Design and features

• Brilliant design
• Can track multiple subjects at once
• Lots of sensors for auto purification

The Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 looks very similar to other fan/purifiers from the company, such as the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool HP1. Here, you get the full tower fan bladeless design, with the PC3 standing 1050mm tall, blasting out a column of cool air.

As with previous Dyson fans, this one looks fantastic. If you want something that stands out for all of the right reasons, then this is the fan for you.

There’s a hint that there’s something different with the camera on the base. This processes data locally for the Find+Follow function, and is what makes the PC3 different to every other fan that I’ve reviewed.

As with previous Dyson fans and purifiers, the remote control attaches magnetically to the top of the fan.

Using the remote control, there’s a Find+Follow button that turns the feature on. This activates the camera and gets the fan to scan for people in the room.

With one person detected, the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 will track that person as they move; with multiple people in the room, it oscillates between them to give more even coverage.

If you leave the room, after an hour the fan switches to Auto mode, but Find+Follow is reactivated when a person is in view again.

New people in the room, or the system’s not working the way you want? Hit the remote button again, and the fan will rescan for people.

It’s a technically complex feature that works brilliantly in real life. We’ve all been in that situation where we’ve moved out of a fan’s airflow, but the Find+Follow feature makes sure that never happens.

Otherwise, the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 operates just like any other Dyson fan/purifier that I’ve tested before. This includes regular oscillation (45°, 90°, 180° or 350° oscillation), and ten fan speeds to choose from. 

There’s also an Auto button that runs fan speed automatically based on the quality of the air. On the main screen you can see the general air quality range, but the ‘i’ button on the remote cycles through the fan’s individual sensors: PM2.5 and PM10 (dust, pollen, and so on), VOCs and NO2, temperature and humidity.

Having a wider range of sensors than most purifiers (most have PM sensors only) is very useful, as it makes the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 much more reactive to pollutants. It’s not unusual for the fan to ramp up at various points during the day, as it automatically cleans the air.

It’s good to see the Diffuse Mode available, which redirects air flow out the back of the fan, so you can purify a room without being subject to a blast of air.

Dual filters are included in the base of the machine: HEPA H13-grade for 99.95% of particles, including viruses and bacteria, pollen, pet dander and mould spores; a K-Carbon filter for household odours and gases.

Filters should last 12 months, and you can keep an eye on the current status by cycling through the information pages on the product’s screen.

It’s well worth connecting the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 to the MyDyson app for remote control. This gives you all of the same controls that the remote gives you, plus the addition of a timer (15m, 30m, 45m, and then hourly increments up to nine hours), and the Sleep mode, which dims the screen and reduces fan speed. I’m not sure why these options aren’t available via the Remote.

New to this model is Matter compatibility. That’s handy for automations, although you don’t get much control over the fan. In Apple Home, I could adjust the fan speed, and set it to Auto, but I couldn’t use oscillation, Find+Follow or Diffuse mode.

Performance

• Fast purification
• Wide air flow

As a fan, the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 has all of the qualities of previous ones that I’ve tested. I started by measuring air flow. On the lowest fan speed I could feel a very gentle breezer, but my anemometer wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up air flow. Sound is impressive, at 35.9dB: effectively, background noise.

Moving to the middle speed, five, air flow increased and I got readings of 1.2m/s at 15cm, although at 1m my anemometer didn’t pick anything up. Sound was just 41.4dB.

On speed setting 10, I measured air speed at 3.4m/s at 15cm and 1.8m/s at 1m. Impressively, I registered noise at just 55.1dB on this setting.

Overall, the fan speed readings aren’t the highest that I’ve seen from a fan, but the way the bladeless design works with air multiplier tech makes the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 quite different to the competition.

Typically, a fan will blast out high-speed air in a very concentrated area; the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3’s airflow covers a much wider area, so you can feel its effect all over, and the air feels more natural.

With the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 it’s more like sitting next to an open window with a cool breeze flowing in, rather than a pinpoint gale of air. A secondary benefit of the way Dyson’s fan technology works is that the fan doesn’t blow papers and smaller objects around, as can happen with other models.

As an air purifier, the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 is quick. Lighting a smoke pellet, which burns for 60 seconds, the fan quickly ramped up. I timed how long it took for the X-Sense alarm to state that the level of smoke was safe. This took a speedy 10m 49s, which is only slightly longer than the Dyson HushJet Compact HJ10 took. 

It then took a further 10m 29s for the fan’s PM sensors to return to normal. That’s good overall performance, and the Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool PC3 can deal with regular household issues quickly.

Should you buy it?