The Dyson Airstrait™ straightener, Dyson Airwrap™ multi-styler and Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer - Can I use it abroad/overseas?

 

People keep asking these questions because they have a legitimate need to use their $600 stylers internationally, and the answers given on dyson.com and community.dyson.com are vague and perfunctory.

Dyson makes it worse by

• trying to scare customers away from 3rd party power converters without providing specifics,
• refusing to sell 220V products to customers who live in 110V locales,
• and not allowing customers to purchase just the wand so they can carry both types of wands as they travel.

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For my money (and I’ve spent thousands of dollars on many Dyson devices), Dyson has failed its brand promise here.  People take hair stylers when the travel internationally.  Not providing a viable solution for one of the world’s most expensive stylers is beneath Dyson’s reputation for engineering.

 

YES, THIS! 

I registered to this community to say the very same thing - I do love my AirWrap, and never thought for a moment, at this price point and from a global company such as Dyson, that this styler would not work internationally. I was so incredulous when it didn’t work in France, and I would have returned it on principle but was well past the time since travel was limited during COVID. And I so agree with DLM that it adds insult to injury that we cannot buy the 220 voltage wand alone. A huge disappointment from a supposedly engineering-forward company. Dyson, you need to do better here. At the very least, owners of an AirWrap should be able to buy the wand alone for other countries at a steep discount. It leaves me very resentful rather than a satisfied customer, and I sincerely hope Dyson does something to rectify this.

Thank you David for taking the time for your response!

With all due respect, however, your response didn’t help.  I am looking for a definitive, “Yes, that particular Conair converter will work,” or “No, it won't work” followed by a technical explanation of why or why not.  Bonus points for having first hand experience trying it.  Repeating the same vague “not recommended” message—which is not at all the same thing as “it won’t work”—adds no new information.

To clarify, going by your three points:

1. “Not recommending” use of extension cords and converters is standard CYA for manufacturers of electrical equipment.  That doesn’t mean that no properly-functioning converter can exist.  It means that a proper converter would require certain specifications that are not commonly available, and Dyson can’t be bothered to publish those specs.  Before posting to this forum, I read the “we don’t suggest the use” language on community.dyson.com and dyson.com.  Because the language recommending against power converters is vague and sounds CYA-ish, I asked Dyson product support.  Their response:  Yes, there is a power converter that works, and they provided a Youtube link.  The fact that they answered so quickly and confidently made me wonder whether Dyson has successfully tested this particular converter.  Getting diametrically conflicting information from Dyson was unsettling, so I asked this forum to see if anyone could shed additional light.
2. Dealing with power differences across the world is hardly an unsolved problem.  Many manufacturers provide globally-compliant power adapters for their devices.  Dyson has chosen not to, for unexplained reasons.  Whether any power converter, or the particular one I asked about, will work is determined by the technical details of both the Airwrap and the converter.  Converting from 220V to 110V is a trivial problem, so if the Conair converter won’t work with the Airwrap, voltage won’t be the culprit.  Nor will it be wattage, as the Conair converter is rated at 1875w, and the Airwrap dissipates 1300w.  If the Conair converter doesn’t work, it will likely fail because the 110V version of the Airwrap expects 60Hz A/C, and European outlets provide 50Hz.  It is possible to convert from 60Hz to 50Hz as voltage is stepped down, but that requires rectifier and inverter circuitry not common in travel converters.  Upon reading the (also vague) Conair converter user manual, it appears that the A/C frequency is not converted in the Conair product.  Stepping down 220V to 110V but keeping the A/C frequency at 50Hz on a 1300w device often results in overheating and shutdown within minutes.  Since it takes longer than that to coiffe with the Airwrap, it seems reasonable to expect that the Conair converter won’t do the job, despite what the Dyson support agent told me.  The potential for overheating is especially worrisome given the significant amount of delicate electronic componentry in the Airwrap.  (There you go, that’s the most technical and specific answer anyone at Dyson or on this forum has provided.  Unfortunately, my answer is also an uneducated guess.)
3. Multiple people on this forum saying the same thing as the OP said above hardly makes the claims “facts”.  Posts containing the same language, almost word for word, suggests people were copying and pasting from the same source.  That doesn’t increase the likelihood they are facts.  One need spend only 5 minutes on any social media platform to see multiple posters, some with official-sounding titles, saying the same untrue things using the same phrases.

People keep asking these questions because they have a legitimate need to use their $600 stylers internationally, and the answers given on dyson.com and community.dyson.com are vague and perfunctory.

Dyson makes it worse by

• trying to scare customers away from 3rd party power converters without providing specifics,
• refusing to sell 220V products to customers who live in 110V locales,
• and not allowing customers to purchase just the wand so they can carry both types of wands as they travel.

Nowhere on the community.dyson.com or the dyson.com websites (including the user manuals on dyson.com) is it clearly stated that power converters won’t work.  It certainly doesn’t say anywhere that the specific Conair converter that Dyson itself recommended to me will or won't work.  Repeating vague CYA platitudes, and in the case of some posters, incorrectly saying that voltage converters won’t work because of “voltage”, doesn’t get consumers closer to correct answers.

For my money (and I’ve spent thousands of dollars on many Dyson devices), Dyson has failed its brand promise here.  People take hair stylers when the travel internationally.  Not providing a viable solution for one of the world’s most expensive stylers is beneath Dyson’s reputation for engineering.

If anyone has technical details or personal experience using a 110V Airwrap with the Conair Convert-It-All Converter in the UK and Germany, I’d still love to hear from you.

Thank you all.

You know what the kind of people who can afford a $600 hair dryer do?  Travel internationally.

Dyson’s electrical engineers are capable of solving this problem, so it’s disappointing there is no solution available for purchase from Dyson.

My wife’s Airwrap was purchased in the US.  She is traveling to Germany and the UK next week and wants to use her beloved Airwrap.

I was just on chat at dyson.com, where a live agent told me to buy the Conair Convert-It-All Converter and Adapter Set.  Conair claims it is compatible with “high-end electronic styling tools and hair dryers”.

So we have Stuart, Dyson’s Community Manager, saying “we don’t suggest the use” of converters.  And we have a Dyson.com live chat support person saying to use Conair’s converter.

Can anyone, ideally a Dyson employee who has definitive knowledge rather than an educated guess, please tell me whether my wife’s US/110V Airwrap will work in UK/German hotels with the Conair Convert-It-All?

Thank you!