I have a confession to make; I recently posted on facebook that in the search for the perfect dog one of the requirements was that it would be of a non-shedding variety. I cited this reason as to me having allergies. Now I DO have severe allergies, that part is true, but I have been tested twice and I am not in any way, shape or form allergic to dogs. Not one jot. I listed the non-shedding as a requirement simply because I detest vacuuming and I want to do it as little as possible.

You see, my vacuum cleaner hates me. I am fairly sure it sits up at night plotting with the toaster (always burning my toast despite being religiously set to dial 3) on ways to make me miserable. It discusses ways to drive me bat-shit crazy by deliberately losing oomph as it runs over a piece of string, a deflated balloon, the kids rice cake crumbs or that broken bread bag tie, forcing me to bend over, pick the crap up and shove them right up its power-challenged clacker whilst muttering a foul tirade under my breath that I bet a Dyson wouldn’t pull this crap on me.

Lo and behold, the good people at Dyson must have been bugging my house and I received an invitation to a Dyson event in Perth last school holidays which I accepted whilst falling over myself with great gusto.

After decorating cupcakes (I did wonder what the relevance to Dyson was here until one of the bloggers accidently dumped a whole heap of pink sprinkles all over the floor; gone in 6.3 seconds), and wondering what wines were at the expo listening avidly to the marketing patter I immediately signed up to receive a free Dyson in exchange for this review. I mean, hell, I’m not short a few sheep in the top paddock am I?

wk14-banner-electrical-dyson

So it finally arrives (not me in the picture above; image courtesy of Myer) .

Mr Point Five is excited enough to get it out of its box and have it fully charged by the time I got home from work. This probably goes back to the time when he bought me a battery operated hand-held vacuum cleaner for Valentines Day one year. A red one. You know. For Valentines Day. He didn’t get sex for a month after that so I think he was happy that I was the instigator of this appliance for the home 🙂

The first thing I notice is that is is super light. My Mother-In-Law was staying with us last weekend and even with her arthritis in her hands she was whizzing it all over the house. It really is that light compared to other handhelds I have used.

The second thing was the sheer power in such a compact appliance. We have a (very) heavy big name vacuum cleaner, mentioned in my second paragraph rant, and the Dyson kicks its arse getting twice the stuff sucked up with a quarter of the effort.

The third thing was its versatility. Upright, it was like a conventional vacuum cleaner, albeit lighter and with brute strength. You can get under couches and up on top of fans and run it up your curtains even. The head swivels so you can turn corners with it and go sideways to get up staircases and along walls.  With a quick snap however, you can take off the stick and use it to get in-between the cracks on the couch (and we all knows what hides in there), flour spills on your pantry shelf, dead flies on your windowsill and in all the tricky places in your car. It really is the most versatile little thing ever; Mr Point Five was using it to spring clean in places that we have never been able to reach. Even he was blown away by its power and all the different jobs that it managed. And for a man, that’s saying something that he noticed! I think the fact that whilst it is in its “small” conversion and with its trigger power button, he felt like he was holding a drill and felt decidedly more “manly” about doing the vacuuming.

(The image below is not Mr Point Five but this fella but you see what I mean about the manliman drill pose; he loved it.)

maxresdefault

The fourth thing I love is the ease that it empties with a single click. Just make sure you are over the bin to do this. I emptied it and then much to the kids horror I went into the toyroom and started vacuuming up all their lego – ha! You should have seen their faces! I then emptied the vacuum into the kids lego container and BAM!! Easiest lego pick-up ever, under the couch and everything! Rinse and repeat. Did I mention it was versatile?

210334-01_02

It came with a lot of attachments which you can see for yourself here, but all you really need to know is that it does everything; hard floors, carpets, nooks and crannies, as well as walls and cobwebs and cars.

The only downside that Mr Point Five and I both saw was that our fun was limited by its very short battery life. Just as we were beginning to think up new places to clean it ran out of power and we had to recharge it again for quite a few hours. The Dyson web page says 20 minutes of regular battery life (I reckon it was a bit less) or 6 minutes if you use its little turbo boost button. I think if we wanted to give our car a really good going over it would have to be done in two stints. For such a powerful and light little sucker I would love the option to make it usable with a cord for an entire-house clean (we have a 2 story house) or without it for quick spills, but after 2 rooms it had had enough.  The Dyson V6 Absolute really is a second family vacuum (unless you live in a bed-sit) and at its price it is definitely a luxury. Perhaps put it on your Christmas wish-list from the in-laws/parents combined or on a wedding registry with a few people pitching in; you wont regret it.

All in all it really is an amazing appliance; thank you Dyson – and I am keeping it in a room nowhere NEAR my toaster!

Oh, and have you ever received a worse Valentines Present? Tell me.

Signature-30mm

NB: 1. I know I said I would never do a review of a product without a giveaway as well. It was a free Dyson. What can I say? I suck, I really do. I am sorry; please forgive me.

        2. I was given free of charge a Dyson V6 Absolute  in exchange for this review. Dyson did not read or edit this review before publication. They had no idea what I would write or even if I liked the appliance. They simply trusted that I would love it and say nice things about it.  Lucky for them I did 🙂 Now Dyson people, can I review one of those bladeless air-conditioners/heaters with a giveaway please??