A FAB compact & lightweight dirt guzzler!!

We had been struggling with a very heavy Vax upright. It weighed about 9 kilos & we thought it was cleaning well despite the weight - until we used this!!
As other reviewers have said, it seems to pick up so much more heavy dust than other cleaners.
Cleaning our 2 bedroom bungalow used to take 20 minutes+. This is so light & easy, you're done in 10 minutes & it doesn't feel like a chore.
The deciding factor for me was the 5 year guarantee.
Definitely worth the money!!

Over-rated. Cleans well but flawed engineering

Yes, it cleans well but ignore the hype, it's no better than many other cheaper models now available.

Good points:
* Good"suck"
* Cleans carpets and wooden floors well
* You can see when it's getting full
* No bags

Bad points:
* It's quite heavy
* It's poorly engineered, in particular, the tools are very flimsy
* The hose splits very easily and is a pig to repair
* Spare tools are quite expensive
* Fitting new drive belts is frustratingly difficult (I'm a professional engineer!)

In summary, we got terminally fed up with ours after 2 years and threw it out with the hose split for the 5th time and the drive belt gone (again) and some of the tool connections damaged beyond repair. I can't imagine being built in China will improve Dyson quality. We've since bought a Vax which is far better built and cleans just as well. Shame, we wanted to buy British but this Dyson is a great concept with British Leyland circa 1977 build quality.

A new man in my life

I love the new man in my life. I'm happy to spend time with him, upstairs, downstairs, in the car. He's strong, yet quiet, willing and able. He's also unfussy, no need to empty dust collection devices every other day. He's unpretentious yet obviously highly intelligent. No gadgets or gizmos that break or disillusion. A good listener. The kids love him. And he came with a free beach ball. My husband is concerned.

The best raygun you'll ever buy.

Yes, the battery life may not be enough to do the whole house, averaging around six to eight minutes depending on which revue you read.

Forget that.

This is a fun piece of work from Dyson that looks the business.
It's the styling of this machine that makes it a beautiful object that you don't hide in a cupboard, you display it proudly on a bookshelf. (Well, I do.) It looks like it was inspired by the art work from the early sci-fi paperbacks, and wouldn't look out of place in a holster on the square jawed hero's hip.

Yes, it is expensive for a 'Dustbuster', but if that's all you want then go buy something cheaper, but if you want an eye catching ray-gun that'll suck the life out of an alien (or bugs out of your deep pile carpet) at fifty paces then this is what you purchase.
This is a superb, easy to clean, beautifully designed machine. Did I mention that the front comes off so you can wash it in warm soapy water? DO dry thoroughly, preferably on a radiator, while the motor bit's charging, and you'll maintain that 'just bought' look.

I case you hadn't noticed, this customer is well pleased with his Dyson objet d'art.

Brilliant Iron!

Wow! This is a fantastic iron! It irons so easily - it just glides and irons the deepest creases straight away. I HATE ironing but it's left me wanting to iron just about anything I can lay my hands on. We purchased the Domena XPress for £250 and were bitterly disappointed and this in comparison is a dream. How sad - getting excited about an iron on a Friday night!!

great for small flats

this little baby does exactly what it's meant to do - no thrills though; the hoover is small, simple, rather ugly and VERY loud, but it's REALLY powerful (i never use it at more than a halfway power setting) and runs very smoothly. i've just got it so i can't really tell how reliable it is, but i think that electrolux is a brand worth trusting. plus it seems to be rather well-built; a minor problem is the power cord - it's around 10 ft at most, so it might be annoying for people living in larger places;

nevertheless it's great value for money - highly recommended

Reservations about this one

I guess the V-026 represents reasonable value at Amazon's price (50% off), but it is ultimately a frustrating machine to use. As stated in other reviews, the dirty water collection tank shuts off when only 1/3 full, even when using the carpet shampoo at a reduced strength to reduce foaming.

You'll spend most of your time to-ing and fro-ing from the kitchen sink to empty it - my averagely sized 2 bed flat took ages to clean as a result of all the stoppages. Irritating when this seems to happen every square metre of carpet. Cleaning performance is fair it must be said, leaving my light coloured carpets looking fresher. The rotating brushbar seems to make no difference whether it is switched on or off though.

I can see this cleaner being useful to spruce up the occasional rug or mop up spillages, but to tackle all the carpets in an average house it simply doesn't cut it with all the stoppages and repeated emptying and refillings. Approach with caution - probably worth it at the discounted price, but only just.

Edited to add - it sounds like Concorde taking off too, very noisy! Minus another half star for this.

Loved it

Bought this mop after watching all the selling jargon for months on sky but never doing anything about it. Finally got round to getting one and have to say its great. Does what it says it does. Laminate floors are coming up great and its so easy to use, just fill with water plug in and go and with no chemicals (great for us overprotective mummies). Don't take long at all and its done. Only down side is that the wire isn't that long but with an extension cable you can get round the house without the hassel of swaping plus etc.
Really pleased

Brilliant Results

I bought the Vax 027 raide XL after borrowing my sisters Vax (older version and, lower grade model). This ment I knew the feeling of delight when you see the colour of the water, emptied from the tank after cleaning, what you think is a lightly soiled carpet. What was really great about this model was that all the area around the brushes, as well as the tanks, are removable for rinsing. My sisters used to be a smelly, where water and dirt, used to be trapped in the bits you could not get to. The rotating brushes are a bonus as well, they really get all the dirt from between the pile, and you are not relying on suction alone. It also mixes the water and the cleaning solution for you. This means you have a rinse option after the main clean, helping to get rid of any cleaning solution, and not leave any sticky residue when dry, to get dirty quickly again.

The only down side for some people would be that it is quite big to store, and is heavy. I am quite fit, but I think I would really only be able to do a couple of rooms at one time.

HAVING SAID THAT:

For me, knowing that I can just pull it out at any time and clean, as I did, a large almost room size wool rug in half an hour outways this. The weight of the machine also helps it to sit firmer with no slipping on wet higher pile carpets and rugs,it also aids the section, again for me an advantage.

All in all I think, A GREAT MACHINE

don't buy

This is made of cheap plastic. The power level knob is loose. It feels like it will come off on its own. I retuned the item the same they it arrived.

Badly put together.

Mine arrived today. Guess what? The water intake hose assembly is lying rattling about at the bottom of the sealed water reservoir.

I 'phoned vax who were as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

I managed to fix it myself in a couple of minutes though, it's actually very easy to do. Just take the grey valve off the tank (the one with the hole) and you can get the other parts out with a bit of fiddling. Re-assemble it with the spring in between the valve and the tube and refit the valve.

Very Compact

After our DC04 gave up the ghost we decided to look around for a new vacuum - I like Dysons but my wife found the DC04 to be heavy and cumbersome. This new DC25 Animal is great - the same"Ball" concept as the DC15 but much more compact - not too tiny like the DC24 which would only be of use in a flat due to the tiny dust bin. The only downside with these latest Dysons is they have shorter power cables so you need to change socket for different rooms but that's just me being lazy. In short this is really powerful cleaner and with a 5 year guarantee should last a bit longer than the DC04.

great buy

Not normally one to leave reviews, but as this product was so good i felt i had to!
Bought this hoover today and was really impressed with how well it cleaned.
Dont think you can do better for your money!

It doesn't work on carpet dirts

I tried to use the Steam Mop to clean dirts off my carpet. It doesn't work!!! All it does is just blow the steam and the dirt is still there. If I knew this would happen I will never purchase this and rather pay more for a carpet cleaner!!!

Great buy at Amazon

I have spent weeks trying to decide which vacuum to purchase, hours looking at reviews in the internet, should I get Sebo, LG, Miele or another make, its just a minefield. I have a hairy dog .. and I stupidly gave my old Dyson away, because of a couple of minor design faults, I went on to use 3 different makes of vacuum cleaner, none of these matched the cleaning power of the Dyson. But I can honestly say the Dyson DC14 is excellent, easy to use, manoeuvre and actually sucks up dog hairs. I previously had the older purple Animal Dyson, not as good, or as easy to use. I am glad to say the updated version has ironed out the annoying design faults that existed in the old ANIMAL version, such as an awkward hose, tendancy to tip over and a poorly shaped sucking device. Amazon offers this product alot cheaper than a local electrical store, where a purchased mine for £299. Wish I had read this review before purchasing.

This thing sucks !!

I have 17 parakeets in my flat, and I hate having to drag out the goddam corded big hoover to clean up seeds and feathers all the time. This Dustbuster really does a good job in sucking up all the mess (suckie, suckie- Full Metal jacket style), although like another reviewer said, I have to be careful what direction I face the exhaust. The crevice tool is stored onboard so it doesn't get lost, and just the right size for cleaning out sliding door tracks (every other vacuum attachment I've tried is just a little too big to actually fit into the groove). They need to figure out a way to store the little upholstery brush onboard, too.

The filter really does seem to keep dust from flying around. I ordered a replacement from Amazon to have it on hand, but I haven't needed to use it yet. This vacuum's easy to empty, and designed well so when you put it nose-down in its charger, stuff doesn't fall out like it did with older models.

Excellent value for money !

Excellent carpet washer, first used with just water to try it out on a cream carpet in the hallway. This machine picked so much dirt up and brought the carpet out like new.

The tools are excellent, all what is needed and easy to assemble.

The machine is quite expensive, but you do get 6year guarantee to if it breaks down, it will be replaced no problem.

Overall excellent buy, very pleased. Ideal if you have pets and children.