It can be hard to sort the winners from the wet blankets when it comes to finding the best clothes dryer for your home.
Dry hard: Our experts have tested clothes dryers for years in our dedicated lab.
And if you pick poorly, you'll cop bigger power bills because dryers are energy-hungry appliances.
Here at CHOICE, we don't want anyone to be left high and dry by average products, so our experts meticulously test the most popular clothes dryers on the market in our labs.
We evaluate key indicators including drying time and energy efficiency, and we analyse and compare features, running costs, noise levels and more – basically, everything you need to know to choose the best clothes dryer for your needs.
We don't want you to end up with a dud buy, so here are the products that scored lowest in our lab tests. Consider becoming a CHOICE member to see the best performers.
It might be cheap but this Bosch's energy use will leave you anything but cheerful.
Bosch WQG24200AU
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 63%
- RRP: $1499
Just under $1500 is actually pretty cheap for a heat pump dryer, but in this case it's a false economy: you might pay less upfront, but you'll pay twice as much in running costs for this Bosch compared to other heat pump dryers.
But this doesn't mean you need to spend big to pick up a good heat pump dryer.
Three of the top scoring dryers in our review cost just a little more than this one, and you can probably find them on sale for around the same price or less.
Just under $1500 is actually pretty cheap for a heat pump dryer, but in this case it's a false economy
While at first glance this machine appears to be pretty energy efficient, it needs to run for much longer than other models to do the job – a huge 232 minutes, which is almost four hours – so it ends up using more power per load than other heat pump dryers.
Instead of buying this dud, you could take out a CHOICE membership, buy a top scoring dryer and come out ahead financially in the long run.
Whichever way you look at it, the numbers just don't add up for this Bosch.
Read the full Bosch WQG24200AU review.
The Bosch WTH83001AU: more than three hours per cycle.
Bosch WTH83001AU
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 67%
- RRP: $1399
We can't say for certain what the "WTH" in the model number of this Bosch dryer stands for, but there's a possibility that it means 'what the heck??', which is exactly what you might find yourself saying if you buy this machine.
It takes more than three hours to dry a load of laundry (compared to around 110 minutes for top scoring dryers), and costs more than twice as much as some dryers to run.
It takes more than three hours to dry a load of laundry and costs more than twice as much as some dryers to run
At $1399, it's reasonably priced for a heat pump dryer, but a number of machines around the $1000 mark performed better in our testing, and some are even recommended by our experts.
You'd be much better off with those extra hundred dollar bills in your pocket, so check our reviews to make sure you're buying a decent dryer before you drop this kind of money.
Read the full Bosch WTH83001AU review.
This Beko will dry your clothes slowly, and for twice the cost per load as other models.
Beko BDPB904HW
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 67%
- RRP: $1599
We might be sounding like a broken record by now, but this Beko is another overpriced disappointment, with an agonisingly long cycle time of 208 minutes making it the second slowest in our test (after the Bosch WQG24200AU).
And just like the models mentioned above, it costs more to dry a load than some of the models we recommend – about twice as much in fact.
This Beko is another overpriced disappointment, with an agonisingly long cycle time of 208 minutes
It may fall at the cheaper end of the price range for heat pump dryers, but with running costs this high you have to wonder whether it's really worth it.
And when several top scoring models cost around the same at the till but far less over time to run, there are far better options than this.
Read the full Beko BDPB904HW review.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
