Legendary Dyson suction power, ear defenders an optional accessory (Dyson DC03)

Member Name: ermine

Product:	Dyson DC03
Date:	29/08/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Legendary Dyson suction and no loss of power until the dust box is full

Disadvantages: Noisy, I'm not kidding about the ear defenders if used decorating an empty room!

I've had my DC03 for a few years now and it has proved reliable even through ingesting brick dust from some building work. You get what you pay for with Dysons - they are a bit more expensive than many vacuum cleaners, but you get good performance.

One disadvantage of the Dyson mechanism is that it really is very noisy, and the noise is an unpleasant high-pitched whine as well as the usual racket from the motor that you get with any vacuum cleaner. The see-through dust holder is a great idea as you can see how full it is, though the capacity isn't huge.

The one thing this machine doesn't handle well, though few uprights do, is long hair. It gets wound round the beater roller at the front and slowly covers it up, rendering it ineffective.

The first you get to know about this is when the machine doesn't really pick up some of the small objects it used to. That's the time to turn it over, release the three clamps that hold the beater cylinder at the front and carefully take the beater roller out, taking care not to damage the drive belt. The way I use to get rid of the hair is slice through it all with a Stanley knife, and then pick it off in a mat and throw it away.

Summary: Excellent performance at a price, though noise is a problem at times.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Cleaning/Maintenance: