Chi is no stranger to the world of curling wands, and the Chi Digital Orbit 3-in-1 is their latest product to be released onto the market. Chi are known as a premium supplier of wands, and this one is no exception. Is it worth the hefty asking price, or will you be better of with another brand? Read our review to find out more.
Product Features:
This Chi curling wand is the newest addition to their ever growing product range, and is also the priciest wand we have looked at so far. With a rather weighty retail price of just over $250, it is the Rolls-Royce of curling wands. It comes with all the modern features of the top range curling wands, and is aimed at creating a variety of different styles.
The unit itself has bright orange barrels, with a shiny black handle and tip. This is quite different to most of the wands we have looked at so far, but it is certainly a fresh and refreshing change. There are three barrels for you to choose from here such as the small 3/4″, the medium 1″ and the larger 1.25″ barrel. All of them heat up very quickly as is to be expected. The temperature can reach up to 410F which is normal for a top range curling wand. The smaller barrel is tapered to create tight ringlets, and the other two barrels are straight. They are made out of ceramic, and utilize “Flash Quick Heating” technology. Thanks to this the barrels heat up very fast, so you can be ready to curl in no time.
The handle is another important aspect to consider, and Chi have clearly done a good job here. The handle has an ergonomic design, and feels very nice and agile to use. It is a very comfortable fit in your hand, and felt very natural to use after some time of testing the model. The Chi hair wand itself is very light, but certainly feels like it is strong and well made. On the handle is a digital lcd, and the buttons for the temperature controls aren’t overly exposed to prevent accidental changes while using it. The lcd can be configured to displayed in Celsius or Fahrenheit which is a nice little touch. It can also be programmed to set a desired auto shut down time, which is a feature we are seeing more often on the newer wands.
Attached to the end of the wand is a swivel cord, which once again seems to be a common feature these days on all the high end curling wands. We’re assuming the cord is heat resistant too, although there is no mention of this on the packaging.
The price tag may be linked to the usage of “Chi 44” technology, which claims to offer the best heat distribution technology in a curling wand. At the heart of the Chi 44 technology are digital controls which help to keep the temperature constant to produce the best curls. It all sounds very promising, but is this new technology worth splashing out so much money on?
We can safely say that we did have some really nice results with the Chi curling wand, but the difference wasn’t that noticeable from other top end wands. The results were very impressive, but at the end of the day we aren’t entirely convinced that these claimed benefits are really worth such a large sum of money. We found the results quite hard to distinguish when compared to the results from a Cortex wand (which is considerably cheaper), so it might be better to save your money and look at investing in a cheaper set which will give you very similar results. Perhaps the benefits are more aimed towards a professional environment where the ultimate results is required, but for the average home user the results you get from a cheaper curler won’t be that noticeable from the results you get from this Chi hair wand.
The warranty is a little on the disappointing side, with only a one year warranty as standard. With such a high price, we had hoped Chi would be more prepared to stand behind their product.
Pros:
- Produces great results
- 3 barrels to create different sizes
- Heats up fast
- Comfy and lightweight
- Fresh and unique look
Cons:
- Very expensive
- 1 year warranty
Summary:
The Chi curling wand has some nice features, and is great to work with. It produces fantastic results, however the price tag is too high for the average home user, and it simply can’t compare with some of the much cheaper competitor products. You can can check out it on Amazon over here, or alternatively look at our Reviews Section for some mroe affordable alternatives.
| Our Rating: |
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| 3 |