Cheap Infiniti by Conair 223XR, 1875 Watt Tourmaline Ceramic 2-in-1

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List Price: $34.99
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I've owned this dryer for only a few weeks, so I cannot speak to its longevity. This is my third hair dryer with a cord reel, which I find convenient. The first one was OK and worked well, but was noisy. My second one (Conair 1875 Watt Ionic Cord Keeper Hair Dryer), which I used for only a couple months, was also noisy. The cord in it was also too short (4 feet) and when retracting it, rewound so quickly that the plug would whip around and hit me painfully in the hand. I had to be careful about how to hold it when retracting the cord. It also had only fast/hot and slow/warm settings. I got fed up with it, so I looked for new options at a local Target.

I found this dryer and was hesitant to pay twice as much for it as I did the previous ones. I couldn't imagine what could be special enough about it to justify two and a half times the cost.

When I tried it, I was quite surprised. The first thing I noticed is that it is heavier and feels very solid and well built. I don't care about the weight--it takes me only a minute or two to dry my medium-length (for a man) hair. The next surprise was that it is extremely quiet--even at high speed. I no longer have to turn up my radio to hear the news while drying my hair. It has independent controls for heat and speed. I usually like to use high heat with the low speed so it doesn't blow my hair so much. The 5-foot cord retracts slowly and safely and is just the perfect length for my situation.

I would not describe the quietness of the dryer as slightly better than the cheaper driers I have used before--it is a dramatic difference. I have often wondered about the potential hearing loss my old dryers might cause, but didn't worry too much because it didn't take very long to dry my hair. If I still had long hair, I would be seriously concerned about the noise from a cheap dryer.

As for how well my hair looks after using it, I notice no difference from the other dryers. My hair if very fine and thick with some wave, so it is pretty easy to care for. It will frizz in high humidity, but I live in Denver and humidity is not a problem here. I have not tried this in a humid environment.

I highly recommend this dryer.

Update on 2010-10-17: This dryer is still working great and I still consider it the best dryer I've ever used.

Update on 2011-12-29: I cut my hair shorter last April and no longer use the hair dryer. It was still working perfectly after three years.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program So this is a Tourmaline Ionic Ceramic Dryer. What's in it for Me?

(For model specific info, skip down to the *******)

Ionic. Ceramic. Tourmaline. If you've shopped for a hair dryer or flipped through a beauty magazine in the past few years you've likely seen these buzz words. Yet what do they mean to you, the consumer?

"Ceramic" The coil (the component of the hairdryer that heats the air to dry the hair) is made of ceramic which heats more evenly than a metal coil purported to cause less damage to hair.

"Ionic" Very simply, "ions" are atoms or molecules with a positive or negative charge because the atom has gained or lost an electron. Great! but what does that have to do with hairdryers? According to hair dryer manufacturers, "instead of taking the air from the room and heating it, an ionic hair dryer uses negative ions to shrink the water droplets in hair . . . [helping] dry hair faster and with less damage, making it smooth and shiny." However, an environmental engineer can tell you there is no strong science to back up this claim. If you're unsure then just realize that all hairdryers still have coils which heat the air to dry the hair. (see above)

"Tourmaline" a type of gemstone touted by hair dryer manufacturers to produce more ions and therefore dry hair even faster with less damage. (see above) This claim also unproven by hard science.

Yet despite the lack of science to back the claim that Ceramic and or Tourmaline Ionic hair dryers "help smooth the cuticle layer creating silky, shiny hair [with] less frizz and more manageability" users continue to report the hairdryers do just that. Even consumer tests report this technology dries hair up to 70% faster.

Is there a placebo effect?

At this point in the game it no longer matters. Because the overwhelming majority of the dryers on the market today are either ionic, ceramic, or both and you can now purchase models with these features without any additional cost over models without these features it is no longer necessary to agonize whether or not it's "worth it" to plunk down $300 just to see for yourself. What you should do instead is evaluate the hair dryers other features.

*****************************************

And on those "other" features I can heartily recommend this hairdryer.

(in order from most important feature to least)

*The three heat settings and two speed settings are separate buttons, plus one of those "cool shot" buttons that were all the buzz a few years back. This is a very important and often missing feature for hairdryers, especially for dryers in the lower price range. If you don't have the speed and heat settings on separate buttons then you only have two options "high speed with hot heat" or "low speed with low heat." Despite the new technology, it's always been recommended not to simultaneously use the highest heat stetting at the same time you use the highest speed setting because the potential to damage the hair shaft is higher. That leaves you with "low speed with low heat" which takes *forever* to dry your hair. With the speed and heat settings on separate buttons you have the option to dry your hair on high speed but with lower heat or high heat but lower speed which are the best options to dry your hair quickly and safely. The third button, the "cool shot," is used at the end of drying to cool the hair quickly to help it "set."

*Retractable chord anything that helps keep your home less cluttered is a bonus. Wrapping the cord around the body of the dryer is damaging so the retractable chord feature is a wonderful bonus.

*You also get concentrator and a diffuser attachments which come on many but not all dryers.

-The diffuser is for curly or other styles that can get blown out with the direct application of a jet of air. Also great for heat setting rollers that would get frizzy with direct air.

-The concentrator (that small attachment you normally throw away) serves the opposite purpose and is excellent for straightening and styling hair or training bangs.

*Removable filter a common feature that helps to keep lint and hair out of the moving parts. Can be removed for periodic rinsing to maintain dryer performance.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I regularly have to dry my daughters hair (she's 10). Being a ham-fisted male, I have a hard time working with some of the arcane tools I've been provided (a hair iron?). I just finished using this dryer on her hair and it works great, even for me.

The device is designed very well. The retractable cord makes the dryer easy to store and retrieve. The settings are very simple to use and with only a few available, I'm not spending all kinds of time figuring out which ones to take advantage of. The high heat setting was not at all uncomfortable for me or my daughter, but with the trigger to switch on cool air, if my hands or her head got hot, we had quick relief if needed. It dried her hair very fast, but I could tell that it wasn't damaging the hair as it did it. The attachment that dries and untangles proved to big for my daughters shorter hair, but she may grow into it. I used the the funnel attachment quite a lot because it made controlling the flow & direction of the air much easier. I found the noise level to be really low compared with hair dryers I've used in the past.

We were both very happy with the experience. Best of all for my daughter, the dryer is pink, which won her over pretty quickly. It really seems like a sophisticated hair dryer and I anticipate quite a lot of use.

Honest reviews on Infiniti by Conair 223XR, 1875 Watt Tourmaline Ceramic 2-in-1

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Infiniti by Conair 223F Cord Reel Dryer

Noise data included good job overall

Here are some points not discussed elsewhere. The Infinity is a medium weight hairdryer heft wise. The plastic construction is tight so it feels solid in your hands. It does a good enough a job drying hair (not significantly faster or slower than any other 1875 watt dryer). I like the removable filter which is mounted fairly flush with the back of the housing. I had others where the filter screen was the back of the housing, if you laid it down the wrong way the screen mounting tabs broke off too easily. Here is a tip for cleaning the plastic windowscreen like filter underneath; I used to clean it with tweezers to pull off the accumulated lint about once a month. I now use a Q-tip, simply touch the tip against the lint, twirl, and the lint gets tangled in the Q-tip and comes right off.

In use the dryer is pretty well balanced, and what surprised me, fairly quiet as well. It is not advertised as a particularly quiet model, which is important to me, but it is. I found that dryers with large diameter air inlets and outlets are usually quieter. Larger fan diameter equals slower and less noisy fan. This one was noticeably quieter than some other ones I have used, and the noise is slightly lower pitch and not as shrill. I decided to do a noise comparison of all the dryers we had in the house and sure enough, per minute of drying time, the Infinity was the second quietest. What was more surprising is how noisy these things are, not just objectively but subjectively as well. 86 dBA is LOUD. I tested all of them with a noise level meter held 12" away at a right angle to the discharge of air. Here are the results:

Revlon Quiet Ceramic 1875 High=80 dBA Low=71 dBA

Conair Infinity 1875 High=83 dBA Low=79 dBA

Remington All That 1875 High=86 dBA Low=76 dBA (very shrill)

Windmere MTD1CP ~1200 High=82 dBA Low=71 dBA (travel dryer, v. slow)

So, other than my specifically quiet Revlon, and the flea size Windmere, the Infinity was very quiet. A good value, and a pleasure to use. PS. I do not recommend that you use the self retracting cord feature without holding the cord with the other hand. It does snap back, and it just feels like a gimmick feature that will break if you use it too often.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Comes with 2 attachments for air distribution control Diffuser and Concentrator

Spec: 1875 watts

110-125 volts AC at 60hz

Pros:

-Ionic technology produces negative ions to neutralize the generally positive charges on the hair which helps to eliminate static

-As an electrical engineer, one of the first things I noticed is the presence of great safety device at the end of the cord. The ALCI or Appliance Leakage Circuit Interrupter, much like a GFCI or ground fault current interrupter. If the device sense a short circuit which is similar to what happens when the dryer falls in the tub, the electrical current will automatically get disconnected which can be a lifesaving factor. GFCI is now mandatory for all new bathroom constructions, but if you travel or happens to be in an old house that is not equipped with a GFCI, then it is good to know that it is a built-in device in your dryer.

-Retractable cord

-Some dryers only have a 4 ft cord. The additional foot is a big advantage.

-3 heat settings

-2 speed settings

Cons:

-A bit bulky & heavy