To Dyson Cordless Vacuum Owners, Past & Present

[Tobermory]

I use (the cats use) clumping grass litter, and with three cats, two of whom are long haired, litter tracking is a significant issue. I have a small, inexpensive corded stick vacuum that works, but given how much and how often I vacuum, I’ve been thinking about a Dyson cordless vac.

My hesitation is that I’ve had cordless vacuums over the years—inexpensive stick models as well as numerous Dust Busters—and the batteries have all died in less than 18 months. After the last one died, I gave up. But it’s been a few years, and it seems like battery life has improved.

Reviews are either “love it, best thing ever” or “stopped working after a couple of months.” The V8 Animal at Costco is $380, and I was thinking about giving it a try even though it’s a pricey investment. What’s been your experience?

 

[Azazel]

That’s the one I have and I use the same litter as you. I’ve been using it for almost a year now and love it. I’ve had no problems - it’s fantastic. Highly recommend.

Plus, Costco takes returns.

 

[Tobermory]

Thanks, A Azazel ! I can always count on you! And, yeah, even if I found it for less somewhere else, I’d still buy it at Costco because of the ease of return. But I hope I don’t have to. Now I just have to break it to The Spouse that I’m going to spend almost 400 bucks on a vacuum.

 

[susanm9006]

I bought my Dyson V10 animal last December. I would give it a mixed review

The Good
Going cordless is amazing. It just makes vacuuming so much easier to get done.
Putting it together, doing maintenance on it is also easy. Everything clicks and twists together
Suction at the highest level is amazing. The first time I used it to vacuum my rug I was shocked by what it pulled up.

The Bad
On high you get six minutes of vacuuming before the battery goes dead and needs to charge for 3 1/2 hours. You can actually get a lot done in that short time but not a whole house thorough cleaning or you can use a lower setting which still as pretty good suction
It does require maintenance including washing the filter fairly often. In winter When the heat is on the filter dries in a day, but in summer It takes longer so you really need a second filter.
It does clog. Long hair gets wrapped around the dust cup motor and must be pulled out by hand. I am not keen on sticking my hand into a pile of dust to get it out.
After six months, my dust cup door which was so easy to empty started sticking and now the whole dust cup shoots into the waste basket when I empty it. It’s not a huge problem but it’s hand in dust again.

Would I buy it again? Probably. But I might look at some of the cheaper Dyson style knockoff on Amazon. Several come with two removable batteries which should double cleaning time.

 

[Kat0121]

I bought my Dyson V10 animal last December. I would give it a mixed review

The Good
Going cordless is amazing. It just makes vacuuming so much easier to get done.
Putting it together, doing maintenance on it is so easy. Everything clicks and twists together
Suction at the highest level is amazing. The first time I used it to vacuum my rug I was shocked by what it pulled up.

The Bad
On high you get six minutes of vacuuming before the battery goes dead and needs to charge for 3 1/2 hours. You can actually get a lot done in that short time but not whole house thorough cleaning or you can use a lower setting which still as pretty goof suction,
It does require maintenance including washing the filter fairly often. In winter When the heat is on the filter dries in a day, but in summer It takes longer so you really need a second filter.
It does clog. Long hair gets wrapped around the dust cup motor and must be pulled out by hand. I am not keen on sticking my hand into a pile of dust to get it out.
After six months, my dust cup door which was so easy to empty started sticking and now the whole dust cup shoots into the waste basket when I empty it. It’s not a huge problem but it’s hand in dust again.

Would I buy it again? Probably. But I might look at some of the cheaper Dyson style knockoff On Amazon. Several come with two removable batteries which should double cleaning time.

I'd agree with this review. Especially about the clogging and battery life. The dust cup is also quite small. I,however, would not recommend it. At that price, I expected better. I'd look into a knockoff if they are available.

 

[Azazel]

That’s true about the battery life on high. I don’t use it on high that often, but I have noticed it doesn’t last long on the high setting. I only really use that setting when pulling cat fur out of the sofas.

 

[Tobermory]

I wouldn’t need to use it on high so I hope that run time wouldn’t be an issue. I have a lot of laminate flooring, so it would be a quick daily sweep. For the two carpeted bedrooms and the area rugs, I have an excellent Shark corded vacuum that I’ve had for years. I also am lucky that I have housekeepers who come every three weeks and do a more thorough cleaning.

Consumer Reports has stopped recommending Dyson, but Wirecutter still recommends it.

 

[susanm9006]

It does do really well on both hard floors, carpet and throw rugs. Mine came with a soft roller for hard floors and a brush roller for carpets but I have found either works just fine on both floors.

 

[Tobermory]

I procrastinated long enough that Costco put the V8 on sale—$80 off. It arrived on Friday, and I’ve used it twice. I love this thing! In fact, when we left to go grocery shopping this morning, I picked it up where it was charging in the garage, hugged it, and told it I loved it. My husband rolled his eyes.

 

[waddle]

It does do really well on both hard floors, carpet and throw rugs. Mine came with a soft roller for hard floors and a brush roller for carpets but I have found either works just fine on both floors.

I’ve been researching as I know my very old Dyson cordless could die at any time. I have pretty much decided on the V10 absolute, but then started wondering if the soft roller does ok with pet and human hair or if it either doesn’t pick it up or gets clogged up easily? I thought I’d go for V11 but reviews show the soft roller being better and easier on hardwood floors.

My current machine doesn’t do great with my worlds best cat litter but the newer ones should have much better suction.

I have a cleaning service every two weeks so the Dyson would be for touch ups in between the thorough cleanings.

 

[susanm9006]

I’ve been researching as I know my very old Dyson cordless could die at any time. I have pretty much decided on the V10 absolute, but then started wondering if the soft roller does ok with pet and human hair or if it either doesn’t pick it up or gets clogged up easily? I thought I’d go for V11 but reviews show the soft roller being better and easier on hardwood floors.

My current machine doesn’t do great with my worlds best cat litter but the newer ones should have much better suction.

I have a cleaning service every two weeks so the Dyson would be for touch ups in between the thorough cleanings.

The soft roller does quite well with pet hair and doesn’t clog in that but it does get human hair tangled at the end of the roller some time. The brush roller also does fine on hardwood floors and I use the two interchangeably. You can also pick up just the Soft roller off of eBay and it would fit the V11.

I had to choose between the V10 and the V11, I would go with the V11 because it has a longer lasting battery. On the highest suction setting using the roller brush the V10 only gets 6 minutes of battery life (about 20 on medium) and the V11 gets more. You can actually clean quite a bit in six minutes but sometimes you need more.

 

[waddle]

Do you think one head is better than the other for litter on hardwood? It looked like the soft one would be better?

If it wasn’t such a big price difference I’d maybe get the V11 with the extra roller but it would be almost double the price. Since I usually don’t do the whole house at one time with it the shorter battery time is fine. Maybe once in all the years I’ve had mine have I run out of battery while using it.

 

[susanm9006]

Do you think one head is better than the other for litter on hardwood? It looked like the soft one would be better?

If it wasn’t such a big price difference I’d maybe get the V11 with the extra roller but it would be almost double the price. Since I usually don’t do the whole house at one time with it the shorter battery time is fine. Maybe once in all the years I’ve had mine have I run out of battery while using it.

I think the brush roller would probably work best on the litter. But if you go with the V10 absolute you would have both.

 

[susanm9006]

This is an old post but I have an update regarding Dysons I wanted to share. I have only hardwood floors so when I bought mine a couple years ago I made sure to buy a V10 model that had the soft roller. The problem has been that the soft roller isn’t as effective as the brush roller and has a tendency to spit hard debris across the room instead of picking it up. The brush roller works okay but it’s loud and I am concerned it’s too rough on the floors.

So I have actually been looking around at other cordless vacs to see if there is one with a better roller. In that process I actually came across a new Dyson, the Omni glide. Very tiny and very overpriced but it has one feature that looked to be amazing - a double soft roller. Both rollers pull the dust from their side to the center where it gets sucked up. From reviews it looked stellar at picking up stuff like litter without spitting it out but no way did I want to spend $400 on this tiny vacuum and Dyson doesn’t sell this floor attachment separately.

Fortunately, EBay sells a double roller for Dysons that is similar in design. Pricey at $60-90 but if It worked, well worth it. These come from China and when I ordered my estimated delivery was in October. But it actually arrived in two weeks and it is just amazing. I immediately tried it on Lola’s room where litter was tracked from one end of the room to the other - perfect and so fast to clean it up! And I could tell from the dust collection cup that it was picking up much much more than the single soft roller ever did. You may want to check these double rollers out if you use your vacuum primarily on hardwood. Just search “Dyson double roller” on EBay.

 

[Sylvia Jones]

Just can’t do the cordless. Not vacuums, weed eaters or blowers If I’m going to clean it would drive me crazy to have to stop to charge up my tool. My first dyson lasted over 10 years and I loved it I just replaced it with the (corded) dyson slim animal ball. This one is even better I had a regular slim ball originally The slim models are lighter and a tad smaller It seems they have improved even more over the years which I would expect For anyone that still wants a corded vac the slim animal is great

 

[susanm9006]

Just can’t do the cordless. Not vacuums, weed eaters or blowers If I’m going to clean it would drive me crazy to have to stop to charge up my tool. My first dyson lasted over 10 years and I loved it I just replaced it with the (corded) dyson slim animal ball. This one is even better I had a regular slim ball originally The slim models are lighter and a tad smaller It seems they have improved even more over the years which I would expect For anyone that still wants a corded vac the slim animal is great

My problem with corded vacuums is that the main rooms are big and I run out of cord before I reach the end of the room.Unplugging and moving cords drives me crazy!

 

[game misconduct]

dyson makes one that comes with 2 batteries so that you can have1 charging while using the other one i didnt buy it was like over 300 bux at the time the rechargeable dyson we havenow has lasted about 3 years now

 

[game misconduct]

My problem with corded vacuums is that the main rooms are big and I run out of cord before I reach the end of the room.Unplugging and moving cords drives me crazy!

50 foot or longer extension cord but its a pita if you dont wrap correctly after using the wires get all twisted inside and will fail in time

 

[susanm9006]

50 foot or longer extension cord but its a pita if you dont wrap correctly after using the wires get all twisted inside and will fail in time

Yes, I was a terrible cord wrapper. I also didn't realize I was at the end of the cord until the plug was yanked out of the wall. They don’t last long if that happens regularly.