I'm still not sure what the pretty little blue light is for! (Philips Tresemme HP4982/07 Salon Control Ionic Shine)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Philips Tresemme HP4982/07 Salon Control Ionic Shine
Date:	27/04/09 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great price, lasted well so far

Disadvantages: Could do with a third speed setting

I haven't got a great track record with hairdryers - expensive ones, cheap ones; they all have tended to give up the ghost on me.

One of my main reasons for purchasing this hairdryer about 6 months ago was price - at £18.85 currently on Amazon (I bought mine for £18.86 at Asda) it didn't seem a huge risk. It has actually proved to be a very good purchase.

What you get in the box:

This is a basic hairdryer with a detachable blow dry nozzle and a 3 metre long cable. It is sleek and shiny black and has 2 speed settings, 2 heat settings, a cold button and also a "turbo boost" button. There is an ionic button as well which can turn the ion function (more of which later) on and off. The dryer comes with a one year guarantee and is quite light weight at 475g or so, according to my measurements. Dimensions are 9x22x23. There is a removable filter on the back, which is silver and slips on and off easily enough. For the price you are get 2100w performance, so comparable with more expensive dryers.

The dryer has a nice comfortable hand grip and sits snugly in your hand. It is emblazoned with the Tresemme name - I suppose as this is a well known brand of hair products.

There is no diffuser with this model, though a more expensive version is available with diffrerent attachments.

So is it any good?

As mentioned before I have been through a lot of dryers, my turnover rate being diminished before the purchase of this dryer only due to the fact that, having small children, I hadn't been drying my hair as much frankly. This dryer, however has been used every other day by me and also by the rest of the family for 6 months now and is doing well. For this reason alone it gets a big thumbs up from me. The motor sounds as good as new, it is not a very loud dryer (the proof being that my children no longer run screaming from the room when I turn it on), and overall it is a pleasure to use.

My one criticism would be the fact that there are only 2 speed settings - somehow you just feel like there should be a middle setting, it goes from blasting away to idling over with nothing inbetween.

The ion button - works, it switches on a little blue light at the top of the dryer. Now when I bought the dryer I carefully read the bit about the ions and it didn't make much sense to me, other than using the ions is supposed to make my hair less frizzy. For the purposes of this review I have actually tried drying my hair without it, and I am not sure if it is psychological but without the button on my hair did, indeed, seem less shiny and swishy. So maybe the button works?

In any case I am pleased with this dryer, it gets 4 stars for the speed issue, everything else is very good and for the price, frankly, it is better than more expensive dryers I have owned and had to bin; I prefer it to a much saved up for Babyliss that failed to perform.

The design of the dryer is nice enough, and everything else like the heat settings and the turbo blast (does as the name suggests) works well.

Like I said, I am still not sure what the little blue LED is really for, but it looks quite pretty and since I have owned this dryer my hair has, mainly, looked like I have taken the time to style it. It is powerful enough for my needs, speedy and not over noisy. For under £20 you can't say better than that.

I recommend this dryer.

Summary: A good dryer for the price