Dyson just launched its first desktop air purifier, and it's inspired by a jet engine – but thankfully it's a lot quieter

• The HushJet Purifier Compact is Dyson's first desktop air purifier
• It uses a new, star-shaped nozzle inspired by jet engines
• Electrostatic HEPA filter lasts up to 5 years

Dyson is known for making some of the best air purifiers on the market, but they're not especially compact. In fact, some of them are downright massive (looking at you, Dyson Big+Quiet). So when I heard the brand was launching its first-ever desktop machine, I was intrigued.

For the HushJet Purifier Compact, Dyson had to rethink its air purifier design. The models in the current lineup either use loops/amps (as seen on the Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde HP09) or cones (like on the aforementioned Big+Quiet), which are effective but take up a lot of space. In contrast, the new addition has a space-saving, star-shaped nozzle that operates in a completely different way.

The design is inspired by a jet engine – or a hair dryer's concentrator nozzle, if you're looking for a more commonplace analogy. The motor is bigger than the star nozzle, so air is compressed as it pushes through. So while it uses the same principle of entrainment (i.e., dragging air in from the rest of the room, making a more powerful jet) as other Dyson purifiers, it does so in a more compact format.

"The new star nozzle is exciting because it still does entrainment without having that gap in the middle," Dyson engineer Sophie Harold told me when I visited the Dyson campus to take a look at the brand's new launches. "By having the bending edges, it's still encouraging air from the surrounding region to join in with the fast jet. It also means you can have a compact shape when you want something like a desk purifier, without having an amp that might get in the way of your monitor."

All of that sounds very impressive, but in reality, when the HushJet was unveiled, I was a little disappointed. While it's smaller overall than Dyson's other air purifiers, it's not what I'd call compact, and it's certainly too big to sit naturally on a desk. If you're putting it on the floor, really, it's the footprint that's relevant, and at 9.1in / 23cm in diameter, it's not wildly different from other Dyson purifiers. So long as you're not expecting something ultra-compact, however, there are more plus points to this new machine.

Controlling the chaos

The new star-shaped nozzle has benefits in terms of acoustics – meaning that despite being inspired by planes, it's actually extremely quiet in operation. I listened to it on its lowest setting in a Dyson labs anechoic chamber (i.e., one designed to stop any echoes – it was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat), and I could barely hear it.

"We often look at something called turbulence of flow, and that's to do with how disordered or chaotic the [air]flow is," explained Sophie. "Imagine people waiting to get on a train and trying to design a shape of a door, which means that they can all get out calmly and peacefully, rather than all banging into each other and causing chaos. So what the star does is, it reduces that chaos. It minimizes the amount of turbulence coming out of the jet, which means, in turn, that the flow itself is quieter, and it's what's enabled us to have that really quiet speed setting."

The final big upgrade on the HushJet is that it uses an electrostatic HEPA filter, which is more energy efficient than a regular HEPA filter and lasts much longer. In fact, Dyson says this filter can last up to five years before needing replacing – significantly lessening the ongoing costs of running this purifier. The system is fully sealed, so anything that's sucked up stays inside.

For those of you who are sold on the new design, I have a bit of bad news: you have a little while to wait. The Dyson HushJet Purifier Compact air purifier isn't scheduled to go on sale until early 2026 (that's the date for the UK – I'm awaiting confirmation of when it's expected to launch in the US and Australia). Pricing information is also TBC.

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