CHI Touch 2 Hair Dryer Review

The Chi Touch 2 touchscreen hairdryer is a great hairdryer for all the wet-haired techies out there. While it is exciting to use such an interactive hairdryer, it’s still important to make sure that it does the basic task it’s supposed to do–dry hair efficiently. We decided to dive in and do an in-depth Chi Touch 2 review and from our analysis, we rated it 4.5 stars. Keep reading to find out about all the hype around this fantastic hairdryer.

We liked:

  • Comes with a diffuser as well as a concentrator attachment.
  • The touchscreen is in color and a nice size.
  • The ability to control the amount of ions flowing means you can the perfect amount of body or sleekness.
  • Has an extremely fast drying time.

We didn’t like:

  • Hard to use the touchscreen with wet hands.
  • Difficult to adjust settings while in use since the screen is on the top of the hairdryer.
  • It’s pretty heavy–typical of a CHI hairdryer.
  • Can’t be used internationally.

Features of the Chi Touch 2 Hairdryer

Touchscreen

The touchscreen is probably the biggest stand out feature on the hairdryer. After all, it’s the feature that is causing the most hype. It’s a generous 2.4-inch full-color display that allows you to easily select your settings. The screen is sharp, clear, and has a high contrast so you can clearly see words, icons, and options.

Options and Controls

Gone are the boring days of choosing between two or three heat settings and/or speed settings. The Chi Touch 2 has 39 levels for heat, speed, ions, and the cool shot. We don’t mean 39 combined levels. Each separate option has its own 39 levels. That’s a lot of customization–more than any hairdryer currently on the market. While sorting through 39 levels may seem tedious, the touchscreen makes it easy. You can change the levels with just a swipe of your finger.

Hands-Free Drying

The Chi Touch 2 has been uniquely designed to stand up on its own. The back of the hairdryer is flat so it can be propped up so that the hairdryer has a diagonal hair flow. This can allow hands-free drying of your hair, making it even easier to style your hair as you dry.

Is The CHI Touch 2 Any Good?

As stated in the beginning of the guide, we rated the Chi Touch 2 hairdryer a 4.5 out of five stars. We rated the hairdryer based on hairdryer criteria and averaged them out, giving us 4.5 stars. Here are the individual criteria along with simple explanations for the ratings.

Ease Of Use – 3.5
The hairdryer is heavy and the way the screen is set up makes it a bit time consuming to change settings if the hairdryer is in use.

Durability – 5
This hairdryer is a high-quality product. It looks expensive and feels expensive. It’s obvious that excellent craftsmanship was involved.

Heat Output – 5
This dryer has 39 levels of heat. Enough said.

Price – 4
The price of this hairdryer is going to set you back. The average price is over $300 which is very expensive for a hairdryer. However, we expect it to be expensive due to the innovative features.

Options (settings) – 5
All options have 39 levels. Again, enough said.

Power – 4.5
The power level (1875 watts) on this hairdryer is at a great level for an ionic hairdryer, however, having at least 2000 watts may have been a better choice to support 39 levels of heat output.

Our CHI Touch 2 Review

After describing all of the great features of the hairdryer, you can probably guess what our bottom-line opinion is on this hairdryer. Overall, we think this is one of the best hairdryers out there. Sure it’s expensive–it’s right up there with the Dyson Supersonic–but the features make it worth every dollar (if it’s in your budget). Here is a break down of what we think about the hairdryer.

Hi-Tech, Modern Controls

When you first turn on your Chi Touch 2, you can easily and quickly navigate through the controls and set them to your preference. But if you need to change anything, it becomes tedious to constantly have to flip through menus. First off, the hairdryer is on the top of the hairdryer so even if you were to get used changing the controls without looking at them (not likely), you can’t reach it without stopping the hair drying process and holding the dryer down.

You also have to stop in order to use the cool shot option. Instead of just pressing a button and getting your cool “shot”, you’ve got to flip through menus to get a cool “flow”. Constantly having to stop and change the settings can actually increase the time it takes to dry your hair. Maybe this is something that Chi can work on for the third generation dryer.

Handling the Chi Touch 2

The Chi Touch 2 is designed with an ergonomic handle to make it easier to hold the hairdryer. You also don’t have to worry about accidentally pressing buttons on the handle because there aren’t any there. This leaves you free to grip the hairdryer as light or as tight as you want.

The weight of the hairdryer is a bit of a concern. All of Chi’s hairdryers are on the heavy side and the Touch 2 is no exception. At 2.3 lbs., you might get fatigued pretty quickly. It’s a good thing that this hairdryer works fast.

How Does The CHI Touch 2 Compare?

Chi Touch 2 vs. Dyson Supersonic

For a while, the Dyson Supersonic was the premier high-tech hairdryer available. The Chi Touch 2 is now giving it a run for the money. Dyson is high-tech in a different way than the Chi Touch 2 is. It doesn’t have a touchscreen but it does have insurmountable quality that other hairdryers can’t touch. When choosing between these two, it really depends on which technology you want, not necessarily what they can do (because they can both do a lot).

Both hairdryers are computerized. The Dyson has heat-monitoring technology. The Chi Touch 2 has this also plus more. Besides this, they don’t have much else in common. Below is a quick comparison chart for the differences in the two hairdryers.

 

CHI Touch 2

Dyson Supersonic

Watts

1875

1600

Technology

Ionic

Ionic

Heat/Speed Settings

39 Heat

39 Speed

4 Heat

3 Speed

Cool Shot

Yes

Yes

Weight

2.4 lbs.

1.8 lbs.

Warranty

2 years

2 years

Cord Length

11 ft.

9 ft.

Chi Touch 2 vs. Parlux Advance Light

The Parlux Advance Light is another technology-forward hairdryer although it isn’t as good as the Chi Touch 2. The Parlux is suitable for people with wrist problems or who holds hairdryers for long periods of time because they’ve packed a whopping 2200 watts into a hairdryer that weighs less than one pound. The two hairdryers are very different from each other, including in price. The Parlux Advance is significantly less than the Chi Touch 2 although it’s still in the three digits figure. We’ve provided a quick comparison chart below.

 

CHI Touch 2

Parlux Advance Light

Watts

1875

2200

Technology

Ionic

Ionic

Heat/Speed Settings

39 Heat

39 Speed

2 Heat

2 Speed

Cool Shot

Yes

Yes

Weight

2.4 lbs.

.64 lbs.

Warranty

2 years

1 year

Cord Length

11 ft.

9 ft.

Chi Touch 2 vs. Chi Air Vibe

The Chi Air Vibe has now been discontinued.

The Chi Touch series is sort of like an “upgrade” to the Chi Air Vibe. Comparing these two hairdryers is like comparing green apples to red apples. They have a lot of similarities and the differences are subtle. Both hairdryers have flat backs for hands-free drying, touchscreens, and 11-foot long power cords.

If you don’t have $300 in your budget but you still want a touchscreen hairdryer, you could opt for the Chi Air Vibe. It has slightly fewer features and options, but still enough to be considered innovative. Keep in mind that the Air Vibe is heavier than the Chi Touch 2. The chart below has some of the differences.

 

CHI Touch 2

CHI Air Vibe

Watts

1875

1800

Screen Size

2.4″

3″

Heat/Speed Settings

39 Heat

39 Speed

17 Heat

17 Speed

Cool Shot

Yes

Yes

Weight

2.4 lbs.

3 lbs.

Warranty

2 years

2 years

Conclusion

If you are a person that likes to keep up with the latest in technology, the Chi Touch 2 hairdryer is a perfect choice. Not only is it technologically advanced, but it’s a great hairdryer. It’s suitable for most hair types but it is expensive.