Review: MECO ELEVERDE High-Pressure Electric Air Duster Blower

This was sent in for review and it intrigued me enough to give it a good test. I should say that I've always struggled just a little with the idea of blowing air around to clean things up, as opposed to using a decent handheld vacuum cleaner to suck dust. After all, surely blowing dust from something just distributes it around the room? I'll illustrate this with one of the promotional photos from this very product, showing the cleaning of a dust-filled PC fan:

Now, I don't doubt for a second that blasting high pressure air at this gunked up PC fan would blow the dust right away. The problem is that the very same dust is then all over the inside of the PC and, probably, the room!

It's common sense that, where possible, suction should be used, to neatly collect dust in one place, where it can be safely emptied. 

However.

Suction alone can't get everywhere. The typical use for a tradition compressed air can would be to blast out crumbs from a computer keyboard or within a delicate mechanism of some kind. If you can't get a vacuum cleaner nozzle near enough then it's time to stop sucking and start blowing. 

The idea then is to vacuum what you can and get the worst off something. Whether a PC or blinds or toaster. Then you use high pressure air to blast away dust and particles that remain stuck inside. And then you vacuum the area again, perhaps, to try and collect what has been blasted away.

The marketing for this MECO blower doesn't really go into this, but it bears saying - a blower alone won't clean your life up!

The MECO ELEVERDE comes with a huge number of adapters, from an all purpose nozzle to a 'blade' (think Dyson air dryers in public bathrooms) to a small brush to 'air bed' adapters - because this gadget really is that powerful.

Expecting something a bit weedy and running on AA batteries, I was surprised by a full mains power lead. And, when turning the blower on, half my desk got cleared. Paper, pens, SD cards, all scattered across the room by the strength of the jet of air. This isn't hyperbole, it really is this powerful. And this was on setting '1'. '2' is twice as strong!

Which brings me to another big caveat - everything in its path gets blown, so if you're working on a computer or similar then you'd better button down everything else nearby. For example, if you took the screws out of a PC case in order to expose the insides for cleaning, then turning this blower on will see the screws randomly reassigned to corners of your room where you'll never see them again! So take care!

The nozzles clip on and pull off with just enough force to stay put and to be easily removed - the blower comes with a bag to carry everything, though I've just kept it in the shipping box, since this has foam recesses for all the bits.

Along with the force of air, at whatever nozzle size you choose, way stronger than any compressed air can, is a lot of noise. There's no way round this, of course - noise is, by definition, air moving around, and this moves a lot of air around. But you'll only need this on for a few seconds at a time, since it'll clear whatever you need to clear very quickly.

Finally, I was impressed by the long (10') power lead, making sure that you can get over to your work desk without having to worry about plugging in next to the things you're working on.

A good Christmas gift for a technophile? Absolutely. Or for yourself? It's £50 on Amazon UK though the manufacturer did supply a promo code for £5 off:

10% Off Promo code: AAWPMECO (valid until Dec 20th)

If you're in need of a damn good blow (keep it clean at the back!), then look no further. You're paying for a powerful motor and quality that should last many years.

Just make sure you pair it with a suitable vacuum cleaner!