henrydreyfuss
Well-known member
Dyson has just unveiled their "Ball 2" upright line, and in Dyson tradition, the US gets their flagship uprights first. They're a colorful update to the DC40 and DC41, which debuted 6 years ago.
Their newest version of the DC40, now named Ball Multifloor 2 (taking the name of the outgoing larger model), does appear to be improved, solely (finally!) thanks to an updated cleaner head. The new brushbar is wider, and appears to be more aggressive. It looks to be a significant improvement over the very wimpy US DC40, and Dyson Light Ball uprights. Aside from a super cool throwback color palette, and an updated crevice tool, little else has changed.
I'm struggling to see what justifies the earned "2" in the name of the new Animal model. The larger Ball Animal 2 looks essentially like a re-badge of the current Ball Multifloor that it's replacing. They updated the crevice tool, but kept the horrible stock upholstery tool. The supposedly "re-engineered" brushbar looks practically identical (still a single-row of "gappy" bristles), and will still hold back the machine's potential on carpeting. The excellent self-cleaning shroud on their new canisters and handhelds is absent. The machine it replaces is actually quite a fun and competent machine (versatile and fantastic on bare floors), but riddled with obvious flaws.
Perhaps worst of all, 6 years ongoing, they still haven't addressed the critical flaw in their current upright line: A little bit of dirt cross-contaminates the clean air path, every time you empty the bin (which then gets pulled through the motor). Why have the very best filtration system, if you don't bother to let the product utilizing it benefit from it? That's just bad engineering!
These look like a stop-gap. Something very interesting is likely around the corner, but I expect more from the appliance industry's most eagerly innovative company.
Their newest version of the DC40, now named Ball Multifloor 2 (taking the name of the outgoing larger model), does appear to be improved, solely (finally!) thanks to an updated cleaner head. The new brushbar is wider, and appears to be more aggressive. It looks to be a significant improvement over the very wimpy US DC40, and Dyson Light Ball uprights. Aside from a super cool throwback color palette, and an updated crevice tool, little else has changed.
I'm struggling to see what justifies the earned "2" in the name of the new Animal model. The larger Ball Animal 2 looks essentially like a re-badge of the current Ball Multifloor that it's replacing. They updated the crevice tool, but kept the horrible stock upholstery tool. The supposedly "re-engineered" brushbar looks practically identical (still a single-row of "gappy" bristles), and will still hold back the machine's potential on carpeting. The excellent self-cleaning shroud on their new canisters and handhelds is absent. The machine it replaces is actually quite a fun and competent machine (versatile and fantastic on bare floors), but riddled with obvious flaws.
Perhaps worst of all, 6 years ongoing, they still haven't addressed the critical flaw in their current upright line: A little bit of dirt cross-contaminates the clean air path, every time you empty the bin (which then gets pulled through the motor). Why have the very best filtration system, if you don't bother to let the product utilizing it benefit from it? That's just bad engineering!
These look like a stop-gap. Something very interesting is likely around the corner, but I expect more from the appliance industry's most eagerly innovative company.
