horseybob's Full Review: Dyson DC15 Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum
After going through many lousy vacuum cleaners; most recently a Kenmore (http://www.epinions.com/content_219867221636) my wife insisted that we spend vast sums of money and get something/anything that would actually work. And that she did not want a Kirby, Hoover, Bissell, etc, as we keep destroying them. She saw some infomercials, and figured that an Oreck or a Dyson sounded good. She has skin allergies and just likes a clean house, so vacuums several times a week; over time, usually having me do it, due to the breakage, and clogging, and how poorly they self-propel. As mentioned in the Kenmore/Kirby/Hoover/Bissell-angst review above, We have 2 kids, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 3 horses and a steady, welcome flow of friends and family through our home. We spend a lot of time outdoors gardening, playing in the pool, the pasture, the yard and so on, so we tend to track in a delightful amount of interesting things that vacuums really should be able to deal with. None of the above could.
Now I of course instantly disbelieve anything on an infomercial, so spent an entire day researching vacuum cleaners for my lovely wife. Never ever in my younger, stoopider, singler days would I have imagined that I would be doing THAT!
Researched ratings all over the web, read epinions, checked consumer reports, BBB, asked friends etc. etc. and narrowed it down to either a Oreck or a Dyson. Next time, just listen to the wife and run with it. So anyhow, we ended up choosing the Dyson over the Oreck; it is highly recommended, and one of my friends loves his. However, it appears that with a heavy furball load from the animals, a long-haired wife and daughter, and fuzzy me, the Oreck could occasionally plug up and have to be taken apart, whereas that did not appear to be an issue with the Dyson. Only time will truly tell!
Initially was going to go with the Animal variant of the Dyson, as we have animals, and gee it was purty purple. It turns out that DC-15 Ball is yellow, the Animal variant is a different color and has a few extra attachment widgets and some cleaning supplies vs. the standard variants; all of which can be ordered separately if you do decide that they're necessary. My wife looked at a few versions and chose the DC-15 Ball yellow version. So far, the Animal attachments don't appear necessary to us.
We've now had it for a month and a half. The first day actually sticks in my mind; wife comes home $526 poorer, but with a space age vacuum cleaner and a big smile. She puts it together w/o the instruction manual and proceeds to nauseate herself with how much dirt and hair and ??? she pulled out of a 10x10 section of carpet. So then has to share it with me, her best friend, our foster son... and have them try it out too! So proceeds to do the whole house, after we'd done it the day prior with one of our lousy vacuums. First time was a surprising number of trips to the garbage can; wife loves the canister with the little button. Works particularly well outside vs. in the kitchen, as some dust will escape. Of course, she had to show me each time it filled up with dustbunnies.
My wife loves this vacuum; other than my shop vac, the rest have now been formally thrown away. The Dyson will pick up popcorn kernels on a Pergo floor instead of ricocheting them around the kitchen. It works on Berber carpet, Pergo floor, slate and shag carpet without a hitch; no nasty noises, no leftover pieces of sand or alfalfa hay or anything. Some reviewers found it to be noisy, but I've actually found it to be noticeably quieter than any prior vacuums. The attachments took her a little while to figure out, but now she loves them; they actually stay in place, have high suction, and are long enough that they're functional, without having to bend over or pull the vacuum over into the back of your arms, much less your kidneys.
The Ball feature is a big hit as well, as she doesn't have to do nearly as much back and forth pulling; just shift direction and keep going. Much easier on the back. Other comments have mentioned that this is a heavy system; my wife is 4'11", and finds this machine far easier to use than any "self-propelled" machine has ever been. Previous machines made her back hurt, bruised her arm when using attachments and they'd fall over, etc. None of which are an issue any longer. While it is not that lightweight to pick up, it pushes into place easily. We have a ranch house, so don't have to worry about stairs.
The cord is long enough that she only has to plug it in twice to cover our entire 2000 SF house, and it's now unnecessary to cover the same section of carpet 2-3 times to get everything up. The attachments are long enough that she can reach the chandeliers and ceiling vents without stretching, standing on a chair, or having to find my tallness to do it.
As a former Systems and Hardware Engineer, I found the design to be rather intriguing, particularly in that I have yet to have to take the thing apart to clean it, unjam it, or fix it. For us, that's a record. So, after ~45 days, it still works (works well, still!!), and I have yet to use it. So, sure the vacuum cleaner was $526; the previous 4 combined for the last 2 years cost double that and did a lousy job. My wife used to ask me to vacuum; she has yet to *let* me even use this vacuum. Amazing. For that, $529 has already paid for itself.
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