Dyson DC14 All floors Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum

Okay, so I caved in. I've been seeing the Dyson commercials on TV and swore I'd never spend this much on a vacuum. Even when my sister- and brother-in-law got one, I said they were crazy. But, my fifteen year old Hoover Wind Tunnel just wasn't doing the job. I have a two year old who is all over the floor and I noticed 'Old Hoovie' wasn't quite getting all the Cheerios and Goldfish crackers that are strewn daily across my living room. So I went shopping, did research online, knew I'd be stuck with whatever I chose for a while and didn't want to be stuck with someone that didn't, well, suck. The online raves--and the raves of my in-laws--are what led me to trying the Dyson.

The different choices in models is enough to make your head spin. DC07, DC14, DC15--okay, three basic models, but then it gets even more confusing with All Floors, Animal, Low Reach, Full Gear in each of these models. I spent an entire afternoon trying to get a grasp of what all this means. And what I came up with is that the DC07 is the basic model, every bit as powerful as the other two when it comes to sucking action. The DC14 is slightly different in that the accessory hose has a telescoping wand and is located right in the vacuum's handle, popping in and out easily when you need to use it. Finally the DC15 is very different. Known also as "The Ball" it pivots more easily around corners, but it also adds a good $100-200 to the purchase price.

Now, my in-laws did tell me not to invest in the highest end model because it just isn't worth the extra money. But I knew I'd want that telescoping wand because I have carpeted stairs and the reach factor alone--advertised at something like 17 feet!--was enough of a selling point. Okay. So I pared the choices down to the DC14...now which version?

The Animal specializes for just that, houses with animals (and no I don't mean small children, although mine tend to qualify). We have one dog who spends most of his time outside or on the tile floors, so pet hair isn't my biggest challenge. The Low Reach is supposed to be for getting under things better because it includes the Dyson "Low Reach" accessory, but having that tool included also raises the price and it's not available at all retailers. The Full Gear is sold only at certain retailers and seems to be the same as the standard model, only with a lot of extra accessories (oh, and a much escalated price tag because of that). So I settled on the All Floors because I have carpet, tile and wood floors and it came with the standard three accessories (see below)--plus, BONUS, Dyson was running a special deal that you could mail in for a set of extra tools. Score!

I bought my DC14 All Floors model at Linens N Things. In comparing prices at various retailers online, the "standard" price for this model seems to be $429 (give or take $10) but I found a "20% off any item" coupon online for LNT which brought the price down to a smokin' $343--no one else could touch the model at that price. You can generally find these coupons for either Linens N Things or Bed Bath and Beyond online or in the mail. Linens N Things has a nifty little feature on their web site where you can check stock online at your local stores, enter the coupon code and purchase information, and then go to the store to pick up the item right at customer service. How cool is that? For someone who has to lug children in and out of stores, it's VERY COOL. So that's exactly what I did.

The DC14 All Floors looks slightly different than the one pictured on this review (above). I don't know if they just changed the color of this model or what, but mine (and all the ones I saw online and in stores) is all yellow, not white. Assembly is very easy and you are up and sucking literally within minutes. So I took my new Dyson DC14 straight into the fray--our living room--where our toddler wreaks havoc all day. The Cheerios and Goldfish were quite frankly, toast...this baby took them right up. And you know what else the Dyson took up? A cannister full of dust and lint and sand that my old Hoover Wind Tunnel was leaving behind. UGH! It made me sick to think that we'd all been breathing that dust in every day, especially our little guy. Plus, we live in New England where they sand the streets in winter. All that sand inevitably ends up being tracked into the house, turning my floors into an indoor beach, it seems sometimes. After one cleaning, my carpet looked fresh and the fibers were no longer flattened into their usual traffic track pattern (the carpet is only three years old but there is a definite wear pattern because we LIVE in this room, ahem, hence the name "living room").

I had read a couple "dings" from other reviewers about this machine being heavy...excuse me? My ancient Wind Tunnel was twice as heavy as the Dyson. Seriously, who needed a workout with a Wind Tunnel in the house? The Dyson is very lightweight, constructed all of heavy plastic, and it maneuvers easily (even though this isn't the upgraded "Ball" model). It's also a LOT quieter than the roar of my old Hoover. More importantly, one cleaning of our 23x14 living room and the cannister was FULL.

Now the good part. NO BAGS! I hated having to change the bags in my old Wind Tunnel. I never knew when they were full, it was a mess to do, and just gross. On the Dyson, you just push a button and out pops the cannister. You hold it over your trash bin, push another button and voila! the bottom flaps open and all the gunk--Cheerios, sand, dust and lint--tumbles right into the trash. Tap the side of the cannister a little to dislodge the clinging dusties, and you're back in business. The filter claims to last a lifetime, but when it gets coated with lint and dust, it is a good idea to remove it and clean it off, too. This is a simple little extra step when emptying the cannister.

When you need the telescoping wand for more precise edge cleaning or tool cleaning, all you do is press a button and it pops right out. No fixing on hoses or taking anything apart. Very handy. One thing that does take a little getting used to is that when the vacuum is locked in the upright position, the vacuuming action is automatically transferred to the telescoping wand from the vacuum cleaner housing. The end of the telescoping wand is right where you hold the vacuum so for instance, right when I turned on the machine the first time, the handle was doing all the sucking. It was weird, but as soon as you angle the handle to push the vacuum across the floor, that sucking transfers down to the vacuum itself. It's little more than an odd learning curve. Once you figure it out, you get used to it. Personally, I would have preferred a switch for the user to manually transfer it from vacuum house to handle, but hey, I can live with this, too.

There is a manual switch that allows the user to turn off the rolling brush bar for moving from carpeted floors to bare floors. The Dyson works wonders an all floor types--which is probably why they call it the All Floors model :-). It does not scatter debris across wood and tile floors like my Wind Tunnel did, but takes it all right up. The only thing that I notice about the Dyson is that it does not reach far under couches and furniture so to get under that far, you probably will need the extra "Low Reach Tool." You can buy this for $50 (I'm ordering it from Linen N Things with another 20% off coupon) or just get the Low Reach DC14 model, if you can find it for a good price. For me, it was more economical to buy the All Floors model (with my coupon) and just purchase the Low Reach tool separately. With the purchase of the DC14 All Floors, you do receive three standard tools--a brush, a small flathead tool for stairs, and a narrow crevice tool. Dyson offers another handful of other more specific tools that you can purchase separately. But I am getting three extras through the mail-in promotion they are currently running, too. (check out the Dyson web site to see if the promotion is still going).

All in all, the Dyson DC14 is very simple to operate, pulls up all the gunk my old vacuum left behind, and leaves the carpet looking newer because of it. Is it worth $350-500 ? No way! In my opinion, NO vacuum is worth that unless maybe it does all the cleaning for you WITH the performance of a Dyson (sorry, Roomba, but you don't have the "suck" factor), AND does windows too. But neither is a gallon of gasoline worth what we're paying these days. It's just the way the world is--like it or not--and so you either pay it, or you live with dust. I choose to pay it and say goodbye to the dust.