What’s really strange to me is that every oven and every toaster oven I’ve ever owned has a connection setting. So people are buying these huge space-consuming appliances to do something that they can already do with what they have in their house.
The convection is much stronger than on a regular oven, as someone who has a full sized convection oven, toaster oven with convection, and air fryer.
Also you would have to use a mesh or rack with a cookie sheet on a lower shelf to expose the bottom of the food to the moving air in your oven without drips sticking.
If you’ve tried both, you would see what I mean.
Believe me, I thought the exact same thing until we were gifted one, so i get the skepticism! The convection bake setting on my oven is just not even comparable to a $75 air fryer.
As another commenter posted, air fryers use a much more intense airflow. It’s nuts just how much faster and crisper things like chicken thighs and frozen snacks come out compared to the oven.
Not every oven has a convection setting. I’d go so far as to say most rentals don’t. Every (electric) oven does have a broil setting. But for some reason you seem to think buying a toaster oven (a small broiler) is fine but an air fryer (a small convection oven) is strange? And an air fryer is “huge”? Are you confused about what an air fryer is? It’s like once square foot of countertop space at most.