Many, many people in Europe have them. I have one.

They don't require ducting that needs to be cleaned and can be set up virtually anywhere. All items will dry at the same speed - thick and thin fabrics in one load doesn't matter. You can recycle the condensed water for flowers and such as it's very soft.

But: they take obviously longer to dry than US dryers with 5.000 watts (and more) elements, put heat into the room and a little bit of humidity, don't have the large capacity of US dryers, use more electricity (I read 10% more somewhere) and can be louder than vented dryers. I use my Bosch Axxis a lot and clean the condenser every couple of months. Takes two minutes - no big deal.

Alex

Oh, that sounds good, Alex!

My "US-sized" dryer is just too big for most of my laundry loads and does not do a good job with small loads.

And it drives me crazy that I need to dry sheets and towels separately from delicates as they would take forever on low heat.

I don't mind 10% more electricity usage as I air-dry most of our laundry anyway, except for sheets and large towels.

What about the quality?

Well, it depends on what you see as delicates. Silks and towels, for example, can't be dried in one load. The temp on a regular cycle can rise up to 160F. But you can dry lightweight items like synthetic tops and jeans in one load because the concerned will gradually lower the humidity level in the load. Lightweight fabrics will be kept damp, so to speak, until heavy items have dried as well.

Built quality is good. Probably not Miele but, as a college student, Miele is not in my budget. ;-)

Condenser, not concerned...

Had a Bosch Axxis condenser dryer for about a year and a half in our apartment. It did a very good job but did make things like towels very hot. We had it in a closet and while it was running the closet door had to remain open due to heat build up. The units were stacked with the dryer on top -- very handy. We have a king size bed and use bath sheets and it handled those well. Though like most of the Euro size dryers it balled up the sheets quite a bit.

Two things I didn't like about it was having to clean the filter which absolutely does require regular maintenance and collects a great deal of lint. Also, the dryer does not totally turn itself off when the cycle is finished -- that needs to be done manually.

Here're some video of my dryer. It does tangle my microfibre sheets like crazy and my sofa cover; anything else is just fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Playlist