Firstly, I should declare a vested interest in this subject, and I don’t mean the fact that we sell hand dryers, but I mean the fact that we LOVE hand dryers – we understand their benefits and we provide them to thousands of customers of all types, and so we also know that a lot of hand dryers sold into the ‘Budget’ market category recently are TERRIBLE.
They are the types of hand dryer that get paper towels a good name, the type that make James Dyson’s quote true (I’m sure you’ve heard it: “You put your hands under other dryers, rub them a bit, then give up and wipe your hands on your trousers. It's something that's always annoyed me.”).
And that is the big danger: if you buy a bad hand dryer, you will certainly save money on the purchase price, and you’ll save money on not having to buy paper towels, BUT – you will annoy your customers, and they will be doing exactly what James Dyson talked about – wiping their hands on their trousers, and as a result, hating your washroom!
So the big question is – is it possible to buy a budget hand dryer which actually does a good job?
And the good news is that the answer is most definitely ... YES, if you take a little care when you buy.
There are several budget hand dryers available which have good performance and will keep your customers happy – they may not be a Dyson Airblade or a Mitsubishi Jet Towel but they won’t break the budget either, and for low levels of usage they will be ideal.
The two we would particularly point out are the Warner Howard 5500E (used extensively in schools) and the Biodrier Eco. The Eco represents absolutely amazing value for money, and although it is near the top end of what we would call the ‘budget’ range in terms of price (we set that at £200) it has a collection of features which some hand dryers at more than twice the price struggle to match, with a short drying time, a quality appearance, a high quality construction and low energy consumption.
So that does leave a lot of other dryers in the budget hand dryers category which we haven’t mentioned, and for those, we would advise caution, and make sure you are very aware of how well they actually work before taking the decision to buy one. If in doubt – call us for a chat!
