I looked at many different makes and models ranging in various prices. I also read lots of reviews on places like Which? to narrow down my search.
I settled on buying a Dyson fan which was reviewed to be the most quiet and have the best purification and the filters where said to last quite a long time and they didn't require cleaning as some models I looked at the filters needed regular cleaning. The Dyson fans seemed tone rated as the quietest and most energy efficient and the purification was also rated quite highly.
Price wise is was on the high end compared to say ones I looked at that where below £100 but I wanted something that was good quality and would last rather than finding myself having to replace it after a few years or have to keep buying new replacement filters regularly.
As I'd settled on a Dyson fan I looked at their different models and as I was looking I came across the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool ™. When I saw that one I thought that rather than just having a cooling fan which I'd only use for part of the year if I went for this one I could use it all year round and get more use out of it for the money.
Positives
On the cool mode the fan is nice and quiet (depending on air flow speed) and quite effective at cooling the room down (though see the first point on the downsides below with regards to the fan on cooling mode).
It was really easy to set up when it arrived when I first bought it and to link to to the WiFi so I could link it with the app.
The first one like I've mentioned is that I can use it all year round. On hot days I can turn on the cooling fan; on high pollen day (as an example) I can turn the fan on low to purify the air in my room to help with my allergies and asthma then on cold days like in winter I can warm my room up which is more efficient than turning the central heating on when I'm just using my bedroom.
With the heat function I can set what temperature I want my bedroom to be at; once it's reached the set temperature the heater will turn off and monitor the room temperature so t stays at the desired temperature. Also I do find that the heater does warm my bedroom up fairly quickly.
Having the hot and cool feature is great for my autonomic issues when my body can't decide what temperature it is or getting my body to cool down or warm up.
The magnetic remote is helpful. It can either be affixed to the top of the fan or I can keep in in my organiser next to my bed. There is also a Dyson app on my phone and iPad which displays the air quality and has a remote within that app too so there are plenty of ways I can control my fan. Even better I can voice control my Dyson fan via Siri (it also works with Alexa).
You can set the fan at the rate you want it to blow out, or if I'm feeling hypersensitive I can have the fan blow out the back. Alternatively you can set the fan on auto mode and it will monitor different types of airborne pollutants and the air quality and it will auto adjust the fan rate to purify and bring the room down to a good air quality level.
The fan can be put on 'night mode' so it goes even quieter and the LED screen dims.
You can set a timer in the fan which I find helpful at night or when I just want to warm my bedroom up a little.
I find that the fan when either using it on cool or heat mode it doesn't dry out the air in my bedroom.
The fan and app provides lots of information. On the fan's LED screen you can check the air quality and different types of pollutants and their levels in the air which is displayed with a colour coding. The LED screen also lets me know the status of the filters and the humidity in the room and the room's temperature.
The image here is the LED screen on the fan displaying the air quality over the past 24 hours. As you can see the air quality has fluctuated but stayed mostly green which is what you're aiming for. On the graph you can see some yellow which was when the air quality became poorer. On the screen you can also see the different colours going from green to red with green being a good level and red being the poorest air quality level. Even using my aromatherapy room sprays get picked up by the fan's constant air quality monitoring.
Downsides
With the heat setting I can set the thermostat to bring the room up to desired temperature; I would have liked (and I thought that it would do this) is the same application with the cooling fan where I can set the thermostat to bring the room down to whatever temperature I would like the room to be cooled down to.
The heater is louder compared to the cool fan mode.
The price point was quite high.
When on auto mode it does pick up the tiniest things in the air like if I use my aromatherapy diffuser or hand sanitiser and the air flow will turn right up.
It would be good if the app extended to the Apple Watch.
Final conclusion
My Dyson fan was expensive but so far I've found it to be good quality and the filters will last a long time (saving me money on not having to replace them or clean them frequently) - the filtration is great and I've found it to help my asthma.
Having multiple ways to control my fan is great. There's the remote, the app and Siri (which you can create multiple of your own voice commands).
I feel that my fan will prove a great long-term investment and having the cooling fan and the heater means I can use it all year round so I'm getting more out of what I bought proving it more financially worth it especially with it's good energy efficiency rating.
All-in-all I'm really happy with my purchase and I've made a lot of use out of it over the past year or so that I've had it and I would recommend this or one of the other Dyson fans. Also in my research for this blog post I've found that Boots now sell this fan so you could (if you're in the UK) earn some decent amount of advantage card points if you choose to buy it from there but I would say to check the warranty on the different places which sell Dyson fans and to purchase it that comes with a good warranty length and maybe even tech support.