Dyson Vacuums

We had one serious problem in two years, a battery defect. Fortunately, Dyson cheerfully sent out a replacement, free of charge. The only less-than-ideal components are the accessory brushes. They don't pick up much and the one in the powerhead is losing some of its bristles (and its replacement is overly expensive). Deep cleaning the two filters is a bit of a chore, but at least they are washable (with tap water) so there's no extra cost of replacement filter bags. This needs to be done about every two or three months, so not too bad. Overall, the V8 is our go-to vacuum for most everything. We also have a Hoover upright that is more powerful, but it is heavy and clumsy. I pretty much only use it now to vacuum our exhaust vents and the refrigerator coils.

Then was my thought of the bag-less design. No remembering bag numbers, and changing them....Ugh. Since details make the difference.... First, stick to vacuums with bags. Because emptying that plastic canister outdoor (or even indoors, with a deep breath) exposes you to the dust and crud you just sucked up. Lastly, none of the other above hopes of my Dyson came to fruition either. So my reviewing the Dyson was not glowing. But I was grateful for the thought when it was given to us. Hopefully, soon enough when this one is no longer working, I will go back to the Hoover bagged style. Happy Vacuuming.

When the Dyson battery goes, you must recharge it. When Shark's battery loses juice, you just pop in a fresh battery while the other charges. Love that. As for price, the Shark (on sale) was about $230 while the Dyson was around $600. We bought the Dyson to remove the pet hair, which was everywhere. It did a great job but because of its price, probably won't buy another Dyson for a very long time.

The Dyson comes with 4 cleaning tools for different types of jobs and can be used with or without the extended stalk between the vacuum and the cleaning tools. The pieces attach securely with a satisfying click. Removing dirt from the vacuum is simple but more important, the canister is made in a way that causes the process to leave minimal dust. Very important for people like us with breathing issues.

It is easy to hold the vacuum as it weighs about 4 pounds and has a pistol grip. With the stalk, it is 42 inches from grip to bottom, depending on the cleaning tool used. It is a good length for floor cleaning. One negative is that the vacuum only stays on when the trigger is pulled. Another is that the weight can make it wearing to use for large areas. For those reasons I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. In general, I would not use this vacuum as my primary for a large home. It is great for a smaller apartment, spot jobs, stairs, inaccessible places and vehicles. It is also perfect to clean the places that a robotic vacuum could not reach.

1) Stability of the unit while operating hose attachment.

And a more severe issue of,

2) The vacuum beater bar brush drive bearing, melting, and failure.

The UP13 provides excellent and constant quality vacuuming. When using the hose attachment, the upper handle, suction hose, and cartridge seat tends to fall to the side, to the floor. If there is a wall where it falls, you'll get a scuff or a dent in the wall; if there is a Ming vase that it falls on, call you insurer. Also, please do not count on the UP13 remaining locked in its resting position when wheeling it from location to location. The model falls over all the time when using the hose attachments. On the other side, Dyson has some attachments that are effective for specific purposes.

2) The vacuum beater bar brush drive bearing, melting, and failure.

This issue is more serious. Description: Dyson Beater Bar assemblies connect to the central vacuum air intake at the Dyson Ball Vacuum's bottom front. The Bar Assembly is locked into place with a red plastic retaining clip. I am reporting about the beater bar drive bearing and its support housing. The Vacuum is a Dyson Up13 my family purchased about a year ago. After six months of use, the beater bar drive mechanism fouled with debris, froze, and melted. My investigation revealed that debris had wrapped on the drive spindles was pulled into bearing, and it's the support structure. An acrid burning smell preceded the drive failure. When disassembled, I could see that the whole lower unit needed replacement. Due to the COVID-19 availability of parts, I decided to purchase a full replacement for the failed beater bar assembly.

That unit arrived, and a month later, I had the beater bar assembly on my workbench, and I was unwrapping debris from the drive spindles. We did have some melting of the outward-facing bearing support surfaces; I sanded flat the melted surface, cleaned the bearings, and reassembled the module. The issue is caused by the infiltration and destructive attachment of vacuum debris onto the beater bar drive spindle, leading to the drive mechanism failing. Upon disassembly, we observed the bearing frozen, and the bearing support structure melted to the point of a drive failure. The disassembly is not an easy repair; the dirt should never have the chance of fouling the drive bearings or melting the drive bearing structure. We have had two units fail in the same manner.

If you smell an acrid smell while vacuuming with a UP13, turn your vacuum cleaner off immediately. If you experience a change in your vacuum's performance or operational sound, shut it down. I believe that if enough heat builds up in the drive mechanism, the Vacuum could combust, i.e., light on fire. The beater bar house assembly costs about $100 to replace. The replacement part is an expensive repair and certainly seems like a design failure to me. Hope this helps.

Then I get back on the phone and I timed it this last time: about every 1. 5 minutes they try to sell me something else (like why would I be so stupid?) or they want to send me into the phone tree again where the recorded voice says press...blah blah "directly get an expert" ....totally word for word...only to get more recorded and redundant information. I feel like this whole thing is a scam to try to advertise more of their stuff and not make good on my warranty, who has time for this stuff???