Do Compressed Air Blowers Actually Do Anything?

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's wondered what the deal is with those little handheld mini blowers you see popping up here, there and everywhere. But wonder no more as I recently took delivery of one to try and find out whether they live up to the viral hype. So stay tuned to see how I got on with Wolfbox's flagship NF200 unit across car, bike, home and garden duties. So regardless of how these kinds of compact dusters are marketed, I've always known they weren't really appropriate for completely blow-drying larger more open exterior surfaces. But have, when I've seen them pop up, been curious as to whether they'd be capable of quickly ridding the nooks, crannies, cracks and crevices of cars, bikes or whatever else of trapped rinse water, dust and dirt. As if they were might be a handy alternative to having to deal with a much larger, noisier, possibly mains operated unit. So when Wolfbox offered to supply me with one of their top of the range Megaflow 200 jobbies, thought why not. With this particular tool boasting 190 miles per hour's worth of targeted airflow from a fan apparently spinning at over 110,000 rpm, it's well beyond the realms of VTEC. And although I can't really substantiate that, we'll say that when held in limp-wristed fashion does create a bit of kickback on full blast. Which incidentally is one of three speed settings that, for the most part, I'd recommend using it on. And while this will mean you'll more readily sap through the juice of the detachable battery, you'll still get a good 10 minutes of tornado time, which for the likes of cracks and crevice, clear out should be more than enough. But if you're the type to get carried away with gizmos like this, then the Enduro Pack, which is what I bagged here, bundles an additional 2.5 hour charge time battery for around £15 cheaper than buying one separately, so might be worth considering. Now although I'd predominantly be blow-drying car and bike related stuff here, the Wolfbox NF200 isn't solely intended for that purpose, so can also be put to use around the house and garden doing things like shifting unsightly leaves for subsequent collection, incineration or whatever else, which, considering its tiny size, actually proved to be surprisingly capable of here. Granted the leaves were pretty dry, but it still essentially eliminated the need for tedious sweepage without having to lug a big noisy leaf blower berther around. And before you even consider washing your car, let alone rinsing it, ideally want to ensure it's free from such loose detritus, which certain parts of my old Fiat seem to like to accumulate, evidenced by the degradation on the rear light cups. But a handheld blower like this should stop the problem from getting any worse any time soon, by eliminating offending organic mulch before it settles in with a few simple and precise blasts of air. While completely blow-drying a vehicle is of course preferable to contact drying with a towel, I'd probably only reach for the dedicated mains operated machine about 50 percent of the time, partly because it's a bit of a faff, but also because a lot of cars just aren't sporting enough slick protection for it to be effective, which means that when towel drying instead, you're constantly chasing trapped rinse water to try and prevent unsightly streaking, which outside of being time consuming, can also be potentially damaging if it leads to you repeatedly rubbing away at the same spot. But this nifty gadget essentially gives you the best of both worlds. Towel dry the main open areas if they're not slick enough for a full contactless dry, then blow-dry the likes of the shuts, wheels and whatever else tends to hold on to water in convenient cordless fashion. And while you get a handful of different shaped nozzles to channel the air for different applications, which I did try out, I'd say for blow-drying duties like this you're probably best just sticking to the standard nozzle that the unit comes fitted with. Despite not really cleaning many motorbikes, I know a blow dryer is a must for removing rinse or post wet ride water from their various recesses, and I reckon because they're considerably smaller than a car, a more compact unit like this is the ideal kind of tool for doing so, as it allows you to really get up close and personal without worrying about this lodging bits of trim, which when using larger, more dedicated appliances, which will of course also get the job done. You often get the feeling something might. Then add to that that a 10 minute stint from a single battery should be more than enough to get the job done in comparatively quiet fashion to say a leaf blower or mains operated machine, and it just makes sense. Now it's not just vehicle exteriors that a product like this can be used to help tidy up, as on a lower speed setting this particular product can be good for shifting dust and light dirt from pretty much any interior surface prior to vacuuming, cleaning or wiping down, and its compact form factor means it will fit in even my thumb sized glove box alongside some maintenance microfibers, which, so I don't forget it before heading out in the future to blow dry the nooks and crannies of other people's cars, I think for now at least is where it'll stay. While there's likely endless other potential uses for a targeted blaster there outside of car cleaning, one last application I thought was worth a mention with it being camping season, and because one of the included nozzles is specifically designed for it, is to effortlessly inflate blow-up mattresses like this musty old thing in a matter of seconds. So if sleeping under the stars tickles your fancy and you don't want to be seen foot pumping your uncle Ned in public, then a handheld megaflow fan like this might just save your open-air street cred as well of course as help keep you cool after securing your pitch. So all in all I'd say I was pleasantly surprised by this little megaflow 200 duster. Being completely honest I wasn't expecting a great deal when I said yes to the collaboration, but this top of the range job he definitely performed well enough to warrant a recharge for future deployments, whether that be on cars, bikes or for more domestic duties. It's well packaged, feels solid enough and for certain jobs at least will eliminate the need for me to lug a bulky mains-operated machine around, which for various reasons I've never really taken to doing. Now Wolfbox offer a 24-month warranty which I personally think for a product that this price point provides adequate peace of mind, and if you treat yourself to one through the official links below can save yourself either £10 or 10% respectively, so check them out if you're interested. Thanks to Wolfbox for reaching out and of course to you for watching.