This Nicky Clarke hairdryer is in daily use in our household, with the missus, me, the dog all making regular use of it. It was fairly cheap and I picked it up as part of a Christmas gift for her last year. From memory I paid £15 for it, and although I don't know too much about hairdryer's the packaging looked professional and I'd heard of that Nicky Clarke person so figured it couldn't be that bad.

It came with a few different styling nozzles, we only ever seem to use it without one attached, leaving the big round end thing. There are three speed settings and three heat settings, as well as a big red button for a blast of cool air. I've never seen any use for the cool air blast but tried it for curiosity and it does give a sharp cool hit when pressed.
Both the speed settings and the heat settings cover all that is required, and give sensible choices. I have never needed warmer nor faster.

This one has a silver front bit, with a black handle and some red trim. It looks pleasing enough I suppose and definitely better than the mundane black one it replaced in our home.

The packaging states it is ergonomically designed, supposedly to fit the hand perfectly. To be honest, it looks like a fairly standard hairdryer design, and after using it for a while it can become uncomfortable to hold.

One other problem she tells me is that when used for a long period of time it can overheat, and has to be left to cool periodically before continuing. Having short hair I have never experienced this personally, nor when drying the pup, but I have seen it happen when she is half way through her shoulder length locks.

The power cable is also somewhat suspect, and requires fiddling with the odd time before it will kick in. Once going it seems to keep going and doesn't cut out unexpectedly. I've found this a bit of a pain when in a rush.

Both these faults developed after around eight months of use, so I suspect it was built using fairly cheap parts which are now starting to fail.

Looks like we'll be needing a replacement this Christmas and perhaps I'll splash a few extra quid for a more expensive dryer. Anyone heard of Vidal Sassoon?