Hair dryers are the least glamorous part of looking glamorous. They're cumbersome, their cords tangle easily, and they devour precious drawer space. The cheap $20 ones barely get the job done, while $200 "professional" models only provide marginal improvements on the same old technology.

A smaller, hotter, and much improved hair drying experience; Smart design choices improve a frustrating product category in subtle yet important ways; Magnetic attachments can be rotated or swapped easily; Button placement prevents accidental knocks

Cord is bulky compared to the rest of the device; Diffuser attachment is only so-so; High price causes hesitation; Sure, this product took four years to engineer and the results are fantastic; But $400 nearly doubles the industry average for professional-grade hair dryers, and that's a big jump

Dyson is known for its vacuums, and while a vacuum isn't exactly something you'd envision putting close to your head, Dyson has borrowed technology from its modern vacuums and put it in this hair dryer.

Cool​ ​design; Light​ ​in​ ​the​ ​hand; Powerful​ ​motor

Ridiculously​ ​expensive; Also​ ​expensive; Not​ ​as​ ​quiet​ ​as​ ​expected

At the Good Housekeeping Institute, we're big fans of Dyson vacuums and fans, so when we

Dries hair the fastest; Strong air flow; Long cord; Includes two concentrators and a diffuser; Magnetized attachments; Includes non-slip mat and storage hanger; Elegant and original design

Out-of-reach controls; No tie for cord; Very expensive

Despite knowing full well that Dyson can clean my house wonderfully, I wasn't convinced that a tiny wind turbine for my head would give me perfect hair. Any time a new hype-worthy hair product like the Dyson Supersonic comes out, I have the same thought: "that won't work for me.

The dryer is super cool if you're into technology and I can't live out with my Dyson vacuums however by the 3rd time I dried my hair I felt like my hair was breaking by my bangs. Even on the second heat setting it was super hot and burning my hands as I used a round brush.

Dries hair quickly; Magnetic attachments are cool

Even lower heat setting is still kind of hot; My hair felt like straw after 3rd use; Seemed to damage my hair

I mean... this is like no other blow-dryer out there. The whole thing is incredibly sleek, and I like the controls, which give you three settings for heat and intensity that you can mix and match.

Dyson has already sexed up the vacuum cleaner and even the hand dryer, and now it's turned its attention to the humble hair dryer. The Supersonic has been four years in the making, at a cost of a cool £50 million.

Dries in nearly half the time; Quiet; Hair appears smoother and straighter

Pricey; No lighter than its rivals; You'll need to stop drying to change the temperature or speed

Dyson crows that the Supersonic is, 'up to eight times faster' than the current top-selling hair dryers in Japan (the country has a huge market for hair-styling tech, relative to its size), 'and half the weight'.

Very powerful; Light and easy to use; Great; magnetic accessories

Far pricier than any rival

With the cutting-edge Supersonic hair dryer, Dyson has turned its flair for sucking into skills for blowing.

Primarily known for products that suck – calm down, we're talking about vacuums – Dyson has also proven adept at machines that blow, too (hey now, what did we say earlier?), having refined its jet technology on its Airblade hand dryers and Hot + Cool fans.