I would only complain that he hasn't been tapped to revamp our space program. The Dyson is the model of efficiency and design that leaves other vacuums in the dust.

Because I am vacuum-obsessed, Sr. 'Zinha gifted me with a Dyson one year--my equivalent of finding a car with a big red bow in the driveway.

Performance-wise, it really wasn't any better than any of the 70 dollar Hoovers I'd ever owned. Very disappointing.

The extra-long cord and extra-long hose attachment were pretty cool...but not $500 cool.

@Cafezinha: Yes, but it will last 10x as long as the other $70 vacuums and perform as good as it did the first day that entire time.

Worth it, since you only need one vacuum instead of several $70 ones, which get clogged.

I feel like writing to him and extolling how amazing my refurbished model has been so far.

dyson is seriously the best vacuum i had (I have a refurb $75 Dyson Root)

5-7 minute battery, but the vacuum sucks all the time.... great for my dorm room... not to mention it looks like a weird blender :P

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I ended up having to get rid of the Dyson because of the clogging and poor performance. It just stopped sucking...a bad thing in this case. ;)

I swear to goddess I wasn't sucking the cat up into the intake tube!

@Bahnburner: "other vacuums in the dust."

Ha! Ha ha! Zing!

@Cafezinha: Yes, Consumer Reports never rates the Dysons very well. Certainly not well enough to justify the price.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I've heard of Dysons dieing prematurely.

You can get an all metal Royal Vacuum for about $200 less than a Dyson. Even the fan blade creating the suction is made of indestructible stainless steel on some models. The things weigh a ton, but they actually will last a lifetime and work like a dream.

@Cafezinha: I wonder if much of the $500 is for the prolific marketing campaign and not the product itself.

@taking_this_easy: Agreed! The root is quite simply amazing. I paid full price, but never once regretted it.

I'm going to write Mr Dyson and ask if he'll send me one of his new hand dryers.

I watched some Discovery Channel show on this guy. I have to hand it to him - he really takes his vacuums seriously. Top-Secret, "we-can't-show-you-what's-behind-that-door" serious.

Buy a Simplicity, you'll laugh in the face of your $600 Die-soon users.

(but obviously, opinions on vacuums vary widely)

My mom has an Orek, because she got pissed at our Hoover. Tell me why or why not she should get a Dyson when the Hoover dies. I hear they do indeed have a constant level of suction, but they don't have as much suction as a conventional vacuum has with a fresh bag. Also, is dust an issue when throwing it out? I have allergies and I think I might be mildly asthmatic, so that would be a dealbreaker, unless they have a bag model.

Growing up, my mom had a Miele. For my last birthday, I got one too. THe best part is, that her old one still works making more than 12 years old (even better, it still looks and runs like it is mostly new).

After buying too many vacuums over the course of my life, i finally said "screw it" and splurged on a Dyson. And that sucker has been awesome!!! I am in my 3 year of ownership (probably would have already owned 2 or 3 of the $70-$100 vacs). I purchased a second Dyson 6 months ago; a little hand vac for the garage and small messes, and that one is also a gem. Now my brother, and parents also own Dyson vacs. If you are going to go broke purchasing one, i would recommend it. Otherwise you can just spend the same amount of cashola going through purchase after purchase of the other junk.

@mgy: It's disappointing to hear that the hype behind these vacuums isn't justified. Dammit, that dude just seems so full of conviction in the commercials!

@TVarmy: your conventional vacuum will immediately start to lose suction when dirt clogs up in the bag/filter... dyson will maintain the suction until the container is somewhat filled (or large pieces of junk prevent the cyclone of air from forming...).... which means you dont have to empty your container that often and suction is always there

for throwing out dust, i just empty my dyson root over the garbage can and shake the dust out while looking/breathing the other way... cant say for dyson's upright

go to a sears showroom and try it out(if they have it in stock)

(well, i'll stand by their handheld Root vacuum)...

I know this won't work for everyone, but I just use a 60$ 12 gallon Rigid Shop vac. Nothing works better...

You will be disgusted at the amount of hair, flakes, dirt, and gunk that Dyson vacuums pull out of your carpet. It will even pull out the drywall dust that is UNDER the carpet.

I spent about 400 on mine (got the Animal unit for cat hair), and that was three years ago. It's still going strong and I am loving it. No complaints here, 'cept I want another one.

I am crazy in love my with Dysi (I have two, thus they are plural Dysons -- Dysi). I'm a bit of a neat freak and vacuuming is my therapy. A Dyson is cheaper than a therapist, that's what I always say. Seriously, I LOVE my Dysi. They work so well. The first time I used one on a rug, I said, "Oh, THAT'S what color the rug used to be!"

Jeebus Christ. If a vacuum cleaner costs $500, it better fucking suck up every piece of dust, lint and dirt off of every surface of my house without disturbing the furniture just by pressing a button! Oh, and it damn well better empty itself and take out the trash, too!

I need to email him to find out why their website won't just tell me where I can take my Dyson to get fixed. Yes, they DO sometimes stop working properly. I have to twist the dial on the front every time I vacuum to switch from floor to carpet, as it "resets" to floor all the time, and even while I'm vacuuming.

I don't want to spend 60 minutes on the phone just to get an address of a close repair center.

I have the Dyson Animal and it's worth every penny I paid for it. It's the only vacuum cleaner I have that has lasted, especially since I've had a dog. If it becomes clogged, it's very easy to unhook pieces to unclog it...no tools required. Believe me, I've had it suck up pens and was able to get them out.

Now if he'd only make a carpet cleaner (shampoo)!

I'll keep on using my Tri-Star which I've had now for since 1993 and will kick the shit out of a Dyson. It might not have a fancy big ball to swivle on but I'm willing to bet it can out perform any Dyson on the market.

Also, suction doesn't clean. Airflow cleans. You can have all the suction in the world but if airflow is restricted nothing to not much will get picked up. I hate hearing him in his TV spots stating the suction is the problem, it is not and he is lying when he says it is.

My Tri-Star has all its original parts. Nothing has failed on it since 1993 and it still works the same as it did the day it came out of the box.

They only thing I like that Dyson has made is the new hand dryers. A local McDonalds was rebuilt and they have them and they are pretty bad ass.

@umbriago: I second the Simplicity. Excellent vacuum and mine is 13 years old and still going strong.

Dyson is a hero to all great engineers. He showed that a device that was largely unchanged for 20 years could be massively updated.

Performance-wise, my Dyson has been better than any Hoover, Ricoh, Eureka, Kenmore or any other vacumn I have ever owned. No pet hair, dust or filthy expensive bags to worry about either. Won't every buy anything but a Dyson in the future should I need a new one.
@Cafezinha:

agreed best vacuum ever used

My cleaning lady HATES Dyson vacuums. They are in 95% of all the big wealthy homes she cleans. She loves my cheap "Shark" vacuum from Bed Bath & Beyond when she cleans our little condominium.

(Before I get accused of snobbery for having a cleaning lady, she only comes twice a month and it's a gift to me from my husband - I give up all other Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and other gifts and ask my husband to please keep sending her instead! She's very inexpensive and the best gift ever to a busy working mom.)

So after I brought home my "Shark" brand cheap canister vacuum, she was so excited after using it that she phoned me at work to ask me where I bought it so she could get one for her own house. "Thank you for not buying a Dyson! All the other houses, they have a Dyson." she said "I hate Dyson! They weigh 100 pounds and are so hard to carry up and down stairs. They hurt my back to carry and hurt my arm to push!"

@TVarmy: Pretty sure they don't have a bag model because they are of the opinion that bags are bad.

All bagless vacs will poof up a dust cloud because there is nothing containing the dust after you dump it and its light so falling from the container to the trash will kick it up. I suppose you could wet it down so it kind of clumps up, toss, then let the container dry.

I bought a Dyson DC 21 (Stowaway) on the recommendation of a friend with two longhair cats. I figured if it worked well enough for her that it should be able to handle my one dog. I was right, and then some... The first use pulled up so much dust and dirt it instantly proved that my old vacuum really was worthless. To this day (over a year after purchase) it still works as well as it did out of the box.

I was so impressed that I followed up this purchase with a Dyson Root; which later in it's life took a tumble out my window and onto the cobbles four stories down...banged up a bit but still performs flawlessly.

My only "complaint", and this is truly trivial at best, is that it's not a dual voltage appliance which means I'll have to buy a 220V to 110V converter when I return to the states.

@Deezul_AwT: i guess you haven't been on consumerist.com long enough

[consumerist.com]

Hell, I have 50 year old Hoovers that work perfectly.

But Dyson's Airblade hand dryer really does work, but then so does another high speed one called Xcellerator.

@Julia789: somehow (the price is right?) I've been duped into buying 2 shark vacuums - both lasted less than a year and didn't work well. never again..... could barely suck up kitty litter, much less hold a bowling ball!

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Both the Airblad and the Xcellerator work quite well, but the Xcellerator is second to none. Xcellerators are amazing.

"Should you ever have cause to complain about the greatest vacuum cleaner in the world"

I'm looking for the email address to Kirby vacuums.......

@vitaminmax: My Kirby is still kicking, or sucking. Passed on to me when I moved out from home and I plan to pass it on to one of my own kids.

@hillsrovey: I'm sure the Dyson is great for people with pets and carpets - when I used to have a carpet, it was hard to get all the fur out when the dog was shedding. The fur gets stuck in the carpet fibers like velcro.

But I must be lucky, the little Shark canister vacuum I've had for three years now with no problems. It's perfect for my wood floors because it doesn't need tons of suction to get the fur off. If I had a carpet (or cats and kitty litter!) I'd probably need something more powerful. But knock on wood, the little Shark is still going strong. It's lasted 2x longer than the Hoover I had before it! Maybe it doesn't wear out as fast when it's used on bare floors instead of carpet.

@hillsrovey: Yeah, my parents have a Shark too. Its horrible. The stupid thing overheats within 10 minutes of use so it usually takes 3 times as long to vacuum the entire house as a decent vacuum would. If my parents weren't so stubborn it would've been replaced a long time ago.

I love my dyson (pet) upright vacuum .. my cleaner loves it.
I'd highly recommend it to anyone despite it's relatively high retail price.
I'd also place it in the top 5 items I've ever purchased in terms of satisfaction.

Mr. Dyson should be proud of his engineering achievement - saddened by the fact that he moved his manufacturing from the UK to China.

It is disappointing that Dyson never managed to make their washing machines into a successful product line - I wish they had sold them in the US. I would have bought one.

@FuryOfFirestorm: second the notion!

@CAFEZINHA (IS RUNNING AMOK FOR CHRISTMAS!):

My Dyson D7 is a $225 refurb from woot. I've been happy with it - it definitely works better than the $50 Hoover it replaced which kept shutting off randomly.

But I think the appeal of the dyson is not just the fact that it works well, but that they obviously put lots of time into the design - I love that I can just hold the canister over the trash can and open the bottom and dump it in, rather than having to dump it out like my old vac, which usually ended up with me putting all the dirt back on the floor instead of in the trash.

Seems like everyone that owns a Dyson loves it and everyone that says "My vacuum is way better than a Dyson" has never tried one. I don't own a Dyson but I haven't seen anything here to discourage me from getting one. I'm getting fed up with my Oreck so I might just try a Dyson.

@I_Spy: You could always try taking your dyson to a repair center in the states and ask if they could change out the power board/transformer/cord. Im sure its not that hard at all.

We bought the slim Dyson when it was on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. We also used their 20% coupon, and probably saved about $200 total. It is the best vacuum we've owned. It only weighs 15 lbs. It's very maneuverable, not too noisy, easy to empty, and has a lot of power. My only complaint is the kick stand doesn't lock into position all the time; and even when it does, the vacuum rocks back and forth as though it's about to fall over. Aside from that, I'd highly recommend getting a Dyson.

If you emailed him and told him his vacuums suck, would he take it as a compliment?

@CAFEZINHA (IS RUNNING AMOK FOR CHRISTMAS!):
My mom owns a cleaning business and has experience with Dyson's, says they're overpriced junk that doesn't perform to her needs.