This Dyson Air Purifier Is Perfect for In-Between Weather

If you live in an old house, like I do, you know the struggles of heating and cooling it. We seem to have one of those homes that's somehow colder inside than out during the winter, and hotter in summer and warm days. And our heating/cooling systems are truly inefficient.

We recently had to consider new options when we realized our gas heating could be the culprit for aggravating my husband's asthma. That's when we turned to the Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™ as an option to keep us toasty in winter, cool in summer, and healthier in the lungs. (Full disclosure: Dyson sent the product free of charge for review, however this in no way influenced my thoughts or review of it.)

The Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™ from the outside looks quite similar to Dyson's other products: It's a circular base upon which sits a futuristic-looking white loop — this is where your air circulates from. The selling point is that it's a heater, fan, ​and​ air purifier all in one. On the air purification front, here's what's important to know: Your home is constantly being bombarded with harmful agents and particles — anything from formaldehyde (from carpets and rugs) to nitrogen dioxide (gas stoves) to benzenes and VOCs (from cleaning products and candles). Not to mention any allergens, pollens, and pollutants from the outdoors. The Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™'s technology works to capture these meanies on a molecular level and a display on the device and on the app (optional) allows you to see how bad levels in a room currently are. I'll note that this purifier is pretty dang sensitive — the moment you blow out a candle, you notice the line jump into the red (green is good, yellow means the level is so-so, red is bad bad bad); it even picks up emissions from cooking when it's in our bedroom, a good two rooms away from the kitchen.

As for the hot and cool functions, those are a bit more straightforward. On the cool setting, you can adjust the intensity of the fan. The heat allows you to increase/decrease to a certain temperature.

Also neat: The base doesn't just swivel back and forth, it also adjusts up or down slightly to allow you to angle the direction of your airflow at an upward or downward angle. A handy remote allows for easy use and will plop satisfyingly onto the top of the white loop thanks to magnetic technology.

We already have a Dyson fan in our living room, so setup was easy. I love how dialed-in Dyson is with its packaging and set-up. It's almost Apple-like. You really don't need instructions at all — it's mostly intuitive. I decided to not connect it with my Dyson app as I'm just not that tech-y and prefer things to be analog, but I definitely recommend using the app at least in the beginning (and if it's your first Dyson) to really get a more in-depth understanding of what the air purification system is doing.

I decided to place the Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™ in our bedroom as my husband was having the worst coughing at night. Perhaps it was a combo of our gas heat but also the general constraints of winter? Dyson warns, "As modern homes are becoming better sealed to comply with energy efficiency requirements, those pollutants can be trapped inside and air circulation can be compromised, especially in winter."

I closed our gas heat duct so we could use the Dyson as our sole heat source in that room. I was at first skeptical: Our bedroom is decently sized, and in the past, space heaters have only managed to heat the immediate area, not the whole room. The first night, I turned on the Dyson about an hour before bedtime on a pretty high heat setting, set the fan to circulate air flow, and closed the door. When it came time for bed, the entire room was pleasantly toasty but not overly warm. His coughing immediately improved that night.

As for the cooling function, I'm confident that it will deliver once we get into later spring and summer — when I pumped up the fan on the cool setting, it blasted a quiet stream of icy air.

I would place one of these in each room of my house if I could. But the Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™ is especially handy if you A) are the type of person who needs an air purifier and B) live in a climate where temperature varies greatly. Especially if you live in a small space, you could basically do without your space heater and summer fan by replacing both with the Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic™.

​Buy now: Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic, $749.99​