mph, sound volume of 70-75dB just because it is the first does not make it the best solution for your hand drying requirements. You will be no doubt seeking more affordable solutions.
Option #2 – The HandyDryer Gorillo
Gorillo, so named because of the comic action required to dry hands in the hands-in style blade dryers, have a wide range of blade dryers available. These range in price from £274 – £550. With a sound output of just 70dB they are a quiet hand drying option. Producing air speeds equivalent to 201 mph they work, like all blade dryers, to push the water off the hands rather than heating them to dry them. The Gorillo is supplied with a 5-year warranty.
Option #3 – The Dryflow Turbo Blade
Dryflow offer a blade type dryer with a convenient delivery option in Amazon but have compromised on some of the finer points. With air speeds of up to 224 mph it is on a par with Dyson’s original but is let down by overall performance.
Option #4 – The Tekflo® Air Blade Hand Dryer
Tekflo® Blade dryers are priced at £339, have an adjustable output of 800 – 1650W and a sound output of just 68dB. The quietest hands-in dryer available, the Tekflo® Blade boasts wind speeds of up to 212 mph. Supplied with a 2-year warranty, the Tekflo® Blade is available in brushed metal, reflex silver and arctic white.
Here at Tekflo®, we have always sought to carefully steer the path between performance and affordability, with a full 2-year warranty to cover parts. If you wish to browse our full range of air blade hand dryers or to find out more about Tekflo® please browse our website for more info or call and speak to expert team who will be happy to help you.
Air Blade Hand Dryers – An Overview
The specifications for the four blade manufacturers are shown below in the form of a table for easy comparison.
| Brand | Gorillo | DryFlow | Dyson | Tekflo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (Exc VAT) | £274-£550 | £299 | £849 | £399 |
| Speed | 201 mph | 224 mph | 430 mph | 212 mph |
| Power | 700W | 880W | 1600W | 800-1650W |
| Volume | 70dB | 72-82dB | n/a | 68dB |
| HEPA filter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Warranty | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
You can see from this table that three of the manufacturers are priced at under £350 but that the Dyson is £850. And that whilst three manufacturers willingly state the noise output of their dryers, Dyson do not, merely stating that it is 50% less than the original model. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that the reason they omit to share this information due it being a noisy dryer.
