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Dyson Groom Pet Brush
by Nar2
Dog hair is the bane of my life. As a part time cleaner amidst three other part time jobs I have (thanks to the recession), I absolutely detest cleaning up after pet hair. One of the worst aspects isn't just getting it off the floor if you don't have a turbo brush or an upright vacuum cleaner; it gets on the sofa, inside the sofa parts ... where you'd think cushions could keep schtum about it! When I sampled the Dyson Pet Grooming tool at a shop recently I was a bit disappointed to find that it had been sold out and was therefore forced to buy online. The Dyson Pet Grooming Tool costs in the region of £40 and is available at Comet, Argos and Amazon amidst other sellers who are bringing other Dyson tools online. However the lack of availability back then didn't deter me.
What I like about the Dyson pet groomer tool is that it comes with a clip on applicator adaptor that you can use on ANY vacuum cleaner that has the small hose measurement of 3.2cm/32mm. This effectively means my HENRY vacuum can use this tool as well as any old Hoover vacuums, Electrolux vacuums, any other Numatic vacuum and the new Vax Mach Air series. For the moment, no other brand but Dyson have this tool on the market. Just measure the taper of the hose end you'd normally slide your suction tubes in and if it measures 32mm or 3.2cm this tool will fit, if you're not sure. My Miele cylinder vacuum cleaner has a wider measurement but, thanks to the Electrolux mini stair brush tool I bought ages ago, it comes with a 3.5mm to 3.2 adaptor that just slides into the Miele tube or handle and then onto the Dyson adaptor which locks onto the main part of the Pet Groomer. Effectively this turns the Miele into a Dyson pet groomer and the Miele is twice as quiet as the Dyson vacuums anyway. Hair just gets brushed up through the bristles, the suction channels are divided into two which keeps the hair on the bristles, doesn't cut the suction and when the button is released, the bristles automatically retract leaving a perforated smooth surface and the pet hair just gets sucked into the main channel and away it goes - what a wonderful invention!
In use however, the Dyson Pet Groom tool gets to the hair of the dog before it lands on the carpet. It has quite a few tough metal bristles that only retract once you release the button brace on top of the groom tool. Dyson say there are 364 metal prong bristles infact but I don't have time to count them when I'm continually having to brush up hair - there are quite a lot of the bristles which are equally divided and split the large perforated areas into two, with the dust suction channel positioned in the centre. Although the bristles feel hard on my hand, they don't stab me unlike other dog hair brushes I've used in the past. I do wish sometimes that the retraction method was put the other way around with the bristles pointing outwards permanently because the moment my finger slides off the rectangular brace button release, the bristles retract and the spring mechanism is light and easy although more adjustment could be added here to prevent the bristles from retracting early. The spring mechanism does allow you to adjust the length of the fixed bristles that come out, but it can be a bind if you try and brush short haired dogs when the button could be a bit more adjustable rather than a weak feeling spring behind it. Dyson claim that the brush also removes allergens and dead skin and to a point I'd say that this is probably true, but probably more difficult to admit I could see them on the collected hair. The fact that the suction still flows through the bristles before they are retracted means that effectively, everything that comes off with the hair is picked up and stays on the tool until the button retracts and the hair disappears.
I find it so much easier to groom dogs well before they have a chance to roll around on the carpet and watch the hairs fly up and down but another design point is the fact that the tool always points downwards with a 35° angle, so you're always removing hair in upward and downward motions but then forced to move your hand awkwardly if doing a dog's back. Another downside is that your dog MUST be the type of animal who loves to be brushed. Otherwise you'll find that like many dogs, the noise of the vacuum cleaner may make them run away, or in some cases the dog will play with the tool instead. This is where if you have a Miele vacuum cleaner, the noise level isn't as much and the noise doesn't interrupt dog brushing. The tool is however made of thick PVC plastic and seems to be robust enough to stand up to most fangs abuse!
There are a couple of other downsides. The tool isn't suitable for older Dyson models like the DC01, Motorhead models DC21, 22 and 23 and if you have a hand held Dyson, forget it - this attachment won't fit. The tool is also only suitable for medium to large dogs, adult dogs (clearly Dyson have tested it on puppies, but I fear the shorter, younger coats have fur that is still growing and would need to be retained rather than older, adult coats) and dogs with medium to long fur/coat hair. No mention of cats or any other animal, which is a pity. Despite what I've suggested by improving the design, once the bristles have retracted, at least the brush is safer to store without anything protruding after brushing has finished. What a pity given that it measures well over 20cm too, that it's not the kind of tool you'd be able to store onto a vacuum cleaner either.
This vacuum cleaner tool attachment is a must for dog owners who are fed up clearing up after long pet hair. Thanks to its plastic PVC construction, the tool itself is light and with the adaptor attached can easily be used on a patient dog. It does have a few downsides however but then it looks very space age cool in its dark grey plastic and is shiny and feels agile despite its size. Dyson after all makes it and the look alone suggests I wouldn't believe it was made by any other brand - no less! Thanks for reading! İNar2 2011
See videos at:
http://www.dyson.co.uk/vacuums/groom/
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Dyson Mini Turbine Head
by Randal
I got this as a freebie when I purchased an upright Dyson DC14 some years ago. I got the animal version of the hoover (the one that is apparently specially designed to pick up animal hairs from your floor) and I thought that this turbo head assembly would also be useful to do the stairs, furniture etc, which would be especially useful ... given that I have 3 dogs and a cat.
It is basically a smaller version of the brush bar bit of your upright Dyson (the bit at the bottom that actually sweeps the floor), costing just over £35 from Amazon. The idea is that you attach it to the hose assembly of the Dyson and then use it in those hard to reach places where you wouldn't normally be able to get your upright Dyson, such as the stairs, the furniture and wherever else you may have that your animals might frequent.
It works by spinning the brush bar with the suction and applying the suction, and the 2 effects combine will draw the animal hairs out of whatever and into you Dyson. In practice, it is very good at doing what it is designed to do. It does brush the animal hairs out, providing that they are fairly fresh. I say that because the effect really depends on how often you hoover your house etc and what sort of animals you have. I tend to hoover every couple of days, and my animals don't really shed loads of hair, although the cat does have a pretty good go at it. So when I do hoover, the hair sits on the top of the carpet or fabric and hasn't been ground or woven into whatever, which would make it more difficult for this turbine head to remove.
So with the hair being fairly fresh, it comes out easily with this device. Now with the cat, he tends to shed more, and then sleeps on it and hence his hair tends to get ground in more. Using this turbine head, it still gets most of the hair out, but it just takes a little more effort to do it all and it still sometimes leaves some behind.
However, for general cleaning of the stairs and perhaps the sofa, it is really good. The only issue I have with it is that it is an extra for your Dyson. By that I mean that it is not stored on your Dyson as all the other attachments are, which are then readily available for you to fit and use to tackle any job wherever you happen to be hovering at that time. With this turbine head, more often than not it will be stored in a cupboard somewhere. So you need to plan to use it in advance, go and get it, fit it, use it and then return it to the cupboard. So often you find yourself just fitting one of the hoover attachments for speed and convenience to clean the sofa rather than going to get this device, and hence the device tends to sit in the cupboard unused.
If Dyson could somehow design some sort of storage for it on your upright, it would make your Dyson quite a formidable cleaning device for your home.
Review also on Ciao under Randal1.
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Dyson Mini Turbine Head
by mikebaileyuk
Vacuum cleaning, love it, hate it or get someone else to do it? Once a week, once a day or once in a blue moon? Depending on your answers, you'll either think this is the greatest cleaning gadget you've ever had or you'll wish you'd never bought it!
First things first. It is an optional attachment that fits to either the ... telescopic tube on the vacuum cleaner or directly to the hose. It is a mini version of the suction/beater section of an upright cleaner - the bit that does the cleaning as you push it backwards and forwards across the floor. It is fairly compact, being about 31cm long and 16 cm at the widest point. It weighs 688 grams. There is a button you either pull out or bush in to choose between suction alone or in combination with the rotating beater bar. It is also very easy to clean should anything get wrapped around the beater bar, the head assembly unclips and everything can be untangled.
It will not fit the following models: DC01, DC02, DC03, DC24 and all the handheld models. The Argos website says it will not fit the silver/lime DC04, but the Dyson site says it will, I guess they know what they're talking about.
The Dyson website says that it is 'ideal for removing pet hair and fibres from confined spaces such as upholstery, stairs and the car'.
OK now for the practicalities. It will get to places that the actual cleaner itself can't reach, so yes it will clean the upholstery in a car, your sofa or the mattress on your bed. If you do have a pet and it goes in your car or on the sofa this sounds like a great idea. I'm sure you wouldn't need it to get pet hair out of your mattress but hey, each to their own...
The only problem is that the normal tools on the Dyson can get to all these places and a whole lot more, the mini turbine head will not get right into the edges of the stairs for example or any other small confined spaces.
This is where I think it all depends on your cleaning habits. If you vacuum everyday or have a pet that doesn't really leave lots of hairs everywhere then I'm sure this would be a great idea. It would pick everything up and would get the job done quickly. Cleaning the stairs for example, you could wizz over each step in no time because the head is certainly larger than the brush or the nozzle attachment so you'd pick more stuff up in fewer passes of the head.
I have two dogs, one of which is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, they leave short hairs everywhere and they weave themselves down into the carpet (the hairs, not the dogs). The turbine head won't touch them at all and the only option in hard to reach places is the nozzle attachment. With the turbine head, the turbine spins because of the suction of the vacuum cleaner so if you put any pressure on it to try and get deeper down into the pile of the carpet it just stops rotating. Pointless!
One more little grumble: the angle at which the head is designed means it will not get into some places at all. It is in a fixed position and will not always get into tight spaces. Another reason that you have to resort back to the standard tools on the vac. Oh and one more thing, you can't stow it on the cleaner anywhere so you have to carry it round separately everywhere. Are you starting to realize that I think its naff?
These gadgets cost in the region of £25. You can get them from:
Dyson: www.dyson.co.uk £25.94
Argos www.argos.co.uk £24.99
Amazon www.amazon.co.uk £29.49
Or you can buy them on Ebay where you'll also find plenty that say 'used once', hmm I wonder why...
So, would I buy it again if I had to? No.
Would I recommend it to anyone? No.
What would I spend the money on again if I had a choice? Hmm, think I'd forget this cleaning lark and go out for a drink!
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