This is my first foray into professional hair dryers. After reading the reviews of many popular, high-end brands that seem to break down after a year and searching for a tool that wouldn't be too loud, I narrowed my search to the Cricket or to this dryer. And I love it!

This dryer has the high-end features of tourmaline, a ceramic front grill, and nano silver technology -- all intended to dry hair quickly while sealing the shaft and promoting hair health. I don't know about all that, but I will say that my hair dried quickly, required no further attention (I usually use a roller/curling iron/flat iron after drying my hair). My hair looks shiney, healthy, and bouncy and feels full, silky, and light.

There are three heat settings - cool, warm, hot - and two speed settings -- low and high. I used the low setting on warm and set using the cool setting, though the dryer also has a cool-shot button.

The handle is ergonomically designed and the noise level, as these things go, was low. It doesn't weigh much and feels light and balanced. It has a removable lint filter and two concentrator nozzles, though the slanted angle of the front of the dryer seem to do the trick without either. It's got an extra-long cord and an overheating/auto shut off function. It forces air through quite powerfully, even though the wattage is lower at 1700W than even my travel dryer.

I'm surprised more folks aren't using this brand. They sell a few lower end models without the nano/ceramic etc. bells and whistles and some higher end models as well. It's made in Italy by a company that also makes salon hood dryers. I recommend this - Model 325!