Customer Reviews

Dyson DC24 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(49)

 

 

I bought the DC 24 to replace a small vacuum and was my first Dyson purchase (though I have used them regularly in the past). I would not recommend this vacuum to replace a dedicated large upright. Dyson uses "airwatts" to specify the power of the vacuums and the DC 24 has 115 airwatts vs. 220 airwatts for the DC 25 and DC 15. Not knowing how many airwatts other vacuums use, I can only guess similar comparisons to other brands.
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What to Like
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The DC 24 vacuum is lightweight 11.5lbs (DC25 16.1lbs and DC15 19.95lbs) and can go up and down stairs without problems (3 story condo). In fact, instead of using the hose attachment for the stairs I prefer to use the vacuum itself. It has a nicely placed handle in the front for this function (like a weed trimmer). You have to hold it out away from your body, as the brushes don't spin if the unit is placed upright.

Despite being lightweight and lower power, it has consistent suction and still get's a lot of dirt and dog hair out of the carpet.

The "Ball" allows the vacuum to access small, hard to reach areas without using the attachment. It is similar to using a swivel head on a mop. It handles my hardwood floors well, and now has replaced my sweeper.

The no-mess canister, easy to dump out with just a push of a button.

The washable hepa filter. This is one reason I do not have a problem with paying more for a Dyson. Effective heppa filtration requires regular replacement and that adds up in extra dollars. The dyson solves that with an easy clean filter.

5 year warranty. You will probably experience a disconcerting feeling when it's out of the box and it seems like flimsy construction. I usually destroy vacuums and so far this vacuum has held up well. I think the flimsy feeling comes from it's flexibility, the adjustment points and the ball. Trust me, I have dropped it a few times down a flight of stairs on the hardwood and it still looks and works as good a new.

Compact storage... that goes hand in hand with light weight, but it also telescopes down in height to fit under shelves for storage.

Coolest Dyson feature for me is the no-tool brushbar access/removal. Makes it very easy to remove obstructions from the brushbar without a tool set.
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What not to Like
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The attachment is difficult to convert, this is not unique to this Dyson model. Some cleaver engineer came up with a way to make this attachment compact and self contained, but impossible to convert the first 10-15 times you use it. Dyson does have more expensive models that have easier to use attachments. After using their products for awhile, I have become a Dyson attachment Jedi Master.

The hose for the attachments is short. It can't reach my 10' ceilings without lifting the base up off the floor. I recommend the Dyson's flexible attachment for dust and/or cobwebs.
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Other Notes
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The vacuum has trouble with large items (clumps of dog toy stuffing) that big vacuums normally don't hiccup on. It either doesn't have the brush head height or the plumbing for large items. It's not really a negative for me, as I learned early on to pick up big items that might destroy a perfectly working vacuum motor. I didn't have the same problem with using only the attachment.

I had a very hard time choosing between the DC18 (slim model) vs the brand new DC24 (ball model). When it came down to it, my girlfriend liked the compact size and light weight of the DC24 due to that fact we live in a fairly small apartment.

Both machines are about the same price in most stores, and I personally felt that the DC18 would be a better deal. However, after playing with both models the weight and size of the machines was very noticeable.

This machine (DC24) is a breeze to use and sucks well. It seems a little weaker than other models, but it gets the job done in our apartment with carpet, wood floors, and pseudo-tile. I was skeptical but I'm glad I made the purchase.

Pros:
- Easy to carry
- Convenient storage, aesthetically pleasing
- Powerful enough to keep us clean
- Ball 'gimmick' actually is useful

Negs:
- Electric cord could be longer
- Vacuum sucking power not as strong as other models (obviously)
- The parts are initially a little tricky to click into place
- Expensive

When I discovered this model, I did the research; Dyson's web site, this one, and other sellars. I found little information on it, but I had a Dyson DC15 "ball" vacuum in the past and decided to order it. I couldn't make up my mind between this one and the larger DC25. Other than measurements, the only difference that I could find anywhere, was that this model's handle retracted for easier storage. Guess what, this thing is as small as the DC18, only this model as the ball. Other than the size, it's a great vacuum and typical Dyson.

It works great, suction is fantastic. It's perfect for an apartment or someone who wishes a lightweight easy-to-use vacuum. The hose system leaves something to be desired. It is cumbersome and somewhat difficult to utilize. One has to pull out the handle, reverse it, and attach the short hose to it. It's not as simple as the other models. Also, the cord is short and it the only accessory that comes with it is the brush. No extension or crevice tool.

As I said earlier, this is a great vacuum for an apartment or for someone that wants something lighweight. I wished that there was more information available before I ordered it. Otherwise, I would have ordered the larger DC25.

Looks great, handles beautifully, it's cornering ability is unsurpassed. However, it feels underpowered (compared with other Dyson cleaners I have driven) and the power cable is ridiculously short, if I had known it was this short, I probably wouldn't have bought it (but I have heard others express this problem with their Dyson cleaners), the handle-hose-tool-contraption is cleverly designed, but woefully impractical which is a shame. It is also short on tool attachments (like corner-crevice end). I wouldn't recommend it unless you bought it solely to impress people with a new gadget. Fortunately, my apartment has a lot of power sockets, more wood floors than carpet and I have a Swiffer for cleaning tasks - so I can just about live with all of the shortcomings - as it is such a pleasure to drive the Dyson around the apartment.

I bought the Dyson DC24 from Target because I felt I couldn't afford the DC15 and the lightweight, compact design of the DC24 appealed to me. Let me say, I have been incredibly pleased with the power and performance of the DC24.

That said, when I saw Amazon had such a great price for a new, not reconditioned DC15 -- the one we originally wanted -- I had to snap it up. Wow, and uh-oh were my first reactions (that has to do with why I'm in trouble, which I'll get to later.).

It is definitely worth purchasing for even more robust cleaning power (we have 8 cats!) and its generous array of attachments. It is more unwieldy, though not nearly as heavy as the ridiculous, poor-performing Kirby. With the Kirby, I had to get on hands and knees with a Gonzo sponge to lift hair, then vacuum - no more of that! The good news is either Dyson lifts pet hair without hesitation. The difference with the Animal is that while it is heavier to manage, it cleans even more definitively.

A motivating factor is that I am an asthma sufferer, which I realize is exacerbated by the cats. The asthma's under control with meds, but I have definitely noticed dramatic improvement in my breathing and the utter banishment of household allergies due to such thorough cleaning.

The "Ball" pivoting mechanism isn't hype, either. It reduces all that repositioning and maneuvering.

So then, why am I in trouble? I am an idiot (or not!) because I am keeping both. The DC24 (small one) is perfect for whipping through the house on weeknights when I don't want to have a major production. It's so easy and light, able to get in tight and low places and I am never taxed or tired after using it. The Animal stays because there is simply no better cleaning to be had. I have had many vacuums in my life and if I could recoup my money from those manufacturers for the lousy performance of their Hoovers, Eurekas and Kirbys -- plus receive reimbursement for the extra hours I spent "double-cleaning" -- I could easily pay for the entire line of Dyson products with bags of money left over!

I have been a little skeptical of the Dyson machines. I haven't doubted whether they worked as great as they say, but they are a little on the pricey side, initially. However, there is nothing more to buy unless you want additional attachments. The filters in this machine are washable, and do not need to be replaced. There aren't any bags to replace. The ball makes it easy to manipulate and handle, and is extremely lightweight. The handle that folds down for storage is also the telescoping wand to be used with attachments. There is a handle on the front of the clear bin in order to carry, making it easy to move around the room cleaning your fan blades, or geting the inevitable spider webs that grow in the corner of the rooms. When using the telescoping wand, there is an impressive amount of suction. It's cleaning power is wonderful to be such a small machine. It's shocking to see what comes out of your carpets. Most manufacturers will only carry a 1 year parts and labor warranty on their machines. Dyson has a 5 year warranty on their vacuums. I love this machine.

I own two Oreck vacuums, one is only a year old. I purchased the Dyson DC24 becuase of its compact design. I did my own test aginst the new Oreck. I vacuumed a room with the Oreck, then vacuumed the same room with the Dyson DC24,WOW,the stuff the Dyson picked up was amazing.
I am completely satisfied with the Dyson. I like the "ball" design, it makes vacuuming much easier,dumping the canister is a snap. A longer power cord would be nice,but I can live with a 20 foot cord.

I am in love with this vacuum! I was debating between the 24 and 25, and am so glad I went with this one. I chose it initially for its light weight. I have a herniated disk and our old, heavy vacuum would throw my back out every time I used it. The difference in weight and manueverability is amazing. Why didn't someone invent this ball thing decades ago?? The first time I used it, I wondered about its capability because it was so light and quiet (another HUGE plus - you don't need earplugs). But when I went to empty the tank and found a 3rd cat (we only have 2), I was convinced of its power. Love the handle that lowers too, because it takes up so much less storage space. Love its small size compared to most other vacuums. I can get under furniture without having to move stuff around, like dining room chairs. It fits into our tiny bathrooms and gets really close to corners and baseboards. My house is about 1200 sq ft, and mostly carpeted and I do have pets. This vacuum is everything I need, and would recommend it to anyone.

I wished I had read alot more about the Dyson company before I wasted 400.00 on this vacuum. I honestly thought that a 5 year warranty and the amount of money spen was going to get me an excellent vacuum I would have for years. I was so wrong!
First of all, it does consistantly have on/off button issues. I have had mine 9 months and the beater brush stopped working. Husband called Dyson and they won't send out part, you must get it fixed at a dealer they choose or send it to them. We sent it to them and it has been over a month now and it's still not back! I have read many complaints with the same problems. Their website says 7-10 days to fix and that is a blatant lie. They do not answer emails. I called 2 weeks into the repair and was told they were looking for a part and to give it one more week and I would "for sure be getting it back by then." I never heard, so I called and then was told I needed to give them one more week cause the part never came in, and again I would "for sure" be called with a tracking number. They never called. I called them again and was told I was put at the "front of the line" and the part would be arriving tomorrow and I was going to get a call. Never got a call so I called. Today I am told, the vacuum is fixed but the company had not put the tracking number in the system yet so I needed to wait until tomorrow to get the number. Do I believe them? No. Like I said, please learn about their poor record. I have read many cases just like mine from America and Europe and some are as old as 3 years. This means they are well aware they have service issues and Mr Dyson would rather have the money than fix his poor service problems. DISGUSTING! I order tons of items off the internet all the time. I have never in my life run into a company that had such poor poor service as this. I would never recommend ANYONE to buy from them.
Yes the vacuum sucks, BUT it DOES lose suction, so he lies. The buttons work at their own choosing and the beater brush stopping to work is a MAJOR issue from all I have learned. The 5 yerar warranty is worthless because the service is ridiculous. I hope I can spare someone the pain. Oh and I would recommend the Hoover Wind Tunnel. I borrowed my friends and it sucked alot out of my carpet I presumed the Dyson was getting and it has all the same technology. She paid 160.00 for her Hoover. Don't spend your money. Seriously, I wish I had been warned.

In November of 2003, I bought a Dyson DC07 Animal vacuum cleaner. I reviewed it in these pages and recommended it wholeheartedly to anyone in the market for a new vacuum cleaner.

I regret to say I cannot do the same for the Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner.

My DC07 Animal lasted for six years and had the daylights beaten out of it in that time. It sucked up everything from wet cat sand to fine sawdust generated by sanding a floor for refinishing. I had to replace the two hoses in the Animal on several occasions because they are made out of cheap plastic and wire and are prone to tearing from repeated flexing. But it was the irredeemable clogging from the sawdust that finally did in my Animal. Naturally I looked to Dyson for its replacement.

My wife was convinced that because we'd eliminated all the wall to wall carpeting from the house, and because we are down to five cats from the eight we had with the Animal, that the Dyson Ball was the best choice for a new vacuum cleaner. So I bought one.

The Ball is what Dyson calls the "new generation" of vacuum cleaners. It is designed with a much smaller beater bar head, to allegedly get under furniture better and generate good suction with the substantially smaller motor contained in the ball. Here are its good and bad points.

The good:

The switch to shut off the beater bar to make the Ball safer on the finish of an uncarpeted floor has been moved up to the power switch, to make it easier to use; and an automatic cut-off and reset switch has been built into the beater bar head to shut down the beater bar in the event of sucking the fringes of a carpet into the beater bar, to prevent damage to the machine.

The operating mechanism to remove the dust canister and allow it to be emptied has been redesigned to allow one switch to do the work of two in the previous generation of Dysons.

On bare floors or on carpets with no nap to them, the Ball lives up to its press releases. It's easy to maneuver, far more so than a vacuum cleaner with fixed wheels and has good suction. On bare floors or on carpet without a nap to it, you can get in much tighter than I could with my old DC07 Animal.

Now, the bad.

Getting the beater bar to run is a nuisance. It works very well once you get it started; but to get it started requires you to press on a purple foot pedal JUST SO while easing down the operating handle or it won't kick on; and you have to restart it every time you bring the operating handle to the upright position. The end users would have been better served if the beater bar ran constantly as the default position unless manually switched off by the operator.

On any kind of carpet with a nap, the Ball is MUCH harder to maneuver than my old DC07 was. MUCH harder. Yes, I could not get as close to furniture with the DC07 as I can with the DC24, but the 07 was much easier to move on the rug than the ball is.

The wand has been redesigned to telescope, apparently in response to customer complaints about the long fixed wand, to allegedly make it easier to use. It isn't. In order to reach over your head or into corners, you have to carry the base unit in one hand while manipulating the wand with the other on the end of a not-long-enough hose that snaps into the end of the wand as it did in earlier models. To be fair, this is not as burdensome as it might be because the base unit is so light.

One of the features I really liked about the DC07 Animal was a hose long enough to let me work freely five or six feet away from the base unit and still reach under couches and into corners above my head. This new arrangement is neither as flexible not as good as the old. Further, the material used in the hose is the same material used on the short hose of the DC07 that connected the power head to the vacuum proper. I had to replace that hose twice on my DC07 Animal in six years; and that little hose didn't get anything like the flexing a hose meant to let you reach into nooks and crannies or vacuum the steps on the stairs gets. Time will tell how well this material will stand up to ordinary wand use.

Instead of issuing a brush tool and a crevice tool to fit on the end of the wand of the Ball, Dysom put the two tools into a bed and encouraged them to breed. The resultant kludge performs neither of the tasks for which the originals were made as well as the purpose-built tools do. Further, the retaining latch on the storage point on the Ball where this tool is supposed to sit in when not in use is difficult to unlatch.

The DC07 had a 10 meter power cord. This meant that you could plug it into one wall plug in a really big room and vacuum the whole thing without having to shift the cord; or that you could plug it into the wall in one small room and do a goodly percentage if not all of an apartment without having to shift the plug. The Ball has a cord about 7 meters long. Losing that three meters guarantees that you will have to shut down and change to another wall socket at least once in any room larger than about 12 feet or so that has furniture in it. This is definitely a change for the worse.

But now we come to the worst part of Dyson's redesign: the dust canister. It is about a quarter the capacity of the canister on the DC07. If you are working on a carpet with a nap to it, it is literally impossible to vacuum a 12 x 18 carpet without having to stop midway through the job to empty the bin. If you are vacuuming a small bedroom, you will have to stop and empty the canister before going on to the next room. I don't know how you clean with a vacuum, but I find having to stop every couple of minutes to empty out the tiny canister of the Dyson Ball so I can continue working to be an intrusion and a bloody nuisance; it interrupts the flow of the work.

Long story short: if you have an apartment with bare floors or industrial type carpet that has a very short nap, and no pets, this is a good vacuum cleaner to consider. However, if you have pets or deep pile carpeting, choose a larger Dyson with a heavier-duty motor and two wheels. Your back will thank you.

However, even that won't buy you a larger dust canister. All of the current generation of Dysons use that same tiny dust canister. To be frank, under those conditions you'd be better off with a refurbished earlier model Dyson with its much larger dust canister than any of the current ones.

The Dyson Ball does perform adequately. But considering I expected the kind of fabulous performance I got from my purple Dyson DC07 Animal, I am disappointed with it.