Review: Dyson DC31 Vacuum Cleaner
Until now, if you wanted to properly vacuum your car you had two choices: go to a car wash and pay $0.50 per minute and hope that the vacuum you have chosen actually works (it’s a real crap shoot) or you bought your own shop vac, which was the size of a Saint Bernard and is as portable. Sure, there are small the cigarette lighter powered vacuum cleaners, but usually they are not worth the box they come in.
A few years ago my home vacuum crapped out and I needed to get a new one. I looked around and nothing really impressed me and I did not even bother looking at the over-hyped and over-priced Dysons; there was just no way in hell that I was going to drop $300+ on an appliance that, frankly, sucks. I kept looking, I even bought two different vacuums which I have returned because they were just really crappy, essentially the same product that came out in the 1950’s but in different box. Finally, I broke down and I bought the Dyson DC18 upright. It was fantastic and two years later and it’s still working as good as the day I bought it. I have also supplemented it with a hand-held DC16 vacuum.
Recently, the brush on my DC18 upright stopped working and I had to make a call to Dyson Customer Service (could have been avoided if I actually read the owner’s manual) which answered very quickly, and my problem fixed within two minutes. I love great customer service. To make a long story short, my call to customer service led to Dyson sending me their newest portable vacuum, the DC31.
Description
Some may think of this as a replacement for proper upright vacuum, but it is not. The portable Dysons were designed to perform as well as the up-rights, but to be used for smaller jobs, such as spills in the kitchen or… a car. You would use one of these if you did not have the will it to pull out the big vacuum, plug it in, etc. Just grab this and five seconds later you’re done.
Performance
The Dyson DC31 was designed for about 10 minutes of good solid performance, and while that may seem like a short amount of time, it is not. Realistically, if you have to vacuum for more than ten minutes, you probably should have pulled out the large vacuum because that is what you needed in the first place.
There is no vacuum bag, it its place you get a clear canister which easily opens and empties with one push of a button, just make sure to be over a garbage can when you do that. Additionally there is a filter that prevents any small particles from being exhausted back into the room. The DC31 sounds like no other vacuum cleaner, it actually sounds more like a cordless drill than anything else.
Power; here is the really cool part, unlike just about any other hand-held vacuum the DC31 does not lose power as you vacuum. You get a constant and even suction throughout the battery life. Additionally there is kind of an extra boost feature – it doubles the suction power but lowers the vacuum time to six minutes, which is still plenty.
Car application – the DC31 is as powerful as good shop vac or a gas station vacuum, really. You can honestly do an average size car that is not ridiculously dirty on one full charge. One problem is the inability to get into super tight spaces, but Dyson does offer an extension but I don’t have it.
Most new products (and cars!) perform well when new, but what happens after a little time goes by? So far, I have used the DC31 for a few months and it has shown no degradation in performance, which is something I can’t say for any other battery powered vacuum that I have used. Thumbs up all the way.
Competition
For about a year we have been using the Dirt Devil Cone vacuum and, well… it sucked, in a bad way: suction power would go down as batteries ran out of juice, things would fall out of it once you stopped vacuuming, it needed to be constantly emptied, and the batteries lasted no more than maybe a minute after one year of use. It was bad, really bad.
After I threw out the Cone, I bought the small Dyson, the DC16 (quick review here). I got to say, it is a good little vacuum and there is nothing really wrong with it, except for that fact that the DC31 is just better, here is why: the new DC31 is smaller and lighter, has better suction power, and is ergonomically easier to hold. The DC16 has a little docking station, where as the DC31 has a quality lap-top-like plug-in charger.
Conclusion
In the end, the selection of this vacuum versus its competition will come down to price. At $220, the DC31 is not cheap, but considering its performance I think it is well worth the money if you have the need for it, heck I have purchased two of them.
Disclosure: As mentioned before, I have purchased the DC16, DC18 and the Dirt Devil Cone. The DC31 was sent to me by Dyson, who asked me to honestly review it without any additional rewards of benefits. I will now send the DC31 back to Dyson.
We have the Dyson DC14 animal. Love it!
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I wanted to get a Dyson, because I thought they were the best. However, I discovered that Dyson, like most other vacuums, are not sealed and therefore don’t really filter the air that well. I ended up with a Miele vacuum which is sealed and does filter the air extremely well.
I found videos on killdirt.com where a vacuum shop owner (who sells Miele and several other brands) had a meter and was measuring the air being discharged from the vacuums. The Mieles were the only ones not expelling particles. It was eye-opening to say the least.
There are other brands that are sealed as well, but the Mieles were the first ones I found and I couldn’t be happier with mine. I just wish they had the upright back when I bought mine.
I should say that the reason the sealed system was so important is that my entire family has allergy/hay fever issues. That was a very important consideration.
Hi Jeff,
Thank for your comments. I have no experience with Miele vacuum cleaners but you’re not the first person to mention them to me. I got the Dyson because it was such all huge improvement over the hoovers/eureas of the world – I did not even see the Miele brand at my retailers. Fortunately for me none of us have allergy issues, and I’m sure if that was the case I would look specifically for a vacuum with minimum particulate discharge.
Out of curiosity, which model Miele did you get?
I couldn’t resist – I got the Capricorn. At the time (and I think this is still the case) it was the top end canister vacuum. Had I not been so focused on particulate discharge, I probably would have purchased a Dyson.
Having said all that, I wonder if it’s worth it sometimes. Given that we come in and out of the house at least twice a day and open the windows when the weather’s nice, I suppose we’re letting in more allergens than ANY vacuum can remove.
Oh, well. I can always spend more money on cars…