There has been a trend over the last couple of years towards hand dryers which you put your hands UNDER (rather than IN) which use a ‘blade’ of air rather than a traditional nozzle.

This trend was no doubt inspired by Dyson and the HU02 hand dryer (also called the Dyson V) which took the principle of using a blade of air to scrape the water from your hands rather than a nozzle which blasted it from your hands. And clearly, Dyson themselves had taken this principle from their world-famous Dyson Airblade hands-in dryer, the AB14.

So now there are quite a few hand dryers like this. Although we are a big fan of them, it must be said that they can cause a bit of confusion, because the best way to dry your hands with them is a bit different compared to a standard dryer. With a standard dryer, rubbing your hands together in the stream of air is the best way to get them dry, but with a blade dryer, you need to move your hands through the blade of air, with them held flat, so the water is scraped off.

The 5 hands-under blade dryers that we’ll look at, listed in order of price, are:

 

  1. The Beaver from Handy Dryers

Normally, any hand dryer with some unique features tends to sell at a premium. However, the Beaver from Handy Dryers has several interesting features, not least being the fact that it has a ‘blade’ outlet for the air rather than a nozzle. Another interesting feature, which you will either love or loathe, is the shape: it looks rather like a paper towel dispenser. Of course, in a washroom this is quite appropriate, and has the added advantage that it sits very close to the wall, being only 100mm in depth – making it ideal for washrooms of limited space.

And if you really want to make a statement, it is one of the few hand dryers you can buy in bright red!

 

 

 

  1. The Vulcan from Handy Dryers

This is one of my favourite dryers: as well as being a more interesting shape than most other modern hand dryers and having a good set of performance figures, it is also very reasonably priced. Also, in a similar style to the Dyson, the ‘blade of air’ actually split into two parts and is in the shape of a ‘V’, so both hands can easily be dried at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The Mitsubishi Smart

There are few dryers which can rival, and exceed the quality, features, and brand reputation, of Dyson, but Mitsubishi is certainly one of them. Expertly designed and manufactured in Japan, in our opinion the Smart hand dryer from Mitsubishi outperforms all other dryers in most areas and remains one of our most recommended dryers. We would go so ar as to say that for the price, the Smart represents better value that most other hand dryers.

 

 

 

 

  1. The Dyson Airblade V

There’s no doubt that this is a high quality and great-looking dryer – and it was also the first model to bring the concept of a ‘blade’ or air to a hands-under dryer. But its price tag may well bring tears to the eyes: at well over £500 ex VAT, it’s approaching twice that of what we would classify as a comparable dryer (i.e. the Mitsubishi Smart).

 

 

 

 

  1. The 9kj from Dyson

Certainly the newest dryer in this selection and also certainly a high quality, very effective hand dryer, the 9kj will certainly make a statement in your company washrooms. Its striking looks – it resembles a submarine periscope more than a traditional hand dryer – may limit its market quite considerably, although I guess many people would have said that when they saw Dyson’s first hands-in dryer. Similarly, its price of close to £900 may also make it an item not seen in every washroom in the land.

 

So as you can see, there are now several blade dryers on the market which you put your hands under rather than in, and they cover a pretty wide range. Although each has its own set of advantages, there is no doubt that our first choice as a strong performer in almost all situations would be the Smart from Mitsubishi, because of the combination of features, price and reliability.

If you need any other information to help your choice of hand dryer, or just want to have a chat about hand dryers in general (really? what’s the matter with you?) feel free to call one of our hand dryer nerds on 01934 253600.