The King of Suck

By popsci Posted 06.26.2007 at 5:09 pm 1 Comment

We write about Dyson’s high-tech vacuums a
lot, and today I got a chance to meet the man behind the machines, Mr.
James Dyson himself. He was in town to show off his super-fast hand dryers
(which we blogged about last
year), but I was more interested in the motor inside the dryer, which
doubles as the powerhouse of the DC12
vacuum sold in Japan.

This brushless electric motor, controlled by a
computer chip, is about half the size and weight of a standard vacuum motor,
but it can spin three times faster and create more suction. And because it
has a computer chip in it, it can do all sorts of other things that you
wouldn’t expect a vacuum to do—like talk on the phone.

Dyson said that when
the DC12 rolls off the production line, its chip is packed with product
data, like the kind of testing it’s undergone. Then every time you use the
vacuum, the chip updates itself with the number of times you’ve used it and
some performance stats. If you ever call customer service, you just hold
your phone up to the vacuum, and the chip transmits info as a sound, like a
fax machine. This often gives customer service enough details to diagnose a
problem right away, without you having to reel off serial numbers or
remember the minutiae of your vacuuming difficulties.

As Dyson explained,
this is a low-tech way of getting the high-tech connected appliances that
we’ve all been waiting for.—Lauren Aaronson

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1 Comment

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mightymitecleanup

04/17/09 at 4:07 pm

So to be honest with you Dyson can have the name "the king of SUCK" because it does suck and not in the way a vacuum Cleaner should...I have 6yrs of experience in the second OLDEST Vacuum cleaner store in my city for repair and Sales of just about all of the companies that are here in the united states..I have customers that come from all over COLORADO to get work and advice from me on the vacuums they have or are curious about. I shall remain in stealth so i wont bias this comment. I work on *Royal(founded in 1905), Hoovers(now owned by Royal), Kirby (split off from royal in 1912 and founded in 1914), Riccar, *Panasonic, Bissell, Eureka, Electrolux, Rainbows, Filter queens, Dirt Devil, Kenmore, oreck and many more including DYSON! AND THE MOST PROBLEMATIC vacuum i have EVER seen is DYSON for so many reason.
The DC07, DC14, and any other ones that look similar to that model are ALL BASICALLY the same machine Except for the location of the filter(which makes NO DIFFERENCE) and price jumps because one comes with more gizmos and gadgets!!They advertise one for pet hair, the other for all floors, and the original! AGAIN THEY are all the same on the inside, SAME INTRY LEVEL MOTOR MADE BY PANASONIC, SAME CLUTCH ASSEMBLY(BELT) that cost $150 to replace and Does needs to be replaced every 6 months from stretching...If it doesn't burn out firts!or multiple times in one month because of the pet hair pick-up that is advertised for!!WHAT A JOKE...
The "ball" another joke because even though it swivels and all that good stuff..it has VERY FINE AND SMALL WIRES that run through the ball area and breaks as if you were taking a piece of wire and bending it back and forth until it breaks...OH lets not forget the brushbar melts down on that one to from the pet hair and the plastic (brushbar)...
THE "DC17" well lets see...The cyclone gasket always comes loose or doesnt seal properly and allow directly to the filter that covers the motor and (I'm sure you guessed it) suffacates the motor until it burns out!!!!! The switch's are going bad LEFT AND RIGHT but that is a simple fix. They did away with the "clutch assembly" which i thought was a good idea until they put a belt tension in there that is metal and held in there with "THIN THIN PLASTIC" and it falls out needs to be repaired. OH YEA! The brushbar motor that is not protected from the hair pick-up burns out pretty often as well because hair gets wrapped around the motor shaft and pulled into the motor!
"DC18" slim- hahahaha..The motor gets burned out very easily because it is not a little "big" machine and is ment for small areas and pick up. Thats like putting a little honda engine in a 1ton pickup...doesn't work! The other common problem is The Diverter valve or handle release because it has yet again another "THIN THIN" piece of plastic to divert the air flow from the hose to the power head and it just snaps right off!!!
So i am not sure how many people will read this and be happy with it but I dont care because I am sick of having to deal with customers that swear by thier DYSON wanna be VACUUM for the first six months of owning it and then having nothing but problems. I am Sick of seeing exactly 80 Dysons in my repair room since i have started the account a year or so ago. I have never seen a vacuum that has so many problems, with such a long warranty, and "GREAT" advertisement that is nothing but a scam! Just about every machine in here is under warranty and i dont see how they are even stayin in business with all these repairs just in my little store of about 2200 square feet! Imagine all the other vacuum stores with as many dysons that have problems and that probably covers EVERY DYSON SOLD!