Thoughts on Dyson Vacuum Cleaners

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washboy2005

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Joined
Aug 6, 2005
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Any body care to share their thoughts on Dyson's range of vacuum cleaners both past and present?

I currently own a Dyson DC03 vacuum cleaner and in all fairness it's well built, fairly reliable, however it does not live up to Dyson's "doesn't lose suction" motto, once the bin is about 1/2 full it starts to weaken in power.

Ive heard many arguments over the years of people who love Dyson's and people who hate them.

However when browsing through the Dyson UK website I came accross a new product from Dyson called "Dyson ConstantMax" this is dyson's first cleaner designed for commercial use. Anybody here think Dyson are wasting their time trying to get into the Commercial buisness?

Just a general wondering of mine!
 
I am

not a fan at all of bagless vacuums, and I am less of a fan of ugly, overpriced, hard to repair vacuums.

Your Milage May Vary.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Dyson only came to market here in Canada about 2 months ago and there hasn't been any fanfare adverts etc. In fact the stores I've seen them in they just exist alongside all the others at an exhorbitant price. I tried one out at Linen & Things and wasn't all that impressed, very plasticky for $500. I'm not a bagless fan either. I know my mom would hate it, too fussy and gimmicky. My gut feel is that it won't go anywhere here in Canada, for one thing people here are huge into central vacs and have been for 20+ years unlike the USA which is only now heading in that direction. All new home construction for at least the last 15 years has a central vac or is plumbed for one. The majority of people remodelling install one. You can buy a decent central vac here for about $700 at Sears and stand alone dealers are everywhere selling different brands.
 
Dyson

I have never used a Dyson other than at the VCCC Convention. It is the vacuum we use for the cleaning contest. I see several faults with the vacuum, first, it is just plain hard on the eyes and all plastic. Second, the attachments are not usable. The dusting brush, the bare floor tool and the upholstry tool are next to useless. I use the vacuum for everything, from dusting, to bare floors and vacuum the furniture every week as well. The turbo tool can be a little rough on the furniture so I don't like to use it all the time.

I also have allergies making empting a bagless machine that has the best filtration useless. Even being carefull it is hard not having the dirt coming back out into the air.

The brush roll is also a bit on the weak side. I can't imagine it would do well on the new berber carpets. Give me a Kirby, Royal, Electrolux G or better yet an Air-Way and I will put the Dyson to shame and have a vacuum that will last, look good, plus do everything I want it to do.

Just my opinion!
 
lets start with the *doesnt lose suction* gag. true, a direct-air vacuum (like Convertible) WILL loose suction as the pores in the bag clog. However, in a clean-air vacuum with a double layer bag, the suction loss is minimal. a Convertible with a clogged bag would prolly still clean as well as a Dyson. also, for the price range of the Dyson, i expect a heavy-duty motor, which you dont get. another thing to remember, ANY new vacuum with a brushroll will clean the SURFACE of the floor okay. the true test is the deeply buried dirt. i suspect a 1940's (300 watt) Hoover model 28 would sweep circles around a Dyson. simply take the brushroll of the Dyson of your choice, and put it next to a Hoover Windtunnel agitator, or a Hoover Convertible agitator. you be the judge. with the Dyson you pay for a dirt cup with a dash of flash and a side of gimmick. NOT a *vacuum cleaner*. IMHO (LOL)
 
I've used one, a DC07 Animal

In my house last fall. Overall I was surprised at its performance, it was much better than I thought it would be.
The hose/tools were easy to use, and that upholstry tool did a great job of removing dog hair from the couch and on my stairs.

The downside was the bin was messy to empty, and the tiny bruhs roller became tangled with dog hair pretty easily.
Overall a decent machine, but not worth the $500 they ask for them!
 
Just a couple of strongly-held notions keep me away.

1. No matter what kind of "ejector" system you have, bagless vacuums spread dust around when you empty them into the trash. I can't accept that. I even tape paper bags shut as soon as I take them out of the vacuum.

2. The Dyson ads make a big deal of "Facts" about suction. Fact: suction can't clean a carpet, otherwise I'd use my Shop-Vac. I'm suspicious of anyone who uses that kind of advertising.

There are about three dozen modern vacuums I'd sooner spend money on.
 
Old Dyson Good

Newer Dyson Bad

Mum has a DC03 which is now about 6 years old. Its a great upright, easy to manover, and it all just works as it should.

We have a current model Dyson Canister, and its crap. All it does is crash into furniture, the modern floor tool is painfull, and we have to almost bend double to keep the head on the carpet.

We've offered to swap with mum as she no longer has carpets, but we find that the hepa filter helps lots (Which hers doesnt have) so we just cant bring ourselves to swap.
 
i have a Dyson and its okay to use. It never seems to lose suction and i think the modern floor tool (which i use on my tile floors) is excellent (beats sweeping). When i first used it on my carpets i was amazed at how powerful it is and how great my carpets looked after. With all the dogs, pet hair used to be an issue with our previous vac (which was a Vax), it just seemed to shift the hair about leaving it in clumps. The dyson gets rid of it all and we have had no issue. I'm not a collector nor avid fan of vaccuums, my intrest is in washers mainly so i'm not bothered about how a vaccuum looks, feels etc. I only care that its a powerful sucker (omg, what a statement) and that it keeps my floors clean (which it does fantastically). The dyson ticks all these boxes and when its not being used its in the spare bedroom out of sight and out of mind.
*now he ducks and runs from all the angry Anti Dyson folk with their pitchforks and flaming torches at his front door*
Matt
P.S, Feel free to import the following picture into Paint and deface it as much as you like :P
I LOVE MY DYSON

5-26-2006-08-13-31--mattywashboy.jpg
 
Upright cleaner...

The first impression I had with a Dyson was at Best Buy shortly after they were intro'd into the U.S. market. I found the demo model on the sales shelf and it was covered in fine brown dust that had clearly been spit out of the cleaner. That's air filtration?

I have a client who has one (yellow - Root) and I've found the profile of the cleaner to large to get even an inch under a bed frame, let alone up close to other furniture, etc. I find the tools and hose difficult and fussy to convert and highly frustrating to pull out and get around a door frame or quickly do an edge of carpet or couch cushion - the hose is attached to the wand which also serves at the handle, forcing you contort your arms and body in such a way as to get the handle end down to the floor and by the time you do get it out and twisted around, the hose is kinked and there is no suction. The brush-roll is as described previously and when it gets close to a bit of fringe or edge of a rug - growls horribly from the cogged belt grinding on the undoubtedly plastic gears. Granted, I don't spend half the day playing with their vacuums, my job is to get the work done and make money so I usually end up bringing in my own Sanitaire and getting finished! The bad part of that is that the clients probably believe it's their own vac that is doing the good cleaning job and leaving nice lines on the carpet!

There are much better values for the $400-500. Go to a vac shop and buy a good Hoover or Eureka and take a long weekend holiday with what you save.
 
Wow more responses than I thought I would get Dyson does seem to have a lot of love/hate opinions concerning them!

Please keep em coming :-D

Below is a picture I made of dyson as its grown up lol

Take Care
Dan

http://www.dyson.com
5-26-2006-14-58-2--washboy2005.jpg
 
Well, I have to day that I have a DC14 Animal, and while I hated my DC03, so far so good this DC14 has been great, especially on dog hairs compared to an Electrolux POS we had for 2 weeks between the 03 and 14.

Tools all work fine... I have clean carpets, stands up to use & abuse, and the telescope tube is great.

I have to say, it's funny to see that the people who hate Dyson are usually the people who have never used one on a day to day basis.

Jon
 
feel i should add; many of the people who strongly dislike Dyson on message boards such as this one are VINTAGE appliance enthusiasts. and the Dyson is about as far from a vintage vacuum as you can get. vintage vacuum enthusiasts value things such as build materials and quality and classic appearance. and remember, most upright vacuums clean the surface of a carpet well. what dirt is buried is unseen. someone asked about the Dyson in commercial settings. the commercial cleaning industry gravitates toward DURABLE cleaners. and LOW MAINTENANCE cleaners. the uprights made by Sebo/Windsor are an excellent example. they are quite durable and sturdy. they are not good deep cleaners, but the carpet looks quite clean and on thin rugs they do well. if the Dyson was suitable for commercial settings it would have shown up there in good numbers by now. i am a vintage vacuum lover here. i used the Dyson *ball* model at the store. sure, it did a good surface sweeping job. the machine was also cumbersome to handle and the moving suction ducts and various seals looked treacherous. i am prejudiced in favor of a higher quality VINTAGE cleaner such as ones by Royal and the widely-acclaimed (and time tested) Hoover Convertible (Senior in the UK). David
 
also

here in the US, brands such as Riccar and Sebo and Lindhaus offer superior quality in the premium price range. in the lower price range, machines such as the Hoover Windtunnel offer superior carpet cleaning ability.
 
True, I'm not a vintage vacuum enthuasiast. But, on today's modern market at least here in the UK, the Dyson seems to beat all the rest. There are also the Sebo's, but what I didn't like about them was the hose, plus the fact you couldn't turn the beaters on and off. My point is, anyway, to me as an average consumer when it comes to a vacuum cleaner, the Dyson seemed the best you could buy and was well worth the £250. Although, in all fairness, I supposed me as a relative non-expert defending the Dyson to a vacuum enthuasiast is just about as bad as an average Joe defending his Indesit or Servis washer to me as a washing machine enthuasiast.

Have to admit I'm not a fan of the Dyson ball - I find the more traditional style DC14 better to handle, and of better general quality.

Jon
 
lavamat

please do defend the Dyson. we can all learn. just so there is not doubt, youre talking to someone who spent over 300 dollars on a vintage vacuum that weighs close to thirty lbs, is adaptable to only a narrow range of carpets and breathes generous amounts of fine dust in use, shows where MY priorities are! lol!
 
Hehehe. Well I must admit that I am somewhat on the fence with Dyson's, but this DC14 did sway me over to the Dyson side. I had a DC03 beforehand as I mentioned, and it was a load of rubbish!!

Now don't get me started on Dyson washers. Those *definitely* are a huge pile of marketing. "The new Dyson contrarotator has 2 drums, just to be different and to give us an excuse to give out a premium retail price even though for the same price you can get a Miele that not only washes and rinses better and is a hell of a lot quieter but will also last you more than 2 years".

Jon
 
Now don't get me started on Dyson washers. Those *definitely* are a huge pile of marketing. "The new Dyson contrarotator has 2 drums, just to be different and to give us an excuse to give out a premium retail price even though for the same price you can get a Miele that not only washes and rinses better and is a hell of a lot quieter but will also last you more than 2 years"

Can you tell I own a Miele? :-)
 
YUCK is the word you are looking for!

I would rather clean my carpet with a shovel than use this horrid piece of overpriced plastic. A good Hoover Convertible will CLEAN your rug not just blow it around. Who wants to empty it and revisit the dirt you worked so hard to get in the first place. I think the dyson is just a flash in the pan and will not last long except in the landfills across the globe...In the future they will unearth these and ponder what they were used for!

(ducks and runs!!!!)

--Tom

I have posted a picture of what a real carpet cleaner looks like. Yes they are vintage but they do CLEAN carpet!

(ducks again!)

5-26-2006-20-05-45--myhooverco.jpg
 
DC07 Animal

I had to have the DC07 because of the color. How insane is that? After using all the attachments or rather struggling with all the attachments, i just use it to clean the rugs. The high suction makes the slinky hose collapse back and makes it hard to use the attachments. I would rather use an Electrolux for dusting anyway. I also just recently found a Hoover Concept Two that does a fantastic job on the rugs!! I do like how the Dyson empties though. I just hold it over the trash can and walk the opposite way of the dust cloud. However the shroud has to be cleaned periodically and there is nothing better than the Electrolux for that!
 
A tale of two Dysons

Ok I had the origional DC01 at University and thought it was GREAT! It had good suction and really cleaned the carpet better then my cylinder cleaner ever did.

HOWEVER

We now have this recent blue dyson thing at work, another upright and its RUBBISH, I have never see such a terrible vacuum!!! Get this, I dropped the hole punch and the went all over the floor, just little bits of paper, so i got our the dyson and tried to clean uop BUT it DIDDNT!! Well it did but I had to make about 5 passes, just to pick up paper! i was not impressed, the canister was no way near full and it was junk. I would not buy one.

I think id get an origional hoover junior from the 40's and have its electrics checked, then use that as a cleaner. At least they look like cleaners!

What i NEVER got was the dyson is markated as being bagless, using the same technology as air cleaners in paint factories, so in theory NO particles should escape the vacuum. Dust particles are pretty big things really, so all dust SHOULD stay in the canister, BUT Dysons also have little filters on them that need replacing periodicaly ---- WHY!!!!!!

Why dosnt the dyson trap all dirt and eliminate these cloth filters?? I think its false advertising.
 
DC07 is what Jeff and I have to do CARPETS ONLY! It serves well for that purpose, as we dont have pets, our house is not nasty to begin with. I find it to be a likeable upright.

NOW......for the attachments, YUK. We still use the Kirby Heritage for those jobs.

Steve
 
People ask about the Dyson all the time at my shop...

Here's what I do. I walk over to it, and flip it over. I then tell them that it has the absolute worst brushroll I have ever seen in an upright vacuum cleaner. I tell them about how the Dyson only cleans the surface of the carpeting, not deep down. I show them about the bristles on it just barely poke out from the bottom plate. I show them how the bruhrolls guides the dirt towards the center of the nozzle, not the suction hose. I Show them how cheap and flimsy it is. I then show them the hose that's connected to the nozzle. It has a tear in it. That Dyson has been run for about 20 minutes, and emptied twice (no joke). The nozzle hose is already ruined. They get very disappointed.

I then sell them a much better Riccar vacuum cleaner that will clean their carpets much better, and last a lot longer. Several of the models are a lot cheaper too!

Dyson vacuum cleaners do have the bagless idea right. Their system is easily the most efficient of all the bagless vacuums made today. Unfortunately its the VERY poorly engineered head that ruins the party.

Also they say the exhaust filter on newer Dysons is lifetime....Guess that means the vacuum is only built to last a couple years. LOL they make the exhaust filter incredibly hard to take out also (not intended to be touched). I took one out at work, and there was literally a pile of sand underneath it.

No thanks. On super low carpeting they do great! They're just not intended for very plush American carpeting. Oh well.
 
I bought a DC04 in 1998, the week this model was launched, and it's been a real champ. In addition to normal housecleaning duties, I've used it as a dust extractor with an orbital sander and picked up a fair amount of plaster dust and rubble during house renovation work. So it does look a little grubby now (keep meaning to disassemble it and give it a good wash) but even so hasn't let me down once.

Had one minor repair a few years ago, although not due to a fault in the machine itself - a contractor borrowed the cleaner and picked up a razor blade with it, gouging the soleplate. Took just a couple of minutes to fit a new soleplate, and it has been fine ever since.

So overall it doesn't owe me anything, and I certainly have no complaints. Would I buy another Dyson? If I was looking for another upright, yes. Not interested in the Dyson canisters however, as I don't like their wands and attachments.
 
scratching my head here...

I thought the Dyson's tools were pretty easy to use, and the tool suction on the model I used was excellent.
I really liked his upholstry tool too, it worked very well at getting Jack's hair off the couch and from the stairs...
 
KIRK

Tell me more about you, you sound so damn macho, all this talk of orbital sanders and rubble, im imagining a 6 foot 4 muscle bound, grant mitchell look a-like????

SO what u doin on this board?? LOL

Your the same age as me too!
 

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