dooleysm
Platinum Member
N80 said:
You gotta spend that tax rebate check on something...
Dyson Vacuum cleaners
- Thread starter Sigarms
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You gotta spend that tax rebate check on something...
Bird
Rest in Peace
I'd never paid any attention to the fine print on the Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons, but I happen to have a couple of them laying here. Mine don't say anything about Dyson, but to quote what it does say:
"Not valid for the purchase of gift cards, All-Clad, Nautica, Tempur-Pedic, Wusthol, Margaritaville, DKNY, Tommy Bahama, Wedgwood, Lenox, Waterford, Vera Wang, Nambe, Riedel, Orrefors Kosta Boda, Oreck, Capresso, Miele, kate spade, Monique Lhuillier, Versace, Alessi, Richard Ginori, and iJoy (where available)."
One of these coupons also excludes "Frette Home Products (where available)".
"Not valid for the purchase of gift cards, All-Clad, Nautica, Tempur-Pedic, Wusthol, Margaritaville, DKNY, Tommy Bahama, Wedgwood, Lenox, Waterford, Vera Wang, Nambe, Riedel, Orrefors Kosta Boda, Oreck, Capresso, Miele, kate spade, Monique Lhuillier, Versace, Alessi, Richard Ginori, and iJoy (where available)."
One of these coupons also excludes "Frette Home Products (where available)".
OP
Sigarms
Super Member
N80 said:
Nuts is relative when it comes to spending money.
You could spend a lot more on a vacuum. You could spend a lot less.
The question is what the value of the product is to you, and how that product performs.
As far as consumer reports goes, I know a little bit about the HVAC industry. I can assure you, when consumer reports rates the "heating and air" equipment lines, they sincerely do have their heads up their butts due to numerous reasons. I know this for a fact. Since they have their head up their butts when it comes to something I know a little about, I have to doubt what they (Consumer Reports) say when it comes to other products that I no nothing about.
N80
Super Member
Sigarms said:
Very true. There is a fine line between paying for quality and paying for marketing fluff. Knowing where that line is is the hard part. I've learned a few lessons in my life as a consumer and one of them is that is that neither of these statements is always true:
1) You get what you pay for
2) The more it costs the better it is
You are correct there too. I just did a little browsing and it turns out that the Dysons are not any more expensive than any of the other name brand's high end stuff and a lot less than even a Kirby refurb.
The problem with buying vacuum cleaners is that there are very few objective features that you can go by. And phrases like 'patented technology' usually mean nothing. And fancy names and phrases to describe sucking something up a tube make me suspicious as well. And Dyson seems to lead the way in this sort of hype, but are no means the only ones.
But again, given that they are actually priced in the middle of the field and that almost everyone who has one here at TBN has liked it, I'd say its still up near the top of my list.
The thing about Consumer Reports is that they explain their methods. I don't always agree with or like their methods and these methods sometimes lead them to a conclusions I disagree with. But the key is that they are transparent, you know how they do the test, this allows you to use what you know to temper the results that they arrive at.
Its the transparency that makes CR so valuable; well, that along with the fact that they don't accept advertising. None. This gives them far more credibility than Consumer Digest or JD Power (i.e. let us create a category for your product and design a made up award for it since its the only one in the category). Bottom line is, other than Consumer Reports, you can't really get a decent objective evaluation of stuff. Reviews and such at places like Amazon are full of three categories of reviews:
1) I'm so proud that I spent a bunch of money on this product that I'm going to tell everyone how great it is
2) Reviewers who have no idea what they are talking about
3) The same people in #2 who are bitter about their purchase because they didn't do enough research and can't say enough bad things about the product.
You have to read dozens and dozens of such reviews to come close to any objective truth. So thats why I frequently use CR for my larger purchases. I don't always agree with them and I don't always buy their recommended product but so far, using their info, they have never led me wrong...in 25 years.
P.S.: And Sig, I've hunted with (but not owned) a $26,000 shotgun. It was gorgeous, exquisitely made and all that....but I'd have to say that about $20,000 of that 'exquisitness' was lost on me.
OP
Sigarms
Super Member
N80 said:
You're absolutely correct George, that's why I asked people here on this forum how they liked the Dyson vacuum cleaner if they owned one.
Seems that most of the "reviews" here on this forum from personal experience were outstanding. Ironic that is not what Consumer Reports reported.
If you ever find out how CR rates their A/C or furnaces (when they do), please let me know how they do them. I called one year out of curiosity (CR), and when I asked questions as to their meathod of ratings, they gave me the run around, or I was talking to a guy who didn't know what a liquid or suction line was or didn't know how to determine the BTU rating of a gas or oil furnace without looking at the sticker. Bottom line, at least when it comes to heat and A/C, consumer reports does have their butts up their heads.
Dargo
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N80 said:
We have a rather large place so we have several vacuums. That way you don't have to carry one up two floors to use it or take one all the way out to the guest house. One that is rather heavy but does a good job is a couple year old Kirby. The way I figure it, I couldn't go wrong buying a basically new one at a pawn shop for $225. You see, when a kid goes to work for Kirby they make them buy their own vacuum for demo use. When the kid figures out after a couple of weeks that they most definitely don't want to go door to door selling $1800 vacuums, they just go dump them at pawn shops for whatever they can get out of them.
As I mentioned far earlier, Consumer Reports only rate the Dyson mid pack or so. I too have found the advice by CR pretty well accurate in the last 30 years or so. In general, most people I've met who have an extreme dislike of CR are people who had something they either 1) just paid a lot for or 2) are really proud of and CR rated it poorly. Over the years I can say that I've used CR as part of the buying decision on hundreds of thousands of dollars of items. I'm yet to completely disagree with their assessment. Granted, sometimes I intend to use something for a use they didn't think was important and their view had no basis on my purchase. For example, I needed a four wheel drive that would perform extremely well off road. CR's recommendations were strongly weighted on how the vehicles perform on the road and for comfort. I simply didn't use their recommendation because it didn't apply for my use. However, for electronics, appliances and vacuums, I find it extremely difficult to doubt their results that are lab tested and can be repeated over and over.
But, on the same token, if I bought something and was completely unaware that there was a superior performing item for less money, I'd likely still be satisfied with what I bought. I've been in that situation as well and see it frequently. In the sales business, the bottom line is that 'if the customer's happy, it's a great deal and a great product regardless'. I suppose that is all that really matters.
OP
Sigarms
Super Member
Dargo said:
Could you explain how one year they (CR) rated a Rheem heat pump number one, and a Rhuud heat pump number 10 (last place), when both units are made in the exact same factory?
Better yet, the other year, they (CR) rated a Lennox oil furnace over an Armstrong oil furnace, yet Armstrong makes Lennox's oil funaces?
Or, how about one year when they rated a Bryant gas furnace over a Carrier gas furnace? (yet again, made in the same factory).
You missed one Dargo on those who may disagree with Consumer Reports, that is of the person who knows the product inside and out.
alchemysa
Veteran Member
(( Dargo said..."I find it extremely difficult to doubt their results that are lab tested and can be repeated over and over."))
I was recently in IKEA for the first and only time. They had a machine in a big plastic display case that was 'testing' a chair. It was continually applying a heavy weight to a chair supposedly simulating someone sitting down on the chair. The purpose of course was to show how durable the chair was. Problem was, it was doing it so smoothly and slowly that there was no way it simulated real life. I reckon one heavy exhausted bloke dropping like a stone onto that chair would have wrecked it in about 1 second.
Anyway. As we are looking for a new vacuum I've followed this thread with interest and looked at numerous consumer reports and other reviews. Overall, the Dysons seem to rate OK. Their main problem seems to be brittle plastic bits that break - the type of fault that is often not revealed by these professional testing machines or by supervised trials.
I was recently in IKEA for the first and only time. They had a machine in a big plastic display case that was 'testing' a chair. It was continually applying a heavy weight to a chair supposedly simulating someone sitting down on the chair. The purpose of course was to show how durable the chair was. Problem was, it was doing it so smoothly and slowly that there was no way it simulated real life. I reckon one heavy exhausted bloke dropping like a stone onto that chair would have wrecked it in about 1 second.
Anyway. As we are looking for a new vacuum I've followed this thread with interest and looked at numerous consumer reports and other reviews. Overall, the Dysons seem to rate OK. Their main problem seems to be brittle plastic bits that break - the type of fault that is often not revealed by these professional testing machines or by supervised trials.
Dargo
Super Member
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Sigarms said:
I'm not going to argue with you. I had a Dodge Durango that gave me 10 years and 150k miles of trouble free service when they are generally known to be trouble. Not all models are the same and not all units are the same. For your HVAC, one size may be highly rated when another size may not be. BTW it's spelled Ruud; I walked outside to compare one unit I have. Again, not to be picky, but my best friend owns a huge HVAC company. Nothing personal, but I've seen the ratings, how they are rated and have more than a passive knowledge of HVAC. The only ratings I've seen by CR that vary like you say are the ones that are based on comsumer's ratings on CR's surveys sent out. Otherwise, they are based on actual lab tested results; which I don't recall offhand seeing for HVAC.
Either way, I'm not going to argue the issue. As I said, if the person who owns an item and is happy with the item, what more is there? Nothing anyone else says nor any rating should matter. By no means am I comparing a Dyson to a Yugo, but I'm sure there's someone out there who is thrilled with their Yugo. Who would I be to tell them that it is junk?