Dyson is not the Excalibur of upright vacuums, it’s the Kenmore Progressive with Direct Drive 35922, according to survey and test results released in the latest issue of Consumer Reports.
The white wizards of product testing rated the Kenmore at 74, soundly trouncing the Dyson’s 64.
The Kenmore “Progressive with Direct Drive 35922″ garnered “excellent” ratings for cleaning carpet, emissions, pet hair, and cleaning bare floors.
The Dyson “DC17 Absolute Animal” only got got “excellent” for emissions and cleaning bare floors.
The Dyson is $250 more expensive, in-store. However, you you can get both for over $100 cheaper by searching on Amazon for slightly used or refurbished versions.
We wonder, if Consumer Reports neglected form factor, the glory of bagless, and swivel appeal (with a Dyson, you don’t need to retract the vacuum to your body and then pivot to change directions). Then again, one doesn’t go to Consumer Reports looking for soul, but cost-efficacy.
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My father was going to buy a Dyson but was concerned about the durability of that plastic cage. He called up Dyson and spoke to an engineer who said that, yes, a quarter sucked up into the vacuum could break it. Needless to say, he was not impressed with a product that could easily break under normal usage and decided on a different vacuum.
ROFL @ homerjay’s first comment:
“I have a Kenmore canister and I LOVE it. It sucks the shit out of my carpets.”
I have read CR for years. You just don’t pick the very best and be done with it, you use CR to see what features you want and which ones you should look at. If a product is way down the scale, you avoid it. Just because something is ultra expensive doesn’t mean its the very best. Do you buy a Ferrari thinking that because it cost so much it must be the most reliable car made. I have also seen (and I have done it myself) people purchasing expensive stuff and then justifying it to others that it is the best even if they know it is crap (or maybe you just convince yourself it is the best- heck you paid the most for it, it must be the best, right?). Look at all the people that love their Bose crap (unleash the hordes that love Bose).
I use to be a salesman myself, so I don’t hold much regard for them. Do sales people use all the products and know which one will last and which one is the best at the least expensive cost? Or do they try to sell the most expensive thing because that is what they are in business to do? I’m not saying all sales people are clueless, but the majority are. They know (usually) how to operate what they are selling, they know the features, they know what to products to push, but do they really know how it will function in 2 weeks or 2 years?
@rolla: With my dyson you just take the canister out, bring it over to the garbage bin, place it over the bin and pull a trigger. The bottom of the canister falls away and everything goes straight into the bin. Never have gotten dust and dirt all over the place.
We had a dyson, its a good vac overall, but it is overpriced. Our Kenmore bagless was louder, but it seemed to work just as good as the dyson.
I bought one of the Eureka vacs, which was ranked 4 or 5 on the CR list (but still a best buy) a couple of years ago because the TCO is about $35 per year, bags and filters included. After 10 years of ownership, the vacuum will break even with Dyson.
I’ve used both, and the Eureka sucked stuff out of the carpet the Dyson missed, which I attribute to the brushes more than the suction. The thing feels like it’s self propelled! I found that while true the Dyson doesn’t lose suction, it doesn’t have that much suction to begin with.
Also, you should never buy a vacuum based on store tests! Every consumerist should know that the store test is basically rigged. Bottom line, you’ve got to take the machine home and test it yourself.
Last nugget: the Dyson I tested against broke after 2 years… my Eureka is still going strong.
I bought a 1971 Hoover Convertible for $50 on eBay. At 36 years of age, it does a better job on my carpets than ANY of the Kenmore canisters I’ve owned before that. It’s made of metal, not plastic. It’s easy to maintain. It is built like a brick outhouse — but even if it does crap out on me, I only spent 50 bucks on it.
Gotta join in on the Dyson love. That thing is friggin’ amazing. We also did the “re-vacuum” test, and we amazed (and disgusted) with what the Dyson picked up. As far as the “bagless spreads dust” comments go, it’s totally dependent on how it’s designes. If it’s designed PROPERLY (like a Dyson with its lower trapdoor), unless you’ve got a severe case of the shakes, you shouldn’t be getting dust anywhere. Oh, and we only paid $99 for ours! Long live “1/2 Of 1/2″ stores!
We have a Dyson and it rules! Our carpets look freshly steam-cleaned every time we vacuum, and it doesn’t fall over if you use the extender attachments. It’s also easy to maneuver in our apartment (I’m not very strong) and easy to clean out.
TEAM DYSON!
I have the Kenmore vacuum above. It works well, but it is quite heavy. I’ve used the Dyson at a friends house. It works fine, too, but it was quite a bit more expensive.
Our new home is setup for a whole-house vacuum. When this one dies, we’ll get the canister and start the real sucking.
I’ve owned both, the CR highest rated (at the time) Kenmore canister and a Dyson. The Kenmore is fairly good on a new bag, but bags fill up *quickly* with dog hair if you have 2 or 3 dogs in the house. Having a dyson means you can just go empty it out and keep going, without having to go through those expensive 3M bags like water. Less consumables means more value to me.
@distractbill: Uh, right, so he called up Dyson and was able to speak to an engineer just like that, huh? I’ve sucked up coins and things in my Dyson and the canister’s fine.
This is all “an apples and oranges” comparison. There is much more involved in the choice besides cleaning power. My wife and daughter own a housecleaning service. We have found that:
1. Dysons are the heaviest vacuum cleaners in the discussion. Carrying them up stairs may be a challenge if you aren’t healthy and able-bodied. My wife can’t pick up and carry a Ball.
2. Kenmore vacuums are awesome. Their $69 model cleans well – even if it is cheaply made. We own a Kenmore for our home. They’re good all-around items.
3. Wife and Daughter use Orek Commercials for work because they are wonderfully light and easy to carry to/from vehicles and do a completely acceptable job. Vacuum bags don’t have to be emptied as often as plastic cups and actually save them time.
4. Animal hair sticks everywhere on bagless vacuums due to the over-abundance of static electricity and plastic parts. Sometimes bagless vacuums are not the labor-saving feature they’re advertised to be.
My wife and I own both the Dyson DC14, which we bought three years ago and the Kenmore which we bought in January after CR came out with their recommendations. When we first bought the Dyson, we thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. However, after a few years, it seemed like the suction dropped. Also, it was extremely cumbersome to use the hose with the attachments as the vacuum would tip over all the time. Also, with three dogs, the roller brush would constantly get clogged with hair.
When we got the Kenmore, we did the “re-vacuum test” and it proved that the Dyson wasn’t picking everything up. So far, given that we vacuum several times per week, in 6 months time we are on our fourth bag. The only downside to this vacuum is the weight, it is extremely heavy, but other than that, we love it.
Anyone in the market for a used Dyson DC14?
i own a kirby. its the best. bring your whatever over to my house and i’ll show you. ……and yes i use to sell them so i know how your piece of crap was made, along with all of its weaknesses. i’ll leave you with 2 vaccuums that i ran into on ocassion that would at least give me a run for my money.
eureka boss (older ones) unexpectedly kicked azz
oreck xl. – (depends on type of carpet.)
but kirby’s are the best made machine out there. i took a 1920′s model on trade (worth a ton) that still worked like a tank. flat out, if you look at manu. specs, kirby is the best machine.
and for all of those “its too heavy” folks out there; its because its made of metal….you cant put that big of a motor in plastic. it would catch fire. UL regulates the size motor you can put in plastic. its only 12amps. so if you want something that actually functions, you’ll have to sacrifice the light weight.(all new kirbys have power assist now so who cares)
My mother used to have a Kirby about 20 years ago, it did alright but bags were more expensive. Yes it was too heavy but the biggest problem was there was more weight on one side than the other. She gave it to me and I had to muscle it around some to keep it straight when vacuuming.
@swalve: I actually never read their review on dishwasher detergent. Very coincindentally, we use Costco detergent, because we found it works best (we tried MANY brands in our new house 3 years ago). For us, however, we have fairly hard water, and needed a detergent with higher-than-normal phosphors (IIRC). The Costco was like 4.x% versus 2-3% of most others. This certainly helped US a lot.
Those of you folks living in areas with naturally soft-water can use basically any detergent and still get a better clean than people with very hard-water like us
I have a Dyson DC-11 (canister vac) and I love it. I bought mine at about 4 years ago after trying almost 15 vacuums at Sears and am still very satisfied.
A few things:
1) Dyson vacuums are not necessarily the most powerful, nor do they claim to be. There were others I tried that had better suction power. (At least before bags and filters filled up)
2) The Dyson bagless design supposedly means no replacement parts. So far this has been the case for me, though I suppose that the two filters between the main vacuum body and the canister could need be replaced if you didn’t follow instructions for maintenance.
3) Dyson brushes are air-driven on the majority (if not all) of their models. This is brilliant because there are never any belts or motors that can give out. And it works as well as any motor driven brush I’ve used on standard carpeting. I imagine if you had 2″ shag it would be another matter.
4) Emptying the Dyson can be a bit messy compared to bag vacuums. I tend to empty mine outside.
5) The savings of not replacing bags, filters and belts on my vacuum is my biggest argument for the Dyson. I have used other bagless vacuums (we bought one for the store I own that wasn’t a Dyson and I regret it; I had a different one before the Dyson) and the filters that I’ve seen clog quickly and can’t be re-used. This is frustrating and expensive. In the long run I estimate my Dyson would have had the same price of ownership because of not needing to replace bags, belts, filters, etc as any quality vacuum would have been in the second year of ownership.
For whatever it’s worth, I’m planning to buy a Dyson for my store because of the inferior performance/clogging of our current vacuum and the time and money this wastes. I’m completely certain of their products.
CR is perennially biased against or towards certain brands:
Dyson, and Hyundai (until very recently) in particular.
For about 15 years, a Toyota Camry always won, even though it was the most insipid, moderately-powered, blandly-styled car on the road! It was ridiculous how biased (payed off?) they seemed towards the Camry — their god.
My old 1997 Hyundai Tiburon was rated “too little data to predict reliability” — for FIVE years!!!
Dyson always looses to generic Hoovers based on their tests, but everyone I know who has one (including myself) loves theirs.
I’ve had mine over three years with two golden retrievers and a parrot, and had zero problems, and zero repairs.
I also hate how CR always recommends brands like “Kirby” and “Rainbow”.
Where do you get those? I’ve never seen one sold in any store! Doesn’t the fact that you can buy the product anywhere and find consumables/filters for it easily count for, no, outweigh most other factors?
Why not recommend a Moulinex, Philips, or SEB vacuum while you’re at it? They are equally unavailable here, or at least, not readily found, and then you’ll have the pleasure of mail-ordering for odd-ball bags for the rest of its life.
Thanks to CR, I bought a Samsung QuietStorm vacuum. It was okay, but the consumables were a pain to find/purchase on-line. I am so happy I don’t have to buy bags anymore. ORECK can whine all he wants on the radio. He’s pathetic. The QuietStorm was okay, but it needed maintenance, was really heavy in its own right, and my Dyson DC14 is such a pleasure in comparison.
CR is a useful price guide, and photo gallery, and general introduction for the “uninformed consumer” but not very useful for purchasing cars or vacuums.
I’ll take Edmunds blogs myself for my car shopping.
@daveydoodle:
dysons weighs about 20 pounds. self-propelled styles push 30.
If you’ve got a Dyson, don’t forget to clean the filter periodically.
After “Both” of My Vacc’s both broke & 1 lasted through 1 divorce & 2 kids & close to 20 years easy,I went out looking for a new one on tiny budget,why dose everything Break when you don’t have the money to replace stuff? Well after a long on-line search I went with my list to store and only 2 stores had one of 4-5 Vaccs and aprox $165.00 and our of my budget of course.So Not wanting to waste money on another Crapo Bagless Canister I almost pu one of those old school carpet sweepers & even they cost close to $40.00,then I see a stack of clearance Vaccs. and they were Kennmore up-rights and after my New Energy Star set I got from Sears which also are broken right now & another Nightmare story I was Leary of there brand but I had to get a Vacc asap so I grabbed one at $50.00 and took it home,I think it’s a darn good deal for what I paid for it,I wish it had a little more suction but it’s ok for now..
I recently switched from a Kenmore canister to a Dyson, and I’ve gotta say that, while I thought the Kenmore was a great product and a huge step up from my previous vacuums, the amount of dust and dirt that the Dyson picked up on its first use (directly following my vacuuming with the other) was pretty amazing. Clearly it does something the Kenmore did not…