We are thinking of replacing our rather tired vacuum cleaner with a cordless "stick" type. We are looking at two or three possibilities - the Dyson V10, the Vax Blade 2 Max, or a Dyson V8 animal. The V10 is the dog's testes according to all reviews but is very expensive, starting at £400 and going up to nearly £500 for the one with all the bells and whistles attachments.
The Vax is circa £250 direct from Vax, and the V8 at a smidgen under £300. A Shark Liftaway is a possibility, but is a bit heavy.
Has any one direct experience of any of these and any thoughts or recommendations based on those experiences?
Ta muchly
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My parents have a V10, I find it very "whinny" and it's not that powerful tbh.
Sister in law has one also and was amazed at how powerful our early DC14 is in comparison to the portables.
Remember, the batteries will hold less charge over time and they only run for 20 or so minutes before a recharge is required.
Our Dyson died earlier in the week and I have refused to replace it with another due to Dyson's actions and got a bagless Hoover instead. It cost £80 and works really well in comparison to the Dyson.
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We have a bagged Bosch cylinder cleaner for downstairs (all laminate and vinyl) and an elderly Dyson DC03 my late Mother rejected 10 years ago for upstairs carpets. Provided the flex is long enough, and both are, I cannot see point in cordless vacuums.
I'd buy another Bosch but will keep the Dyson going by buying one of the dozens for sale at local tip to cannibalise for parts.
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We got a Dyson something a few years back (the more expensive model with the bigger battery) and it is really convenient to use as it hangs in a charger and is readily available. it does a reasonable job.
However we got the old Henry out of the garage last week to clear up after some decorating job and SWMBO said it was much MUCH more effective.
So for convenience the Dyson wins but not for a proper clean.
I think if they all broke at the same time we'd not get a cordless again.
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I bought the earlier Vax Blade a couple of years ago. It sucks, so unless they've vastly improved it I wouldn't recommend it.
It picks up dust OK but the container is very small. The foam and mesh filter is a complete pita and needs to be cleaned (and washed and dried) after being used three or four times. It picks up larger items but then dumps them back down the tube when you switch it off.
So, as I said, unless they've improved it steer clear.
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Miele Cat and Dog. Awesome piece of kit. Dyson are unreliable badly made bits of tat.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 28 Jan 19 at 07:59
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>> Dyson are unreliable badly made bits of
>> tat.
Were they always, and it was all hype? Or were they actually good at the start when he launched?
We had one a few years back, and it seemed good, but yes, it went into not economically fixable permanent thermal overload after a couple of years. But that wasn't first generation.
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We’ve got one of those. Very well made machine that fits together with precision as only German machinery does. Only drawback is it it very heavy.
Also have a Henry which I use for the car/DIY etc. Also very good in its own way. Crude but effective.
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"Dyson are unreliable badly made bits of tat."
As has been said elsewhere, 'Dyson are great bits of kit - you can so easily buy spares for them.':)
My personal experience is such that I will not have Dyson in the house. My 2 Vax cordless perform adequately, and when you factor in the convenience makes them a winner. They were purchased cheaply tho, one at 50% of list, brand new from JLP, open box, and the other s/hand from local FB for £30.
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>> I bought the earlier Vax Blade a couple of years ago. It sucks, so unless
>> they've vastly improved it I wouldn't recommend it.
But surely you want a vacuum that sucks?
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My experience of an early Dyson around 1996 was that it was effective and well-built, if a bit noisy and heavy. More recent experience is of a friend's upright Ball Dyson just before Christmas, I don't know what the model was. I was called to assist as she had a problem (turned out to be user error) but I was a bit surprised at how cheap it all seemed. The quality of the plastics and general build seemed poorer than the original UK built models. I did not get the impression it was built to last.
I recommend the Henry - we have two (one upstairs and other down). Powerful, solid, simple and good value, about £120. One of ours is almost 20 years old, still going strong. Apparently eventually the carbon motor brushes wear but it's a simple DIY job according to Youtube. Designed and built in UK as well.
Last edited by: The Melting Snowman on Mon 28 Jan 19 at 10:03
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We have an early Henry. It's metal, weighs a ton, but small suburbs disappear up his nozzle if you wave it about. I see they now do a lighter plastic version, as well as Henrietta, Phillip and whatever.
We use Henry for outside or unusual demanding tasks. For normal domestic cleaning we have a Panasonic lightweight bagless cylinder type cleaner. We got it about five years ago from Tesco with clubcard vouchers, but it was only about £50. Amazingly it still works very well, and weighs not a lot.
Neither of these, of course, are answering Roger's question about stick type upright things.
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>>>Has any one direct experience of any of these and any thoughts or recommendations based on those experiences?
Yes.
We've had Dyson uprights for about 20yrs after finding they were a revelation for picking up pet hair compared to any other upright of the time. My cousin who runs a large holiday house swears by them for their ability to pick up debris from carpets and give a clean look for the next guests. She does have a Henry too but it sits unused at the back of the cupboard.
When they first came out mid 2016 mum (in her 80s) was given a new Dyson V8 cordless as she found any vacuum heavy to carry upstairs. She said it was life changing for an older person with arthritis in the hands.
When we moved them into a retirement flat 2yrs ago I had the job of tidying their old house and cursed forgetting to take down our "proper" Dyson thinking the cordless wouldn't be up to the task. Couldn't have been further from the truth and I was gobsmacked at its ease of use and cleaning ability even on under bed dust that had been undisturbed for years.
Two months later in the Jan sales Dyson had a £100 off deal on the V6 with motor floor/stair heads so we bought that for ourselves. It is so easy to use and effective we whip round with it daily rather than every 2/3 days... the upright is in the garage and only comes out if I've done a DIY job where the cordless was never designed to pick up piles of sawdust, brick dust etc.
A few weeks back we had a very hairy dog on trial (sadly didn't work out) which happened to be in its shedding phase and I thought the old upright would have to come out. But no the Dyson V6 using the motor floor head whizzed over and picked the hair up quickly.
For our daily normal use we'd never go back to a corded upright and the Dyson V6/8/10 range are serving our family so well I don't see a need to look elsewhere.
NB: One of the biggest problems leading to people giving up on a upright Dyson was the users neglect to change or wash the filters as needed. This would cause a frustrating loss of suction then stress the motor to cutting or burning out. The cordless models have a control circuit that senses a problem like a blocked filter or debris in the tube and shuts the motor off to avoid damage.
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>> NB: One of the biggest problems leading to people giving up on a upright Dyson
>> was the users neglect to change or wash the filters as needed. This would cause
>> a frustrating loss of suction then stress the motor to cutting or burning out. The
>> cordless models have a control circuit that senses a problem like a blocked filter or
>> debris in the tube and shuts the motor off to avoid damage.
Melting Snowman also refers to "user error".
We have an oldish Dyson ball job, DC25 I think, that still works properly and nothing has broken. I don't like it but then I use it so infrequently that I need the manual when I need to use tools or when it needs emptying/cleaning.
Presumably this is why used but fully working Dysons can be bought cheaply from the charity shop at the local tip. They say the majority are not broken when they are dumped, and they just empty/unblock/clean them up and sell them.
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Yes - it's the weight that is a major consideration for us. We have a fairly lightweight VAX upright which is a good few years old now and starting to feel its age (like me!).
We have had a couple of Dyson uprights in the past - good machines, but just too heavy these days.
One bugbear is stair cleaning - my job- which is a PITA with the long flexible hose which is cumbersome and not quite long enough, even though the VAX is a "reach" model with longer lead and an extendable hose.
The thought of shelling out mega-bucks is what is holding me back from the Dyson V10, as reports indicate that the VAX Blade 2 MAX is a close contender, albeit with fewer tools, especially a dedicated stair attachment. (Yes - direct from VAX there's a free tool kit, but it lacks a motorised stair sized head which the Dyson has.)
Sorry to witter on, but it's quite a major purchase for us!
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Roger the Dyson V10 is about £400 so yes a major purchase. But the V6 Animal which is what we have will do the same job in 99% of circumstances (unless you have a 6 bed B&B) for £199. That's a price from the Dyson website inc delivery.
The V6 is a Which Best Buy and includes the motor floor head and the motor stairs head plus normal small nozzles etc. With the small motor head on is so light and easy to do the stairs.
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>>.... V6 Animal which is what we have will do the same job in 99% of circumstances.
Son bought one and was very impressed.
He gave me a demo of it on our stairs and it seemed very good especially with its powered brush head.
Vastly better than my heavy SEBO with yards of extension hose.
No idea of how long it will last but very tempted to get one.
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henry k
Did you get my email?
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>>
>> henry k
>>
>> Did you get my email?
>>
....vanished into the vacuum.......?
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>> ....vanished into the vacuum.......?
A Henry one.
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Duncan
A reply should soon arrive from the clouds.
Meanwhile the SEBO here will deal with the Melle.
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>>> this is why used but fully working Dysons can be bought cheaply from the charity shop at the local tip. They say the majority are not broken when they are dumped, and they just empty/unblock/clean them up and sell them.
Yep spot on... some folks use them for ages ignoring the filter clean until the motor is straining against the flow reduction causing poor pickup and a burning smell. Then they dump them as a "useless Dyson".
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Our £5 jobby bought 2nd from a market stall over 5 years ago has just started to cut out when it gets hot. A quick look at the motor confirmed the brushes have worn. I've give it back a bit of borrowed time by turning the brushes around. Inevitably it will have to be replaced soon as I cannot find replacement brushes.
A quick google suggests it's an Argos "own brand" vacuum cleaner. Shame really as it's a lightweight bagless cylinder that has a 1700 watt motor and up until recently worked really well.
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>> Yep spot on... some folks use them for ages ignoring the filter clean until the
>> motor is straining against the flow reduction causing poor pickup and a burning smell. Then
>> they dump them as a "useless Dyson".
More or less how I got My DC03. Mum decided it was 'shot' because it wasn't picking up and ordered a new cleaner of a different make. When that arrived she asked me to take the old one to the tip. Taking stuff to tip at her place is a PITA so took it home. She'd thrown good working stuff out before so I thought I'd have a play.
Seemed to run OK and with a bit of dismantling ascertained tissues and other stuff were obstructing the air path through the machine. Cleared that and washed the filter and dustcup and it was as good as new.
Similar experience with one my son was given by his outlaws; runs but won't suck. Drinks cap and much dog hair from outlaws Labradoodle removed from air path and it's fine.
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Bullet bitten and I've ordered Dyson V8 Absolute from Amazon.
The cost is £299 and is around £40-£50 cheaper than the likes of AO . com.
Dyson web site only sell the V8 Animal now which lacks the soft brush for hard floors, so I guess this is run-out stock from an Amazon seller.
I was swayed by the advice from Fenlander about the V6, plus a reviewer who said in the real world there's not much difference between the V8 and the V10 in day to day cleaning.
My thanks to all of you who responded with pertinent advice. :-)
Last edited by: Roger. on Mon 28 Jan 19 at 18:38
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I'm sure Sir James will be very grateful. We must all do our bit to ensure he maintains the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.
Now officially the UK's wealthiest person:
www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people-events/article/2183307/inventor-james-dyson-now-uks-wealthiest-person-after
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I hope it suits you Roger, I'm sure it will.
Most important advice is to attend to the filters...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAQTrS9zpeQ
I find the conical one gets dirty quicker so do that more frequently and the rear one seems to be fine for several months. I have a spare conical one as they take ages to dry properly so easier to swap in a dry replacement while the other dries.
That conical filter can be very tight and the bit you grip is thin and slippery so I usually use a pair of pliers.
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I'm a big fan of Dyson vacuum cleaners and we had a DC02 and DC08 - one for downstairs and one for upstairs. When the DC02 died after almost 20 years work and the motors seemed unobtainable, I couldn't face carrying the DC08 up and down stairs.
That led to us getting a V6 Absolute. That was 2 years ago and, since then, like Fenlander, I've only used the DC08 in the garage. The convenience of the V6 outweighs it's limited run time. I like the way you can "steer" the motor floor head around obstacles, but I'm not impressed by how the dust container removes for cleaning. It's best avoided by using a wooden coffee stirrer to move the fluff etc which tends to collect at the top.
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>>>using a wooden coffee stirrer to move the fluff etc which tends to collect at the top.
Yes same here, slim blunt knife or similar... no trouble though.
Roger's will be easier with the different bin latch arrangement...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSFQ8eKeKAw
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I press a button, the top pops up, the full and sealed bag is pulled out and dumped cleanly in the bin with no dust or fluff.
Thats a non dyson feature. i dont need a tool to stir it about.
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But you do need £12.75 to buy four bags. Miele work on the Gillette razor principle. I must have paid for the thing twice over.
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>> But you do need £12.75 to buy four bags. Miele work on the Gillette razor
>> principle. I must have paid for the thing twice over.
£17.78 for two 4 bag boxes. Free delivery. Genuine product.
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A good price. It's still a big hidden cost though.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 29 Jan 19 at 08:46
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But not much, the miele bags are big when expanded, and packs them tight with not much loss of suction, even with a dog it's about 8 bags a year. We have mostly hard floors tho so we are not slowly transferring the carpet pile to the bin
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That' still a fair amount over the life of the machine. At least doubles the cost and it needs to be factored in when comparing with a bagless machine.
I like the Miele but it is expensive and probably it's major disadvantage is it's weight.
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>> I like the Miele
Their Experience Centre is only a few miles down the road from me. Handy when needing to see their products, as well as being allowed to play with them. Not to mention also stocking a vast array of spare parts. Coffee bar there as well, but no idea if free or not.
www.miele.co.uk/domestic/gallery-abingdon-2906.htm
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The Dyson cafe might be even more interesting...
www.atelierone.com/dyson-cafe/
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This is more like it for the audience in this online jurassic park
www.visit.hillbrush.com/museum/
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>>> more like it for the audience in this online jurassic park
Something of a sweeping statement.
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You looking for a dust up?
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Well I'm looking forward to a report from Roger... he should have it by now.
Perhaps he's too busy showing it to the folks in his street.
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He's probably trying to get it back after they knicked it from his doorstep.
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It arrived yesterday - our golden wedding as it happened, so not too much time to fiddle.
Initial thoughts were that the quality of the plastic pieces is surprisingly good and robust.
Today I fixed the wall caddy/charger unit and found the biggest complaint is that the charging cable is ridiculously short. Dyson assume that everyone has a wall socket immediately below the wall caddy fixing. In our case, the wall unit has to go in the under-stairs cupboard, with no power point inside. This has meant using a cable extender and running the Dyson charging cable, which is fairly thin, under the cupboard door. Not ideal.
In use, the machine works very well. I've used the small motorised brush head to clean the stairs - a doddle, apart from the vertical risers which are a bit awkward.
The model is the "Absolute" which includes a separate soft roller motorised head. This does a very good job on the few hard floors we have.
The main motorised carpet head is pretty good, too. It's light and easy to use and on a quick zoom over on normal power, I was surprised at how much actual dust it collected, as well as the usual carpet fluff. Emptying the dust container was very easy.
So far, so good. Deidre grumbled at the short run times quoted, especially the 7 minutes on MAX power, but I don't think in practice this will be a problem - we have a small two bedroom house.
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Congrats to you both on your Golden Wedding!!
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Yep congrats from me too.
The shortish charger cable is a bit of an issue and for that reason we keep the dyson in the garage on the wall adj a power point.
Re the short run time... Dyson seem to have very carefully researched the relationship between brush roller action and the suction needed to lift debris to its bin such that we never need Max power in the house. We just use Max if say doing the car mats and there are bits of larger grit that don't pull up in normal power.
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Congratulations from me too, Roger.
I hope your choice of cordless vacuum cleaner doesn't end up in your refuse bin after little more than a year, as ours did. Wretched thing; it never was any good.
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Sucker. - zippy
