Be Excellent To Each Other

Oreck FTW. Best purchase I have made since returning home.

It just works and it has a face. Do your Dysons have faces? No, didn't think so.

Goodness. That's pretty much exactly what Dyson's aren't, in my head.


Depends on the room you want them to clean, sadly

They never used to be, but they are now. Get one from 5 years ago, and it'll last you 5 more. Get one from 2 years ago and it's probably already dead.

I was of the same mind until I (well, the wife) bought one. It's one of their canister jobs and within 6 months of light use the thing started falling apart, which was all well and good during the warranty. Now, however, it's held together with insulation tape (thanks to the brittle plastic cracking), has a wonky wheel that I've bodged back on, needs a peg on the cable to stop it winding back in when in use (man does that cable get hot if you don't do this), has a split in the pipe (more insulation tape required here) and the accessories no longer fit on properly because the plastic clip-thing, tooled in the same shoddy plastic, broke!

Never again!



That's true, but the two we've got have been perfect for us. I don't know how well they'd cope with kids or pets, but for the two not very messy people they cope admirably - we set them to run daily and off they go!

Conversely, I've had no problems with mine since I've had it, except for losing a couple of attachments.

I could believe they've let any idea of quality go out the window, probably at the same time he made the UK factory redundant. It's why I would object to buying one new.

I'm very impressed with the quality and performance of this one though, the number of improvements over the original is amazing, and it's a solid bit of kit.

In awesomely entertaining fashion, I suspect.

Don't forget there's also the option of Henry's Mrs - Hetty. Which is what we've got.

And not to be confused with:

Yeah - when I move to a bigger place with less shit on the floor I'm going to get one - we had a borrow of one and it couldn't cope with our flat at all - it got stuck under the sofa and then fell down the stairs in the end

How often do they need to be emptied?

We've had our DC07 animal for about 9 years and with all our animals its had a hard life. The motor went when it was about 3.5 years old and Dyson sent an engineer out and fixed it for free. A couple of months ago the motor went again so I got in touch with Dyson and booked a service which costs £75 but includes all parts. They basically replaced about 40% of the vacuum, including all filters, motor, cyclone, belt, brush, the filter cover that sits underneath the collector and the actual wand/handle, which I thought was pretty good value for money. So apart from looking a little battle scarred it's as good as new.

Dyson still offer a five-year everything-covered warranty -- I got one with the DC21 I bought last year -- so I imagine any claim their build quality has dropped isn't statistically valid.

Hm, I should register my DC25 actually.

I'd love to know what proportion of consumer items breaking within their warranty period actually result in a claim under warranty. Either down to laziness or not having any proof of sale. I don't think I've ever claimed on a warranty in my life.

How dirty is your house?

Emptying takes about 20 seconds, from removing the bucket thing (push button) to walking outside to the bin and pulling the trigger lever.

At 13 kilos it fucking well should be. And that's without the dirt it's picking up.

Nonsense, it's only 8.7kg, I can lift that with my little finger. Anyway, upright vacuum cleaners need some weight or the rotary brush won't work as it won't be pressing into the carpet.

Plus, it's an upright vacuum. It has wheels. If you are carrying it about you are doing it wrong!

I think he was talking about the roomba.

Either them or the Henry rifle. I like the idea of robot vacuum critters, but I might wait until someone invents one that can pick stuff up from my floor too.

I think I would quite like a Roomba, now. Having googled it.

I want my house to be built like those American ones with built-in vacuuming. They have a huge fuck-off pump in a storage room, attached to massive bags, then hoses run to every room in the house. You then just plug a hose into the wall and off it goes.

£270 on Amazon. I'm sure MrsA would understand.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/iRobot-Roomba-5 ... 629&sr=8-1

I was sure mine weighed 13. On closer inspection it seems you're right, it only weighs 8.7kg. However, even at 8.7kg it's still a bloated cunt. You see, like many other humans I live in this thing called a house. And my house has stairs. I soon grew tired of lumping its heavy creaking plastic ass up my stairs.

As for the weight thing? pish. My Oreck has a squeegee on the underside that digs into the carpet lifting everything into the way of the brush. Which is connected straight to the same gearing the vacuum motor itself is. If you still weren't sure then check out this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ewDS1-dKk

So your Dyson (and my old one that now sits ashamed of it's fat heavy self) needs to be pushed around twice as much as my Oreck which weighs 3 kilos, nearly a third of the weight. Not only that but I don't do bagless vacuums on account of having allergies and bagless vacuums being utterly shit.

What irked me about my bloated Dyson the most was the fact that after you had carried it up the stairs you had to go around pushing all the bits back in that had creaked their way loose whilst it was in transit up the stairs.

Dysons are shit. They always were and they always will be. Infact, ironically the only reason Dysons caught on is because of the way they look. But for once I just don't agree. They're rubbish vacuums and looks mean nothing when it comes to cleaning your house.

Spend the extra £20 on the 555 version which has dirt sensors so cleans dirty bits more.

Which actual dyson model did you have? Might be fair criticisms of the DC01 - they were a bit fragile and the filtration wasn't as good as it could be. Good in it's day though (which was 1993 remember).

The DC07 allergy I just got is leagues ahead in every respect. Nothing gets past the filter on it.

I still disagree about the weight thing, I've used light-weight uprights before and they just seem like flimsy toys. I don't have stairs as it happens but 9kg is still a negligible weight to carry with one hand. Don't see your problem.

Mine is the exact same one that's in the video vs the Oreck. At least I'm sure it is.

The problem isn't with trapping the dust in the Dyson. It does a good job of that. The problem arises when it comes time to empty the dyson. All that dust goes straight into the air and up my nose. On my Oreck when you tilt the bag down it automatically slides a piece of cardboard accross the opening and seals it. So there's no way dust can get out into the air. That has really helped me when emptying it. Also, over time the Dyson needs to be stripped and cleaned. There is a section (coloured) inside the main cannister that has tiny holes. They clog with dust and need to be dug at with a tooth brush or similar to clear them to regain suction. All of which means my allergies sky rocket.

My problem comes from a car accident. If I vacuum with the Dyson it screws my back up badly. Lifting it isn't the problem, carrying it is. That requires me to use my back. Also pushing it around screws up my back. By the time I was done doing the cleaning my back would be fucked.

I'm not sure which lightweight vacuums you used before but I would assume they were not Oreck. Yes Orecks do feel a little strange at first (you need to be careful not to get them airborne at the end of a push as they weigh fuck all) but the proof is in looking down at the carpet and seeing how awesome it looks. Nothing is more satisfying than that for me. And the Oreck not only does a marvellous job at picking shit up but due to the squeegee and really fast brush it also picks up the carpet giving it lines and stripes. My Dyson (probably due to it's weight) only flattened the carpet down more.

I'm not saying Dysons are all bad. They do have their perks, most notably being that they are built above average and are easy to fix if they go wrong (ours has done a motor so whiffs when you use it). But for what they cost new they're not worth that kind of money. That kind of money is top dollar in the vacuum world and they do not kick out top dollar performance. Orecks also have their shortcomings but far less than the Dyson I have because it just does a much better job of cleaning the carpets. Had I not owned both and used them on the same carpet I would not make such bold statements. But I have.

Things I don't like about my Oreck? It needs belts which need replacing. I got some for Justin (justin case) and paid £2.50 del for two knock offs.. They also need bags (good and bad). The bags are not cheap (I got genuine hypos) for £10 for 8. Apparently each lasts two months so that's a tiny ammount to pay for not feeling like I've been smacked in the face every time I empty the thing. They're also expensive. However I paid £100 del for mine which is bang on half price. Do I think they're worth £200? No, I don't. I also don't think Dysons are worth what they cost.

Hmm, well, fair enough if you really need the lighter weight.

But the problem with dust coming out when you open it doesn't occur with the newer models - and you're emptying it into a wheelie bin outside so no risk of breathing dust at all.

I vastly prefer that over having to remember to buy and keep a stock of bags, and the fiddle of changing them. It's just irksome.

Also, yes, a new vacuum cleaner of any sort is overpriced. This one cost me £0.

Each to their own though, I'm very happy with the DC07 and would recommend it for most people.

Well I was being just a tiny bit unfair but then again I have an Oreck

Mine cost me £20 from Tesco.