YNAB You Need A Budget

[adajmk]

Hi all,

We have had lousy luck with a few of our previous vacuums (our Shark started making funny noises a few months after we got it and recently died, our dustbuster stopped holding a charge less than a year after purchase, etc.) and are in the market for a new vacuum.

A friend of ours has a Dyson (not sure which model) and loves it. However, Dyson vacuums cost several hundred dollars and I am not sure how much better it will be than an $80 Hoover vacuum that got great reviews on Amazon.

There are some things I am willing to pay top dollar for to get good quality (e.g. my Ecco Hiking boots were expensive but I have never regretted purchasing them). I am just not convinced that a vacuum cleaner is one of those things.

$64K question - Is a Dyson vacuum worth the extra $$?

[jjsouth]

I personally feel like it is. It picks up so much more dirt than any other vacuum I've ever used. That should extend the life of our carpets and hopefully that will cover the extra cost of the Dyson. But if it doesn't in the end, I have a cleaner house with no extra work involved and that's worth a good bit to me.

Patzer recently bought one and got a good deal. I don't remember what all he did to make sure he was getting a great price, but you could search on Dyson and probably find the thread.

Joyce

[Shoshana]

I would not buy any other type of vacuum cleaner than a Dyson. Wait! I most likely will never have to buy another vacuum cleaner because I own a Dyson.

Really, they're terrific machines and they also have very good customer service.

[rollercoaster]

I think it is worth the money. Don't get the "animal" version, though. That extra attachment is not worth the money and doesn't stay 'onboard' the machine. Luckily, we got our 'animal' upgrade version for less than the normal one at a good sale.

[Patzer]

$64K question - Is a Dyson vacuum worth the extra $$?

I bought a Dyson DC-14 in January. I'd done my homework about what I was getting, waited to have money budgeted, and waited some more to see a good price online. The total amount paid, including shipping, was $319.31. For this price, I am absolutely delighted with what I got. I could have got one for less if I had been willing to buy refurbished; I bought new.

Pre-purchase research results: Dyson vacuums cover a fairly wide price range from around $300 to over $600. Individual models carry not-so-descriptive phrases like "all floors," "animal," and "ultimate." The difference between the low end ("all floors") and the pricier versions of the same model is what attachments and accessories are included. For example, the "animal" models include an attachment with a rotating brush that is supposed to be good at picking up pet hair. My sister has a DC-14 Animal and two cats that shed a lot. I asked about the rotating brush attachment. She never uses it. Her house is spotless. My conclusion: It's not worth paying a premium for the attachments, because my clean-freak sister manages just fine using no more attachments than come with the All Floors model. I also reasoned that because the additional attachments don't store on-board, I'd be less likely to use them.

Price Comparison: In late December, I saw the DC-14 All Floors and one of Dyson ball models on sale at Target for $319. I didn't have the money budgeted, so I missed that sale. By the time I got the money budgeted, I was seeing online prices in the $379 to $399 price range. I sat on my hands for a couple of weeks until I saw an online price of something like $299 plus $20 shipping, and I grabbed that.

Five weeks of results: The Dyson DC-14 is far superior to my old vacuum (now gathering dust the slow way in my basement) in three major ways. First, the suction is much better. That means I don't need to go over the same area as many times. Second, the ease of switching between upright and attachments is far superior to what I had before. That means I actually use the attachments, a lot. My standard of cleanliness has gone up, because it's convenient to extent the wand and take care of the odd cobweb I might see where the wall meets the ceiling. Third, it's much easier to empty the dustbin than it was to change bags on my old vacuum. That means I'm empty the dustbin after each use, since it's easy and I'm not wasting money by tossing a partially full bag. In combination, the ease of use and technical superiority mean I actually use the vacuum more than I used the old one.

I'll give you one striking example of technical superiority. I have a beard, which I trim once a week. Pre-Dyson, beard trimming looked like this: Make sure my bathroom sink is dry. Trim beard over the sink. Comb trimmings out of my beard, and brush as much as I can from my shirt into the sink. Run the Dustbuster to pick up the trimmings, then use a damp kleenex to get what the dustbuster misses. Try to do this just before I'm going to shower anyway, so the shirt with hair on it goes in the laundry and I wash any leftover hairs out of my beard and off my body.

Post-Dyson, trimming the beard looks like this: Pause the vacuuming routine when I get to the bathroom. Trim beard over the dry sink. Remove the telescoping wand, and put the brush attachment on the hose. Run that over my beard, my shirt, and the sink, picking up all the hairs. Put the telescoping wand back in, and continue with the vacuuming routine. There are no leftover hairs to deal with using damp kleenex, laundry, or shower.

Cleaning up after trimming my beard is so much easier with the Dyson than with a Dustbuster that the week I had a bad cold and wasn't up to running the vacuum on the full house, it was still less effort to get the Dyson out just to deal with beard trimming than it would have been to deal with the trimming using the Dustbuster.

So, now that I've sung the praises of the Dyson DC-14, is it worth the money? Assuming that mine will last as well as my sister's has, it is absolutely worth the price I paid. But I also think it's worthwhile to wait for a sale and get one in the low $300's instead of paying list price of $399. Given that the standard attachments that came with the All Floors model are doing fine with picking up cat hair and letting me vacuum under my bed, I don't think it's worth the money to pay extra for the Animal or Ultimate version. And while there's a lot of marketing hype about how easy the Dyson Ball is to maneuver, I don't see how it can possibly be enough better than the DC-14 to justify a $500 price tag.

Bottom line: In think the Dyson is a superior vacuum, and it's worth a premium price; but don't be stupid about rushing out and getting one right now or paying through the nose for accessories that you might not need. Spend some time, look around, and get a good price on what you end up buying. A $300 Dyson will pay for itself in not needing $$ put into bags twice as fast as a $600 Dyson would.

Patzer

[malisab]

Patzer, just out of curiosity, how long has your sister had hers?

[Patzer]

Patzer, just out of curiosity, how long has your sister had hers?

She's had it around three years, and last I knew it was still as good as new.

[MALMomma]

Mine is 5 years old and I'm less than thrilled. Yes, it does get up a LOT of dirt and fur. But mine makes a HORRIBLE noise and it is SUPPOSED to do that!! Supposedly, if anything gets "caught" in the beater bar, it'll make this horrific noise until you set it upright and turn it off. Well, it happens when things don't get stuck in the beater bar - it happens if it just wants to be temperamental or if I barely nudge a chair/step/wall what have you. I tried contacting their supposedly wonderful CS and because my machine was out of warranty (bought it right before they made their warranties longer) - despite never having to contact them before - the supervisor wouldn't even do a one time courtesy check to make sure it was working correctly and that mine wasn't messed up some how. Some service.

Soon after I bought it, the floor brush (small flat head) broke. Now I have a cracked tube and I'm hoping that a normal vacuum repair place can fix it. If not, I have to go to a Dyson specialist and get it repaired. Will this be like paying for a Jaguar's parts? 3 times the cost of normal? I sure hope not. That'll be a major deal breaker for me and I'll gladly sell it cheap on Craig's List and buy a different brand.

So, I'll be the one person in this thread that doesn't recommend them. I've just not had the best experience with mine.

ETA - Forgot to say that if this noise was only once in a while, I could deal with it. But it happens several times I vacuum one room. SUPER annoying - it really is a horrible loud noise!

[westivan]

Soon after I bought it, the floor brush (small flat head) broke. Now I have a cracked tube and I'm hoping that a normal vacuum repair place can fix it. If not, I have to go to a Dyson specialist and get it repaired. Will this be like paying for a Jaguar's parts? 3 times the cost of normal? I sure hope not. That'll be a major deal breaker for me and I'll gladly sell it cheap on Craig's List and buy a different brand.

Have you checked out the Dyson website? Here in Australia they have a list of all the replacement parts (for ALL models, not just the current ones) and their prices and you just have to call the office (free number) and they'll send them out to you. I'd assume they do the same over there. You need to quote the machine's serial number otherwise you could order enough parts to build a new one for less than it costs in the shops . My neighbour had a cracked wand handle (hers is about 7 years old and it got stood on or something) and the part was AU$15 plus postage.

I've never seen another brand that will supply parts to the end consumer to repair themselves instead of making you go to a repairer...nor another vacuum cleaner that's actually designed to easily break down into the various parts for ease of clearing blockages or repairs.

I'm now on my second Dyson (ex kept the house and the barrel model, I'm in a small apartment now so got a compact upright) and would need a lot of convincing to replace it with another brand (though they're extremely expensive here, the top-of-the-line model is AU$1099 full retail which is close to US$1000). I also got to use their funky hand dryer recently and it was awesome!

[MALMomma]

Yikes... I didn't know you could buy parts on their site and now I think I wish I didn't. $12 for a floor tool and $40 for the hose??? A hose, really?

My goodness, that's halfway to the cost of a new vacuum!

[vmi1991]

Have had a DC-14 for about 8 years and an Animal for 3 yrs. I have to agree with Consumer Reports that the orginal DC-14 is the best. I recently replaced the hose/tube on the DC_14 with one I bought off Amazon: cost about $20 incl shppg opposed to $40 for Dyson OEM.

No matter the Dyson model...clean the the sponge filter at least monthly or your suction will die. If you have old carpet the Dyson will eat it and make the incredible racket mentioned previously.

Consumer Reports did a vac report in late 2006 or Jan 2007.

George

[sarahspangles]

I have a 7 year old Dyson Animal and it's working as well as the day I bought it. I used to get through three cleaners in that length of time. There are no consumables either. It did need a minor repair a couple of years ago because the clutch broke (my fault), there was a fixed price for that and it included a full clean and service, so now I have a spare filter to alternate with the one that's been washed out.

Here in the UK we get to see the Dyson ads - are they on Stateside too? Sir James Dyson is posh eye candy

[MALMomma]

If you have old carpet the Dyson will eat it and make the incredible racket mentioned previously.

Or new carpet, as ours is. And when I spoke to CS, she told me it is supposed to make that horrid noise. Love how Dyson wants to make me deaf...

[maryea]

For me it was worth the cost.

[abacus2]

Yes. My carpet is so much cleaner; it's almost unbelievable.