Fentgo hair dryer review

If you’ve ever browsed the ranks of Dyson hair dryer dupes on Amazon, you’ll be familiar with the word-smash brand names on offer: Faszin, the unfortunately titled HappyGoo, and Fentgo.

They’re familiar looking and competitively priced devices, but the big question is: are they any good? In this review, we’re putting Fentgo’s high-speed hair dryer through its paces.

Design and Build

• Fairly light at 448g/0.9lbs
• Light ring to see temperature at a glance
• Comes with two magnetic styling attachments

The design of Fentgo’s hair dryer has obviously been inspired (to put it kindly) by Dyson’s Supersonic. It’s mallet shaped, with a high-speed brushless motor (110,000rpm) fitted neatly into the handle for a lower centre of gravity and more comfortable hold, and it comes with magnetic attachments.

However, there are obvious visual differences, such as the fact that the Supersonic has a channel clear through the hair dryer head, while the Fentgo does not, suggesting that its engineering is less precise and its inner workings are bulkier.

The Fentgo comes in three colour options: pink, grey and white, although at this stage, only the white model appears to be available in the UK. That’s the model I’m testing.

It has a pearlescent sheen and rose gold buttons and filter – although bear in mind that while these parts on the Supersonic are made from steel, the Fentgo is largely made of plastic and will likely show signs of wear sooner. Still, even after weeks of use (and being knocked onto a wooden floor a couple of times, which I will argue was a form of drop testing), it still looked pristine and performed perfectly.

However, it’s much lighter than the Supersonic, which clocks in at around 816g/1.8lbs. The Fentgo hair dryer weighs just 448g/0.9lbs without the cord, or 622g/1.37lbs with it. This will make a real difference to its comfort in use – and makes it a better travel companion.

The cord itself is 170cm, so you won’t have to stick too close to a power socket when you use it.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The Fentgo’s controls are simple: there’s a slide switch to turn the hair dryer off and put it into low or high speed, and there’s a button to cycle through the three temperature options (cool, warm, hot).

It’s easy to see the temperature, thanks to the light ring that glows either blue, orange or red on the back of the hair dryer head.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

At the base of the handle is a filter cover that pops off easily for regular cleaning.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The Fentgo comes with two magnetic attachments: a concentrator nozzle and a curl diffuser. These are in dark grey whichever colour hair dryer you buy, and don’t perfectly match the white and rose colour scheme of the model I’m reviewing.

Performance and Features

• Ionic jets
• Three heat settings
• Quiet in use

Fentgo’s hair dryer is comfortable to hold and feels fairly light in the hand, although it’s not as light as the MDLondon Blow hair dryer or Revamp’s Enigma Revelation (both just 360g).

Its buttons are right where your thumb expects them to be and you can tell the heat setting at a glance – nice design details that make it easy to use.

The manual doesn’t provide this information but, according to Fentgo’s US Amazon page, the hair dryer has three temperature options of 25°C/77°F, 50°C/122°F and 80°C/176°F degrees, which are indicated as blue, orange or red on the light ring.

However, the coldest of these settings is the same as the cool shot that most hair dryers offer to set your style, so there are really only two hair drying temperatures.

If Fentgo’s claim is accurate, it means that the top temperature is equivalent to the middle setting on the Dyson Supersonic, which is good news for your hair’s health, as lower heat causes less damage. However, I’m slightly sceptical of this as if you hold it close to your head on the highest temperature, it feels properly, scalp-burningly hot.

However, it does work extremely well. It’s a 1600W hair dryer and it’s powerful in use. It dried my hair very quickly – without having to resort to the very hot setting and fears of setting my scalp aflame.

The hair dryer also has an inbuilt negative ionic transmitter to help smooth your hair as it dries and avoid frizz. It’s always hard to tell how effective these kinds of features are but my hair felt soft and looked shiny after use.  

The attachments are sturdily made and attach securely. They’re effective too, with the diffuser helping to create well-defined, bouncy curls.

Finally, it’s pleasantly quiet in use. Fentgo says that it’s only 59dB, which is quiet for a hair dryer. As the motor has been optimised for noise reduction, it’s happily lacking in the kind of high-pitched whine that would make you decide to store your hair dryer out of a window.

Altogether, the Fentgo has the look and the power of a luxury hair dryer, for a much more reasonable price.

Price and Availability

Fentgo’s high-speed hair dryer is available from Amazon in the US for $89.99, down from $99.99 and from Amazon UK for £89.99, again down from £99.99. It’s not the cheapest hair dryer around, but it is the best-priced of the luxury models we’ve tested and, if that’s what you’re after, it has a lot going for it.

If this isn’t the right model for you, have a look at our round-up of the best hair dryers we’ve tested for more options at a range of price points.

Should you buy the Fentgo high speed hair dryer?

There’s a lot to like about the Fentgo, and not much to compromise on. Its quality isn’t as impressive as the Supersonic – but then you wouldn’t expect it to be for its price point. What it does have is plenty of power, a light and pretty durable build and a choice of heat settings. And what’s more, it’s comfortably the cheapest of the luxury models we’ve tested.