Travel Gear Dryer Doubles as Hair Dryer: Hedgehog GO Review

As I was taking off my snowboard boots after a quick morning uphill, a certain smell wafted up toward my face. Even in the fresh air, I could tell my boots were hot and a bit rank. Thankfully, I had been testing the Hedgehog GO boot dryer, which is small, powerful, and, curiously, also doubles as a regular hair dryer. 

The Hedgehog GO has two attachments that are easy to interchange on the base: a motor and a fan. One attachment has two flexible and extendable hoses for drying boots, gloves, and other wet gear. The other attachment is smaller and turns the base into a regular hair dryer. 

Now, I don’t necessarily need a dryer that works for gear and my hair. But GearJunkie previously reviewed the larger, wall-mounted Hedgehog Buddy i3 Boot and Glove Dryer and loved it. This gadget also made Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025 list, so I had to try it out.

I got a sample, headed to ski country, and started testing.

In short: The Hedgehog GO boot dryer ($170) is a travel-sized gear dryer that doubles as a hair dryer. With two lightweight attachments, you can easily toggle between drying your gear with flexible, long hoses for deep boots or drying your hair, too. There are plenty of heat and airflow settings. Compared to other boot dryers, it is a bit pricey, but it will get plenty of use, especially if your weekends are filled with overnights in ski country. 

Hedgehog GO Boot Dryer Review

Testing the Hedgehog GO

I typically snowboard twice a week, so I had ample opportunities to use the Hedgehog GO Boot Dryer. It dried my mittens, gloves, and snowboard boots on a weekly basis.

To test the Hedgehog GO as a hair dryer, I used it a few times a week. My hair is very thick and curly, and drying it out is not my favorite task. I also compared the Hedgehog’s drying time to that of my regular Revlon blow dryer. Overall, I wanted to see whether the Hedgehog GO performed better as a boot dryer or a hair dryer, or if it was decent at both. 

Construction

The base handle and the two attachments are made from durable plastic. While it feels like it could hold up in a suitcase, if you dropped the Hedgehog GO from a counter, I do think it could crack or break.

The retractable hoses are flexible and easy to manipulate. After multiple uses, there’s no wear and tear on them. They’re quite thick and seem durable enough to last multiple seasons. 

The dryer uses a fire-safe ceramic heating element and a brushless motor for fast drying. It packs plenty of air pressure. The base is 8 inches long and includes the cord, plug, and timing and heat settings. And the power cord is more than 6 feet long, so reaching an outlet is easy.

Heat & Time Settings

The Hedgehog GO can be very dialed in for drying needs. You can adjust the heat, the timer, as well as the fan speed.

The timer can be set to 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes, while the fan speed has three settings: quiet, medium, and high. The heat ranges from no heat to 98 degrees F, 113 degrees F, and up to 140 degrees F.

Usage & Performance

As a Gear Dryer

Using the dryer is fairly easy. The two attachments can be interchanged and connected with Hedgehog’s twist-and-connect construction. All of Hedgehog’s dryers are compatible with Hedgehog Wall and Hanger adapters. 

Once a top is twisted on, simply choose which heat and time setting you want. For boot or gear drying, place your boots next to each other and extend the hoses deep into the boots. The base and cord will rest between the two boots.

Compared with other high-quality boot dryers that use both heat and fans, the GO offers much higher speed and temperature, but is comparable in power.   

With the timing settings, it was nice to be able to turn it on, leave it, and forget about it. Honestly, though, it is quite loud, and I wouldn’t necessarily be able to forget it was on, even if it was in another room. When on the highest fan, it measured at about 88 decibels, the same as a hair dryer, and much louder than other boot dryers, which normally range from 50 to 60 decibels. 

As a Hair Dryer

To use as a hair dryer, swap your attachment and set your speed and temperature. Hair dryers combine power, speed, and pressure to overall lessen drying time. As a hair dryer, the GO has less power than a traditional one but offers more pressure and speed, according to the technical specs.

Even though the GO has a higher speed and pressure than a traditional dryer, the low power makes for not the most efficient tool. Because it isn’t the most powerful, I’d recommend sectioning your hair (especially if you have thick hair) to get targeted airflow. 

Room for Improvement

As a boot dyer, the Hedgehog GO performed well (if somewhat slowly).

As a hair dryer, it will not replace my daily driver. A regular hair dryer usually ranges from 1,200 to 1,800 W, whereas the GO is just 700 W. It took about 6 minutes longer than my go-to home hair dryer (which is many years old and is not high-quality). This would be a much more effective tool if it had a more powerful fan.

However, I can fully appreciate the dual-purpose machine and will continue to take it on weekend trips. Especially when I’m not sure whether an Airbnb will have a hair dryer or if I have limited packing space but need my boots to be warm and dry by the next morning. 

Hedgehog GO Boot Dryer: Conclusion

Is this a necessary gadget? Not really. But will you use it? For sure, especially if you often take ski trips. The gear dryer is easy to pack, relatively durable, and very reliable for drying gear or warming up cold boots and gloves in the morning after you accidentally left them in the car overnight.

With three heat settings and three fan settings, the dryer was very efficient and completely dried out my boots and gloves in about 10 minutes. Because it uses heat and a fan, it was also a key tool for warming up my gear in the morning.

As a hair dryer, the Hedgehog GO was just so-so. I have very thick hair, and it took significantly longer to fully dry my locks with the GO versus my regular hair dryer. 

While it hasn’t replaced my daily hair dryer, the dual-use also means no freezing hair post-hot tub. Plus, its small, slim size means it can easily fit in a carry-on for any travel (not just winter trips).