I bought a spiffy mini-model Dyson vac–very portable, very ‘now’ in design and color–and it sucks, though not in a good way.
The parts jam, when they don’t freeze up altogether, and the whole machine just plain doesn’t work worth a damn. It sounds and looks neat, and the theory is killer, but my machine is nearly useless.
After hopeful, expectant attempts at vacuuming, I finally hauled out my ancient canister Electrolux to atually get the job done. Which it did, much better and with much less hassle than the Dyson.
I’ve read and followed all the accompanying lit. Lack of maintenance, care and feeding isn’t the problem.
Maybe there’s a problem which your particular model or your particular individual machine, but I think you’ll find your experience almost unique. As Bambi says, they are sensational: well designed and well built without exception in my experience.
If it jams all the time the take it back and demand they fix it or give you a new one!
Your model must be an anomaly. These are supposed to be some of the most well-designed machines you can buy. Ours works wonderfully. Perhaps you should take it back to the dealer and ask for a replacement. It shouldn’t have to come down to demanding one, after all, Mr. Dyson is trying to foster goodwill, not alienate the people who drop all that cash on one of his inventions.
I bought one a couple of weeks ago because the Hoover wasn’t keeping up with the hair from my dog and two cats. I absolutely love it, it even got rid of the doggie smell. I haven’t had it long enogh to have trouble with it, I guess, but I love the clever design and so far it’s worked perfectly.
I haven’t used my Eureka since I was given the Dyson as a Xmas present. When it clogs (contrary to claims, it does indeed clog), I make my husband fix it because vacuuming with anything else is just spinning the dirt around.
I too, love my Dyson. That thing is absolutely amazing and I haven’t had a lick of problem with it. I have a black lab who sheds everywhere and a cat. The Dyson I purchased (DC 14 Animal) is the best at sucking all the hair and dirt up.
I do not like my Dyson.
[ul]
[li]It is such a pain to use that I vacuum far less than I used to.[/li][li]Most of the pet hair gets wrapped around the brush rather than sucked into the cannister. At least once a week I spend 15-20 minutes cutting out pet hair that has been wrapped around the brush with 10,000 times the force of gravity.[/li][li]The cannister capacity is insanely small. However, the cannister-emptying mechanism is genius.[/li][li]The base of the vacuum is too high to fit under a lot of furniture. The attachments are too much trouble to attach.[/li][li]10,000 times the force of gravity is apparently not enough to suck up small pieces of plastic or wood. It is, however, enough to grab the smallest loose thread of my berber carpet and unravel 10 feet of thread before I can turn the vacuum off.[/li][li]The Dyson and berber carpet are a match made in hell. It is not unusual for me to get in less than 10 seconds of vacuuming before the damned vacuum gets hold of a thread. And when the Dyson gets hold of something it doesn’t like, it screeches like a banshee. The noise is so dreadful that I am on tenterhooks when I vacuum, stealing myself against the possibility that that noise will happen.[/li][/ul]
I can’t believe I paid $500 for the stupid Dyson.
I love my Dyson. Everything has worked perfectly so far. My cat’s hair hasn’t gotten tangled on the brush, no clogs (yet) and like Bambi said, nobody touches it but me!!! I like the tooi attachment/wand pullout arrangement. It works for me, but may not be for everyone.
Hmmmm. Maybe I just got a rare lemon. I just expected much better suction. Mine just plain doesn’t pick up nearly as much as my ancient Electrolux. Think I’ll take it back to the dealer and see what’s up with it.
From what folks have said here, it should work much better than it does.
My step-mom has one and she is in love with it. This is her third one. She lives out in the country, has a greenhouse on her property, and has 6 large indoor/outdoor dogs (IOW, an insance amount of dirt). Her carpet changed color the first time she used it, and it continues to pull out dust from the pad. I think her place tends to be a little too much for them, though - they have been breaking right before the warranty is up.
Oh, I forgot to add: the one and only time my Dyson has screwed up was after my sister-in-law decided to vacuum the astroturf that serves as a floor covering on the verandah. It wasn’t the act of vacuuming the astroturf that was the problem. It was when she clunked the vacuum cleaner into the screen door so hard that one of the bits came loose. She didn’t notice the bit had come loose (one of the sliding bits that lets you examine the airway for clogs) so carried on vacuuming.
The Dyson sucked afterwards, in that it didn’t suck.
I ended up pulling the whole thing apart and finally found this damn part had been whacked out of place. I whacked it back in and it’s been fine since. Actually, that’s something I really like about the Dyson - it’s so uncomplicated. Fixing it is EASY!
Max.
As I noted in an earlier thread, we Love our Dyson.
Maybe it’s because our earlier vacuum was so incrediblyy awful.
The Dyson is quiet, and picked up dirt that our earlier beast left behind. It made us wonder what that iold one did. We’ve never had any mechanical problems with it, and it empties easily and completely.
We’d buy another in a second if we had to.
We’ve had 2 Dysons- an upright and a barrel. The first one broke cos the cleaner burnt out the motor. He also burnt out a dishwasher, and a few other things - not a mechanically minded soul, I fear. I add this to say I don’t actually blame the Dyson, more the cleaner!
However, both the barrel and the upright worked like a charm. I thought the upright was slightly better.
Previously we had a house with wooden floors, which were swept/vacuumed daily and wet mopped weekly, with all furniture except bookshelves moved for the wet mopping to ensure thorough cleaning. My daughter and I both suffer from asthma, hence the regime.
This house has carpet, and we have cats, a theoretically bad combo for us. I bought the Dyson soon after we moved here. We have both had diminishing asthma since then, to a point where we are A OK unless we get a cold. Yes, I ** DO** attribute the difference to the Dyson. I have not had so few asthma symptoms in 25 years. I figure we’ve paid for at least one of the machines in the saving on medicine.
Like it? Hell no. Love it.
(Looks round - which thread is it for Witnessing?)
I’ve been dreaming of a Dyson for a long time and I think I’m going to get one when I get my bonus in a couple of weeks. I love vacuuming. I know it’s weird, but I really do.
I like mine. Haven’t had any trouble with it (other than the occasional “out of whack” part that like Maxxiee just needed re-whacking).
I picked up the basic yellow model, but also bought the “low reach” floor attachment (that comes included with the red one) separately, since I despise sweeping. I use the dyson for just about all my cleaning: vacuuming (obviously) both my carpet and tile floors, dusting, sucking cat hair out of my recliner and sofa, etc.
Probably the weirdest thing is the odd pleasure I get switching between vacuum mode and wand or hose mode. It brings me back to playing with my Transformers as a kid: click…slide…ka-chink. I come this close to saying “Autobots…roll out!” when it’s done.
Out of curiousity: just how effective is the “turbine brush” on pet hair and other dirt on upholstered furniture? I’m able to get the majority of the stuff up with just the standard attachments, although it does take a few passes. You can buy that attachment separately, but $70 (based on Best Buy’s website, it’s not available online at dyson.com) seems a bit pricey.
I bought a chair a week ago, it was white when I brought it home. It’s greyish now, thanks mostly to this little monster. I’ll vaccum tonight and report back the results!
