It holds an arm, a leg and a spider!... (Dyson DC04)

Member Name: sunbeam

Product:	Dyson DC04
Date:	23/05/01 (2248 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It picks up all your skin and dust....

Disadvantages: ...unfortunately your mother-in-law can then see it!

WARNING: THIS OPINION COULD SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR APPETITE.

Ever wondered exactly what is hiding under your bed and on your mattress? With the Dyson DCO4 you can see all of that. You can watch the dust and other stuff swirling around your cleaner, so if ever there was a piece of equipment to encourage you to vacuum every day this is the one.
A piece of advice...empty it because the last thing you want is your mother-in-law coming around and seeing the contents of your Dyson.

• The Funeral.

It's not cheap at £267.00 but it's certainly worth the money. I bought mine after my faithful old bag cylinder cleaner passed on to silicone heaven. After the funeral, held at the local tip, I decided that it was time to hunt out a new cleaner. I needed an upright vacuum because with my health I find an upright is less work to push around than dragging the old cylinder a long. I also needed something that could cope with my very deep pile living room carpet; god knows what could be lurking in there!

• The Clincher.

We assume that the average vacuum cleans well, so you go along cleaning, you empty the bag and that's it. Wrong.
I'd heard that the Dyson could pick up more than your average cleaner, they claim that after tests against other vacuums that "other cleaners can pick up as little as 50% of the dust". Now that nearly sold it to me but on hearing that it has a filter system that has a bacteria-killing screen to trap, keep and kill bacteria and moulds on contact I was well impressed.

• Right here's the details so if you want to skip to my amusing story about skin, hair and spiders then feel free to scroll down...

The Dyson DCO4 upright guarantees high dust pick up, high filtration system and no loss of suction. It comes fitted with a lifetime filter so there are no filters to buy. It is a lovely combination of red, yellow and purple (doesn't m
atch my décor!) and literally every part of it has a function. It comes complete with three attachments, which are stored on the body of the Dyson. It has a rotating brush, which you can switch off for cleaning hard floors and delicate rugs. To vacuum the stairs the Dyson puts an end to precariously balancing the vacuum on each step because it comes complete with a hose that stretches all the way to the top of the stairs, so no more broken legs! This version of the Dyson also comes with a floor tool that you can attach to clean the stairs and under low furniture, so no more excuses for not cleaning under the bed! Most importantly the Dyson has no bag. It has a clear centre where the dust collects for all to see. Cleaning is simple, with a few clicks you can take off the centre and empty straight into a bag for the bin. Rinse out and reattach. No more expensive bags...Simple!

End of technical boring bit!

• The Test

I suffer from sever eczema (boy am I unhealthy) and when using the other vacuum I would see the dust shoot out the back as most cleaners do (if the sun catches it you'll see it) well the Dyson doesn't let it back out. This proved essential to my decision to buy it.
I am a very clean woman and very houseproud, mind you, you have to be with a mother-in-law about (kidding) but nothing could have prepared me for exactly how unclean my house really was. I clean my bedroom first thing every morning to ease my eczema, so when I used my Dyson for the first time I didn't expect what appeared. I started in the bedroom, and as we all know this is where we shed most of our skin where it turns into dust. (Remembering here that I lose more due to eczema..eek!) Now I did the whole bedroom, mattress to boot and was absolutely disgusted when I switched off the Dyson and saw how full it was! Euk! I had to empty it before I could continue. Now this was nothing to do with my cleaning skills but purely because
it picked up and retained double what my old cleaner could do. Strangely I found this fascinating and dashed off to do the next room, curious as to what it would pick up. First time I ever enjoyed vacuuming! Once you've done the whole house from top to bottom it gets easier!

• The Haircut

I have to give my Dyson a haircut at least once a week! You see I have very long hair and the Dyson actually sucks it up where my old cleaner would just run over it. The Dyson sucks it up and it gets wrapped around and around the brushes. In order to get it off I have to cut it. It's quite scary seeing exactly how much hair I lose in a week, but at least I know it gets picked up!

• The Spider

When we bought our house it came complete with an '80s style brick wall in the living room which the television and stereo sit on. Now, I have a spider phobia and if I can get someone to pick it up and put it outside then that's fine. But yesterday I was sitting there with the Hairy Armadillo (who is hopeless!) and this extremely large species of tarantula crawled out from the corner of the brick wall structure, peeped at me, stuck its tongue out and ran back again. By this point I'm shaking, feeling physically sick and crying my eyes out. Like I said it's a phobia and not just a simple dislike. This was at half past two in the afternoon and Hairy had lost interest with hysterical owner and had gone outside to hunt cats. I figured out that the only way I cold still live in this house (seriously) was to get rid of it but it was behind this structure with no clear plans on coming back out. I called my mum who told me a fascinating thing that I could do with my Dyson. So whilst standing on the sofa, shaking, crying and hysterically babbling, my mum explained what to do. She said that if I took the hose off of the Dyson and attached the long metal pole that comes with it and then added a further attachment (pure
ly for length) then I would be able to stand a good five feet away from it if it came out. Now the Dyson is a powerful vacuum and this was all that would keep me calm until my husband came home. So from 2:30 until 5:10 (yes over two and a half hours) I sat poised with my Dyson like gun staring at the corner of this unit waiting...and waiting...

• The Demolition

Hubby came home and after a conversation about the irrationality of it all we set about finding said tarantula. Forcing my hubby to sit with Dyson-gun I got the torch and shone it into the cavity and found the spider. Just seeing it set off my breathing and shaking again. There was no way of getting it without pulling the whole structure apart and that would need more people. So we called in reinforcements. Mum and Dad came down and set apart pulling the wall apart. Dad (with a look of disbelief at me) armed himself with the Dyson gun and sucked said tarantula up. Now this has been done many times in my house. Spider gets sucked into old bag cleaner and then released to run into garden. I have a phobia but I still wont kill them. So carrying the Dyson outside and unclipping it we waited for the spider to crawl out to freedom. It didn't. Thing is we didn't bank on the suction power of a Dyson though...

• The Results

• I have found a rapid decrease in the intensity of my eczema since using this because of all that it picks up.
• My husband who suffers from a breathing problem has also found this has decreased (not his breathing!) since I've had the Dyson.
• A more enthusiastic approach to cleaning.
• A desire to decorate my living room, red, yellow and purple to match my Dyson, the new living room feature.
• A much cleaner house and an awareness of how much a deep piled carpet can hold.
• An appointment (made under duress) to see someone about my phobia.
• A broken wall
and nowhere to stand the TV.
• A dead spider.

N.B No spiders were intentionally harmed in the writing of this opinion.

Summary: