Yesterday we told you of our affinity for the Dyson DC23 Turbinehead vacuum cleaner, and really the Dyson brand as a whole. While it’s the upright and canister vacuums the company is best known for, Dyson also has a pair of entrants in the handheld vacuum market: the DC31 and DC31 Animal ($220 and $270, respectively). Aside from color (the DC31 is yellow, the DC31 Animal is purple), the only difference between the two is that the DC31 Animal includes a motorized brush bar attachment, whereas the traditional DC31 does not. What they both have, however, is a motor that according to Dyson founder James Dyson, is “the fastest motor in the world.” It’s capable of achieving 104,000 revolutions per minute – roughly ten times as fast as a commercial jet engine, and roughly five times as fast as an F1 engine. The result is a supremely powerful handheld vacuum – one that can generate 38 air watts of constant suction in regular mode or 65 air watts of constant suction in high power mode – all while looking like a bad-ass phaser gun straight out of the future.
Around the house, the Dyson DC31 is really one of those things you don’t realize you need until you have one. I initially questioned spending $200 on a handheld vacuum, but the time and effort it’s saved me on quick cleanups as opposed to having to bring out the full sized Dyson is alone worth the cost. It’s great in the kitchen – coffee grinds, breadcrumbs, etc. in corners, drawers and other hard to reach places immediately come to mind. In my home office, I use it to clean my computer keyboard and suck up any other stray dust around the desk. And of course, it’s fantastic in the car. Floor mats, the console, the dashboard – I pretty much use it clean anything and everything related to my Merc. At 2.9 pounds, it’s easy enough to take anywhere I need it, and because it is so portable, I’m far better at cleaning right away. Before it was more a case of I’ll leave it until I vacuum; now spot cleaning is a 20 second task. I hate dust and I love saving time at arduous chores, so for me, it’s a win win.
Another thing that I was a little worried about was the relatively short battery life (10 minutes for normal mode, 6 minutes for high power mode). But after using the DC31, I’ve found the battery life to be sufficient. Because it’s trigger activated, you’re only turing it on a moment before you actually want to use it, so the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Half the time cleaning is spent moving from one place to another, so in real world use the DC31 lasts significantly longer than you’d expect. In cases where I’d need to use it for a straight 10 minutes, chances are I’d be better served using a regular vacuum with an attachment instead, so nine out of ten times the battery is going to be a non-issue.
Overall, the Dyson DC31 a fantastic little vacuum for anyone who hates dust and dirt as much as I do, and like my Dyson DC23 Turbinehead, I recommend it, especially if you’re in the market for a new handheld. And just to prove how great it is, we’re going to give a DC31 to one of you, our dear readers, so you too can partake in the beauty of Dyson engineering. The rules are simple: for your chance to win the Dyson DC31, all you need to do is register for an eMercedesBenz account (if you haven’t already) and leave a comment in this article telling us you want it. Easy, I know. The contest will end next Monday (May 24th) at 5:00 PM CST, and we’ll announce the winner the next day. In addition, we’re going to test a couple of new ways in this giveaway to help you increase your odds of winning. First, after leaving a comment on this article, you can also become a fan of eMercedesBenz on Facebook and add a comment on the Facebook entry for this article telling us you want it; and secondly, you can follow eMercedesBenz on Twitter and re-tweet the article. That gives you a possible total of 3 entries in this giveaway, if you use all three methods.
So to recap: 1) Leave a comment on this article and you’re entered; 2) “like” us on Facebook and leave a comment under the Dyson Giveaway Facebook post for a second chance to win; and 3) follow us on Twitter and re-tweet the Dyson Giveaway article for a third chance to win. If you don’t use Facebook and/or Twitter, you don’t need to use either to be entered in the giveaway, just leave a comment; and if you use only Facebook but not Twitter (or vice versa), you can enter a second time via your social site of choice. The one stipulation is that you must leave a comment directly on the eMercedesBenz.com article in addition to Facebook/Twitter – using only Facebook/Twitter won’t register you. And by the way, feel free to let us know what you think of the new Facebook and Twitter giveaway options. We always want your feedback, so if you love them, hate them, or have any other feelings, regarding them let us know – our goal is make eMercedesBenz as great as possible for you.
And that’s it. Get your comments in to get registered, and as always, best of luck to everyone that enters.
*No purchase necessary. This giveaway is void where prohibited by law. The winner(s) will be chosen at random by a member of the eMercedesBenz editorial staff. Taxes if applicable are the responsibility of the winner. eMercedesBenz is not liable for anything relating to this giveaway.
Vacuums are one of those things that don’t really get a lot of love around the house. When you need one, it’s not exactly the most thrilling of purchases, and once you’ve bought one, it’s unlikely you’ll be inviting your friends over to check out the sweet new vacuum you just picked up. Enter a little company called Dyson. They managed to take an otherwise uninspiring sector and transform it into their own personal playground, creating a product range that looks more like rolling contemporary pieces of art than vacuum cleaners while at the same time inventing a technology that allows them to generate über-amounts of suction.
I’ve spent the last several months with a Dyson (the Dyson DC23 Turbinehead, to be precise), and I have to tell you, it has lived up to the hype. If you’re in the market for a new vacuum cleaner or just want a vacuum that looks flat-out sexy, read on for my impressions of this beautifully designed creature.
Upright vs. Canister
When selecting a Dyson (or any new vacuum for that matter), you’ll first have to select whether to opt for the upright or canister variety. Uprights typically tend to be a little less agile due to their size and weight, whereas canisters, once in a room, offer a little more flexibility due to the fact you only have to move the hose and attachment (for the most part). Dyson has made the agility factor even less of an issue, however, by adding a ball to many of their upright vacuums, substantially increasing its handling in tight spaces. It’s really a matter of personal preference – I opted for the canister simply because my prior house had a central vacuum system, and I grew accustomed to having a disconnect between the motor and vacuum. Another one of our writers uses a Dyson DC25 Animal (an upright with a ball) and absolutely loves it. Either way, you’re getting Dyson’s superior suction technology, so it really boils down to selecting the option you feel more comfortable with.
Which Dyson canister?
After settling on either an upright or canister, the next option is selecting a specific Dyson model. There’s a total of four Dyson canisters to choose from: the Dyson DC22 Turbinehead and Motorhead and the the Dyson DC23 Turbinehead and Motorhead. While the DC22 variants cost more ($699 and $799, respectively), the DC23 variants ($399 and $599, respectively) offer a couple features that for me made them the better choice over their more expensive counterparts – namely, bigger bins and a farther reach. Power across the board is about the same (230 air watts vs. 220 air watts), and all use Dyson’s Level 3 Root Cyclone technology, so picking a model boils down to its feature set as opposed to raw suction.
As for the DC23 Turbinehead verses the DC23 Motorhead, the difference comes down mainly to the attachments – the Motorhead includes the hard floor tool and motorized brush head, whereas the Turbinehead doesn’t. That doesn’t mean the Turbinehead doesn’t work on hard floors (it does), it just doesn’t have a dedicated attachment to do so. For my needs, the added accessories weren’t necessary, so I opted for the DC23 Turbinehead; but as I’ll discuss in a moment, there is a case in which the DC23 Motorhead will be the better choice.
Design and Usage
From a design standpoint, Dyson vacuums really are a thing of beauty. Their design is completely unique and unlike any other vacuum in existence, but more importantly, functionality is in no way compromised as a result. It’s a fact reinforced when taking the Dyson DC23 Turbinehead out of the box. After spending a few moments admiring its unique shape and glistening shade of blue, I then proceeded to assemble the unit, which took approximately 1 minute, sans looking at the instructions. The first time using the DC23 Turbinehead, operation was equally as simple, with almost all components being exactly where you’d expect them. There’s a large foot-activated power button on the canister to turn the unit on and off; the attachment wand is extendable to a variety of lengths, making using the included brush, crevice and stair tools a straightforward task; and when you’re finished, a second foot-activated button rewinds your power cord. And as is the case with all Dysons, there are no bags. When the Dyson’s canister becomes full, you simply take out the removable bin and empty it. Add to that a washable lifetime HEPA filter, and you’ve got a vacuum that requires no replacement of parts during normal use.
Using the DC23 Turbinehead around the house, it’s an exceptionally mobile creature, weighing in at just under 20 lbs. Because you’re using just the hose and and attachment – which together can lay almost completely flat – the DC23 can reach a variety of places a traditional vacuum can’t (think under beds, under tables, etc.). Having two small dogs that love tracking pet hair in hard to reach places throughout my house, I can’t tell you how welcome of a feature this is. Another feature that adds to the DC23’s mobility is the swivel cuff on the handle (this is where the hose attaches to the handle.) Because it spins freely, you can move the hose to various places in the room without having to fight the hose twisting – a huge plus when needing to switch from vacuuming to using an attachment on the fly. And then there’s the suction. Aside from shop vac, this is the most powerful vacuum I’ve used. After first assembling my DC23, I vacuumed my living area with my old vacuum (a Hoover), and subsequently followed up with the Dyson. Needless to say, it picked up a ball of pet hair that I didn’t know existed. It also works great on hard floors – again, having the dogs, pet hair is a consistent problem, but the DC23 handles pet hair on hard surfaces with ease. About the only problems I have with the Dyson is that to turn off the turbine head, you have to physically switch a disk on the head, and at times moving the canister around a room can be a bit of a pain. Aside from these minor quibbles, I have to say I love the Dyson DC23 Turbinehead.
That said, there is a case where I would recommend opting for the DC23 Motorhead. In my home, I have primarily hard surfaces and medium to small pile carpet/rugs. For longer pile rugs, you’re most likely going to run into some difficulty with the non-motorized brush head, so for you, the DC23 Motorhead is worth the upgrade. While the DC23 Turbinehead will work on longer pile carpets (I have two in my home), I wouldn’t recommend it for large areas, as that’s not really its main area of expertise.
Conclusion
As I noted earlier, after several months, I’ve grown to love my Dyson DC23 Turbinehead. It’s lived up to Dyson’s marketing claims thus far; I have a clean house; and in the event anything should go awry, it’s backed by a five year warranty. Is it worth the $399? You bet. And while it may not be quite as awe-inspiring as the new 50″ 3D flat panel you just picked up, for a vacuum, it’s still pretty damn cool.