Two years ago I attended a beautiful outdoor wedding in August, where due to the hot and humid weather, guests sometimes sat in their cars to enjoy the whirring sound of the AC. Dyson’s new $99.99 handheld fan might have provided some much-needed relief then, although I’m not sure I would have been comfortable turning it on during the service or reception. The HushJet Mini Cool is as thin and sleek as Dyson’s recent slim vacuums and hair dryers, but it’s not quite quiet enough to earn the “Hush” name.
This is unfortunate because the HashJet Mini Cool is another product that Dyson has redesigned to look and perform better than products already on the market. All its components – including the motor, 5,000mAh rechargeable battery and rotating blades – are safely contained inside a cylindrical body measuring 38mm in diameter, which is easy to carry in a pocket. Many handheld fans use flexible or folding blades that remain open and are not ideal for children, or they crammed moving parts into a bulbous section at the top that limits pocketability.
At 208 grams the HashJet Mini Cool weighs the same as the iPhone 17 Pro, so it’s not a terrible burden to lug around when the temperatures rise, and it’s incredibly easy to use. A toggle switch turns the fan on and off, while a rocker button lets you go up and down through five different fan speeds, indicated by a strip of five small white LEDs. There’s an even stronger boost mode that only activates if you hold down the “plus” side of that rocker button.
The only learning curve was to remember to hold the fan above the vent that wraps around its base so air flow isn’t blocked. Some texture added to the exterior of the Hashjet Mini Cool to naturally guide where your hand should hold would be welcome.
Dyson claims up to six hours of battery life on the fan’s lowest setting, but at its highest speed (not Boost mode) it ran out after 62 minutes. I was still impressed, as I didn’t expect the fan to run at full power for so long. The remaining battery life is displayed using the fan’s five white LEDs, but only when it is off. Being able to track how fast the battery level drops with the fan running would be a useful way to estimate how much cooling time you have left.
The HashJet Mini Cool is bottom-heavy and can be used as a self-standing fan, and Dyson includes an accessory to widen the base and improve its stability. It helps, but it’s also an accessory that’s easy to lose. And while you can run the fan indefinitely by connecting it to a power source over USB-C, you’re limited to a minimum speed setting. At that setting you have to be within about 5 feet of the fan to feel anything.
Dyson’s marketing for the fan, which includes HashJet branding, emphasizes how it is engineered to stay quiet. “Dyson’s passion for acoustics means tonal comfort: With the HashJet nozzle, we’ve lowered the frequencies, eliminated high-pitched wheezing, and quieted the whine of the motors,” the company said in a press release. But it definitely wasn’t as cool as I expected.
It’s not as loud as Dyson’s cordless vacuum or hair dryer, but the HushJet Mini Cool isn’t whisper-quiet, even on its lowest setting. The handheld fan also has the same loud whirring sound as other Dyson devices, despite its smaller electric motor spinning at less than half the speed of them.
For the last one year, my family has been using Nightcore’s izzCool 10 Pro fan to get relief from the heat whenever AC is not available. Its design makes it hard to carry in a pocket, and its blast at full power is not as strong as the Dyson’s – even at half power. While both fans were equally loud at their lowest settings (measured using the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app on my iPhone), the Dyson was more than 10 decibels louder at full power. This isn’t surprising since the Dyson fan performed far better than the Nitecore fan, but the HashJet Mini Cool’s sound was generally far more noticeable, as it produced noise at higher frequencies.
At a noisy outdoor concert, crowded carnival, or bustling state fair, I can see myself comfortably pushing the fan speed to the third or fourth speed setting without worrying about looking too annoying. But in cool environments, like that sweltering outdoor wedding I attended, I would hesitate to fire up the HashJet Mini Cool. At least until the DJ took over the wedding.
Compact electric air dusters like the Wolfbox MF100 are sturdier and cheaper than the HashJet Mini Cool, but they’re generally much louder because they’re designed to be pointed at a keyboard covered in Doritos pieces, whereas fans are designed to be pointed at your head. Dyson’s HushJet Mini Cool is better at balancing size, performance, and battery life. If used non-stop, it can last for half a day at the amusement park. You can certainly find a quieter option, but I doubt you’ll find a more powerful option this size.
Photography by Andrew Liszewski/The Verge
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