Product Review - Dyson DC31

 

I recently was given the opportunity from Dyson to examine their newest invention on the market the DC31. As you can probably guess, as a father and a guy who loves technology I was extremely excited about the opportunity to try this out!

Some details about the product itself

• The DC 31 houses the Dyson digital motor, DDM – the fastest, most power-efficient motor ever developed for a handheld vacuum. Spinning up to 104,000rpm.
• DDM is five times faster than a Formula 1 race car engine.
• Uses patented Root Cyclone™ technology to separate dirt, fine dust and debris from the air.
• Dual power mode with 38 or 65 Air Watts
• 22.2V lithium ion battery

The Motor
The motor assembly that Dyson uses for the DC31 is unique in that it is four times as fast and twice as powerful as the conventional motor. DDM uses digital pulse technology making over 3000 adjustments a second, and spinning at up to 104,000 times a minute. That’s five times faster than a Formula 1 car engine. And no carbon brushes mean it won’t wear out, for a longer working life.


About Dyson
Research, Design and Development is at the core of Dyson. One third of people at Dyson are engineers and scientists. Their expertise in fluid, mechanical, electrical, EMC, thermal, chemical, acoustic and software engineering allows them to design new products as well as challenge and improve existing technologies. Dyson has over 1,200 patents and patent applications for over 250 different inventions (May 2008). Dyson’s RDD investment has quadrupled over the last 5 years. The total number of Dyson vacuum cleaners sold worldwide since 1993 is over 24.5 million (2007) – and still counting. 10 million of these were sold in the last 3 years.

My Thoughts on the DC31
I have been in awe of the Dyson products (from afar) for many years. I have talked to people that have owned them and used them and all have had very good things to say, though I had never had the chance to try it out myself, that was until now.

In receiving the DC31, I was amazed at how compact the packaging was. I was expecting a larger bulky box, especially when I had thought of other hand vacuums that I have owned in the past. The DC31 is very small in size (about the size of a large drill without the additional tools added on). The construction of the product is sound and the instructions for easy start up were simple to follow.

One of the initial things that I was amazed at was the length of time that the instructions states that a charge lasts. On its highest most powerful setting it states that the DC31 will last about six minutes and ten minutes on the lowest (regular) setting. This surprised me and made me wonder whether it was in fact the case as it also stated that it would take 3.5 hours to bring the DC31 back up to full charge. The other thing that I noticed was how light weight it was and how much it truly reminded me of a drill.

So I charged up the DC31 so that I could prepare for its inaugural test drive.

After using the DC31 I can say that it lived up to my expectations. The suction power that the product had was amazing and while there were some pet hair issues at first, once I figured out how to best use the extensions, the hair seemed to get sucked up without a problem. I also liked the way that the vacuum is emptied. With a simple release lever, it was easy to get rid of all things that I had sucked up.

The charge itself did last about what the company said it would. Yet, in saying this, seeing that I did not have to use the vacuum for long periods of time it lasted multiple days without recharge.

I have had other hand vacuums like this in the past, but none have had the suction power (or RPM's) that the Dyson has. If you are looking for a hand vacuum with amazing power, look no further than Dyson.

Beginning September 2009, DC31 and DC31 Animal are available at most major retailers
and Dyson.com at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $219.99 and $269.99,
respectively. Both are covered under a 2 year warranty for parts and labor. For more
information, please visit www.dyson.com.