Portable Dryers: What 27 Spec Sheets Actually Say

3 of the 27 products in Amazon’s portable dryer category are not tumble dryers, the rest come in two sizes, and the pound figures on their listings range from 3.3 to 8 per cubic foot.

What we analysed, and how

This report covers every portable dryer our site has reviewed and kept: 27 products from 14 brands, sorted into the class by Amazon’s own category. Not all 27 are what a shopper pictures. 3 are not tumble dryers at all: a spin dryer that removes water by spinning clothes in a drum, and two foldable heaters that hold about nine garments on hangers and blow warm air through them. They sit in Amazon’s portable dryer category and in this class, and we leave them out of the drum figures below and say so, which leaves 24 tumble dryers.

Two sizes, and a cluster at 1.5

Drum volume is the figure that works as a size. 18 of 24 state one, and they fall into two groups: 6 stating 1.5 cubic feet, a handful in the 1.6 to 2.7 range, and 5 at 3.5 or more. The median is 1.8, and the range 1.1 to 3.5. The 1.5 group is notable because it is a cluster of machines from several sellers that look alike on paper, with weights of 16.8 to 17 kilograms and a typical 850 watts. The 3.5 group states 22.5 to 26 kilograms and 1500 watts, .

Weight follows the drum. The tumble dryers that state one run from 14.5 to 26 kilograms, a median of 17. At 1.5 cubic feet the listings give 16.8 to 17; at 3.5 and above, 22.5 to 26. A machine that weighs the better part of 20 kilograms and sits on a counter or a wall bracket is a different proposition from one you slide into a closet, and most listings do not say which it is designed to be; a few, such as the Feelfunn, say it can be wall-mounted.

Load: wet, dry or neither

14 of the 24 tumble dryers give a pound figure for the load somewhere, and the figures are not comparable. A 1.5 cubic foot dryer states 10 pounds in several places, and so does a 1.8 cubic foot one; one 1.5 cubic foot compact dryer states 5.5, and another listing states 12.5 pounds of “wet clothes” for a 2.5 cubic foot drum. Where a listing gives a drum and a load, 9 in all, the load comes to 3.3 to 7.5 pounds per cubic foot.

The low end is BLACK+DECKER’s 2.65 and 3.5 cubic foot machines, which state 8.8 and 13.2 pounds, and a Panda listing that also states 13.2 pounds, all near 3.3 to 3.8 pounds per cubic foot. The high end is a Euhomy 3.5 cubic foot machine that states 26.4 pounds of wet clothes and a Feelfunn 3.5 whose listing says 26 pounds wet, a load our own review gave as 40 pounds dry until we corrected it, as the BLACK+DECKER and Feelfunn page explains. Note that 26.4 is exactly twice 13.2, so the 3.5 cubic foot machines may be stating one load, dry and wet, though no listing says so. A pound load for a dryer is meaningless until it says wet or dry, and the cubic feet are the figure to compare.

Where the review and Amazon disagree

Drum volume agrees between our review tables and Amazon’s pages for most of the machines that state it in both. 2 do not: Portable Dryer 3.0 cu.ft (Amazon 3 cu ft, our review 3.5); Panda Compact Dryer 13.2 lb Load Volume (Amazon 3.52 cu ft, our review 1.5). A disagreement of that size is two different drum sizes for one product, and where it happens, the Amazon figure is the one we use in tables and the review is the one we have noted for correction.

Look-alike machines under different names

The most common footprint among the tumble dryers is 20 by 16 by 24 inches, listed for 5 machines from 3 brands (Euhomy, Costway, Feelfunn). The same footprint under several brand names, here at weights of 16.9 to 17 kilograms, is a pattern the BLACK+DECKER and Kenmore dryer page shows at full size, with two 8 cubic foot machines whose listed weights agree to a tenth of a pound. Matching figures are not proof that the machines are the same, but they are a reason to compare on what differs, which is usually price, warranty and the accessories in the box.

Power and price band follow the two sizes

18 of the 24 tumble dryers state a wattage in the title. 8 state 850 watts, and of those that also state a drum, 5 of 5 are at 1.6 cubic feet or smaller. 5 state 1500 watts, and of those that also state a drum, 3 of 4 are at 3.4 cubic feet or more. That is the clearest sign in the class that the two sizes are different machines and not one range. Price bands are on record for 14 of the 24: 6 in $75–200 and 8 in $200–500. Of the 3 machines at 3.4 cubic feet or more with a band, 3 are in the higher one, and of the 6 at 1.6 or less, 4 are in the lower. A band is a range, not a price, and it moves; read it as a tendency.

Mounting, venting and drying time

The listings say more about where a portable dryer goes than about how well it dries. 14 of the 24 tumble dryers say in their text that they can be wall-mounted or bracketed, and 12 mention a vent hose, pipe or exhaust connector that comes with the machine. A dryer that vents needs somewhere for hot, damp air to go, and the listings that say nothing about it leave you to find out from the box. 4 mention a moisture sensor, and 9 state a 140 degree Fahrenheit maximum. Drying time is where the class is thinnest: 6 give a range of minutes, such as 30 to 200 or a 20 to 200 minute timer, and none gives a time for a stated load, which is the figure you would plan a wash day around.

Noise is the figure the class leaves out. One of the 27 states a level, 62 dB on a single listing, so there is no way to compare the dryers on noise from their pages.

How to use this

• Compare on cubic feet, which agree between sources, and treat any pound figure as unusable unless it says wet or dry;
• Expect two sizes. 1.5 cubic feet, 850 watts and around 17 kilograms; or 3.5 cubic feet, 1500 watts and 22 to 26;
• Check what the product is. 3 of the 27 in this class are a spin dryer or a hanging heater, not a tumble dryer;
• Look for what differs when two listings match, because the figures that match are probably shared;
• to narrow by your own answers, use the laundry finder; to read one machine in full, use the finder, which links every result to its review.

Figures are the manufacturers’, as published on each listing and quoted in our reviews; none was measured by us. How we work · Affiliate disclosure