This place sucks

September 17, 2015 11:16 AM

Winds of change at Dyson - James Dyson built a better vacuum. Can he pull off a second industrial revolution?

Thirty-three years ago, James Dyson set out after an unusual dream: to create the ultimate vacuum cleaner. Here's how he turned that vacuum into a billion-dollar business.

posted by the man of twists and turns (127 comments total)

Second?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:22 AM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

This was a fascinating read. I always get a thrill when the AirBlade hand dryers pop up here in Canada because I really liked them the first time I entered them in the UK. I do think his products are pricey, but they do seem to be made with more thoughtfulness in mind. (I have coveted many Dyson products.)
posted by Kitteh at 11:26 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I like when they set them up in a circle and have balloon air races.

Sticking with my Vornado, though
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:33 AM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Miele and Vornado >>>
posted by nom de poop at 11:35 AM on September 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

One time a vacuum repairman on reddit explained how Dysons are very poor, and it made me feel pretty bad about that purchase.
posted by anazgnos at 11:41 AM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

This place sucks

I didn't think it was physically possible, but this company both sucks and blows.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:43 AM on September 17, 2015 [12 favorites]

I have a dyson vacuum and every time I use it I marvel at the intricate plastic components, any one of which is more than capable of making the whole thing worthless if it snaps.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:43 AM on September 17, 2015 [26 favorites]

Short version:

1) Look for an industry which has been engaged in a cost cutting race to the bottom for 20 years, and spends almost nothing on R&D
2) Engineer less-shitty / aggravating version of product (easier in some fields than others), or rip off non-shitty version from other countries which still believe in quality products (suckers)
3) Market ths shit out of it, and charge as much as the upper middle class will pay
posted by benzenedream at 11:46 AM on September 17, 2015 [25 favorites]

Yeah, when shopping for a vacuum last year (for which the only requirement was, "Cost doesn't matter, as long as it's the last vacuum we need") the vacuum store owner told us she was quitting their Dyson sales relationship because of how many of them were returned or needed repair before their time.

We ended up with a Miele. The thing's a brick. A quiet, ruthless, surface sucking brick.
posted by ardgedee at 11:47 AM on September 17, 2015 [30 favorites]

" I always get a thrill when the AirBlade hand dryers pop up here in Canada because I really liked them the first time I entered them in the UK."

you're basically poking your hand into pools of dirty water left over from the previous user's hands. Those things don't seem to have a drain which is a mindboggling design flaw.
posted by I-baLL at 11:51 AM on September 17, 2015 [9 favorites]

Vacuums are one of the products that constantly puzzle me as to why they cost so bloody much?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:51 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've always had mixed feelings about Dyson stuff. While their products are often based on some new way of doing things that they've sort-of invented, the products are often very, very flawed.

The AirBlade dryers were impressive when I first saw them, but then Excel brought out their dryers, which work on a similar principle (blowing the water off rather than vainly trying to evaporate it) but are much simpler and lack the horrible 'interface' where you have to place your hands very carefully.

The vacuum cleaners suffer from being super-plasticky, with bits that snap off. And being bagless, I can't empty them without my allergies being terrible for the next two days.

The little bladeless fans are quiet and lack the ability to sever the fingers of inquisitive children, but the one I've used barely moved enough air to be worth turning on.
posted by pipeski at 11:52 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hmm, turns out that the Air Blades aren't even new:

http://gizmodo.com/299082/mitsubishi-jet-towel-vs-dyson-airblade-pre-game-trash-talk-and-tale-of-the-tape
posted by I-baLL at 11:55 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I actually don't sense that "annoying buffetting" that standard fans are supposed to be doing anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:55 AM on September 17, 2015

We ended up with a Miele. The thing's a brick. A quiet, ruthless, surface sucking brick.

We got one of these a few years ago as a gift. You can suck a pair of jeans into this thing. It's great.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:58 AM on September 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

EmpressCallipygos: "I actually don't sense that "annoying buffetting" that standard fans are supposed to be doing anyway."

No, no - it's annoying buffet-ing. With standard fans, people always start setting up steam trays of manicotti and prime rib.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:01 PM on September 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

Isn't "annoying buffetting" that which occurs when "Margaritaville" comes up on the playlist once too often?
posted by Chitownfats at 12:01 PM on September 17, 2015 [33 favorites]

At this point in the article

A few Dyson staffers I spoke to pointed out that Apple often puts the emphasis on design for design’s sake, intentionally shrouding the workings of its computers—anathema to Dyson ideology.

my eyes rolled and i lost interest in reading any more of that hagiography.
posted by D.C. at 12:01 PM on September 17, 2015 [14 favorites]

I'm not sticking my hands into any device that is named / labelled a blade.
* * *
The specific reason I enthusiastically invested in a Dyson vac was the designation "Animal"; a line specifically marketed as being capable of dealing with pet hair. Mine is a Dysmal failure at this, its one job. Any hair more than about an inch long wraps around the roller and works its way down DEEP into the works of the machine head rather than being sucked up the tube. After a bit of this, the roller stops turning. Remediation frequently requires total disassembly of the machine head (which requires Torx drivers). I could accept its other quirks, inefficiencies, and ideosyncracies if it could successfully execute its core mission, but it's an expensive disappointment in this area.

* * *
There's an old-fashioned store-front 'all makes' vacuum cleaner shop just down the street. I took my Dyson and my concerns there and they laughed -- two guys literally laughed. Then they invited me out back to look at their private collection of hurled, stomped, sledgehammered, and defenestrated Dyson vacs brought in by frustrated customers. I said, "But you've got Dysons in your display window!" They said, "They're pretty. Once in the store, we steer people to other makes."

* * *
Having lived wth this Dyson for a couple years now, I have to say that it makes me think of the difference between engineering a product and engineering a school project. The latter only has to work once to get an "A".

 
posted by Herodios at 12:02 PM on September 17, 2015 [13 favorites]

Huh, my Dyson is at least 8 years old with no problems, never repaired, etc. I have a long haired cat and it handles it fine. Had no idea so many people had issues with them, to me its been perfect.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:05 PM on September 17, 2015 [14 favorites]

When I visited, in late May, Dyson was in the process of hiring three hundred and fifty more engineers, but he was worried about finding British citizens to fill the positions. He observed that India produces a hundred and seventy thousand engineers each year, while Britain graduates about twenty thousand. “If I were in India, I would have no trouble finding people. But here it’s difficult.” Even if Britain can stimulate its high-tech and industrial sector, there won’t be enough British engineers to fill the jobs, based on the current numbers of engineering graduates.

(In case anyone else was distracted by this digression...this Times Higher Education article suggests that Dyson and Seabrook might be exaggerating a bit.)
posted by Iridic at 12:09 PM on September 17, 2015

I know a number of people who got suckered into buying Dysons. Every single one of them, every one, has killed the thing due to animal hair or using it to vacuum actual dirt from the floor. One person especially makes me laugh; she's repurchased the Dyson version of the dustbuster three times in four years, because the company I guess won't honor the warranty due to animal hair.

Meanwhile my Miele just keeps on trucking. I once used it to kill a wasp nest.
posted by Sternmeyer at 12:12 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I have a long haired cat and it handles it fine.

Anyone's experience may differ, but I'll point out that the box mine came in said "Dyson Animal".

It did not say "Dyson Animal (But Not Collies)".

In this case, since he is not an engineer, I refuse to blame the dog.
 
posted by Herodios at 12:13 PM on September 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

I'd encourage everyone in the market for a vacuum to check out one of the best reddit AMAs ever:
I am a Vacuum Repair Technician. And the sequels
posted by leotrotsky at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2015 [33 favorites]

I own an old Dyson Ball, and with regular cleaning it works well enough. It has been the easiest vacuum I've used, in terms of maneuverability and not needing consumables, but it's only serviceable to a point and I'm leaning more to a Miele or Sebo when it needs replacement.
posted by a halcyon day at 12:16 PM on September 17, 2015

Our Dyson actually works really well, but it feels super fragile to me.

My favorite is my Roomba, which has run 5 days a week for something like 3 years, and while you do have to maintain it pretty frequently (seriously, if you're not cleaning the bin and brushes every day or so it's not going to work well), it's really, really easy. The parts are all easily replaced units, and when I ordered a new battery and it also came with new brushes, the design of the brushes was very much improved.

In fact, I was re-reading Heinlein's Door into Summer recently and I realized that Hired Girl is really just a Roomba, only 60 years before Roomba was invented.
posted by Huck500 at 12:16 PM on September 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I always get a thrill when the AirBlade hand dryers pop up

We have the latest gen airblade in the new and very tiny toilet cubicle in our brand new building. Every time you stick your hand in front of the sensor every tiny fragment of tissue on the floor whirls around. I have been tempted to rip up more to get a snowglobe effect. If they ever sack me my plan is to stick a little paper shelf of glitter under the blade and walk away.
posted by biffa at 12:16 PM on September 17, 2015 [36 favorites]

Here we are, I looked up the machine we have, its an airblade V, with the outputted air pointing down as in a more trad hand dryer. They claim the air comes out at 430mph!
posted by biffa at 12:20 PM on September 17, 2015

From the Vacuum guy's AMA. Dude hates Dysons:

I spend a great deal of my time repairing Dyson as a Warranty Repair Station. As a tech, my problem with Dysons are the weak, crappy parts, and troublesome design flaws. I do not like bagless machines, as they are dirtier, require more regular maintenance, and do not pick up as well as bagged vacs.

I use brand new Dysons in a demo to show how much they leave behind as compared to other brands.

It is my opinion that the better Hoover and Eureka machines work as well or better than Dyson's best. But for the price of a DC50 with the full Animal package, you could get much more vacuum.

posted by leotrotsky at 12:22 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Why did this threat not appear LAST week, BEFORE we bought a Dyson Ball!

Gahh!
posted by briank at 12:24 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Are the majority of vacuums still heavy as shit things that I would have to drag up and down at 2.5 story house with a wonky back? If so, ain't nobody getting my money. A shitty broom will just have to do.
posted by Kitteh at 12:26 PM on September 17, 2015

I have to wonder if Dyson started cheaping out on their parts after a certain point. Our original DC08 vacuum has given us over 10 years of solid service with no issues whatsoever.

However, we bought one of the small Dyson dustbuster-size hand vacs and it crapped out far too quickly.
posted by Fleebnork at 12:27 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Huh, my Dyson is at least 8 years old with no problems, never repaired, etc. I have a long haired cat and it handles it fine. Had no idea so many people had issues with them, to me its been perfect

I had an expensiver hoover, and it broke a couple weeks outside the warranty, so I got a Dyson. Had that for almost a decade. Two dogs, two cats - and enormous rag-dolls at that - and the machine was a tank. I'm sort of surpised at all the Dyson hate, because based on my experience the things are great.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:29 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

At one point we had four cats and a Bernese Mountain Dog. After going through several cheap vacuums on a monthly basis (one Hoover gave up after 20 minutes), I got fed up and bought a Miele. Goddamn is that thing amazing. It's like the old-school, overengineered Mercedes-Benz of vacuum cleaners.

I played around with one of the Dyson "bladeless" fans once. If I turned it up enough to move a noticeable amount of air, it sounded like a hair dryer. For the price, you'd think it would be quieter than a $15 Lasko.
posted by segfaultxr7 at 12:33 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Kitteh: a roomba will give you much more joy than the shitty broom. It weighs less than a cat.
posted by el io at 12:34 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Dyson is an amazing example of clever advertising being more important than quality products. (ala Beats)

Dyson Vacuums - plastic, fragile, bagless, overpriced. The best thing Dyson Vacuums have done is teach people just how good the Miele vacuums are.

Dyson Airblade - like all bathroom fans we're just blowing the bacteria around, the Dyson is just better at that than the old style. See Mythbusters.

Dyson Cool - of course it has blades, what a load, and "buffeting" yeah that's not a thing.

Such an infuriating company, they're like Apple but with much worse products.
posted by Cosine at 12:34 PM on September 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

DC08 here, more than ten years old. It just works, despite someone in this house having very long hair.

I did just buy one of their cordless Handsticks, coz I was tired of lugging a corded vacuum around the house. I'll let you know what I think of it in a decade or so.

DC08 is now relegated to the workshop where it sucks up wood dust and metal shavings. It still just works.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:36 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Buffeting" yeah that's not a thing.

Talk about solving a non-existent problem.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:37 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a Rigid vacuum cleaner - that is, when I need to vacuum, I bring up the shopvac from the basement. That big noisy orange bastard will suck up anything that'll fit through the hose, and it's well-nigh indestructible. It's an amazing piece of ultra-suck wet-dry engineering, I can't bring myself to buy something shittier just to do the non-workshop areas of the house.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 12:37 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Thirty-three years ago, James Dyson set out after an unusual dream: to create the ultimate vacuum cleaner. Here's how he turned that vacuum into a billion-dollar business:
  Marketing. ⧠

____

...what do you mean you "require a minimum number of words per article?" OK FINE
posted by Wolfdog at 12:37 PM on September 17, 2015 [9 favorites]

In an all-hardwood apartment and as someone who doesn't have indoor allergies, it just has never been that important to me to get the Best Vacuum Evar, even with a dog and a cat. I've thought about it; been tempted by rave reviews of Dysons or Mieles or whatever. But when it came time to put actual dollars down, about 10 years ago I got a average Hoover bagless and when that finally gave up the ghost this year (and really it still worked just not as well), replaced it with a Shark something or other from Target.
posted by misskaz at 12:39 PM on September 17, 2015

I'm not a big fan of artificial vacuums - they are factory produced, probably with harmful chemicals, and you get a clean that is bland and soulless.

In contrast, quidnunc kid sucker Co. supplies small-batch all-natural space vacuum, hand-harvested by our fair-trade vacunauts from low Earth orbit. This organic, zero-pesticide vacuum provide an unparalleled suck, leaving a more complex clean with a delicate finish. You'll really notice the difference once you stop using mass-produced corporate vacuum and start supporting our more sophisticated, craft product.

If you'd like to become a customer of quidnunc kid sucker Co., just bring your dirt down to our pop-up store in Williamsburg, corner of Wythe and south second street - we're on the 457,953rd floor. Free wifi, natch! But you might wanna bring your own oxygen. And a blanket. But we guarantee that you'll be a "sucker" customer for life.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:40 PM on September 17, 2015 [38 favorites]

If you want a vacuum, ask a professional cleaner what they use. None of them will say "Dyson."
I miss my Henry Micro every time I use my current piece of shit.
posted by Kreiger at 12:49 PM on September 17, 2015

all-natural space vacuum

Unlikely. We all know how Nature feels about a vacuum.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:53 PM on September 17, 2015 [16 favorites]

We used an old Kenmore canister vacuum that I picked out of the garbage and fixed (broken power cord) for 20 years. I replaced it with a Miele a couple years ago when I got too many complaints about the old vacuum because the wheels kept falling off, the cord didn't retract properly anymore, and the hose was patched up with duct tape. Lots of people warned me off Dysons. The Miele is absolutely fantastic and seems built to last forever, but replacement bags are stupid expensive unless you get them online. The Kenmore, meanwhile, is still chugging away as a shop vac because I don't care if it looks all beat up. The thing won't die.
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:54 PM on September 17, 2015

This Henry micro? The sell-out Tory bastard.
posted by biffa at 12:55 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

i have a dog that sheds like you wouldn't believe. I bought a Roomba but it couldn't keep up with her and I got tired of untanglng the hair from the roller. My previous vacuum was useless on the furniture and I was literally going through a roll of packing tape every couple weeks lifting hair from the cushions.

I bought a Dyson with this brush on it. It's incredible.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 1:02 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

quidnunc kid sucker Co. supplies small-batch all-natural space vacuum

What do you use to clean it?
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:05 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

The "look what our vacuum picks up that your old vacuum left behind!" trick is as old as selling vacuums. *All* vacuums will leave some dirt behind, and *all* vacuums will pick up some of the dirt that the last vacuum left behind.

So don't fall for that trick.
posted by clawsoon at 1:05 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I bought a Dyson with this brush on it. It's incredible.

That video is worth it just for delicious English pronunciation of drawing.

I miss the Henry I had in the UK.
posted by srboisvert at 1:07 PM on September 17, 2015

Dysons work well...we're is the buffet?
posted by clavdivs at 1:11 PM on September 17, 2015

We're still impressed with our Shark, at least for the price. Must be 5 years old now?

Also if you are getting a carpet cleaner and can afford the $400, do not fuck around with anything less than a Bissell Big Green. Holy fuck, the shit I have been pulling out of the carpets.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:16 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

I had no idea Dysons were poorly regarded. I've owned a DC07 for over 10 years and it's performed quite well. Over the years a couple of the plastic parts have broken, but it turns out replacement parts are fairly inexpensive and easy to fix, due to fairly modular design. Dog hair has never posed a problem. Clean the filter every now and then. Sucks as hard as ever. Go figure.
posted by 2N2222 at 1:16 PM on September 17, 2015

We bought a Dyson hand-held animal vacuum. Its motor died fairly quickly and Dyson sent a new one to us no questions asked. The motor doesn't die on the new one but it doesn't suck very well and it doesn't keep a charge for very long either. Not happy with the product but the customer service was pretty good. We're holding off on appliance purchases until our new house is ready at which point we'll probably get something like a Miele (although I am partial to the shop-vac idea).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:17 PM on September 17, 2015

So we can put a man on the moon- how come we still can't make a vacuum that doesn't sound like the god-damn end of the world?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:24 PM on September 17, 2015

Prior to the Dyson, we used a shop vac. Worked great, but was clunky to use. Not surprising, since it was pretty big.
posted by 2N2222 at 1:24 PM on September 17, 2015

I wanted a Dyson until I saw a Meile. It's just better.

It's quiet enough you can basically have a normal conversation while vacuuming (who does that?)
It's built tough, with bumpers and stuff to make sure it doesn't out-tough walls and such.
It's powerful.
It's got neat features like a little light thing that makes it easy to put back into the closet, a better brush head, nice hoses, etc.
posted by sopwath at 1:27 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's funny how every single person who comes in here to talk about liking their Dyson has had it for 8-10 years. As I recall, they started selling Dysons in Walmart and Target about five years ago - the plastic-y shiny-looking but obviously mass-produced things that come in bright colors with balls all over them with parts that look like they break instantly.

I have a strong feeling Dyson is a lot like other appliance manufacturers (especially audio component manufacturers) who build up a reputation for the highest quality and then sell the shit out of that reputation by taking all the money they can for the privilege of slapping that sticker on overpriced junk.

Probably there was a moment half a decade ago when somebody high up at Dyson realized the first phase of their plan was over, hit the red button, and started rolling out the cheap stuff to big-box stores everywhere.
posted by koeselitz at 1:32 PM on September 17, 2015 [35 favorites]

We're still impressed with our Shark, at least for the price. Must be 5 years old now?

I'm really happy with our basic $80 Shark, as long as you keep the filters clean it does a great job. And the little turbo brush thing that comes with it just erases cat hair from furniture. The turbo brush also comes apart if you look at it wrong and doesn't have a dedicated space to stow away on the vacuum, but other than that it's great.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:32 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

My Dyson handheld vacuum died. Not for any particular reason, just died. My upright Dyson did a pretty reasonable job, although not any conspicuously better than any other vacuum and eventually I blundered it into a mess that did... something... to it, after a number of years of not vacuuming enough.

I think they do well by standing by the Bose philosophy -- make something that is aesthetically interesting to use, has an apparent philosophy, but is really a bunch of moderately ok to below standard parts engineered to work efficiently and then sold, with heavy marketing, to people who are going to buy something shitty and will marvel at something that works somewhat better.

I now have a cannister vac, which makes a lot more sense in my home with stairs and a majority of non-carpeted surfaces, and it's an Electrolux of reasonable quality. I think it's from Costco rather than a Target or uh, wherever people buy low- to mid-tier appliances these days that isn't Sears. It has a bag, but you know what's nice? Not holding a canister carefully inside a garbage bag that's grasped tight, hoping that after releasing the trigger you don't create a cloud of dust comprised of all the crap you just vacuumed up. I guess they can brag that they're not in the razor blade-style industry of selling you bags your whole life, though.

Dyson ripping on Apple seems pretty hollow when much of Apple's design is at the system level and based on consolidating their supply chain and making more integrated systems with aesthetically pleasing shells.
posted by mikeh at 1:34 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think the main thing to note is that most vacuum cleaners, unless they're really bad, are going to competently do the task you need them to do. It's like owning a toaster -- regardless of whether you buy the most expensive or the least expensive, you are going to end up with toasted bread.
posted by mikeh at 1:36 PM on September 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

For what it's worth, the anti-Dyson I tend to think of, although I have yet to buy any of their (pricey) products, is Bigass Fans. Their main market, although they have two consumer products (a ceiling fan and a shop/garage light) is exactly what their name implies -- they make very efficient, bigass fans. If you need a giant industrial fan in your warehouse that will efficiently move air, they have you covered.

No endorsement intended, but I was speaking to an electrician last week at my home and mentioned their products and he instantly had a look of recognition as he'd done wiring for some of their products.
posted by mikeh at 1:41 PM on September 17, 2015

I ONCE USED A MIELE AS AN IMPROVISED JETPACK TO ESCAPE A BURNING BUILDING
posted by indubitable at 1:47 PM on September 17, 2015 [22 favorites]

Never used the vacuums, but I'm a true believer in the Dyson fans. An AC window unit means I can only be cool in one room, but the fan is light and easy to move, while a lack of blades means I don't have to worry about my dog or about small children, should they be around. Also, the dust fan blades gather makes me want to die from sneezing (probably psychosomatic but whatever). And they seem to move plenty of air. The hate is strong here, but I don't know why, exactly, except the price, which is a little nutty.
posted by dis_integration at 1:47 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a strong feeling Dyson is a lot like other appliance manufacturers (especially audio component manufacturers) who build up a reputation for the highest quality and then sell the shit out of that reputation by taking all the money they can for the privilege of slapping that sticker on overpriced junk.

It's called Reputation Mining.
posted by srboisvert at 1:47 PM on September 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

This of course reminds me of some friends' abortive attempt to write a movie about dyson air blades that actually cut people's hands off: https://github.com/jennschiffer/Death-Blow
posted by potch at 1:52 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Handheld Dyson owner here. Really ineffective and also crap 80s Pompidou Centre styling. What was I thinking?
posted by colie at 2:03 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

They installed the in-sink Dyson hand dryers at work here, and they are universally avoided. Everyone who will admit to having tried one will report that it blew all of the water in the sink up to them, assuming the sensors were adjusted correctly and it turned on at all.

I do wonder how something so universally disliked can actually make it to the product stage, but I suppose hand dryers are one of those things where the people who use them are not the people who buy them.
posted by ckape at 2:17 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got a free Dyson vacuum from the United miles catalog. It's maybe a year old now? Works great as far as I can tell. It picks up cat hair no problem. I don't get the Dyson hate either. It's annoyingly plasticky but not flimsy to the point I think I'm going to break it - what are you guys doing to break them, just normal operation, or like dropping it down a flight of stairs?

It's never going to be the tank of a second-hand Kirby my roommate from my 20s had. That thing was awesome. It had a power take-off spindle like a tractor so you could use it to power other rotating machinery.
posted by ctmf at 2:26 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Have had a Dyson upright for ~10 years and it still works like a champ. It is bulky, pre-Ball design, but it just plain works well. Never had an issue. I'm a healthy guy, I could see someone more frail than I having some problems with it.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 2:27 PM on September 17, 2015

My office installed airblades in all the bathrooms. There's a little instructional diagram on the housing that shows putting both hands into the ... hand area... and then moving them both up and down together to get dry. The problem with this is that as soon as your fingertips clear the air-blade area, the machine shuts off. I found it was much better to move your hands in alternation, raising one while lowering the other, this way you can trick the machine into staying on the whole time.
posted by rustcrumb at 2:28 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

There's a fundamental flaw in bagless designs; dirt can get into the workings of the vacuum and gunk it up. Also, all the dust and other crap can get released when you clean out the machine. Vacuums that use a bag are inherently superior. I'm a diehard Miele user myself, the bags cost a pretty penny but it takes a while to fill one up and the machines themselves are nigh-indestructible. You can usually find last-gen models on sale for a reasonable price and honestly the designs don't change that much from generation to generation. Dyson vacuums look cool but are way overpriced for what they are, just like the bladeless fan I was suckered into buying. It is a conversation piece but is 10x more expensive than it should be.
posted by sid at 2:34 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

So we can put a man on the moon- how come we still can't make a vacuum that doesn't sound like the god-damn end of the world?

Most of the Miele's have about 6 loudness settings and even on the loudest it's not particularly loud.
posted by Cosine at 2:39 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Haven't had an issue with "gunking up" in 10 years. And I only clean the spongy-filter thing like once every other year. You do need to be careful when getting the dust out of the hopper... but it's not really that difficult. Sure it was ~$500 but over 10 years plus zero added expense with bags?

I'd say they're pretty damn good. I guess you could argue that more suction = better, but the Dyson is extremely powerful even after all these years. There's gotta be a limit to a useful/practical amount of suction.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 2:39 PM on September 17, 2015

If I spent $400-$500 on a high-end vacuum, I would not be able to help feeling I made a smart purchase. Especially knowing the alternative.
posted by klarck at 2:44 PM on September 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I've had a DC07 for, yeah, about 8 or 10 years. Works great, and I don't see how you would break it without abusing it. Except maybe for the hose, which requires you to use it just right or you'll end up sticking the end of the telescoping thingie into the hose wall and eventually wearing a hole. The air moving through the working parts is completely clean. The ergonomics are perfect; I love being able to switch between push-it-around mode and wand mode and hose-without-wand mode without going to retrieve or put away some part or attachment. It's light enough that I can carry it around like a small canister vacuum without thinking about the weight.

It's a shame if they've let the quality go.

I always hated changing vacuum bags and can't imagine ever tolerating a vacuum with bags again. You pull the bag out and it spews dust everywhere, whereas with the Dyson I just stick the end of the canister in a garbage bag, pull the top of the bag tight around it, push the dump button, and wait a few seconds for the dust to settle inside. Vacuum bags are Another Thing to Run Out Of. And I don't see how the bagful manufacturers can possibly have solved the losing suction over time problem, although I could be convinced that they have if I were told how.
posted by Hizonner at 2:45 PM on September 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

Yeah, well some people buy Viking cooktops, Mercedes Benz, etc. $500 isn't that big a deal over the course of ten years
posted by jeff-o-matic at 2:46 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've had my dyson DC07 more than ten years. I bought it on eBay for $200 when they were selling for a lot more. So yeah, this isn't just dissonance reduction because I paid a lot: It's great. I've had multiple dogs with no problem. No plastic part has ever broke. Nothing has ever broken. I don't think it feels flimsy at all.

My parents bought a DC14 Animal maybe 8 years ago. Their roller did break, about 3 years ago. They took it to a vacuum repair place that said they wouldn't fix Dysons because Dysons are terrible. So my parents bought a new vacuum cleaner, hated it and returned it. They bought another new vacuum cleaner, hated it and kept it too long to be able to return it. Then they bought another new vacuum cleaner and hated it. So finally, I went on amazon and bought them the part they needed to replace their roller. With the special tool to do it, it came to something like $30. Now their Dyson is working again and they are thrilled

So the moral of the story is, go to that store with all the broken Dysons. Find a really old one. Bring it home and fix it for $30. Live happily ever after.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:53 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

As an engineer, it is my duty to advise you that I have tested the ability of an Airblade to distribute methodically shredded toilet tissue around a washroom under controlled circumstances (= after hours, in a competitor's building). It is my considered professional opinion that it goes. the fuck. everywhere. Srsly, it's the best.

The article didn't really cover the real reason that Dyson's gadgets sell: they appeal to blokes. They're all what Alan Sugar used to call "the mug's eyeful". The fact that they're more expensive means that they have to be better, at least to the uninformed. So saying I do have one, but only because it was on special offer and the only alternatives available were crappier clones. It's just a hoover, not a way of life.

In larval stage at uni in the UK in the late 80s, we were supposed to worship Dyson for his mad innovation ski££s. The shine came off when he promised to never ever ever ever offshore production whoops there go your jobs to Malaysia but it's okay I have style and panache so you plebs can thank me later.

Cool as Sir James may want to be, he'll never be cool enough to have built a factory that Elvis Costello sang about …
posted by scruss at 3:00 PM on September 17, 2015 [15 favorites]

I'm another person who bought a Dyson vacuum and want my money back. The bottom carpet roller quit working. I took it apart following tech support suggestions, put it back together and it still didn't work. So Dyson told me to take it in for repairs, in a city 40 miles away. That would have been 160 miles round trip to drop it off and pick it up. For a brand new vaccuum.

Which seems ridiculous since I live in the second biggest city in Montana.
posted by ITravelMontana at 3:05 PM on September 17, 2015

I looked up the machine we have, its an airblade V, with the outputted air pointing down as in a more trad hand dryer. They claim the air comes out at 430mph!

Yay! I'm inhaling lots of dust and all the droplets from the guy who just stood next to me and peed on his fingers before he "washed". Not that going to the bar and bringing home a load of pathogens was optional in the past, I guess.
posted by sneebler at 3:06 PM on September 17, 2015

fuck airblades.

I couldn't justify the cost of a Miele (not much carpeting, no pets), so I went with this $200 Panasonic. It was the cheapest vacuum that reddit AMA dude thought was good. I've been happy with it.
posted by mullacc at 3:07 PM on September 17, 2015

I have a Dyson DC 33. I was amazed when I first used it to see dirt being sucked into it from every direction. I had never seen that before with a vacuum sweeper. I do have to take it apart occasionally and clean the hair off the roller.
I knew a guy who worked in the Dyson marketing department. One day, Dyson walked in and said, "You're all fired." He wasn't kidding.
posted by jabah at 3:08 PM on September 17, 2015

I have a Dyson fan. It's a factory refurb. It mostly lives in my living room, and gets used in summer.

Realistically, yeah, I could have gotten just as much fan for a lot less money if I'd bought a Vornado or something. But the thing is just so damn cool-looking. And as an artist with some spare money, "looking cool" is something I can consider when choosing how to solve the problem of "holy shit I'm sweating my ass off when it's summer".
posted by egypturnash at 3:21 PM on September 17, 2015

It's like owning a toaster -- regardless of whether you buy the most expensive or the least expensive, you are going to end up with toasted bread.

I've found all cheap toasters to be crappy short-lived toasters, myself.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:30 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I never liked Dyson moving manufacturing out of Britain and then making out he was doing us all a favour or something.

Henrys are still made in the UK and are solid as rocks... And have a friendly smiling face on them.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:48 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I could have gotten just as much fan for a lot less money if I'd bought a Vornado

I've got a Vornado window fan similar to this one. Not only did my parents buy it in the 1940s, it looks like they pried it off of a B-17. Still works. I've got a microwave oving from 1987. Washer and dryer from 1996. Fridge, 1999. Dishwasher, 2000. Stove, 2003.

I've got a Hoover upright vac from 1993. It's for the rugs.

I have a Rigid vacuum cleaner - that is, when I need to vacuum, I bring up the shopvac from the basement. That big noisy orange bastard will suck up anything . . . .

The Dyson was meant to replace the Shop-vac that I've been doing the stairs and bare floors with for the last twenty years. I'm getting too old to lug these things around, was hoping the Dyson would save wear and tear -- on me. No Dys.

the moral of the story is, go to that store with all the broken Dysons. Find a really old one. Bring it home and fix it for $30.

Who, me? Those Dysons weren't broken: as in not working. They were broken: as in shards and splinters. I believe I mentioned sledgehammers.
 
posted by Herodios at 3:56 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

My old Dyson makes toast and plays chess like a champ.
posted by Professor Falken at 4:27 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

And it has the < craigyferg>proper amount of suction< /craigyferg>
posted by officer_fred at 4:31 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Perhaps it is an age thing - I saved up (no really) and bought a Dyson DC ... something ... in about 1994 or 1995. We only stopped using it a couple of years ago, replacing it with a newer Dyson which is still working fine. The new one does feel a bit flimsy compared to the old one, and doesn't have quite the same supersuction powers, but it's pretty and fine.

But when I got the first one, it was a revelation - my previous experience with vacuum cleaners suggested that they operated on magical thinking principles - that if you waved this thing that produced prodigious quantities of noise at the dirt, the dirt (like medieval demons when confronted with cacophony) would run away. Real dirt didn't really work like that, though. The Dyson, in addition to looking cool and feeling indestructible (and, to be fair, it did take me over fifteen years to destruct it enough to consider replacing it) not only picked up everything you pointed it at, but swirled it around in a glass jug to prove it. Similarly, emptying the jug into a bin bag was so much easier and less messy than changing bags had been for me. And if it got dirty, I could just wash it.

I mean, it was life-changing in a way that no household appliance before or since has been. If the other vacuum cleaner makers have upped their game (and the business was ridiculously complacent twenty-five years ago), that's a good thing. And if Dyson have eaten away at their quality control so much that they can't live up to their reputation, that's very sad, though not uncommon.
posted by Grangousier at 4:38 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

The best thing about dysons is the lightness and maneouvrability. It's significantly easier moving them round the house.
posted by smoke at 4:50 PM on September 17, 2015

Four cats are no match for my Shark.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 4:52 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I want the built in whole house vacuum. My aunt had one and it was awesome.
posted by humanfont at 4:56 PM on September 17, 2015

A datapoint: we have a Dyson vacuum which broke once for an electrical part that was replaced free of charge. Otherwise it's very good, feels sturdy, and we're very happy with it. It sucks up prodigious amount of dirt, and requires reasonably little maintenance (we're a family of long haired people who shed, so we keep having to clean the rotating brushes with scissors).

The comments seem to be bimodal, though. People either love them or hate them.

I mentioned to a mechanical engineer friend how complex the interlocking parts were, and how surprised I was none of the plastic bits had broken, and he said that unfortunately the quality of the plastic depends on the model and when/where the item is manufactured. He says quality has been generally going down, and he would rather buy a secondhand Dyson vacuum in good clip than a new one.
posted by kandinski at 5:03 PM on September 17, 2015

I had an allergic reaction to the Dyson design sense when they first appeared that has not gotten better over time. The vacuums look like they belong on the set of "Brazil".

Also, you need an expensive piece of electrical equipment and you are going to choose one designed by the British?
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 5:33 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'm a diehard Miele user myself, the bags cost a pretty penny but it takes a while to fill one up

Yeah, we have three doublecoated dogs. I'm confident we could fill at least one bag every time we vacuumed.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:39 PM on September 17, 2015

you need an expensive piece of electrical equipment and you are going to choose one designed by the British?

Based on my experience with an early-70's MG Midget, just don't run it through puddles on the highway and you should be fine.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:40 PM on September 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

Are central vacuums any good these days? We had one in the 80s and we ended up using our Filter Queen instead.

Maybe Dyson could make a central vacuum. Make it look like the warp core from Star Trek or something. People would buy it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:53 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't have bothered with a $300 Dyson vacuum cleaner, but the one day the wife hit up an honest to goodness Good Deal online. Dyson vacuum cleaners were just under half price. We bought two, sold the other one, which paid for ours, and we broke even.

Compared to the old cleaner...there is no comparison. The Dyson is amazingly powerful. A rug that the old vacuum went over two dozen times was transformed just one time with the Dyson. Get what you pay for, indeed.
posted by zardoz at 5:57 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

You know when you finally feel like an adult when you put a vacuum-cleaner on your Amazon wishlist.

It's for the Miele! Still not adult enough to actually afford one, but I can dream.
posted by littlesq at 6:03 PM on September 17, 2015

The problem with those dyson hand dryers is that water collects at the bottom and forms gross deposits and if you happen to have large hands it's very difficult to avoid touching them rendering oneself unclean in a way that leaves you feeling vaguely uncomfortable for the rest of the day. So anyway when I see one of those in a bathroom I just dry my hands on my pants.
posted by bracems at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

My Miele cost $1,000 twenty years ago. It's needed a replacement power cord reel after 10 years($150), and it's still working great even now.

That's value for money. (Rather like Captain Vimes' boots!)
posted by monotreme at 7:00 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Is there a word for when the market for a product becomes run by a product's specifications. My car's manufacturer saw fit to mention the engine's horsepower and its 0-60mph time, even though my car won't win any races, and the engine performance was far down in the list of reasons for why I chose that model. It seems a more honest system for rating vacuum cleaners would involve measuring how much a particular vacuum's motor + fan combination sucks, compared to some reference point.
posted by fragmede at 7:10 PM on September 17, 2015

I've never heard of Miele before, not hipster enough about vacuums I guess, until this thread. So I looked some up on Amazon. Jesus H Christ, the cheapest one is $500, and that's on sale. That's only about $80 cheaper than the most expensive one from Dyson. I'm all for cleaning, but I guess I'm not making the kind of dough to just go buy one of those.

My roommate's entire family pooled together and got us the second most expensive Dyson Ball two Christmases ago, because of the dog; with extra accessories to get all the nooks and crannies. We love it. I'm in charge of vacuuming the stairs and with the hose-head made for that it goes pretty quickly, compared to our old Bissell that we got from Target for $150 when we first moved in. The only problem we really have with the Dyson is the dust when you empty the bin, which I do since I'm not allergic.

And while all the parts do feel flimsy to the touch, they've stood up to a lot of beatings, but then again it hasn't been 2 whole years yet. Once I accidentally sucked up a sock with the hose and it clogged at the filter before going into the bin. I couldn't find the manual and couldn't figure out how to open that section, and it was late at night so I didn't bother trying to look it up online and went to bed. Then I was in Costco the next day and they had a sales rep there, so I figured it was worth just asking her real quick. She took less than a minute showing me exactly which little bit to pop open to get to the sock. I was dumbfounded. When I got home I did the same and it was crazy easy.

I have a feeling a lot of problems people have with Dysons is that they don't know how to properly maintain it, and now that I found the manual, it really is pretty simple to keep in top shape. We only ever clean the filters once every couple of months even with the heavy usage, and the suction is as strong as the first day we got it. I hadn't gotten anything tangled in there again, but it seems pretty easy to open the thing up and untangle stuff (maybe it's because mine is newer than Herodios', but it doesn't take much to pop open the cover where the roller is and untangle something, I did it once just to see if I could and yep, I could).

Before I start sounding anymore like a salesman, lemme just say YMMV, but the nicest thing about our vacuum is that it just works. I hadn't even really given any thought to how great it is until I started reading this thread.
posted by numaner at 7:35 PM on September 17, 2015

He observed that India produces a hundred and seventy thousand engineers each year, while Britain graduates about twenty thousand. “If I were in India, I would have no trouble finding people. But here it’s difficult.”

There are plenty of engineers in Britain, but unfortunately for Dyson they are all working for good companies.
posted by JackFlash at 7:37 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

My 2 long haired feline monsters destroyed a Miele and a Dirt Devil and we were seriously worried about drowning in cat hair before we got our Dyson animal 10 years ago. It still works great and has outlived one of the cats.

That's right. The Dyson is so committed to keeping our house cat fur free, it killed our cat. You will not find another vacuum that performs like that.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:42 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

For real, I'm shocked at the Dyson hate, it is literally the 15th vacuum in my life, and I suspect it is the last.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:44 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

When my second child was born, my dad asked if he could do anything for us before we left the hospital and I asked him to please vacuum the house. While doing so, he fell down the stairs with the vacuum in hand and dislocated his elbow. The vacuum? Completely fine.

Dyson: killing cats and Dads in the Bartfast household since 2004.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:51 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I hate the dyson fans/heaters. Not only are they masturbatory and overpriced, but the blowers in them make an awful high pitched noise instead of traditional fan white noise, and most importantly they are impossible to clean. On say, a vornado, you can pop the grill off and clean out the blades. The dyson fans are specifically designed against this and the tiny intake vents clog with dust extremely quickly.

It's a level of poor design for maintenance that would even make apple slow clap.

But i guess they... Look cool?

One time a vacuum repairman on reddit explained how Dysons are very poor, and it made me feel pretty bad about that purchase.

I've had exactly one dyson product. One of their hand vacuums. It seemed thoughtfully designed, and relatively well built compared to the extremely plasticy(or if nice seeming, without replaceable battery) competition.

It has a bunch of sensors to check whether you have all the filters in place. One of them failed. It wont run for more than maybe 3 seconds before shutting off and blinking its power light now.

I looked it up online. The explanation is here, but basically you have to tear the entire thing down, pop off a diode, and solder a bridge wire. The problem is the damn thing is RIDICULOUSLY hard to take apart involving tons of torx screws and bending a delicate curved circuit board out of a tiny slot.

The thing is very obviously not designed to be repaired, which is DUMB for how much it costs and how easily it could have been. Yea, it's not a glued together block, but it's extremely difficult to disassemble. Even for an experienced tinkerer and weird generalist hardware tech who has repaired everything from tube amps to laptops to cars.
posted by emptythought at 8:27 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've never heard of Miele before, not hipster enough about vacuums I guess, until this thread. So I looked some up on Amazon. Jesus H Christ, the cheapest one is $500, and that's on sale.

McHardy sells their cheapest model for $299.

And keep in mind that's in newly-discounted Canadian dollars.
posted by sid at 8:28 PM on September 17, 2015

Thanks for the McHardy link. I may spring for that. It should be pointed out that Costco sometimes carries them at a good price as well.
posted by reiichiroh at 8:39 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

The trick with a central vac is proper system design and installation.
posted by humanfont at 8:49 PM on September 17, 2015

Dyson? Miele? Hah! I've had the same floor cleaner for almost 20 years. It's only had to have 17 new heads and 14 new handles. Here's a picture of it
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 9:22 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's never going to be the tank of a second-hand Kirby my roommate from my 20s had. That thing was awesome. It had a power take-off spindle like a tractor so you could use it to power other rotating machinery.

OMG that's the insight I needed to solve my daiquiri batch-mix problem
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:02 PM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I miss my Henry Micro every time I use my current piece of shit.

He misses you too.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:06 PM on September 17, 2015

Can those bladeless fans make you sound like a dalek? If not, no thanks.
posted by adept256 at 10:13 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

The problem with those dyson hand dryers is that water collects at the bottom and forms gross deposits and if you happen to have large hands it's very difficult to avoid touching them rendering oneself unclean in a way that leaves you feeling vaguely uncomfortable for the rest of the day. So anyway when I see one of those in a bathroom I just dry my hands on my pants.

I had one sputter a droplet of moisture onto my lip. I wanted to autoclave my head.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:21 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

+1 for the Henry. Builders always have them. They suck up rubble.
posted by colie at 11:26 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's funny how every single person who comes in here to talk about liking their Dyson has had it for 8-10 years. As I recall, they started selling Dysons in Walmart and Target about five years ago - the plastic-y shiny-looking but obviously mass-produced things that come in bright colors with balls all over them with parts that look like they break instantly.

They've been on sale in the UK for a lot longer than that. I've always been happy with my dyson, they suck a lot better than comparably priced machines. I did work for a while as a cleaner, and didn't like them then simply because their cords were too short, but at home they're perfect.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:29 AM on September 18, 2015

Worked for Dyson about 15 years ago, roughly 30 seconds walk from that glass office. My overriding impression was of a company dependent on a single product and desperately trying to come up with another one but failing. Lots of R&D investment, not much to show for it. They'd spent years trying to create a robot vacuum cleaner but gave up after they couldn't stop it falling down stairs, as I understand it. They launched a washing machine designed to solve problems that nobody had.

After all that time and all that R&D they now also have an expensive fan and an expensive hand drier. And apprently some upcoming things which may or may not prove successful (but probably not). It's mostly marketing, really - and marketing only goes so far.

For the record, I use a Henry.
posted by dickasso at 3:08 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just bought one of the handheld Dysons. Since I've had it for all of two weeks I can't attest to its longevity, obviously. That said, the thing is so light and so quiet and so easy to use and so purple that I feel like I'm cleaning the house with a light saber and I love, love, love it.
posted by Sublimity at 6:38 AM on September 18, 2015

McHardy sells their cheapest model for $299.

Oh I should clarify, I was looking at upright vacuums only. They're much easier to use with the type of house I live in.
posted by numaner at 7:41 AM on September 18, 2015

170k/20k engineers a year looks pretty good for the UK. That's twice as many engineers per capita.
posted by Nothing at 8:15 AM on September 18, 2015

I'm using a Miele now, and it is amazing, but I feel the need to show some love to the last sucker. This Tri-Star had been in my wife's family for 50+ years and was still working well when I got rid of it because all the pieces no longer fit together is any sort of usable way.

Visited the design museum in Montreal last spring and saw the exact same Tri-Star there, most impactful piece of art or design I saw that day, lol.
posted by Cosine at 8:59 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I use my neighbour's old Dyson. It's a DC01, which I think were made in 1996. The only problem with it is that it the attachment part doesn't work, but that may be the fault of a previous owner.

I'd love to try a Miele, but all of their vacuums require dust bags and I can't always afford them. :(
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 11:28 AM on September 18, 2015

We had a ball barrow when I was a child. It was pretty cool, as far as wheel barrows go. I haven't seen another one in the past 25 years, so perhaps he didn't revolutionise the wheel barrow world.
My new Miele vacuum cleaner has a 10 year warranty, that's people years not dog years. Doesn't cover the plastic attachments though.
The old one still works, after about 10 years use, but some of the plastic bits are broken, natch.
posted by asok at 4:39 PM on September 18, 2015

I have after market dust bags, as well as originals. They cost about £1-2 each. For people who haven't used a vacuum cleaner in the past 15 years, the bags are self sealing now just so you know.
The air blade works pretty well for drying hands, but it is m?th£r f&ck!n6 loud. On the upside, it demonstrates that heat is superfluous for hand drying.
posted by asok at 4:47 PM on September 18, 2015