Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 This product is equivalent to a dustbuster not a hoover July 11, 2007
Dee Martin (Bromsgrove, UK)
36 out of 36 found this review helpful
I nearly didn't buy this Dyson cleaner having read the reviews but went ahead anway as I was looking for a product that had a better performance than the dustbusters I had used over the last 10 years.
I have not been disappointed at all and in fact this cleaner has surpassed my expecatation.
If you need an easy to use but powerful cleaner to clear up mealtime detritus, mud on stairs etc then this has a much better performance than the 3 different dustbusters I had over the years due to the power of the suction and the useability of the included adaptors. By implication you are generally not needing it for a 6min clean and I have not had any problems wtih the battery running out or time taken to recharge. It is robust - capable of withstanding my 3year old dropping it down the stairs and has become invaluable in a very short period of time.
However if you are looking for a hoover equivalent, you will be disappointed as that is not the function this product was designed for.
Get your kicks from the Root 6. December 3, 2007
LegendaryMrDude (Essex, UK)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
Last year Dyson finally got a handheld to market in the form of the DC16 Root 6 in "Steel & Yellow". Looking more like a hand-gun from Star Wars than a Dustbuster(tm), it's got a certain gadgety charm. In fact I'd be so bold as to guess that most are bought by men for no other reason than they do look remarkably like a Star Wars prop...
Finished in a fairly tough mix of yellow and swirly grey metallic plastic (not a millimetre of steel in sight), it's got the now familiar cyclone "bit" of a Dyson but on a much smaller scale. It's also got the clear acrylic dust collector that everything swirls around in when it's in use. It's got a bright red trigger to blast the villains with and it even has a neat extending bristle-brush arrangement that clips out of the way when not in use.
It's surprisingly heavy (1.5kg) compared to other "handhelds" that I've used, but the cunning placement of the battery underneath the pistol-grip handle means that it's actually reasonably well balanced. For all it's weight though, the battery doesn't last very long. In fact, I suspect that the reason they call it the "Root 6" is that the battery barely lasts 6 minutes. Now this is an admittedly sensational sentence. Certainly, if someone told me they'd paid 100 for a handheld vacuum cleaner that only lasted 6 minutes at a time I'd think they were a bit of a muppet. Fortunately for Dyson, I didn't know the battery only lasted 6 minutes before I bought it...
BUT!
Actually, in the real world, 6 minutes is quite a long time to be using a handheld vacuum cleaner. Particularly one that's as effective as the DC16. Think about it for a moment - typical usage of a handheld vacuum cleaner (at least in my house) is to vac up the ad-hoc cereal spill, the crumbs around the toaster, the rice that inevitably spills out when you get the opened packet off the top shelf of the cupboard. Even giving the car a once-over. None of these jobs take a 6 full minutes of vacuuming. Not really. So unless you want to do all of the above, back-to-back, you should not be overly concerned by the 6 minute battery time. Given the neat charging station that it comes with, it's easy to keep the battery fully-charged, but if you do manage to run the battery down completely, it will take a rather lengthy 90 minutes (or more) to return to full charge.
Ergonomically, this is typical Dyson. All the bits you need to disassemble and clean are easily removable and go back together with the minimum of fuss. Also typically Dyson, any of the filters that you do need to clean will take days to dry properly. Speaking of which, it's worth noting that the DC16 is NOT a wet/dry handheld - if you try and vac up liquids, you'll most likely break it. The on/off trigger has a slight delay before it starts up the motor, as if it's making sure you REALLY want to use it before wasting the precious battery time. It also beeps at you. I'm not sure why, but it's comforting in a weird way. My only gripe is the button to open the dirt-chamber. It's really, really stiff. So stiff that I was worried I was going to break something (like my thumb!) when I first tried to open it. Since then I've got the knack, but be prepared should you buy one... it will be worth doing some thumb exercises before trying to empty it of dust for the first time!
So I've owned by dust blaster for over a year now and we've been very happy together. It's helped me defeat the evil empire (of dust) on several occasions and it's even served in several campaigns in remote locations (the shed, the car, my tent). It's WAY more powerful than any other handheld I've ever owned which means it's far more effective than anything else. It's better balanced, doesn't lose suction and it even looks cool. Ok so it's only got a 6 minute battery life, but I've not managed to run it out yet in over a year of near daily use. So don't let that put you off unless you really do intend to vacuum an entire room with it.
Great for what it is February 2, 2007
BS Napier (Inland Waterways of England UK)
41 out of 42 found this review helpful
This is a very useful gadget, as long as you understand it's a dustbuster type machine, not a miniature version of the corded Dyson. You get around six to eight minutes use per charge, and it takes three hours to charge from stone cold flat. It's intended to sit on its charger all the time. In this respect it's like a cordless drill - it's for tasks that don't involve protracted running, but brief shots to clean up corners, under radiators or whatever.
Positives - funky appearance (we've called ours Blake, 'cos it runs for seven minutes and looks like something off the Liberator), easy emptying, full suction all the time.
Negative - it would be good to be able to charge the battery out of the cleaner, and to be able to buy a spare battery, the way you can with other cordless tools.
excellent June 20, 2007
Nicola Hinton (Kingswood, Surrey, UK)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
I was a bit worried when I ordered the DC16 as the reviews of its battery life were appalling. However I haven't found this to be the case. I know that it is a bit expensive but it is excellent with no loss of suction, super cool design, and it is a Dyson after all. It is not intended for use to clean the whole house but to hoover up small messes at a time. As long as it is replaced on the charger after every use I have never had the battery die on me.
It is so useful especially cleaning up after 2 children, who are forever leaving a trail of crumbs behind them!!
Great little gadget, worth the money.
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