Customer Reviews

Dirt Devil M083414 Extreme Power Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner

5 star:		(188)
4 star:		(71)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(56)

 

 

Having just put tile throughout the house, and living with 3 dogs and 2 cats, I hated hauling out the heavy vacuum and plugging it in. And then unplugging and plugging again and again all the while dragging it around the house.. This little wonder does the whole house, is light and does the job. The only complaint I could possibly have is that the dirt cup is quite small and has to be emptied frequently. This, of course, would vary depending on how much animal hair accumulates on ones floor.

I would heartily reccommend this device because of it's ease of use, lack of weight and powerful suction.

I love it and could sell them door to door they are so great.

I bought this vac when my relatively expensive one died some months ago. I generally like it, but it's not really intended to replace your "real" vacuum if you have carpet (especially if you have kids or pets), and that's what I'd been hoping for. Here are a few things you should consider:

* Cordless is great, but cordless vacs never have as much "oomph" as corded vacs. If you need heavy duty cleaning, you need a "real" vacuum cleaner. On the other hand, you'll probably pull it out much more often for little tasks, because it's so convenient.

* It's designed for "lightweight" uses, such as picking up crumbs under the table, and it shows. For example, it doesn't clean the edges along the walls very well, and you can't adjust the height for different kinds of carpet.

* It weighs "only" as much as a gallon of milk, and you have to lift it UP (an inch) to get it out of its re-charging cradle. If you were considering a lightweight vac primarily because of back problems, then you need to decide whether you can lift it before you order it. (I can't use a regular upright because pushing that much weight tweaks my lower back, but this has been fine for me.)

* Speaking of the charging base, dirt accumulates in it. It seems to fall out of the vacuum/beater bar. Plan to dump out the dirt every ten or twenty times you use it. (The dirt also seems to fall out of the vacuum on occasion when you turn it off. This may be common to other cordless vacs, but plan to look at the floor to see whether you have a pile of dirt underneath the vac after you turn it off.)

* I have had some trouble getting the dirt cup clicked back into place. You have to (lean over and) line it up correctly and push firmly while holding the vacuum (so it doesn't fall over). If you have severe arthritis or wrist/elbow problems that are aggravated by pushing, then you may find this aspect undesirable and should look for a regular (bag) vacuum.

* I have to dump the dirt cup at least once every two minutes. A quick run through the main pathways in the entry and living area usually means dumping the dirt cup two or three times.

* The directions say that you should clean the inner filters every single time you dump the dirt cup, and they're not kidding. We find that taking the filter assembly outside and tapping it firmly on a flat surface causes a surprising amount of dust to fall out. (Slamming it straight down on a fence post seems to be most effective.) The vac works MUCH better if you do this often. The suction loss as the inner filter gets clogged is very noticeable. We have even washed the inner filter in plain water to good effect (dry thoroughly, of course).

* The battery is usually adequate. If we try to vacuum everything (almost 1000 sf of carpet), then we sometimes have to let it recharge halfway through.

* I sure wish someone would invent a beater bar that didn't get clogged up with hair or carpet fuzz.


This vac would be perfect for:

* the kids to grab to clean up the dirt they track in
* the upstairs vac for everyday use (bring the real one up every few weeks to do a thorough job)
* as a broom substitute on tile or wood
* if you can't push (or the kids can't be trusted with) a large vacuum cleaner
* in an office
* in any situation where the point is to clean up a small mess before it gets ground in permenantly


What it's not good for:

* a thorough job before you shampoo the carpets
* a total solution if you need to vacuum thoroughly to cut down on asthma/allergy problems
* picking up a lot of hair or large crumbs (like Cheerios)
* getting carpet as clean as humanly possible
* someone who's unusually tall and don't want to stoop a little to use it.

I bought the Dirt Devil for use at the cabin. Some weekends, we have four big, hairy dogs, three cats, and a pile of humans hanging out. The common messes are pet hair, grass, and dirt. The floor is white vinyl, so everything shows.

My husband and I are thrilled with the Dirt Devil. It stands in the corner of our bedroom on its charger and takes little to no room. We can pull it out, and clean the rugs and vinyl quickly and efficiently. The cup needs to be emptied often, but that's because of our dirt, not a fault of the Dirt Devil. It's light, easy to manuver, and I love not getting tangled in the power cord. I always seem to have trouble getting the dirt cup back on, but my husband never does, so it it's my issue, not a Dirt Devil issue.

A pleasant surprize has been how well it does on stairs. It cleans the dirt and especially the hair off the stairs very well. Again, its light weight and no power cord are real plusses when cleaning stairs.

Bottom line...we've had it for a month and love it. We're buying another one for our home.

I've had this vac for about 7 months now. For its type, this is a very good vac. It holds a charge longer than most (I haven't run it dry yet and have used for 20-25 minutes). I've found it works better on the carpeted stairs than both of my regular vacs. We just got a new kitty and it even picks up the litter he kicks out of the box (regular litter, not clumping). I originally bought it to clean up the ashes from the wood burning stove, it works great for that.

I would like to address the problems some people seem to have had. I have 2 dogs and 1 cat who shed a LOT.

The cup fills up too fast. Yes, it does fill quickly because it does a good job, especially on fur.

Lousy suction. Make sure the cup is not too full and the filters are clean. You must knock the dust and fur from each filter every time you empty the cup. It takes all of about 3 seconds. Occasionally you must rinse both filters.

Doesn't pick up the hair/fur. Clean the roller once in awhile, it can't work when its a ball of fur.

When it clogs can't get the clog out easily. If you take off the cup and the foot of the vac you have a straight shot of about 8" and can push stuff up or down with your hand or a short stick or butter knife or some such implement. I've only clogged it once when I let the cup get too full.

Short battery life. Its only a portable, not supposed to last forever.

If you take the minute to clean it each time the cup gets full you should not have any problems. It a good vac, not a magic vac that cleans itself.

This little machine is incredible. It is so lightweight yet so powerful. We have two dogs who shed terribly and our entire house is carpted. I hated dragging out that heavy, heavy Kenmore just to vacuum the area where i do my yoga and exercises. Every couple of days I grab my dirt devil cordless and vacuum small areas. It doesn't miss a speck of dust or hair on the carpet anywhere I vacuum with it. After use you just stick it back onto its charging base. The only problem is that the cup where the dirt and hair accumulate is awfully small and you have to empty it frequently if you have heavy shedders in your home. Not a problem for me though. I LOVE this machine and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone.

When we first purchased this vacuum I thought it was the best new tool in the house. It worked great for 6 months. Then the rollar brush stopped turning. I called the closest Dirt Devil repair shop ( it's 2 hours from my home) to order a new belt. I was told that I could not buy a belt because it is part of an enclosed system.Belts are not covered under the warranty. That is normal, but in this case you have to have the whole system replaced. This system is not covered by the warranty. I feel like I have been ripped off. I will not be buying any more Dirt Devil products.

I must say I was very impressed with this product. It's very light, but powerful in it's vacuuming abilities. It was so good that it tends to get full very quickly and I had to constantly empty the small trash cylinder. A helpful hint - if you have wood or tile floors I highly recommend removing the rotating brush, it's very easy to do by just using a screwdriver to remove a small plastic panel and removing the brush from the rotating rubber belt. The brush just gets in the way and dog hair was getting stuck more to the brush than getting sucked into the cleaner. I didn't buy a vacuum cleaner so I could bend over and use my hands to pull dog hair from the bottom of it. Now that the brush is out of the way, it's more efficient, but that means I have to empty the cylinder even more, sigh...

I bought this vacuum a couple of years ago and I love it for quick cleanups. Doesn't replace our normal vacuum, but does a good job of picking up more than just surface dirt, even on carpet. However, the battery had considerably less power after the first few months and was only good for a few minutes after a year. I looked for a replacement and it was impossible to find one. Finally, I found a Tenergy Corp. 14.4V 3600mAh NiMH Battery Pack for an IRobot Vacuum - Roomba 4905. It has the same dimensions as the battery that comes with the Dirt Devil (12 "C" battery pack), but has over twice the lasting power (3600 mAh vs. 1500mAh). It can do our small house very easily on one charge. I have yet to run it down. The connectors for the Roomba battery are different, so I ended up splicing wires, but that was not a big deal. You can probably get this battery pack many places - I found mine on the web. I fell in love with this little, convenient vacuum all over again after I found this long-lasting battery (which can be charged using the same charging stand that comes with the Dirt Devil).

I've only had the Power Stick Vacuum for over a week, and I like it so much I use it almost every day. It is lightweight and so easy to use. The small head swivels and does a great job sucking up crumbs, hair, dirt, cheerios--all the way up to the edge of the baseboards. The dirt cup and filter are easy to empty and clean, once you get used to how it clicks back on. I love that it's cordless and rechargeable, and has its own little charging base. This stick vac also stands up on its own, which is something you don't see in a lot of cordless sweepers/brooms. I have about 750 sq ft of wood floor area downstairs, with area rugs here and there, and this vac cleans it all in one charge, with plenty to spare. I also love being able to just move the switch from "Floor" to "Carpet" when I'm moving from the floor to a little area rug; no need to bend down and change anything, flip a brush, etc. I have used the Carpet mode to clean my stairs, and to do a quick vac of any of the carpeted rooms downstairs (family, living, dining, playroom). Of course it doesn't take the place of a deep carpet vacuum with a HEPA-filtered machine, but for a quick surface vac after a playdate, or after someone's been eating crackers in the playroom, it's so quick and handy. I clean the wood floor with this, and once a week I use the Bissell hard floor steamer to give the floor an even more thorough clean (and kill germs without chemicals!). I highly recommend this, and I did a lot of research on Amazon before buying it. I've got three kids 7 and under, so there are always crumbs and bits of paper all over the floor.

My one complaint, and it's not a big one, is that it's kind of noisy. I wouldn't use it upstairs while my baby was asleep. It seems a lot more powerful than other cordless stick vacs I've had, so maybe that's why it makes more noise.

*****Nov 4, 2007*****
Less than a year later, my review has changed immensely. A couple of months ago this broom vac started going weak. It is always fully charged when I use it, but now it can barely finish my 750 sq ft of wood floor on one charge. By the time I'm about halfway through, I can hear the vacuum starting to go weak. It also barely sucks up anything now, it's ridiculous! It used to just clean up everything in its path, and now I can go over a tiny cracker crumb 4x and it just sits there on the floor. I always clean the filter and rinse it off and dry it, but that doesn't seem to help any. The battery or the suction--or both--are just dying, and I'm not going to spend another bunch of $ on a battery for this. So now here I am again looking for a better broom vac that will last at least a few years. ARGH!

I am 70 years young and have purchased several cordless so called vacums. This is the best I have ever used. My daughter just purchased an extra one for a spare "cause it seems every time we find something wonderful, it gets discontinued. She has several long haired dogs so it gets a real workout. It works well on carpet and tile, so perfect for those quick touch ups.