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

I had a Dyson about 10 years ago. It drove me nuts - I got so fed up with it that I gave it away - hope the new owners had better luck with it! I may be persuaded that things have improved if I was to win one!! I spent an afternoon recently vacuuming out my garden shed - it was easier to do that than use a brush!

Thanks petallus when I was reading one review the writer hinted at this. Why could they not design a trigger lock to overcome this? A design fault.

Yes, as far as I can see, you have to hold the trigger on and that could be a problem with arthritic hands. I have noticed I get a sore hand after a few minutes and change to other hand.

Does it have a trigger that has to be held in an on position while you are using it?

The hardest place to clean must surely be that unreachable spot on the ceiling where it meets the wall above the stairs about mid-stairs in a '2-up-2-down'. I've even been known to balance precariously and aim a fan at the cobwebs on that part of the ceiling, in the hopes of dislodging them so I can then vacuum them up.

Okay I have now tried using the Dyson on my stairs and it is excellent. Attached small brush directly to bulky top part.
Goodbye to all that struggling with my big heavy cylinder vac.

First reaction from partner and grown up daughters was along the lines of "Ha ha you never use a vacuum cleaner, surely you should film other people using it!" I do vacuum, but mine tends to be the 'under sofa cushions and into dusty corners' type of vacuuming for which this little Dyson is brilliant. I do confess that (finally) partner usually does noticeable crumbs in kitchen more often that I do. He is itching to try the little Dyson out on the car so he doesn't have to run a cord along the street and through the kitchen window.
We tend to make the kids do the stairs and landing carpet even though we have a dyson stair hugger ~ which is still working well after 15 years and with only a little bit of gaffer tape on it.

First impression, once I had managed to get into the box, refusing all offers of help to unpack as it was My New Toy, was Ooh I like that purpley-blue colour. I clicked bits together, stopped pretending it was a light sabre and had a quick go at the xmas tree needles - brilliant. A little bit noisy but we still managed to talk.

I love not having to plug it in! That is one of my pet hates - working out which is the nearest and accessible plug socket. I also tend to run the big vacuum cleaner into or over my foot when I pull it by the hose, so this is great in terms of foot injuries.

It's really easy to use. The pieces click in to each other so don't fall off and land on your toes. You can work out how to use it without even reading the instructions. It holds enough debris to do quite a bit of sweeping up before emptying - its size makes it easy to dump into the bin without getting dust on your hands - I have to get my partner to empty the big cleaner as I am allergic to dustmite, this small one is fine for me to empty.

We had a huge clean up for the weekend before xmas. My grown up children arrived to stay a few nights and cleared out a lot of junk and things to be recycled, so we were on a mega tidying sprint when the dyson arrived - thirty or so relatives arriving on the sunday as well as the ten of us eating a prexmas xmas meal on the saturday, so there were a lot of crumbs to be dealt with in between changes of tablecloth. Didn't always remember to film as we were hurrying. Impressed by how powerful the suction was as it's so small.

Middle daughter filmed me trying to work out how to assemble and what the lights meant, as well as testing it out on one of those irritating pieces of furniture made of slats of wood where the dust sits in all those little corners and I had to try two different heads to see which one worked best.

Three year old grandsons also helped test it by abandoning bread on the doormat and in the hall way so I had a go at vacuuming that up one handed ~ I was trying to film at the same time as change cleaner heads; tricky.

Daughter did film me using the dyson while drinking coffee - does that count as the balance challenge?

13 year old daughter has taken it off to hoover her room two or three times already, but refused to let me film her.

Overall so far it's getting a thumbs up. We will see how we get on with the other 'official' challenges.

Did the 20 minute dash today and was surprised by how much I was able to do. My house is quite big and I thought that 20 minutes wouldn't be long enough to make an appreciable difference, but because there's no dragging a heavy appliance or changing of plug sockets or fiddling with the carpet/hard floor adjuster I seemed to whiz through the downstairs. In the allotted time I managed to do porch, hall, stairs, landing, sitting room (including messy hearth), dining room and kitchen. I reached ceiling light fittings and cobwebs with ease, although needed to steady the 'wand' with my free hand. The top engine bit is quite weighty, but manageable. The battery cut out just as I'd finished.

Easy to assemble, pleasing design and colour.

So far have not tried out other attachments but have a feeling vacuuming the stairs will be a doddle with the Dyson compared with my present heavy cylinder vacuum cleaner.

Excellent for family mess. Biscuit crumbs (grandchildren) copious amounts of white hair (cat) and bits of straw and wood shavings (rabbit when he is allowed indoors for his nightly interaction with other creatures), all are handled adequately by the Dyson. Wonderful to be able to clean up quickly and with no lugging of big vacuum cleaner out from under the stairs.

The 20 minute dash will happen on New Year's Eve when my brother and his wife (immaculate house, no grandchildren or pets) comes for his annual visit.

First impressions: easy to assemble; with it being cordless I find I'm tending to grab it and use it far more often than I would normally use my vacuum cleaner; I have been able to reach two places in my house that were previously almost inaccessible (one is a shelf above the staircase and the other is a glass panel which is a feature of a staircase above a flight of stairs). I have carpet, oak, tiles, lino and cork floors - the motorised cleaning head doesn't need any adjustment for the different floor types (unlike my vacuum cleaner).
My son (21) has already used it TWICE! Yay - result!