I know it's supposed to be the paradigm-breaking Vacuum Cleaner For Guys and all, the Bugaboo of vacuum cleaners, but until they make one that isn't Barney-colored, I don't think I'll be seeing a Dyson vacuum cleaner sucking up our grit and lint.
Which isn't to imply the kid might not get one. Who even knew that they had not one, not two, but three toy Dyson vacuum cleaners available for sale in the UK?
There's the upright model, the Dyson DC07, and then two canister/hose models, each one purpler and weirder-looking than the next. And they're each around £17. Or at least they should be. [amazon.co.uk via shotaro with xplory]
Here's the most unusual admission you'll get today, I wager--I find the dulcet, soothing tones and delectible accent of the Dyson guy so incredibly sexy that on a good night, my DH can even forego foreplay if his timing is calibrated perfectly in the aftermath to a Dyson commercial.
Does that count as a fetish. I love that guy's voice.
[between the circumcision post, the "she asked for it" headline, and "sexy vacuum cleaner salesman foreplay," it's no wonder there's been a rash of comment spammers here... and all before breakfast. -ed.]
I like that amazon.co.uk says something will be "dispatched" in 1-2 days instead of "shipped" - gotta love those brits!
When I bought a new vacuum a couple months ago I really wanted to like the Dyson. Hey, Dyson owners supposedly report a higher loyalty and satisfaction with their vacuums, and the damn thing has a lifetime HEPA filter.
So I was tremendously disappointed when I test drove a Dyson. It suffers from over-engineering. From a design perspective (usability, not aesthetics), it's a mess. My bias is that such a simple and ubiquitous device should be usable without explanation or diagram the first time I approach it. When I have to spend 5 minutes pulling, flipping and pushing things to see what they do, and then wondering if something is broken (and not being able to tell), the designers have lost sight of their original goal -- building a better vacuum. And to boot, the Dyson is still big and clunky like other vacuums.
Buy the toy Dyson for your tot as a learning tool. I lump it into the same category as a shape sorter. Is my kid smart enough to figure it out?
This is some old news.. There was an ad for them on sale recently too.
I hope they come out with a REAL WORKING version in the future, that I would purchase as my 4 year old has already experience the toy vacuum and is actually asking for a real one this Christmas.. ;)
I had a Dyson canister when I used to live in Europe--loved it and was sad to part with it. They don't seem to do the canister model in the US any more, so I tried the upright. Awful. Heavy and unwieldy.
um, does anyone know that there is an upright pink +white vacuum available at pottery barn for 34.00? and last xmas they had a red + silver canister one that my little guy fell madly inlove with. his dad had a hard time understanding that his son had an affection for it - but hey, he likes to clean what can i say?
back to the pottery barn thing, its no 'modern-edgy-bugaboo-gizmo, but its available here, in the US + Canada. am i missing something?
[holy moley, even if my daughter wanted to trade her My Chattel Barbie for it, I would not let her play with such stereotypical crap. Just compare the top pages of "great gifts" for girls 3-7: AN ENTIRE FREAKIN' PINK KITCHEN and for boys 3-7: REMOTE CONTROL DINOSAURS AND CARS. But maybe it's different in Canada? -ed.]
My little ones LOVE to vacuum (don't know why, they never see their mom doing it). A real smart toy designer would make one that had an actual dustbuster in there, and every parent in the world would buy it.
goodness gracious, your baby girl has to play with barbie .....it doesn't go around in the bugaboo does it? and if you were to purchase a 'cool vacuum' for your tott - i'd go with the purple canister. but if pottery barn had the red + silver one .....i KNOW you would buy it ....it was cool ...even if it came from the 'stereotypical crap' store.
[stereotypical crap="pottery barn's all pink kitchen for girls," not necessarily "pottery barn." A cool vacuum cleaner? I'm all for it. For anyone. but please. if anyone ever meets a PB toy designer at a cocktail party, buttonhole them and don't let them get away until they cough up the reason they do such retrograde, gender-coded toys. And the Barbie thing was just for shock value. -ed.]
Might I recommend the Miele Toy Vacuum Cleaner? It is suitable for both boys and girls, includes all the accessories, and actually does work (although with a lower-suction than the real thing it is still supposed to pick up some things). Target.com has them for $24.99.
exactly ......Miele
is surely the best way to go! i just saw it myself. ahhh, TAR-JAY!
[thanks, Mark, nice find. I'm calm now... -ed.]
I'm a huge fan of Dyson, even with the non-intuitive usage difficulties described by AJ (which are the worst when it comes to using the attachments & accessories) and the garish purple color. Our Animal sucks up everything, and then some, without raising dust or generating extra garbage or requiring the purchase of bags.
But then, I have three gigantic indoor/outdoor/indoor dogs, all double-coated champion shedders, in a wall-to-wall-carpeted three-bedroom house -- in addition to a crumb-trailing toddler -- so my love of the Dyson Animal is pretty specific to my situation, I suppose. I'm willing to forgive a little extra difficulty on the learning curve if it will suck up my household debris so thoroughly and in such enormous quantities. Before the advent of the Dyson era in our family, we'd defeated any number of premium and standard brands, including Miele.
We also have a cyclonic Dustbuster for those can't-be-bothered-to-haul-out-and -assemble-the-purple-vacuum-beast messes, though, and that serves very nicely as a toy vacuum as well.
That Miele vaccum is cool though I thought this comment:
"Just like Mom's Miele vacuum" in the description was a bit retrograde and offensive. Certainly not quite the level of the PB idiocy but annoying just the same.
[the funny thing is, I look at them and think, "Now you can be ust like the cleaning lady," which just opens up a whole other can of worms. -ed.]
I LOVE this toy Dyson...also love the fact that it says in my catalogue that it 'Really picks up', picks up what I'm not sure...
Like the idea of getting one of these for my daughter in another year or two, though she'll have to have gotten over her hoover-phobia by then...
Has anyone actually tried the Miele toy vacuum yet? My almost-4-yo daughter wants a vacuum for Christmas "that really works" and from the on-line comments I've found, it looks like the child Hoover and Dyson versions might not exactly fit that description (regardless of what the catalogues say). Can anyone help me? Thanks.
I loved the "just like the cleaning lady" comment!
I researched the Dysons and you know I am growing to like them. Dont like that color but the All Floors is nice -- yellow. or maybe the purple one.
Anyhow, you should see this one demo I saw at www.powervacs.com Very informative.
Also apparently, Amway almost snookered James Dyson from his invention. See this blog.