Not bad but not quite living up to the hype either

Due to arthritis, I was no longer able to use my trusty-but-weighty (and now discontinued) Dirt Devil bagless vacuum cleaner to deal with the effects of a dog, a dirt yard, and a naturally dusty old house. At 11.6 pounds, Dyson's DC24 was the lightest non-stick-style upright bagless vacuum cleaner on the market, so in early 2008 I shuddered and choked and spent the money on a Dyson - $399 minus a 20% coupon which totalled $320. That's still a big chunk of money for a vacuum cleaner as far as I'm concerned. Of course I had heard all the rave reviews for Dyson vacuum cleaners, and the TV ads swearing up and down that the Dyson never lost suction and cleaned better than anything else out there, so I was ready for the Super Duper Ultimate Vacuuming Experience.

It came neatly packed in a brightly colored, surprisingly small box with an instruction manual right up there with Ikea's, scant written instructions and somewhat confusing pictures. It took my husband and me almost an hour to assemble it and figure out how to use it, since many of the "features" are somewhat counterintuitive (like how to get the handle taken off and reversed and attached to the too-short retractable hose), and we flatter ourselves that we're not too awfully stupid. It's relatively easy to use once you've gotten the hang of everything, it's just figuring out what all that everything is in the first place that's the tough part! There's a bit of a learning curve that can be frustrating.

I was a little bit disappointed with the lack of included accessories given the rather steep price, since I am used to an upright vacuum cleaner including a crevice tool (an additional $30) and upholstery tool (which they call a "mattress tool", another $30) as well as the usual small basic brush (included), and on-board storage for those standard attachments. The hose is not very flexible and, as I said, rather short, so doing stairs can be tricky, and forget about getting the cobwebs on your high ceilings.

The Dyson DC24 is one of the new "ball" vacuums, which I admit I think is just a little bit gimmicky and does have its drawbacks. My Dirt Devil had casters that turned 360 degrees so it steered just as easily as this ball gadget, unlike the "bad" vacuum in the Dyson television advertisement which had fixed wheels. I find it wants to rock or veer from side to side rather than going straight along - I suppose if you like to dance while you vacuum, it would make an excellent dance partner, and maybe the funky design might get kids to help with the vacuuming as well. My old vacuum also lay down almost flat to vacuum under chairs, beds, etc. but the Dyson's taller ball doesn't fit so I have to haul the furniture out of the way to actually clean under there - the hose doesn't have as much real sucking power so it just gets surface dust-bunnies. Kind of defeats the purpose of getting the lighter vacuum, no? So, there is now a rather shameful amount of dust and fluff accumulated under my very heavy bed!

The dirt cup holds very little material; by the time I'm finished with a 9x11 foot area rug it's time to go empty it, and when that cup reaches its maximum level (a little less than half full) the suction drops to basically nothing and you can go over and over the same spot until the cows come home to no avail. It's very neat how you just hold the whole dust-cup unit over a trash can and press a button to empty it, although I always have to reach in and pull out the human and canine hair by hand, and I do strongly suggest that you place the bottom of the dust cup as far as you can down into the trash can because the dust can really fly when that container bottom lets go! The filters in the dust container have to be washed regularly; I'm working on effectively doing this without using as much running water as the instructions direct.

The removable roller-brush is pretty slick for households with long-haired people and critters - the brush just pops out so you can snip off the hair wound round it.

Noise level is moderate but with an annoying whistle/whine; I resorted to headphones, and it really upsets the dog. I have a small house with a reasonable number of electrical outlets so the relatively short cord some people complain about isn't really an issue for me, I don't need to be able to vacuum the entire house from a single outlet. Since I'm short on storage space, I do really appreciate the retractable handle to make it easier to store, and the light weight makes the difference about whether my house gets reasonably well vacuumed at all, since stick vacs are ineffective for much past quick spot cleaning. However, except for those two issues, and the weight being the main one, I don't think this vacuum is so mindbogglingly better than our previous $99 Dirt Devil that it's worth three to four times the price.

It does look pretty darn cool if you're into the whole high-tech industrial chic bit, and like the color orange - but I'm glad it's small enough to hide in a closet!