Review on 🧴 Moen Voss Collection Hair Dryer Holder in Brushed Nickel Finish: YB5170BN by Sue Taylor

Forty years ago I purchased a wall mounted soap dish, a decorative chrome and white porcelain base with a raised white ring to hold the tempered glass soap dish over my sink. I wanted my wife to use it so it didn't get in the way of the hair dryer and despite the small ring diameter it held the hair dryer as we intended. Something has always bothered me that the nozzle of the hair dryer only protruded 2 cm through the wall bracket ring, but never fell out and I couldn't find any wall brackets for hair dryers at the time. When we remodeled the bathroom I found that there are now wall mount hair dryers that go better with our new fixtures than my old makeshift soap dish wall mount. old wall mount So I bought this Moen unit and installed it this morning. The Moen block mounts just like the old block - drill a few holes, add some drywall anchor expansion tanks, screw the base to the anchors, slide the wall bracket over the base, secure the bracket with the one attached below adjusting screw. But the devil is in the details: The old unit came with plastic anchors that screwed directly into the drywall with a Phillips screwdriver without drilling. The base was straight and square so it was easy to use a spirit level to make sure it was true. The base used a slotted steel system to prevent the decorative holder from dangling from the base and was secured with a bottom attachment set screw. And the decorative holder was of thick metal, chromed, with white porcelain fittings and thick white enamel edging. All decorative details were thick, well rounded and polished - nothing was scratched. The Moen unit is supplied with expansion nut anchors which require drilling for installation. All 4 sides of the base mount are curved, so you can't use a spirit level to make sure the mount is correct. The base is a cast metal bracket with a lug that slides into a vacant recess in the decorative bracket and is (somewhat) held in place only by the pressure of the lower mounting screw. The base of the decorative holder is relatively thin metal, not really structural, just an enclosure that conceals a cast metal rod that supports everything on the wall base. The dryer retaining ring is covered with a gray self-adhesive rubber sheet to prevent scratching the dryer. This sheet metal was - at least with the block that I received - applied in such a way that the inlay had waves. Also, the sticky edge of the sheet protruded beyond the metal ring and had to be trimmed with an X-acto knife to keep the dryer from sticking. Once assembled, after all the screws in the wall brackets and on the set screw on the base plate were tightened, there was enough play in the base to decorative cover attachment system to have a very slight squeaking noise and a tiny fraction of the visual movement of the bracket when it was in place Inserting and removing the hair dryer. I could probably take the mount apart and run a base to get the game out, but the noise and movement are so negligible that I'll wait and see how well it holds up to everyday use before returning to fix the so-so design. This contraption looks more modern than my old improvisation. However, in my opinion, it was not optimally designed or manufactured. The curved sides of the wall-mounted base plate make leveling difficult and the metal lip of the pot on the base does not fit snugly within the decorative casing. And the glued rubber insert in the retaining ring was badly glued and had to be shortened. Yes it looks good, will probably stick to the wall and hold a new style blow dryer with a large nozzle. However, it is not as well made and of high quality as a 40-year-old soap holder. When I saw the difference I left the old unit to give to one of my kids who still uses dryers with small diameter nozzles. (The ones that cost $10-$20, as opposed to the new fancy dryers that cost half a day!) If you have dryers with smaller nozzles, Revain has soap holders that should fit a half-price Moen hairdryer . . (I saw a reviewer use "XVL Stainless Steel Wall Mounted Soap Holder Brushed G502 - $16" as a mount for his Google Wi-Fi device!)