A Dyson in Hooverland

[hoover1060]

Ok so I was curious, and thanks to Fred N. I have a chance to play with a Dyson DC07 Animal.
Previous experience with bagless machines: a Dirt Devil Platinum force, and a Hoover EmPower.
I have used the Dyson two weekends in a row, and emptied it after each use.

Likes:
Pushes easy
reasonably quiet(compared to a Windtunnel)
long cord
upholstrey nozzle
tool suction
The small brush roller grooms the carpet better than I thought it would, AND it will sweep a rubber back scatter rug without inhaling it...BUT*

Dislikes:
wimpy brush roll*
bagless(it leaks dirt)
tool setup is tedious
No carrying handle
Doesen't fit under a bed/dresser/chair
no headlight
suction to carpet is right over the belt guard

This is just a parital list. Anyone else used one of these have any comments?

 

[hoover1060]

What it picked up...

Don't want to gross anyone out, but this is what came off my floors/furniture in one vacuuming. Jack sheds alot, and working 50+ hours a week I don't vacuum nearly as often as I should.
This is about what the DD and the EmPower picked up as well.

 

[hoover1060]

the astericks*****

A year ago my neighbor bought this same model Dyson, convinced it was a wonder vacuum, and would solve his household drudgery.
In a house with 2 long hair cats and two dogs, the Dyson gagged on all the hair, clogging repeatedly.
That machine went back to the store.
Here's what the brush roll in this Dyson looks like after 2 weeks of use in my house. It doesen't swallow all Jack's hair...
This is NO animal!!

 

[tolivac]

another criticism-uses that misable "side Hose" airpath-when are the vac makers going to ditch this-the center hose feed to the floor nozzle is MUCH better-that alone would improve the Dyson drastically.And make the hoses on the Dyson larger bore to make better use of its powerful motor-they are starving its airflow with the small hose and attachment openings.there is a carrying handle on top of the cyclones over the dust cup-but its awkward-meant for carrying the dustbin assembly only.CU is right-if you try to use the handle to carry the whole machine-a misplaced thumb will cause the body of the machine to fall away-probably right on your foot!!Yes the body of the machine is too large to allow it to fit under furniture.And its heavy on your hand and wrist.The upper body of the machine is HEAVY.I do think the Dyson is the better of the bagless machines-At least their filters take MUCH longer to clog than the other bagless vacs.

 

[petek]

Well it just looks silly and in over 10 years I've never had to dethatch or replace the brushroll in my Hoover PowerMax

 

[filterflo14]

I have tried a Dyson

I got so confused The hose got clogged it took me a half hour to unlog it and it was only paper from a shredder. they say a dyson doesn't loose suction but thats because it doesn't have much to begin with.

 

[gansky1]

In addition to the cons listed, I don't like the confusing parts of the machine, all plastic (not out of the norm for most new vacs today) and finding a clog in the winding air path can be a lesson in patience! Reassembling the vac is a puzzle. The wimpy brush roll is prone to pulling in most any edge, corner or fringe of rugs causing the brush roll to stop turning and making a very annoying grinding noise. I can only imagine what this does to the geared belt and the (undoubtedly) plastic gear that turns it. For the money spent on a Dyson, you could buy much better.

 

[hoover1060]

For the Money spent on a Dyson....

You could have an Airway, or a metal Royal upright, either of which will sweep circles around a Dyson!

 

[tolivac]

The picture of the hair twined around the brushroll of the Dyson "animal" reminds me of when I got my DC07 from the local Kirby dealer(they got it as a trade in towards a Kirby Diamond G)Its beater bar was twnied with hair,string,thread-had to get out the heavy duty scissors to cut it loose.than that Dyson worked better.Its tiny brushroll INVITES hair and stuff to wrap around it.At least it had flat sides for the shears to ride against while cutting it free of the stuff.I can see why paper shredder clippings would clog the Dyson small bore hose!!Its less than an inch in diameter at the attachment cuff!!I can prove to Dyson owners that a Kirby,Classic Royal,Riccar Radiance will DEFINETLY OUTCLEAN the Dyson.and the hoses on those machines are more useful as well and don't clog as easily.Don't mind dismounting the floor tool on the Kirby or disconnecting the belt on the Royal.Yes The Royal and Riccar-and even the Kirby is a better buy than the Dyson-can see why the DC07 was traded in-was the yellow "All Floors" model.

 

[hoover1060]

I'm not surprised that the brush catches so much hair, thats gotta be the smallest brush roll I have ever seen, and the SPIRAL of it does not help either.
The Dyson brush is spiraled from the center out, one side moves dirt away from the suction all together.
If he'd have done this with CENTER suction, with a brush spiraled to the center, the tangling would be minimal.

 

[maytagbear]

Innocent question, o vacuum guys

Are metal Royals still made? If so, where can they be found, or is a metal Royal a vintage Royal?

Sincerely,

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[westytoploader]

No Animals here!

Cool Dyson, and I like the color scheme and one-touch bin emptying, and it seems to hold quite a bit compared to the other machines, but they need to work on dog-hair performance with that brushroll! When I tested one out, I thought the DC07 was a somewhat whiny machine, especially compared to the DC15 Ball (which was whisper-quiet).

I'd like to see how the DC15 Animal performs with the "refined" brushroll...of course one of these days curiosity will get the best of me and I'll end up ordering one! I haven't checked Best Buy lately, but last time I checked (Bed Bath & Beyond as well) they only had the DC15 All Floors, not the Animal. They did have all versions of the DC07 though.

--Austin

 

[westytoploader]

Oops...almost forgot!

Hi Lawrence, believe it or not the classic Royal design is still being produced! Those metal Royals are great machines, and look much heavier than they really are...in reality they're actually quite light due to the cast-aluminum design. Here's the site.

One final note: Don't get these all-metal uprights confused with the PowerCast models, which are more expensive and have too much plastic on them for me...

http://www.royalvacuums.com/

 

[tolivac]

Metal Royals are still made---but built in China-don't know how long these would hold up-Wonder if they will hold as as long as the older ones-some Dealers dropped them because of the uncertain of the Chinese built ones-I have one-its nice-but the US ones are better.think the US brushrolls and motors are better-I have a chinese one and the brushroill Already shows some wear-haven't used it much-just bought it a month ago.At this point I would hunt for the "vintage" US built Royals-the ones with the motor brush caps on the outside of the motor housing are the best.The motors in those can be rebuilt easily.

 

[hoover1060]

I have a Royal

Model 2028, US built from 2002. It works very well.

Austin:
I played with the Dyson Ball at Sears, I don't like the small diameter hose/wand/tools, and the brush roll/nozzle setup is dreadful. Theres about 1/3 of the brush that recieves no suction becaus of the belt...it scatters dirt about like the dual brush rolled Hoover V2 cleaners did.
Don't waste your money on Dyson... if you must, check Overstock.com...

 

[maytagbear]

Thanks, everyone--

for the information about contemporary Royals.

I'm not yet ready to add another vacuum to my "collection" of two, but soon.

You may get me hooked yet!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Wait a second....I thought that British guy

"spent thousands of hours perfecting" this vacuum cleaner, or so says the ads. Let me get this straight from the authors here.

This vacuum has a flimsy roller, leaks dirt, clogs, is difficult to unclog, and is really expensive. Wow, now that sounds like a bargain.

I think I will stick with my 10 year old Eureka Victory. It's plastic, it has no light, I think it was about $125, probably does not have near the pickup that the vintage ones do or others that collectors here have, but it seems to suit me well and has never broken. I can't complain.

 

[chachp]

HYLA Vacuum .. not to change the subject )!

Anyone have one? I bought one about six months ago and like it so far. With regard to the hair, the salesman told us to look at the brush and notice a line or kind of an indent in the roller. He said just take a pair of scissors and cut the hair along that line and switch the machine on. He said it would just suck up the hair from the roller and it really does work.

I never thought I'd give up my Rainbow but this machine is pretty nice and it has lots of suction to spare!

 

[hoover1060]

British guy

Yeah, he spent years and thousands of prototypes to perfect his vacuum cleaner...for the UK/European market.

Where not many people have 1/2 inch plush carpeting,
homes are much smaller,
there are more bare floors/area rugs...

Dyson designed his brush rolls to clean European homes. He wanted something that wouldn't "tear up the rugs"
Problem is his cleaner doesen't deep clean them either.
At the VCCC convention in LA last June we used two "control" vacuums for the cleaning contest, one a Dyson, the other a bagless Hoover Windtunnell. After each contestant we vacuumed the test rug with the Dyson, then the Hoover. The test dirt mixture was sand, talc, and Capture carpet cleaner.
The Dyson would get talc and capture, but no sand. Following the Dyson with the Hoover WT, it would mainly just have sand in it...
The British guy still has a ways to go...