Dyson Digital Slim DC44 Tester feedback review thread – Non testers – you could win a Dyson

I clean and tidy my sitting room and toilet in 20 minutes to receive guests. Shut all the doors of the other rooms and cean them later.

Overall impression is very positive, it's light, easy to use - very easy to switch tools. I can understand the need to hold the on button as you only have a max of 20mins power so you don't want to waste any of that.
It's briliant for those small jobs you really don't want to drag the larger vacuum out for. Especially useful if you have grandchildren or pets; crumbs and hairs are whisked away with no effort at all. Curtains are a doddle as are high up cobwebs & stairs - and my sons even cleaned their cars!
I like the fact that the dust collector is clear so you can see what's in there and it's very easy to empty.
I haven't found a downside and am already telling everyone about it - I just wonder how many people would pay this amount for a '2nd' cleaner. Me though - I love it.

I'm really impressed by everyones comments and I've decided that I'm going to buy one.
I have a Little Henry which I love, but it's a faff getting it out and bringing it downstairs just for a few crumbs. I have arthritis in my hand and this Dyson sounds ideal.

Just had another go with it this morning and finally got round to dispossessing the spiders up in the ceiling corners. We have a high ceiling with fancy coving in one room and I managed to dust it off really easily using the long pole and the small brush. I could use it one handed easily with my right arm, but like petallus said, it's easier if you use two to get it up there. I did think it would be a good workout for upper arms but I have a dodgy left shoulder so I kept changing from right hand only to both hands. I'll work up to using my left hand only.
So apart from the 'bingo wing' workout I know now which are cobwebs and which are cracks in the ceiling & wall...

- overall opinion of the DC44
Brilliant, really handy, would be even better if it charged up quicker. Def recommend though you couldn't clean a whole big house in 20 minutes you could get a lot done. Stronger than a lot of full size vacuum cleaner I have had in the past!

- What have you found it good for around the house?
Teenagers use it!
It's perfect for picking up crumbs, dusting in strange places - like lampshades of uplighters.
It dealt with pine needles - the only thing it got stuck on was a lump of rice cake. It managed fine with large bits of bread that the twins had shed in the doorway as they left the house.
It just seems so much easier to pick up and use that you don't put off cleaning things up like spilt crumbs, as you don't have to lug out a big machine and find an empty and accessible plug socket.
No tripping over wires!! No lead pulling across a surface and knocking things down when someone has moved into the next room or up the stairs and is not aware that they are causing mayhem.

It's not too heavy, tho of course the lighter the better. You can definitely use it one handed so the other is free to pick up the junk that you don't want going up there.
One of my arms is stronger than the other but I do try and change arms to exercise the weak one!
Holding the button down was hardest for my trigger finger when using the big head and trying to do the stairs and landing carpet, but I just changed hands regularly.

If the recharging time was quicker that would be good and allow for unexpected need - presumably you could use it while plugged in if you were desperate not to haul out the big vacuum? At the moment you can't clean one room thoroughly then pass it on to the next teenager needing to do their room and then the next - mind you, our dyson stairhugger used to overheat if we tried to clean nonstop for too long.

Re accessories - I was rather thinking that a small bendy hose accessory to fit a brush on might be useful e.g. one you can flick over the top of a high up drawer or shelf. I think that thought came when I was dusting out a standard floor lamp uplighter and had to tilt it to get into it with the brush.

Also, an even longer thin nozzle to get into and behind the radiator - we have ancient double panel ones which trap dust and I can only get at the ends not the middle.

Would def recommend, especially to those like me who prefer to do tiny bursts of housework. We had a conversation at Xmas with some visiting young in laws who actually bought themselves the extension pipe for xmas, but were coveting 'my' bluey-purple tube compared to their silver one (I bet you could market different coloured tubes). Cue an interesting conversation between Him Indoors and visiting Young Husband over the ease of use and emptying. Did suggest they could both pose with it for me to add here to go into a gransnet calendar but they declined.

What have you found it good for around the house?
Downstairs I have oak, pine, carpeted and tiled floors; I can vacuum through from front to back without making any adjustments to the cleaner or having to plug it in in seven different places. So that makes vacuuming quicker and easier.

What about the features such as: weight of the vac, recharging time, charge time, accessories etc
The vacuum is light and maneuverable, but the grip leads to the major weight of the machine being on my hand; I've had to learn to hold it in a certain position so that it doesn't cause a pressure sore at the base of my thumb. Recharging time hasn't been a problem at all. The accessories are all useful and I especially like the motorised heads.

Do you think you'd recommend to other people (if asked)? Yes, I have already recommended it.

Please tell us your overall opinion of the DC44 I really do think it's the ideal vacuum cleaner for me. My house is large and the Dyson is light, cordless and powerful, it's changed the way I use a vacuum cleaner; I now vacuum much more often than I used to and for shorter periods. Vacuuming used to be much more of a chore than it is now.

My house has very high ceilings with mock black beams that were obviously designed by an arachnophile!
I find brushes tend to mark the white ceiling and cloths leave threads on the black beams!
I would adore a lightweight vacuum device that would extend to reach the ceiling!

One more comment GNHQ.

I don't like the idea of 'the 20 minute dash'. Just the thought makes me panic and I like to think that these days, being older and wiser, I am not so concerned with making my house look like something out of Ideal Homes when I am having friends or family around.

20 minute saunter maybe!

Snap Petallus!

It looks as though we were doing our feedback at the same time when

I find the Dyson good for quick vaccing jobs, obviously. My main delight is with how easy it is to do the stairs with it. I have been struggling to manage with my heavy old cylinder vac for ages, and using the Dyson is a dream. Quick, light, easy, and I could, if I wanted, drink a cup of tea or a glass of wine at the same time!

The accessories are good. I use the large brush for vaccing the carpet, the smaller one for the stairs, slender attachment for awkward corners and down the side of chairs. Other small attachment (with that rather strange brush fringe on it, for cobwebs.

I have to use both hands to get the Dyson up to ceiling level but once there I can deal with cobwebs one handed, again leaving one free for the tea or wine.

I would most definitely recommend this item to a friend, with one reservation, they would have to be able to afford it.

That I suppose is another slight negative in my assessment of the Dyson, it isn't cheap!

End of feedback, unless you have more questions GNHQ

Overall opinion of the DC44:

- What have you found it good for around the house? I have found it really handy around the kitchen, vaccing up dog hairs that settle when the dog shakes herself coming in from the garden, and picking up spilt flour, breadcrumbs, dog food crumbs around her bowl, and going into low corners around the kitchen cupboards. It's great in the bathroom, getting around pedestals and into hard to reach places behind the bath. No vac has ever been there, but the DC44 can reach the most inaccessible places.

- What about the features such as: weight of the vac, recharging time, charge time, accessories etc. it's great to have such a lightweight vac, especially for carrying upstairs. It recharges very quickly, and so far has aways had sufficient charge to go round the house without running out. The accessories are similar to those on other vacs, but I feel more able to use them on this Dyson as the vac itself isn't cumbersome. I am going to order the pet grooming tool, as it is such a quiet vac which won't worry the dog, and I use it to vac the dog basket which can get quite hairy.

- Do you think you'd recommend to other people (if asked)? Yes, I've already recommended it to a couple of people.

Overall opinion of the DC44 is that it is excellent, score 9 out of 10.
Once I got used to using it I found it invaluable and would now hate to be without it.

When it was first out of the box I was immediately struck by the elegance of design and lovely blue colour. I know this is primarily a functional object but looks do have an impact as well.

Why only 9 out of 10 then? Although I understand the logic behind the trigger mechanism, I do find this slightly wearing on the hands. However, it's not a big problem. Other point is quite a long charging time for the 20 minutes vac time but I get the impression the Dyson is marketed as a back-up vacuum cleaner. Certainly if I wanted to do a blitz on my house, vaccing all the rooms in one day, it would be a problem.

I have trouble with timing out when posting so sending this and continuing with a new one .......

Here's some more feedback:

The balance challenge - I was able to vacuum with the Dyson digital slim whilst answering the phone, as it's so quiet in comparison with my other Dyson upright. Vacuuming the kitchen is usually a big task involving moving the chairs and heavy table, but this little vac squeezes into all the difficult places, and all I need to do is move a chair aside with one hand whilst vaccing with the other. It catches everything.

The versatility challenge: I've cleaned the tops of doors and cupbards with the small brush attachment and no cobwebs are left after pointing the crevice tool up to corners and lampshades that are so hard to reach, especially on the stairs. Bookshelves have had a quick vac with the little brush, and the dusty area under the woodburner came up a treat. I've never been able to fit a handbrush under it before, and trying to wave a damp cloth under there never quite worked.

The cobweb challenge - as above, especially on the stairs and landing.

The family mess challenge: the dog leaves dry food crumbs around her bowl which soon vacced up. Visiting grandchildren not only left biscuit and breadcrumbs on their chairs over lunch, but had a lot of fun vaccing the mess up themselves. A lovely bunch of flowers that dropped little petals and bits of fern on my dresser proved no problem - just whipped out the Dyson and vacced it all up without even moving the vase.

The 20 minute dash challenge - 20 minutes not needed. I can get round the sitting room, bottom stairs, landing and bathroom in 10!

The only thing to remember is leave it on charge.

The hardest place I've ever had to clean is my whole house when my cleaner was on holiday!!! She was even more appreciated when she returned!!! My best cleaning tip is the dettol anti-fungal spray to use on that horrible black mould which appears behind my chest of drawers in winter.

ga, you make me feel quite faint. I may have to go and lie down in my cluttered bedroom.

Today not only did the tree come down and 'Christmas' get put away for another year, but I was also inspired to have a good old clear out. The tree shed very few needles and it was so small this year that I managed to get it out of the house by myself; getting it out usually involves the Wonderful Man and some loppers. The Dyson really did make quick work of vacuuming the needles and so I had time to sort out all nine drawers in my sitting room (well, truth be told only eight of them are sorted - the last one has all the stuff that I don't quite know where to put, but can't get rid of). Flushed with success I then tackled the sideboard in the dining room - and when that was done I attacked two of my kitchen cupboards. [smug emoticon]

I'm not a tester, which is a shame because I've got plenty of great tests for a Dyson! The hardest place I have to reach when cleaning is on top of the pelmets over my windows. I have to get the stepladders out but before I do, I have to move all the furniture away from that side of the room. Needless to say the top of my pelmets don't get cleaned very often.....I just don't invite anyone tall into the house so they can't see the dust gathering on top!

My tip for cleaning is little and often (and yes, I know that completely contradicts what I just said about my pelmets...but there is an exception to every rule!) It really is much easier to keep bathrooms and kitchens clean by wiping them down after each use rather than trying to bring them back to clean when they've been allowed to get really grubby. Train the rest of the family to do this and you're already onto a winner!

Sorry Nfk - didn't think of that!! Because our bedroom has vinyl on the floor (OH asthma sufferer & says it's better for him but horrid when you get up in the middle of the night on a cold floor )

My tip is to use natural products like lemon juice and baking soda. Cheap, eco friendly and much healthier than all those nasty chemicals.
The most difficult place I've had to clean is up a chimney!

Because my Dyson is Mr Awkward I use a brush on the stairs too, but just a good stiff one.

Also old washing up sponges (the yellow ones with the green scourer back) slightly damp, are good for getting up pet hairs, especially on furniture.

I dislike vacuuming stairs and find it easy and effective to use a rubber hand brush, starting at the top, brushing all the dust down from step to step and vacuuming it all up at the bottom.

The Dyson Slim dealt with all the pine needles when we took down the tree this evening! Once I had unclogged the piece of rice cake from the tube (kids cleaning bedrooms) it coped brilliantly, and was really quick to do floor and windowsill where we had lobbed the tree into the front garden. I was then inspired to get all the dust our of an uplighter floor lamp. Brilliant!
And the Dyson was to hand when teenage son came home from footie training and took his boots off in the sitting room, scattering those irritating little bits of black rubber from the astroturf, so I made him use the cleaner to pick it all up.

Also found it very easy to take the roller out from the big attachment and clean it, once I'd found a penny to unlock it.

Yogagran would the mop work on carpet?