Dyson Ball ? Any good?

Question

So iam really close to buying this vac, but want to know if any of you guys have it. What do you think, does it work, iam thinking of buying the $399 dyson ball the smaller one any advise?

Answer 1

We bought one using our American Express points because it's so danged expensive. I had read last year that newer vacuum cleaners were being so cheaply made that it didn't make sense to buy an expensive one, so I bought the cheapest one Wal-mart had. It lasted 9 months before it just stopped and was deafening.

The Dyson Ball is like a toy compared to the ones we've had before (the ones I bought before the cheapie were still low-end). It's got great features, which I'm sure you know. It's quieter (considering it's a vacuum cleaner), easy to empty, and very maneuverable. It seemed a little odd at first because our old ones were rigid, upright boxes and this one is like something from a robot movie. But I'm a sci-fi geek so that was cool. Oh, and it does floors. I like to use it to get the remaining grit up after sweeping. Drives me nuts when I go barefoot if there's grit.

The problems I have had are nowhere enough to make me regret having it, but here they are: the attachment tube is also the handle. Once you get the hang of that it isn't so bad, but the extendable portion is fairly unwieldy, being a collapsible flexible coil tube connected to the machine itself. The long, straight plastic handle is attached to the spring-like coil and this arrangement makes it hard to direct it toward the floor. I believe this can be gotten used to, since I've just had it a few months and haven't been the only one vacuuming I just haven't got it yet.

The other thing I just ran into. There's a button to switch the spinning brush-bar on and off, depending what you're vacuuming. I vacuumed the tile first and switched it on again for the carpet and it worked fine. I tipped it upright and the brush stopped again, a nice feature. I tipped it back again and the brush stayed put, wouldn't spin at all no matter how I tipped the machine. Half an hour later I had it running again, after removing it for cleaning (this is also easy, I must admit) and consulting the web site for troubleshooting tips. Well, the web site tells you to clean the brush-bar. Then they ask how you like their web site. So all they suggest is cleaning it, then I guess you go to a repair shop and hope they're honest. So I pulled out the brush and looked at what made it spin (a little pinwheel dealy), tested it, found it was working, and just pushed the brush back in more firmly, and when I switched it on it was spinning again. In short, it was a little loose and they didn't offer that suggestion. I didn't call them, though, and it may be that they would have said just that to me over the phone and I'd be back vacuuming. I don't know.

So far so good. From what I've seen, Dyson seems to be a top rated company, from consumer votes online. But if you can get it through American Express or get a rebate or coupon, well, do it.