Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I am currently in the process of moving, and with my Dyson already shipped with most of my other stuff, I needed to get a vacuum to clean up my mess.  So early in the morning I drove to Wal-Mart to get some supplies and a vacuum.  The Hoover Platinum Cyclonic on the shelf caught my eye, and I decided to get it to give it a try.  After I got home and unpacked the machine, I gave it a whirl around my home and gained some fairly strong first impressions from this machine.  The performance and suction of this machine seemed fairly strong, and the electronic height adjustment is a very cool feature that raises or lowers the sole plate with a push of a button.  The weight is probably around 20 lbs, but doesn't feel too heavy when carried around by the handle in the back of the machine.  The hose lenght is shorter than I'm used to (only 8 ft.), and the dusting brush/upholstery combo tool is a complete joke, and is unacceptable for a $400+ vacuum cleaner.  The length of the cord is a whopping 40 ft, which allowed me to clean more without having to unplug the cord to find a closer outlet.  I had a DC25 not long ago that had a 25 ft cord, and the whole unplug routine became annoying to the point where I started to use a 50 ft. extention cord.  My DC23 has a combined 33 ft. cleaning range, which is better, but I would definitely welcome an extended range.  I also noticed that this Hoover does not use the typical auger shaped brush roll that other windtunnels use, but rather a straight cylindrical wooden brushroll (with the same neon green bristles). 

I was amazed to see how efficient the Hoover's multicyclonic filtration system was in comparison to, lets say, Dyson's Root Cyclone system (non-Level 3).  When I vacuumed a large portion of my home, I noticed that there was hardly and dust and fluff accumulating in the separate hi-speed cyclone chamber, aside from some fogging from a thin layer of light dust.  I went to inspect the pre-filter (FYI - it is a direct knock-off of Dyson's netted prefilters used in their newer machines), and I was surprised to see no dust accumulated on the filter.  However, some grains of sand did manage to bypass the cyclones, which is a problem shared with Root Cyclone as well.  I was curious to see how efficient the Hoover cyclone system can be when it comes to vacuuming up super fine dust, do I took out a container of N.O.xplode (a fine powdered creatine/energy workout supplement), and vacuumed several scoops of the pink powder.  Just about all of the pink powder remained in the low-speed cyclone collection bin with the rest of the large debris, with an extremely thin layer of it caked on the walls of the multi-cyclonic chamber, and just trace amounts left on the prefilter above the cyclone air inlets.  Now, if I didn't decide to vacuum the powder, the pre-filter would have remained clean, as it did over the past several days of use.  My older Dyson DC25 was not as efficient; once you start using it after cleaning the filter, you immediately notice dust on the prefilter, should you stop vacuuming and pull the filter out.  My DC23 does a much better job like the Hoover because of its Level 3 system (something which Dyson has yet to spread across its line up.....how odd). 

Overall, I think this Hoover should serve as a defintely wake-up call to Dyson.  The competitors are catching up, fast, and Dyson needs to invest more time, effort, and money in technology that will improve performance.  Airmuscle™ is a step in the right direction, and it is something that needs to be a notable piece of Dyson technology as much as the Ball (i.e. - massive marketing campaign.....it's a shame Dyson didn't air an Airmuscle commercial during the American Idol finale).  I would definitely like to see the DC27 as the new entry level model, along with the DC28 Airmuscle as the mid range, along with a DC29 Airmuscle with Level 3 Root Cyclone (something that should have been featured on the DC28 to begin with..)  The Ball line, with their deeply discounted pricing as of the late, may be an indication that they just aren't selling well.  If that's the case, I would like too see them canned altogether.  There's no reason Dyson should be bleeding money because of a failed concept.