My secret weapon (Dyson DC16 Root 6)

Member Name: mattrichardson

Product:	Dyson DC16 Root 6
Date:	04/08/08 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does everything it promises

Disadvantages: Expensive for a hand held vac

Well I've owned this product for 24 hours now and so far I'm quite impressed. I bought the DC16 animal instead of the standard one as we have dogs and the turbo brush tool will come in very handy. The normal model sells for around £100 and the animal version costs £130. Either way both models look like some sort of gun from a starwars film.

Upon getting it out of the box it was pretty easy to assemble, just slide the battery into the main body and put it on charge. It takes 3 hours to fully charge and will run for 6 minutes. After the first charge I vacuumed all the dog hairs off the bed with it and then gave the stairs a quick clean. The turbo brush coped very well with the dog hair and there was ample suction. I got at least my 6 minutes run time and this was more than long enough to do what I wanted. When finished I just popped it back into its charging dock. When charged again I proceeded to vacuum my mums car with it. It coped really well and if it can handle that then it can handle anything. Her car rarely gets cleaned and it pulled the ground in dirt out of the carpet mats with ease.

I used all the tools; the turbo brush on the seats, the crevice tool for the narrow spaces and the dusting brush for the air vents and other bits and bobs. The dirt container was full of all sorts of filth afterwards and the suction was still 100% as is with full sized Dysons. The filters seem to be staying clean too and the manual recommends washing them every 3 - 6 months.

The main reason I bought this device was for the car. My car is my pride and joy and I like to keep it looking like its just rolled off the forecourt. VW always comment when it goes in for its service how well it's looked after. So this device will save me having to drag the main vacuum out onto the driveway and mess about with extension cables.
I tried buying a cheaper Black & Decker hand held vac but to be honest it was cr*p. It hardly picked anything up and what it did pick up just blew back out the sides.

The Dyson works well, has decent suction and good filters so in my eyes it's something worth having if you often do small jobs such as clean the car, something a 6 minute run time will be ample enough for. Obviously the 6 minute run time is if the machine is being used constantly without a break. You can stop and start it as much as you want and still get a total of 6 minutes use.

Its lightweight, well balanced, has decent suction power and good tools for what it's designed to do.

It's covered by a 2 years parts and labour warranty. For some reason Dyson do not cover their hand held machines with the 5 years warranty full sized machines come with.

I'm not sure what else there is to say about it really. It does exactly what the box says it will. Run for 6 minutes, take 3 hours to fully charge, pick up well and not loose suction. I'm pleased with my purchase and look forward to it making lighter work of smaller cleaning tasks in the future.

Summary: Glad I bought it

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