Ok... Here we are, back at domestic appliances and gadgets again...

As someone else indicated in a past thread, Dyson, excellent UK-based maker of vacuums and washing machines, now has a US presence. They have started selling three upright models in the US. I've written to them about other models, but at this time, they have no plans to retail anything but the three uprights stateside. Arrrgh.

I'm interested in the DC08 (www.dyson.co.uk) but it obviously needs to be 110v. I don't relish buying one and then having to use it with an ugly transformer. What's the likelihood of having one modified for use here in Canada? They're not cheap vacuums by any stretch, but if someone's already going to pay large coin for something like a Miele, I think that money is better spent on a Dyson. If I had any interest in this beyond my own consumer needs (and if there weren't already about a thousand vacuum shops in the Toronto area), I might consider selling the brand. Hmmm, maybe there's money to be made in wholesale for these...

People keep bugging me for a Christmas gift list (not something I normally do). I should just say HERE: I want a Dyson DC08 Hepa/Turbobrush and one of their dual-drum washers. Or some cash and a plane ticket to the UK.

Bruno

I was told by someone who did domestic cleaning for two households that the Dyson is not all it's cracked up to be. One house had a Dyson, the other had a Sebo. The Dyson had an inferior reach into corners and generally didn't pick up dirt as well compared to the Sebo. We now own a Sebo and wouldn't trade it for anything, they are well designed, modest, tough, easy to dismantle, and dare I say it, they are a damn fine example of German engineering!

I know the Dyson's look really cool (I'd love one of their washing machines) but after a while they start to look 'tatty' where the dirt scuffs up the inside of the clear cylinder. OTOH, Sebo's are nothing to look at - if you're that fickle go for the Dyson and dump it as soon as it starts to look scruffy

Do you think they're going for irony with their web site (a whole row of housewives happily operating Sebo cleaners) or did they just copy their brochure from the 50's? The products certainly don't seem to have changed much since then!

Rob

If you want a mega cool washer (OMG did I just say that!?)
check out http://www.maytag.com/mths/products/apl_family.jsp?family=Neptune+Washers&domain=Washers&cs=0&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

We got one of these with the touch screen programming, its so easy even I can use it now my wife has programmed it
Just check the clothes in, select the "work shirts" program, add powder and hit start.
She even programmed the dryer with the same names to make it all husband proof.

Beware! The end is nigh!!!!!

Hmm... Wonder if the next version will be network ready like that Electrolux fridge!

And to think I just whack everything into the washer and choose colours. May explain why some of my stuff goes weird after I wash it a few times...

- Trevor

Can't help you on the 110 volt issue.

But I just bought a DC08 with HEPA and Turbobrush a couple of weeks back [the purple and bright green model].

And I got to say that the Dyson is the best vacuum I've ever seen (and used).

That turbobrush really pulls the pet hair out of the (100% wool) carpet, cleans the cat hairs off the furniture that other vacuums wouldn't touch.

I can't say about the dual-drum washing machine - I thought that was an old idea.

Maybe santa will be nice and give you a DC08 running on 110 volt, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
The main issue I can see is that the motor is probably specially designed for 240 volts, so you'd need a special 110 volt motor.
It is possible that the motor from the 110Volt upright could be fitted into a DC08, but again thats a real unknown, and then you would have to replace the "pull out" cord with a 110 volt certified one (which would need to be much thicker than the 240 volt power cord and so the retractable cord thingy wouldn't probably work, or you'd end up with a really short power cord).

BTW: As for others comments the clear plastic "drum" getting scruffy/scratched ion the inside, its probably a easy part to replace and if thats all that goes wrong with a Dyson then thats a small price to pay for a decent vacuum.

If you can get a 110v version, you really need to buy it! Dyson do the best vacuum cleaners ever. Not to put too fine a point on it - they suck. Big time! Before I got my first upright Dyson, I hooved the whole house with my previous machine. I got 6 full drums of dust/fluff/gakk from just the downstairs carpets with the Dyson - and upstairs under the beds I retrieved whole flocks of bunnies.

Dead easy to clean as well - washing up liquid does the job perfectly, and the filters are very cheap now.

My only gripe would be the point at which the cable goes into the body - I managed to wear down the insulation inside by frequent use, until the wires shorted and gave me an interesting spark show for 10 seconds. Easily fixed though.

I was never convinced by the dual drum idea for washing machines though. Just seems to provide far more failure points.

the Dyson is not all it's cracked up to be

The Dyson is phenomenal as far as the Boxer household is concerned, over previous cleaners, it picks up between 2 to 3 times the volume of dog hairs.

I've heard good things about Sebo cleaners as well, although if I was after a bag-based cleaner I'd probably go for a Miele.

I was dissapointed with the performance of the early Dyson models, but the turbobrush models are much better.

My only gripe would be the point at which the cable goes into the body - I managed to wear down the insulation inside by frequent use, until the wires shorted and gave me an interesting spark show for 10 seconds. Easily fixed though.


I'm glad to hear that is easily fixed - my Mum's (4 year old) Dyson just did the same thing this past weeked, and I've been nominated to fix it when I go back for Christmas. She rates the Dyson BTW..

Yup, 4 screws total - 2 to get into it, 2 for the connector block, then shorten the cable by 4 inches and screw everything back together. Total repair time about 5 minutes.

Thanks guys - that's exactly the task I have (already) been nominated (by the mother-in-law) to carry out as my "Christmas Task" .There's a fair number of Dyson fans on this board. Seems that these products have a similar heritage - good design, good service support.

Seriously - my wife has been bullying me to replace the (perfectly functional) VAX 2000 we've had for the last 8 years. Dammit, it's not even reached it's guaranteed first service yet, why should I change yet?

Seriously - my wife has been bullying me to replace the (perfectly functional) VAX 2000 we've had for the last 8 years.

The VAX 2000 was quite ahead of it's time but perhaps it's time now to buy a PC

We had the VAX before the Dyson - different as chalk and cheese, the VAX was complicated, cumbersome and not very effective. The Dyson is easy to maintain and really effective, as well as being light enough to take up and down stairs.

Same thing happened with my Dyson but I didn't get the show. When fixing it I put some heatshrink tubing around the cable however to strengthen it. It's a bit dangerous for it to even happen though.

- Trevor

Ok, all these side topics are interesting, but... Who's going to convert a Dyson DC08 to 110vac for me?

Bruno

I'm not one to revive really old threads, but i'm trying to conserve resources, so I thought I'd recycle. Sort of like using an old newspaper to line a birdcage.

I got one. Woohoo! Took delivery of a brand-new Dyson DC11 (Telescope) on Monday morning. As mentioned in a previous thread, they were recently introduced in the US. I must have been the only one that didn't see their commercials on US TV.

I have not given it a workout yet, but the sheer wow-factor has left me impressed since I cracked open the box. Actually, even the box was smart, with full-colour printing and matte finish on all 6 sides. No wonder these things aren't cheap.

Theres currently no Canadian distribution nor retail availability, so I had to eBay. Ended up saving US$100 when compared to SRP though. I hope Dyson does well in North America and that they consider bringing over the DC08 I mentioned in the original posting, as well as their washing machines (though it will be a while before I need to replace the existing one).

Hopefully I'll take a little break from the home gadgets for a while. Had to pop for a new lawn mower a few weeks ago as well. Quite happy with it too: B&D 24V cordeless electric (I was sick and tired of gas mowers).

Bruno

The telescope dyson is great, I bought one from best buy a month ago.Best vacume my wife has ever used.I had the stand up dyson before that so I gave it to my mom and she loves it.She said it was way better than her electrolux.

You guys have convinced me to go check out some Dyson vacs today since my old Hoover has a cord with bare wires that keeps tripping my GFI outlet, the bumpers are gone and it's taking paint off the baseboards and the motor isn't sounding too good lately. I think it's time for a new one and I might as well get a good one that will do the job of picking up cat hairs and litter

If you have cat hair on carpets to deal with then make sure you get a Dyson with a "turbobrush". I thought the turbobrush was going to be just a noisy gimick. I was wrong. It is very noisy, but it picks up cat hair so easily.

Having the handheld turbobrush is also useful, very good for cushions, curtains and stairs. I got the DC08 Animal that comes with both, though I'm not sure that model is available in the US yet. I'm guessing the "turbine" head on the DC11 is the same or similar to the "turbobrush" on the DC08 (it basically has a fast spinning brush built into the head, powered from the airflow).

We have the DC07 Cyclone Animal Upright Vacuum available over here for $499. Seems a lot for a vacuum after spending around $150 on my last one, course it didn't hold up well to daily usage and you have to add in the cost of bags and it didn't really seem to pick up that well.

Do you really want an upright ? I have to admit I can't see why anyone would want an upright vacuum cleaner, they are just so much more cumbersome than a cyclinder.

It's easy to find Dyson uprights over here, but not so easy to find the cylinders.

[Edit] Although it looks as if the DC11 is finally becoming more widely available.

Laura, you might want to find out if the turbo brush is available separately. When we bought our DC07 we really wanted the red model with the low floor tool attachment (lots of wood floors, no pets) but couldn't find it anywhere local. We then discovered that they sold the low floor tool separately for $40 in Best Buy, so bought the yellow model instead. So it cost us $10 more than the red one would. (Which was still cheaper than shipping would have been)

If you don't need the floor tool, and they do sell the turbo brush separately then that may be a slightly cheaper option.

I've never thought of getting a cyclinder because I always thought they didn't pick up as well and were more cumbersome than the uprights. I'll check them both out and see which I like better. The DC11 looks to be available.

I have wall to wall carpet in just about every room and a few cats here and there so the low floor tool isn't important to me but the turbo brush is.

I'm a new Dyson owner too! I also bought the DC11 Telescope and plan to give it a good workout tomorrow. I compared it to the Animal upright and decided to give a canister a try. Seems easier for cleaning under furniture which I tend to avoid since it's usually a pain in the butt.

I'm wondering now if I shouldn't have gotten the DC07 Animal.

I've probably said this before but Sebo vacs beat Dyson hands down. Sure, they don't have the geek-appeal of the Dyson and from their website you can't really appreciate their ingenious but simplistic engineering. Oh, and I love the design-appeal of Dyson gear

Regarding the official testing: We (me and SWMBO) were all for buying a Dyson until 'she' got to try a Sebo. After trying two Dyson's and then a Sebo the Sebo was declared the winner

We now own one: It eats pet hair and its self-levelling thingy keeps it against the floor pretty reliably. Ok, it uses bags, unlike the Dyson, but given its superior cleaning ability it's worth a little extra on consumables IOHO.

Yeah, I remember watching an Open University programme on Design and Technology that profiled James Dyson, and spent a long time discussing the vacs. Did you know he also invented the ballbarrow?

BTW, this programme aired in about 1990 when he was still looking for _anyone_ to invest in the idea. IIRC he ended up 'going it alone' and building up the company upon the reputation of the vacuum cleaners.

I noticed looking at the Dyson website that there are now two models of the DC11 available, though I saw only one. There is the All Floor and the Full Gear. The Full Gear comes with a Mini Turbine Head so I'm going to call around and see if I can get one of those to attach to mine or see if the Animal Brush will fit it. The USA site doesn't say anything about buying parts and accessories like the British site does.

this programme aired in about 1990

I remember him popping up on various programmes (Tomorrow's World and the like), over what seemed like a 15 years period. The whole time he was banging on about this revolutionary vacuum cleaner. I never expected him to actually get to make it commercially.

The wheelbarrow that he invented was this one.

This is a potted history of Mr Dyson's innovations:

http://www.dyson.co.uk/nav/inpageframe.asp?id=DYSON/HIST/EARLY

Definitely a top man, the man must have balls the size of the wheelbarrow

Now that is a wheelbarrow. With a wider wheel it would tip over a lot less. I've never seen one like that over on this side of the pond.

All I have to say is WOW just after vacuuming one room. The carpet looks brighter like it was steamed cleaned instead of just vacuumed. I'm really impressed with the Dyson

I think it was about 70% cat hair to dirt ratio, but a lot of that dirt per say, was litter. Maybe the amount had a little to do with being able to get under the furniture that has been neglected for many months but the Dyson is awesome to say the least. Some of the cats don't mind the noise as much since it is a lot quieter and maybe the canister isn't so scary since it's not tall as the monster uprights.

I just got off of the phone with Dyson and will be getting the turbo tool and adapter that makes it fit, within 10 days or so. Then I will attack the furniture with glee

We're babysitting a cat for the next 8 months or so. He's been with us for two weeks now. When he first checked out the DC11 it was parked in my computer room in its "wrapped-up" mode. The cat was already leary of it! It took him about five minutes to comfortably walk around it. Maybe he was just in awe.

Comment on the Sebo: It may have the best brush and/or heads, but if it uses a bag (any bag) then it's going to lose suction after the first few minutes - no ifs or buts about it. So while I don't disagree that it might clean very well at first, its performance is sure to drop. For it to be any more successful than any other bag-type vac, it would have to be able to run with low suction power. Using its head to loosen any crap in the carpet and then allowing the very reduced suction to still pick it all up.

I think the Dyson does require a certain amount of "get it" factor. But so do many other higher-end vacuums. I wouldn't waste a single cent on any Hoover or Eureka product, but I'm sure many people do every year. With consumable sales I'm sure they make huge profits - their vaccums are in fact consumables themselves, being built out of inferior components and materials (they look and feel like they'll break when you first turn them on).

I'm extremely happy with the Dyson. I'd like to see them come out with a central unit for North America as well as a Wet-Dry (bucket) model (Dyson licensed his cyclone technology to Johnson Wax for a few years who built one of these for commercial use).

The Dyson 1997 autobiography was a really good read. He's had to put up with a lot of crap for all his more recent good fortune.

Bruno

I want to see one that you wear on your back similar to those industrical vacuums that you see used in office blocks. Nothing to push or pull about. (Aside from the power cord anyway...)

Power cord? Make it gasoline powered. A battery pack might do nicely in addition to a long power cord (their DC06 Robot cannister uses a battery - at least it will if it ever gets beyond home trial).

I believe in addition to the bucket design, Johnson Wax also had a back-pack model. I'd check, but I lent the autobiography to a friend.

Bruno

Bumping this topic again to inform any interested parties that the DC11 is 10% off in today's Friday Sale at J&R.