Review (5/5): Cool dryer!
I like this hair dryer. I chose it because it uses less energy than most (1200 W) and I've been trying to reduce our bill. However, I got more than I hoped for. It also is a much cooler hair dryer. Generally hair dryers use some combination of two methods for drying: heat and air speed. This one has a more powerful fan but cooler heat settings than other dryers I've used. It dries really quickly without heating up the entire bathroom. I like that, especially in the summer. There's nothing worse than sweating off your makeup while trying to dry your hair.
My natural hair is thick, fine, mostly straight, and shoulder length. This dryer does a good job with drying and styling as long as I keep brushing as I dry. Otherwise the powerful fan can tangle it.
The description says it has two heat settings, but it also has a third temperature setting which is no heat at all. There are two speeds and it comes with a diffuser and two different sizes of concentrator nozzles. It weighs 1.3 pounds and doesn't tire my arm out. I used a sound meter to measure the volume and it measured at 63 decibels, about the sound of normal conversation at three feet. For comparison I also measured my old Conair dryer and it was 73 decibels, about the sound of busy traffic. So, the Xtava was definitely quieter. The cord is long and thick so it makes storage a little more challenging and it definitely doesn't make a good travel dryer. However, overall I am very satisfied with this dryer.