Dyson's Supersonic hairdryer – worth £299 or just a blast of hot air?

The humble blow dryer is the latest product to be Dyson'd. Is it as noisy as the cult brand's other tools? Let's put it to the test

Catherine the Great once described the wind as giving you either imagination or a headache. She hadn't, of course, accounted for Dyson, which, for the past 20 years, has had the monopoly on harnessing blown air in its award-winning vacuum cleaners, hand-dryers and fans. These products have made Dyson, the man and the company, one of the UK's greatest stories of innovation and profit. Last year, product sales were up almost 25%, a figure that should soon be bolstered by the next device to be Dyson'd: the hairdryer, and last bastion of air-based appliances.

Although Dyson's products are efficient and cool if you like to see "where the magic happens" (they are often transparent so you can see the moving parts), they are often very loud. Famously loud. Dirty, too, apparently, but it's mainly the noise. The hand-dryers and vacuums are thought to reach around 80 decibels, which is the same as standing 15m from a freight train.