Its the age old dilema, you are in a public restroom, worried about the strange smell, the less than impressive decor and that you will soon be accosted by George Michael. You wash you hands and then have a choice, either use the mechanical monstrosity known as the dryer, or use a towel.
Which will dry your hands faster, the towel or the dryer? I hazarded a guess that the dryer will be fater for the female of the human species, since although dryers expend the same energy for all users, since female hands are well smaller, it would be faster for them, while with the gents the opposite would be true.
We had one installed in the ladies room at work as a test for about 3 or 4 months or so. Test failed. They were removed a couple of weeks ago and paper towels put back in.
Towels are faster, more thorough, and much, MUCH quieter.
In my experience towels are substantially faster. In addition you can take one with you and keep drying if you’re in a real hurry. However, I recently used one drier that was incredibly fast. I didn’t notice the brand, but it didn’t have the standard round nozzle. Instead the air outlet was longer and rectangular. It got a lot of air moving quickly. It dried my hands very quickly and very thoroughly.
Used something similar to this at an indian casino in Washington state, except it was two long compartments that you lay your forearms in and then pulled through. Much faster than towel drying. 3 seconds and I was ready to go lose more at the blackjack tables
Towels save time, because you can grab one and dry your hands on the way to the trashcan/door. With the stupid dryers you have to stand there like an idiot for what seems like hours.
As a frequent traveler, I’m in hundreds of public restrooms a year.
Airblade-type dryers are easily the fastest; because they blow the air away from your hands instead of drying them, they are essentially instantaneous, taking only the amount of time it takes to pass your hands into and out of them.
Those posting about (all) air dryers being slow are apparently ignorant of what an airblade dryer is.
Paper towels are next fastest, and ordinary blow dryers the slowest.
This blade dryer wouldn’t be the dryer asked about in the original question. No substitution of different devices allowed for a poll. Our statements refer to the dryers that everybody knows have the instructions altered to start off “Press Butt”.
I started seeing the blade-type dryers and the “Xlerator” (sp.) type high-velocity ones in Japan some years ago, and they seem to be gaining in popularity in the West. Still not as fast as towels.