Space age twin tub (Dyson CR01 Contrarotator)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Dyson CR01 Contrarotator
Date:	23/01/02 (6035 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cleaning power, Good features

Disadvantages: Price, colour scheme

When you think of Dyson, what do you see?
That's right, bagless vacuum cleaners that sounded wonderful, looked great but did not really cut the mustard with everyone. Some loved them. Some hated them.
Well, they have branched their hi tech cleaning technology into the world of washing machines with mixed reactions.

We own one of these machines at home. In fact we have now had it for about a month (christmas Present!) and we are relatively pleased with it.
Let me tell you about it...

Looks/styling.
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Firstly, it fits the Dyson mold brilliantly. It is brightly coloured to suit our very modern kitchen and unusually shaped too.
Our one is Mainly white with a purple door edge/handle/Soap Tray and a blue/yellow Trim.
The front of it is dominated by the large bulbous clear door that protrudes to the front. It is made of some form of hardened plastic with a nice translucent Purple handle. But wait....There is 2 doors!
Thats right. An inner door and a much larger outer door. This helps seal the 2 large drums. The handle is my only concern with the machine at present. It does not feel like the strongest of components and I have a feeling this may wear out or break in time. What is good about it is the fact that the handle gives you instant access to the load at any time during the washing cycle. No waiting for the next wash if your forget to put your pants in! Instant access also means no waiting around for the Timelock to wear off when the cycle has finished. How many times have you been standing around in you kitchen waiting to unload your machine, screaming at the door to release?
The handle also comes with a child lock to prevent it being opened by accident by mischievious nippers.

Features.
Ok, so I have mentioned the door handle, but what about the doors themselves? Huge things one inside the other. The outer door give your great vision of the load in progress. You can see exactly what
is going on and covers up an exceptionally large drum. This is good for getting big items such as duvets in and out of the machine.
The inner door seals the machine to give you maximum protection against leakages.

I did mention the twin drums didn't I?
Yes it has 2. They both rotate in different directions during the washing cycle to give you maximum agitation and cleaning power. This makes the machine ultra efficient and decreases the wqashing cycle time .
These add to the wringing effect during the spin cycle. Your clothes come out so dry, you might think they had been on the line. Lightens the load for carrying to the washing line too.

Picture this.....
Your old machine stops working. You call out an engineer at £50 a time. He diagnoses your machine pump is damaged due to a coin getting in and shredding it.
Maybe a £300 all in? Well rest assured, its not going to happen with the Dyson. It has a built in coin trap to stop such offending items entering the machine working parts and doing damage. This is a good preventative measure and protects you against things such as loose buttons doing a similar job.

Moving the machine around is a big plus point too. If you need to remove it from its alcove in the kitchen, you can employ its rollerjack system underneath that eases movement by rolling rather than dragging and prevents you damaging yourself when trying to wiggle it out for access. It will not move around unless asked as the rollers can be locked in place.

Performance.
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Simply astounding. Wash cycle time is decreased dramatically saving energy and time. The clothes come out so clean thanks to its revolutionary 2 drum design. In fact you can set it at 3 levels of cleaning:
low,medium and high intesity cleaning.
Even at the most intense level, you will not experience clothing damage or fading. Just really clean clothes.
I particularly like the time programmer on this machine.
If I want to wash clothes during the day while im at work, I can set it to go in the morning and when I get home, clean clothes! No more bothering the neighbours late at night with the whirling of the spin cycle.
It is very quiet too. Suprisingly for such a big machine. Must have some very efficient parts.

Price.
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OK, this is going to hurt.
The cheapest I have seen it is from Currys during a sale they were having. I got mine for £750. Online I have seen it for £818.99 with free delivery. This is excellent as it normally retails for nearer 1000!
Try: www.hed.co.uk for a good price.
Its a lot of money for a machine as a traditional one cost less than half the price.
The lifespan of an average machine is 5 years. at £400 a time that is £2000 during the 20 year lifespan of the Dyson so it will save you money in the long run.
Im not sure how fashionable it will look in 20 years though.

Overall.
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Exceptional cleaning power but at a high cost. It does all the things Dyson claim but is it possible to justify the cost?
I feel I can due to its durability.

Summary: