Dyson slim...my secret ploy into getting TGuy to vacuum...

[TravelingGal]

I tried to resurrect a previous dyson thread but it was locked. I know a lot of you own dysons and am wondering if you are still pleased? I''ve read some reviews that these dysons actually inspired men to vacuum...which is worth far more than its $$$$ price tag to me.

Also, do you prefer uprights or canister vacs in general? TGuy grew up using a canister and prefers that. I dislike it for the same reason. Dyson makes a canister, but I am leaning toward the new DC18 slim, as we have stairs and if my ploy fails, I''m going to be stuck hauling it up and down!

I can''t believe I''m actually thinking of spending $400 on a vacuum, but the vast majority of dyson owners seem pleased. I''m not sure if it''s because most people probably don''t wanna admit they spent a mint on a dud.

 

[Independent Gal]

I''m eager to see what people say about this. I''ve been CRAVING one of those. Do they hold up well over time? Cause, you want your $400 vacuum to last a good long time. Also, anyone know whether they are Persian rug safe (e.g., retractable brush)?

 

[aljdewey]

I've had the Dyson Animal since we bought our house 2.5 years ago, and I'm still a fan.

I have a sheltie (ridiculous LOTS of hair), plus two cats -- one long and one short-haired. It keeps up with them well.

I'd buy it again in a minute, it does such a great job.

 

[TravelingGal]

ID, they do have retractable brushes, from what I researched.

Well, I did decide to get the Dyson slim at BBandB. I used the 20% off coupon and it was $407 total.

BUT...

I came home and thought, wait! I have credit card reward points! So I looked and sure enough, I have a ton...enough to get 4 $100 BBB gift cards. So this vacuum will cost me $7! Gotta love that. I will hold on to the vacuum and see if I can do the swap when I return the gift cards.

I''ll let everyone know what I think! Thanks Alj, for the review!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We have the animal and love it. It really picks up the cat hair. DH even enjoys it b/c he likes to see how much he can fill the canister. I am curious about the slim. I know the regular also works well (my MIL has two). My mom loves her animal as well. Our animal is slightly heavy but the hose is very long and can reach *almost* to the top of the stairs (while on the main floor).

 

[TravelingGal]

I will let you know how long the reach is when we open it. It will be about another week or so, as I don''t want to open the package since I want to exchange it and use my gift cards. Hopefully it won''t be a problem!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I am also curious on how light it is. Gotta love those 20% offs. I love how you can really use them on anything! I think you will be happy if it works as well as mine.

 

[TravelingGal]

it''s substantially lighter from what I felt...15.8 pounds vs the average 20-21 pounds of the other dyson. 5 pounds doesn''t sound like much, but believe me, it is. I was in BB&B lifting all of them today.

The shortcomings would be a) only about half gallon capacity to collect the crap and about 10 foot shorter cord length. Either of these will not be an issue for us as we currently live in a 1000 sq foot apartment...and since we live in Los Angeles, when we DO buy a house, it won''t be much bigger!

I liked it a lot when it was pushing it around BB&B. I must have looked like quite the dork!

 

[jcrow]

i'm a huge fan & so is dh

we have the yellow one. not sure right off hand which that is. not the animal.

i don't think the lack of space in the canister thingy will be a big deal. i don't think we've ever filled ours all the way up.
i have to say, we would have bought the slim instead of what we have, had it have come out when we were purchasing.

 

[ljmorgan]

Congrats on your Dyson! I hope that you love it. I have the animal "ball" Dyson and love it. It works wonders on our liiiiight (almost white) carpeting throughout the townhouse. My only gripe IS how heavy it is, so the slim sounds great. My townhouse is three levels and I don''t love carrying that thing up and down all of the steps!

The Dyson is fantastic on carpet, but I don''t love it on hard floors, it doesn''t do a spectacular job for me, even with the beater brushed turned off. For hard floors I LOVE my dirt devel broomvac. It is fantastic, gets up every speck and all of the cat hair. Between the Dyson and the broomvac (in pink, mind you!) I am a happy girl!

 

[sumbride]

I''ve had the animal for almost three years and I adore it! We do fill up our canister a few times when vacuuming the whole house, but we also have 2 cats, and um... we don''t vacuum quite as much as we should. BUT it is more fun with the dyson!

My hose actually reaches to the top step, but it is a little heavy to drag up and down stairs. FI wants to put the slim on our registry for that reason but I think it might be a little bit over the top to own TWO $400 vacuum cleaners!!!

 

[zoebartlett]

We would love to register for a Dyson! If only they weren''t so expensive. We will get one someday, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I may have missed this, but can you get the animal in a slim version? We have two cats and berber carpet. I swear the carpet holds onto everything! I do think the Dyson would make me want to vacuum more.

 

[TravelingGal]

Thanks all for your input! I can''t wait to take it for a test run, but I am waiting until I can use the credit that I will be getting in the mail in the next few days. I don''t want to open the package before that!

Zoe, I think the animal simply means the accessories you get...namely the mini turbine tool. So you could technically get the slim and buy the attachment separately if they fit. The slim does have slightly less suction power, but the reviews I have read have not mentioned that it is an issue.

 

[ljmorgan]

Oh zoe,

If you purchased a Dyson, you would be absolutely SHOCKED at the amount of cat hair pulled out of your carpet the first time you ran it. We have two cats, and very light carpeting throughout the house, and it was shocking (and very unsettling) to see the amounts of cat hair pulled out of the carpet the first time we ran it. We kept having to empty the canister, and that was even with my vacuuming with a hoover every other day before I got the Dyson. Now that I use the other Dyson every other day, very little cat hair gets sucked up, which is a good thing. When you have carpeting it''s hard to tell how much cats shed, but it''s a lot. Now that I have dark cherry floors in parts of the house, I have to vacuum those every DAY because you can see how much cat hair has accumulated that day, which is gross. With carpeting... it''s just harder to see it there! Anyway, I really recommend the Dyson

 

[E B]

We put a Dyson (the yellow one for 'all floors') on our registry because the members of my pug board are NUTS over it. And if anyone knows about excessive amounts of hair, it's a pug owner.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Lindsey, I agree. We have two cats and the animal dyson. Have you ever used it on your sofa?

Wow!

 

[gailrmv]

I was checking out the dysons at BBB the other day. I really want to get one, but some of my flooring is wood so I need to get something that is safe for them. Any ideas? Maybe the "all floor" version. I also have two dogs and tons of hair everywhere! I liked how light the slim version was. Very useful for dragging up and down stairs!

 

[TravelingGal]

Ayyy yii yiiii....EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our carpets were SO gross! Below, my review of the Dyson Slim....

It''s PERFECT for our apartment....easy to store and feels very nimble. And man, it can SUCK! I''m absolutely grossed out by what it collected in the small space that is our living room. The telescopic wand is easy to use and not only is it useful for stairs, but it''s great when I want TGuy to shut up...I just plonk the nozzle down on his lips and the Dyson slim sucks ''em shut.

Now, we don''t have pets so I can''t vouch for how well it would suck animal hair, but I can definitely guarantee that with the amount of hair and dust it collected, I can create my own new pet!

We named him Dyson the Dust Doggie!

So is this thing a sexy little piece of machinery or what? It''s about a pound lighter than our current vacuum but mentally feels a lot lighter...perhaps because it''s so svelte! It''s definitely is still novel enough to be a conversation piece. I didn''t have to hope that TGuy would vacuum at all...I just leave it out when company comes over. Everyone wants to check it out to see how it steers and sucks. I have to "limit" one room per guest. Vacuum is a chore for us no more!

If you feel it looks weird just sitting in your living room when company comes over, I recommend gussying it up a bit by sticking some flowers in its see through dust catching compartment. Puuuuuuurdy....

Also, so far I seem far less wheezy when I vacuum, but I still have yet to go full blast all over the house since the guests keep doing to cleaning.

Is it worth $469? Well, I was fully prepared to pay it (actually just a bit over $400 with the BB&B 20% off coupon). But since I only paid $7 for it, I am definitely a believer. Only time will tell if I think it''s worth its full weight in gold...but at only 15.8 pounds, I really think the lightweight of the slim compared to the other models makes it a clear winner in my book.

Highly recommended!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Glad you like it!

They are amazing aren''t they?

I use mine on our hardwood floors. Am I not suppose to?

 

[TravelingGal]

It says it''s safe for wood floors...I think you just turn off the brush so it doesn''t scratch them?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Hmmm...I have never noticed any scratches.

Have you tried using it on your sofa yet? Might not be as dramatic since you don't have pets. My MIL uses hers for everything (base boards, ceiling fans, trim of any kind, window blinds, even inside empty drawers).

 

[TravelingGal]

Not yet...but I''m doing a full rundown this week, including sofas since my sister in law is coming for a visit.

Right now, it''s just sitting in our living room so we can feel like we''ve "arrived."

Sheesh...I don''t think buying a Mercedes would make me feel so uppity as owning this Dyson does. A damn $500 vacuum! Does anyone else feel like that''s kinda wrong???

 

[monarch64]

well heavens, I''d want to make sure it sucked up some serious spidies....LOLl
Just being catty here...love ya TG..

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 6/12/2007 2:26:11 AM
Author: monarch64
well heavens, I''d want to make sure it sucked up some serious spidies....LOLl
Just being catty here...love ya TG..

Don''t get me started on spiders Mon...I haven''t even opened up that icky thread that luckystar started after I saw what she posted.

 

[ljmorgan]

The Dyson is safe for hard floors if you turn the beater brush off. However, I don''t think that it does a stellar job on hard floors, to tends to blow stuff around so it can''t get sucked up. I mentioned earlier that I use the Dirt Devil broomvac for that job, and it''s superb. Gets up every speck of dust and piece of cat hair -- love it. I use it on my laminate floors and in the kitchen, on tile, etc. LOVE IT.

 

[pricescope]

Date: 6/12/2007 1:11:12 AM
Author: TravelingGal
Ayyy yii yiiii....EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our carpets were SO gross! Below, my review of the Dyson Slim....

It''s PERFECT for our apartment....easy to store and feels very nimble. And man, it can SUCK! I''m absolutely grossed out by what it collected in the small space that is our living room. The telescopic wand is easy to use and not only is it useful for stairs, but it''s great when I want TGuy to shut up...I just plonk the nozzle down on his lips and the Dyson slim sucks ''em shut.

Now, we don''t have pets so I can''t vouch for how well it would suck animal hair, but I can definitely guarantee that with the amount of hair and dust it collected, I can create my own new pet!

We named him Dyson the Dust Doggie!

So is this thing a sexy little piece of machinery or what? It''s about a pound lighter than our current vacuum but mentally feels a lot lighter...perhaps because it''s so svelte! It''s definitely is still novel enough to be a conversation piece. I didn''t have to hope that TGuy would vacuum at all...I just leave it out when company comes over. Everyone wants to check it out to see how it steers and sucks. I have to ''limit'' one room per guest. Vacuum is a chore for us no more!

If you feel it looks weird just sitting in your living room when company comes over, I recommend gussying it up a bit by sticking some flowers in its see through dust catching compartment. Puuuuuuurdy....

Also, so far I seem far less wheezy when I vacuum, but I still have yet to go full blast all over the house since the guests keep doing to cleaning.

Is it worth $469? Well, I was fully prepared to pay it (actually just a bit over $400 with the BB&B 20% off coupon). But since I only paid $7 for it, I am definitely a believer. Only time will tell if I think it''s worth its full weight in gold...but at only 15.8 pounds, I really think the lightweight of the slim compared to the other models makes it a clear winner in my book.

Highly recommended!

TG you are hysterical

 

[jcrow]

re: hardwood floors - i have the one that says it can go on wood floors, but i don''t use it there. i''ve read that no matter the vacuum, the wheels can scratch the floors. dunno, just don''t want to take a chance on new wood floors.

Date: 6/12/2007 1:58:48 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Hmmm...I have never noticed any scratches.

Have you tried using it on your sofa yet? Might not be as dramatic since you don''t have pets. My MIL uses hers for everything (base boards, ceiling fans, trim of any kind, window blinds, even inside empty drawers).

that said, i DO use the dyson everywhere else! sofa, matress, base boards (love the long reach wand!!) - anywhere dust can go... i just be sure not to wheel it over the wood floors

 

[TravelingGal]

Ha PS Admin...well, if you spend that much on a vacuum (even if I was only $7 out of pocket although I was GOING to pay the full amount), I think you gotta keep a sense of humor because I STILL think it''s crazy to spend that kind of money on a vacuum.

But I''m more and more of a believer every day. Did the long reach hose up the stairs today and it made it almost all the way up (missed the last step!). The slinky hose thing fascinates me...but I gotta admit I''m scared of puncturing it!

The worst thing about this Dyson is it makes me feel like TGuy and I were dirty people.

 

[Dee*Jay]

TG, I''ve been lusting for one of these for years but now you''re making me afraid to get one because WHO KNOWS what sort of scary sh*t is lurking in my rugs and furniture... I don''t think I want to find out!!

 

[zoebartlett]

Okay, I have to have one. It''s definitely going on our registry list. Thanks for the review TG!