Dyson's new air purifier convinced me that sometimes it's worth paying a premium

I’m a bit of a minimalist design nerd at heart. While I haven’t gone all the way with Marie Kondo’s advice, I do appreciate splurging on things that help me reduce a bit of clutter and make meaningful improvements to my quality of life.

Living in India, an air purifier is a must-have device, but most options on the market tend to be rather utilitarian boxes. So when I reviewed the Dyson Pure Hot and Cool air purifier last summer, it really struck me with its simplicity and ingenuity. Not quite enough to pay the nose-bleed prices for it, but almost there. Testing out the new Dyson Pure Hot and Cool HP07 ($649/£549/Rs. 66,900), however, has me convinced that the premium price point is worth it and the reason for that might surprise you.

The Dyson Pure Hot and Cool HP07 is so much more than an expensive air purifier

When I last tried out a Dyson Pure Hot and Cool air purifier, it was smack dab in the middle of summer. Sure, the built-in fan was very nice to have, but a fan isn’t quite enough in 40-degree weather and air conditioning makes it rather redundant. That timing also left me few opportunities to try out the heating capabilities of the machine. Turns out, the real magic here is the built-in heater.

Winters in New Delhi are short but brutal. Given the largely warm weather all year long, houses here aren’t really designed for cold weather and central heating just isn’t a thing. Previously, I’ve had a heat radiator and air purifier running simultaneously in my bedroom. It’s a clunky setup that is both inefficient and rather uncomfortable. You see, oil-filled radiators take forever to heat up a room. Meanwhile, convection heaters can leave you with dry skin and itchiness.

Placed in a 200 square foot room, the Dyson took just twenty minutes to raise the ambient temperature from 15 degrees Celcius to a toasty 22 degrees all while serving double duty as an air purifier. Moreover, it did this without any of the downsides of more conventional fan or convection-based heaters.

The sci-fi-looking gadget is rather brilliant at air purification as well. While Delhi chokes with ambient air quality levels over 500AQI, the purifier kept the room at a healthy sub-10 AQI. That’s a marked improvement over my Xiaomi Air Purifier that usually hovers around AQI 50. With the Xiaomi Air Purifier costing a fifth of the Dyson, it really is a case of getting what you pay for.

Interestingly, the performance of the HP07 is identical to the HP04, but that’s mostly because not much has changed between the two models.

In fact, the only real change is that Dyson has combined the separate carbon and HEPA filters into a single one making it that much easier to swap it out when needed. Additionally, this time around, the entire air purifier is now HEPA 13-certified compared to just the filters on the previous model. It is hard to gauge if that makes a real-world difference, but I’ll take the peace of mind.

Similarly, nothing has changed from a design perspective. The two models look nearly alike with the only difference being a graphic showing off the chemical structure of all the contaminants the air purifier can cleanse. The easter egg-like graphic tickled the science nerd in me while remaining discrete enough to not be an eyesore in the living room.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that the purifier integrates beautifully with both the Alexa and Google Home ecosystem. As a smart home buff, I immediately added it to my Google Home routines. The ability to trigger the heater on while driving back from a grocery run also came in clutch more than once.

Dyson Pure Hot and Cool HP07 air purifier: The high price of convenience

As a jaded tech reviewer, it takes a lot to impress me but one week of use later, I’m utterly convinced that I need a Dyson Pure Hot and Cool air purifier in my life. However, that brings up the million-dollar, or well, $649 question: Is it worth the huge premium over just buying two separate and much more affordable devices?

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While you’re definitely paying a significant extra for the Dyson brand name, there’s no denying that there is no other product quite like it. If you, like me, prefer a multi-purpose device that integrates beautifully into your smart home and looks premium to boot, you’ll love the HP07.

The Dyson Pure Hot and Cool HP07 commands a steep premium over equally competent air purifiers but justifies it with essentially being three devices in one svelte package. That said, the company has recently slashed the price of the older, but just as good HP04 model in most regions — at the time of writing you can grab one from Amazon for $599. Given Dyson’s history of long support for its products, it would make sense for most users to pick up the older model and save some money instead. Likewise, if you really don’t think you need heating, the TP04 drops the cost even lower. For my use case, however, the heating on the HP series seals the deal.

Regardless of the model you opt for, Dyson’s Pure Hot and Cool HP07 air purifier is far from an affordable piece of technology, but for me at least, the performance and capabilities go a long way towards justifying the expense. Personally, I’m of the opinion that ever so often, it makes sense to spend just a bit extra if a device can serve multiple purposes and reduce clutter. And oh boy, does Dyson’s latest deliver.