... And, although I couldn't find any reviews on this product, I opted for the Dirt Devil Pet Patrol. Why? I hear you ask. Well, it is suitable for pet hairs (I have a gorgeous tabby called Toby whose lovely fur co-ordinates beautifully with our cream carpets!), it was £39.99 (although I got ... Read review
Advantages: Makes quick work of the stairs Disadvantages: Only seems to be avail at Argos. See updates.
...a mountain of crumbs and dirt to get upstairs, I finally decided to buy a hand held, cordless 'dust buster' style product to get on top of one of my most hated chores.
The main criteria that I was looking at were price, suction and weight. And, although I couldn't find any reviews on this product, I opted for the Dirt Devil Pet Patrol. Why? I hear you ask. Well, it is suitable for pet hairs (I have a gorgeous tabby called Toby whose ... ...that I unpacked my new Dirt Devil Pet Patrol. I read all the instructions mainly to draw out the moment but then found, to my dismay, that I had to charge it for 24 hours before it's first use. When a normal person reads this they think, OK, but when I read it I thought…oh poo! I wanted to use it now, now, NOW! Anyway, on a positive note, the instructions are well laid out, in plain English and very straight forward.
The love affair is over! :o( It has started to blow the dust it is sucking up out of the back, thus spreading it even further!
I have not thrown it out, as I fell so deeply in love when I first got it and can't believe it will ultimately let me down. Apart from moving into the dustiest house in the world (see below) we have now ripped out the kitchen and are just completing it, which has involved extra dust and general mess. I am hoping that once the kitchen is in, building dust reduced and normal, everyday dust resumes, the affair will once again blossom...
On the positive front, I can confirm that the charge lasts a long time. I do keep it in the holder and switched on all the time (not entirely sure about the environmental consequences of this) but it is always raring and ready to go and lasts for ages...just what every self respecting girl wants!!
I have reduced my overall rating as a result of the above but am hoping to return in due course and re rate - fingers crossed!
UPDATE 1:
I am loving this little devil a little less now! I don't think moving into one of the dustiest/dirtiest houses has given it the best opportunity to shine but there are a few niggles that have arisen.
Firstly the crevice and brush tools don't really seam to be able to suck up much at all (the super-dooper double motor tool is still great though!). Secondly the bagless dust container fills up in about two seconds which drives me mad (please refer to earlier comment regarding super dusty/dirty new house)! Finally, the little plastic clip that you have to press to open it up to empty the bagless dust container is so flimsy each time you use it you are terrified of breaking it.
I think once I have finally managed to finally get rid the dust and filth the previous owners of this house left behind that I will begin to love the little devil once again when I can just use it for the purpose I bought it for which was to do the stairs in a flash (rather than emptying twenty times!).
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Having spent years either risking life and limb battling with a heavy vacuum (and associated cables and tubes) to do it or avoiding doing it for so long that I had to climb over a mountain of crumbs and dirt to get upstairs, I finally decided to buy a hand held, cordless 'dust buster' style product to get on top of one of my most hated chores.
The main criteria that I was looking at were price, suction and weight. And, although I couldn't find any reviews on this product, I opted for the Dirt Devil Pet Patrol. Why? I hear you ask. Well, it is suitable for pet hairs (I have a gorgeous tabby called Toby whose lovely fur co-ordinates beautifully with our cream carpets!), it was £39.99 (although I got £2.50 off as I bought it from Argos and used my Nectar points) and it is a lovely shade of red! I realise that only one of my criteria was used to select the product but hey, no one's perfect!
So, it was with rather too much excitement that I unpacked my new Dirt Devil Pet Patrol. I read all the instructions mainly to draw out the moment but then found, to my dismay, that I had to charge it for 24 hours before it's first use. When a normal person reads this they think, OK, but when I read it I thought…oh poo! I wanted to use it now, now, NOW! Anyway, on a positive note, the instructions are well laid out, in plain English and very straight forward.
In addition to the instruction booklet that comes with it, there is a flyer which gives contact details of who to call if you have any problems or if you want to order spare parts which is great as this information is normally so buried in the small print that by the time you have found someone to call, the department has been closed down and everyone is drawing their pension!
To use you mount the charger on the wall (I haven't done this yet as I am about to move house, but it worked fine on the work surface. However, the tools did keep falling off but that is because it was horizontal rather than vertical.), charge it up for 24 hours before the first use and then unclip it and off you go! Easy-peasy!
It comes with a crevice tool, a dusting brush and a super-dooper twin motor brush (this is the one to use to get those pesky pet hairs and give your carpet a 'deep clean'). These are easy to use and you can see how good the whole system is by the amount of dust and other unsavoury stuff that accumulates in the see through, bagless dust container. The dust container is also easy to empty and clean.
For the technical amongst you, you will be pleased to learn that the Dirt Devil Pet Patrol hand held rechargeable vacuum cleaner has a batter voltage of 10.8 volts and the charger input voltage is 220 to 240 V. It also has a high efficiency cyclonic system. I would like to tell you how much it weighs but as my scales (both kitchen and bathroom) are packed for the move, I can't! However, I can tell you that when boxed it weighs 3 kgs.
All in all, it is great! I must say, based on my first use of it this afternoon when it took less than five minutes to do the stairs to perfection, I am well chuffed with it! Can't wait to try it on the car!
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Doesn't actually work
...little jobs like the edge dirt that the Roomba always leaves.
I always see what Costco have first. They were out of the Dustbusters that I had seen there before, but they did have this Dirt Devil.
In fairness, there is definite shelf appeal. The unit is nicely finished, and the red is very rich. The chrome on the catch is deep -- it looks good. There are no real surprises -- there is a charging base on which the unit sits, a "wall wart" power adaptor, ... ...to work well. The dirt has to make it's way through a long, narrow airway that runs under the unit before entering the back of the clear plastic dirt chamber through a rubber flap. This flap stops the dirt escaping once it's in.
The crux of the problem is that the unit is so underpowered that it can't drag anything of any size through this airway/flap arrangement. The likes of clumps of dog hair or the paper chips that end up around the shredder ...
CliveMDP 25.02.2007 (26.02.2007)
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