Dreo have steadily been growing their name as a household brand, covering fans, AC units, heaters, and even kitchen appliances at a reasonable cost.
With a decent number of years in the industry, it'd be fair to assume that they could produce some of the best fans and best air purifiers available these days. They've made tower fans, ceiling fans, and air circulator fans, so I was excited to get my hands on the new, smart, 2-in-1 Dreo MC710S Air Purifier Tower Fan.
It's marketed as an industry-first purifying fan as it uses two motors (one for the fan and one for the purifier) for extra power and control over your machine. As H&G's home tech editor I've tested a number of fans and purifiers (especially during these summer months), and next up is the Dreo MC710S. I put it to the test to see just how well it performs.
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S: Specifications
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S: Unboxing & setup
When the Dreo MC710S arrived at my house I could tell it was bigger and bulkier than other purifying fans I've used, and a bit heavier than what I've come to expect. The fan was wrapped in a fair amount of soft plastic and held in place by polystyrene blocks. Included in the box is the tower fan, the remote control, and a user manual and quick start guide.
Not much setup is required other than removing the bottom panels and removing the protective plastic on the filter. Then, you can install the Dreo app for more control and air quality info, which is as quick as downloading the app, making an account, pairing with the fan, and connecting it to your home's wi-fi.
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S: Design & features
Pretty quickly I was a fan. It's tall; taller than your average air purifier, and bulkier than your average tower fan. It makes sense as you're combining the two appliances (and two motors) in one, and Dreo have designed it in a way that looks modern yet neutral enough to fit into different homes' decors.
Dreo claim that the MC710S is the industry's first dual-motor tower fan. This means that, unlike other 2-in-1 purifier fans, the fan and the purifier both have separate motors. Naturally, this gives the fan a healthy amount of power (air can reach up to 40 feet away and travels up to 27 feet per second), and provides some impressive control over the the fan and purifier speeds.
Unlike many others we've tested at H&G, you can adjust the individual fan speed without changing the purification speed, and vice versa. This is a super-helpful feature for making sure the fan can be used year-round: when you don't want any cooling, you can turn the fan off while still purifying the room. When your air quality is good, you can still use the fan without using up your filter life.
The fan and purifier have their own auto modes too, where you can leave them to adjust power based on the air quality or temperature of your room.
The touch control panel has illuminated buttons, where you can: power on/off, change fan mode, change fan speed, adjust oscillation, turn purification on/off, use the timer, and change the display information. The display
Surprisingly, there are more buttons on the touch panel than the remote, but the app is where you'll find the most control. This is where you can really fine tune how you want to use the Dreo MC710S, and it's easily one of the most comprehensive apps I've seen in a device like this.
Besides from the fan controls, what really impressed me was the oscillation angling. It's clear that Dreo have considered how these devices are used in a home: you can adjust the asymmetry of the angle depending on where the fan is positioned in the room, and you can set it in multiples of 5 degrees between 30° and 120°.
I also enjoy the information supplied by Dreo in the app. It logs data on your temperature and air quality for the past 30 days and, when viewing the past 24 hours, it will show this info in 15-minute intervals. You can also set schedules, check your filter life, activate a child lock, change the fan's display info, recalibrate your oscillation angle, and switch the display temperature between Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S: Performance
The Dreo MC710S produces a strong breeze, even at the lowest fan speed. It's instinctively the first thing you look out for, and with this tower fan I immediately noted that it's stronger than other fans I've used. Even though I've been testing the fan in the middle of summer, I've never had to go higher than fan speed 6. I've also found that the auto mode (for both the fan and purifier) is pretty effective at getting it right without much adjusting from me.
That being said, it is perhaps a little too powerful. When you turn the fan off but leave the purifier running, the breeze is still very much present and can be felt from a decent distance. And as much as I'm a fan of the two motors, you can certainly hear them. Running both the fan and purifier, even at low speeds, produces a noticeable noise. At higher speeds, it's loud.
Running the fan by itself provides what I'd say is a standard noise level though. I feel that the MC710S is perhaps stronger as a fan than an air purifier, as many air purifiers around this price point would be able to capture smaller particles.
It has an H13 True HEPA filter that can trap particles as small as 0.3 microns, but it'd be better if it was able to go down to 0.1 microns, to account for certain smoke particles and allergens. The fan functionality also prevents there being a carbon filter, so the MC710S isn't able to deal with certain gases and odors.
But regardless, this is a powerful tower fan that circulates a strong breeze around a whole room while purifying it in the process. The app is impressively comprehensive, and it's a nice surprise to see temperature and air quality tracking in a device that's this affordable.
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S: Price
At the time of writing the Dreo MC710S retails at full-price at $299.99. You can buy it direct from Dreo, or from Amazon where it's currently on offer for $239.99 for Prime members.
Air purifiers can cost anywhere between $100 to $600+, and tower fans tend to sit around the $100 to $200 mark. The $299.99 price tag for the MC710S is, in my view, very reasonable, considering the fan power and control on offer here.
How does the Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S compare?
While testing the Dreo MC710S, it didn't take long to draw comparisons between the last purifying fan I tested: the Dyson TP09. Both have the same 2-in-1 function, take up a similar amount of space (the Dreo is a bit taller), have varying fan speeds, and track temperature and air quality data over time. The Dreo is notably more powerful in terms of cooling, while the Dyson has better purification (down to 0.1 microns instead of the Dreo's 0.3). But the main difference here is the price: the Dyson TP09 retails for over double the cost. Sure, Dyson products are famously expensive, but it shows how reasonable the Dreo tower fan is in comparison.
Another alternative is the Shark Air Purifier 3-in-1, which can purify, cool and also heat a room. It has a completely different design however, and doesn't work like a tower fan. It's also $100 more expensive.
Should you buy the Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S?
Compared to what's on offer in the purifier/fan market, I think the Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan MC710S is a nice fusion of good value, powerful cooling, and sleek design. It is bulky, sure, but I can see it blending well with many homes' styles, while being able to effectively cool and purify a whole room using two motors.
Other air purifiers will be able to capture finer particles, and other fans won't be as loud. But the alternatives tend to be much more expensive, so it's worth weighing up what's important when making the purchase. It's also worth remembering that the air quality tracking here is a feature that tends to up the price way out of the range Dreo is in.
