Are Dysons all that?

Snagged a referb purple ball off of Woot! a couple years ago for $180-ish. Was listed/sold as a Multi Floor but they shipped us an Animal.

We had a Hoover that we thought was pretty good, but the first time we used the Dyson I was amazed/disgusted, it sucked dog hair out of the carpet from the previous owners that had been gone for 2+ years. I had no idea just how gross we are, until we got a Dyson.

Woot! has some referbs available right now, they usually have Dysons a few times a year.
http://home.woot.com/plus/dyson-floorcare-of-some-kind-1?ref=hm_cnt_wp_1

I'm a fan of my Miele (similar to the current C2). If you get one and have carpet, you'll want their carpet attachment.

They're pretty great. We bought a refurb off eBay like 5 years ago and it's been awesome. And you can actually get replacement parts and diagrams to show you how to replace them, which is big for me.

Kylini wrote: I'm a fan of my Miele (similar to the current C2). If you get one and have carpet, you'll want their carpet attachment.

We have the C3. It wasn't cheap, but it'll suck a golf ball through a garden hose, and it just oozes quality.

We have three dogs and burned through multiple vacuums. I finally caved and bought a Dyson Pet. I'm cheap by nature but I haven't regretted my decision once.

Disowns are good but not worth the price. Mieles, on the other hand, would still be a bargain at twice their price. Not a lot of bells and whistles, just awesome quality and performance.

I prefer Mega Maid.

I think they're overpriced and overrated. I reconditioned one for a family member, and didn't feel like it did a much better job than our cheapo Bissell.

We have a dyson ball that a plastic peice broke and apparently is not sold to repair it. It's been duct taped to seal up an air leak for the past couple years. Instead of throwing it out as SWMBO wanted, I use it to vacuum the sunroom carpet, but it really is not all that good with the air leak. I don't like that they are made of cheap and apparently brittle plastic and that you cannot buy parts to fix them. They should not be disposable for the price.

We also have a small rechargeable one and that thing rocks. It has a power head to do small areas or it can be used like a dustbuster. That thing works like a champ.

We picked up a Kirby 10 years ago at a yard sale for $100. Even with 2 dogs and 3 cats, it gets the job done. The carpet is clean. It's as heavy as lead, but since it's self propelled you don't notice the weight. It's better built than any other vacuum I've looked at. I can't imagine ever needing to replace it.

My ex bought a Dyson Animal when it first came out. It was quite amazing. When a couple of parts broke some years later, she was happy to find out parts can be ordered online and she repaired it herself.

That said, Consumer Reports did a test of bagless vacuums some time ago and while the Dyson was very good, some of the other companies have caught up and are a lot less $$. IIRC, one of the Hoover bagless uprights was pegged as their "best buy."

pinchvalve wrote: No exerience with the full sized, but I have the handheld: and compared to every battery-powered "dustbuster" I have ever used, it is the ONLY one that actually works at all, let alone well and for a long time. I freakin love mine. CRAP!

While our main is a Miele, we had the same issue with small ones. The thing does a great job. The motor and battery make it worth it.

Where is the world are you finding parts? I see some on Dyson's webpage but they don't have the part I need listed.

EDIT: Just ordered a new duct assembly from Vacuum-Direct. Turns out I had only looked at the Dyson site for parts and never really looked for parts.

We have an Oreck - when we have had minor problems it is easy to work on. My F-I-Law hates his so it was donated to us and we are using ours for parts. Fifteen years with this vacuum and we are happy.

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Our first Dyson is still going strong after all these years and we actually have a 2nd that was aimed at homes with pets called the Dyson Animal in 2008. It motherberkeleying AWESOME and works great cleaning up after little kids too.

well, some would say that kids are animals with worse table manners...

I used one at a previous job. Figuring out the collapsible handle on that thing was worse than trying to play with newer transformers. Although I like the hand dryers.

In reply to Brian:

alfadriver wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: No exerience with the full sized, but I have the handheld: and compared to every battery-powered "dustbuster" I have ever used, it is the ONLY one that actually works at all, let alone well and for a long time. I freakin love mine. CRAP!

While our main is a Miele, we had the same issue with small ones. The thing does a great job. The motor and battery make it worth it.

We have the handheld as well. It's a legit tool. It actually works as a vacuum unlike any other handheld. The power head "animal" attachment was worthless right out of the box, though. And don't use them for sucking up plaster dust, they don't like it.

We have a Roomba for daily cleanup and a Kirby for when it's time to go manual. The Roomba was the best present I ever got my wife, she loves that little thing.

Kylini wrote: I'm a fan of my Miele (similar to the current C2). If you get one and have carpet, you'll want their carpet attachment.

I've used Dysons and while they do work well I bought a Miele S4 a while ago and I love that thing. All the suction of the Dyson but I can have a conversation at normal volume over it. It's pretty amazing.

I did end up buying parts on ebay from A vacuum recycler guy in the uk. Strange but solved me issue.

My wife wants a shark. We have a dyson.

I picked up a Dyson DC14 discarded on bulk trash day. For ages, all my vacuums and lawnmowers were bulk trash day discards in a zip code where the median house price is 7 figures. I got it home and dug into it and found it needed belts. So I ordered a kit with the 2 belts and the installation tool on Amazon for about $20. Once installed, it became apparent that the motor wasn't long for this world. So I picked up a cheap used one on eBay, and took the thing ALL the way apart. I did the filters once I was in there. Verdict? It's nice enough, but the Panasonic upright we got a couple years ago is much lighter and cleans well. For everything but floors we have a Miele canister that's awesome. Pro tip: aftermarket bags and filters. Save about 60%.

So apparently there's an amazing Reddit AMA with a vacuum repairman: https://m.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1pe2bd

Come for the blunt and honest advice about what makes a good or bad vacuum. Stay for the Roomba with a duct-taped chainsaw.

Kylini wrote: So apparently there's an amazing Reddit AMA with a vacuum repairman: https://m.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1pe2bd Come for the blunt and honest advice about what makes a good or bad vacuum. Stay for the Roomba with a duct-taped chainsaw.

That AMA is a major reason we ended up with a Miele.

I am a little surprised we've made it this far without mentioning racing legend Rob Dyson or son Chris. Two time ALMS champion Chris Dyson is racing at the Chili Bowl this week. Yeah, Dysons are all that. https://www.facebook.com/Dyson-Racing-Team-Inc-342527439023/