I was sceptical about 'ion conditioning', thinking it was just a gimmick. I tried it out in an admittedly unscientific experiment, by parting my hair and drying one side with the ion conditioning on and the other side with it off. The side I dried with the ions on was really much smoother and silkier, it looked shiny and felt soft. The side dried without ions had the usual post-blow dry feel, coarse and rough with no shine. So the ions do seem to have a genuine and noticeable effect.
The drier itself is attractive in black and gold, but I do find it very heavy and the handle is quite thick and chunky, it's not comfortable to hold for very long. I only finish off my hair with the drier though after leaving it to dry naturally, so I don't hold the drier for long. For longer periods of use, it may be uncomfortable and give you arm ache. I also find it really noisy, and to be honest I couldn't use it for very long anyway because it feels like it's giving me a headache after a few minutes. I haven't had it very long, just a couple of weeks, and I'm starting to think wistfully of a less powerful, low noise drier.