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Its a Nokia 2310 and it was my mother's originally, but when I put my old one in the washer and ruined it, I had my mother's as I am not mobile phone savvy and wanted a cheap one that had a cheap tariff, so its on Asda smartprice Mobile lol
 
I have a couple of old Nokia handsets too. I refuse to get rid of them on the basis that they still work and I still have the old chargers for them. They're far more reliable than a lot of Smartphones on the market. Whenever I go away to another country I take one of those Nokia handsets with me. I have no interest in using the net on phones in general. I have used it through my Smartphone, but the battery life gets shot eventually after a day which is a nuisance.
 
My first phone was a Nokia 3310 and it would last over a week between charges, I'm stuck with my BlackBerry until my contract ends in Feb and I'll be getting an iPhone for sure I like social networking and email etc in my hand! Back on the original topic my local Argos stores have very often had Dyson's and Miele's in the shop window and inside on prominent display. I remember seeing the DC19 in the windows and thinking it was quiet ugly (bin too wide for the cyclones). I'm not a Dyson fan per say but they are a business and aim to say in business by returning a profit and their plan is working!
 
their plan is working!

Well you see, this is where the company known as Dyson fascinates me no end. Through selling a product which is both visibly and functionally different from others on sale, and through clever marketing, a whole new brand -indeed arguably a cult- has emerged. As well as this, the main sector of Dyson's core business -the vacuum cleaner market- has been given a shake up and is in such a position that Dyson really does have the upper-hand, given that his cleaners (not mentioning for now the price) are in many ways the best of a bad lot. In other words, through the 'brand' alone, the success of Dyson is, in my opinion, sealed for years to come.

To that end, I have to question exactly how much marketing and advertising the company now needs to do. Certainly they must spend a fortune on it. Then on top of that they have the help-desk open seven days a week from 7am until 10am, although I did read that Dyson is finally cutting back a little. Their aftercare is one thing I have never understood; why a manufacturer of product is offering a gold-plated package on something you have already paid for, particularly for the likes of Dyson who, for the reasons I have already listed, have consumers who are very likely to buy the same brand again anyway, irrespective of how good or bad the aftercare is. You would be hard-pressed to get that from a good deal of service providers where their business depends on your on-going custom, let alone a manufacturer.

Of course the counter-argument to my statement is that Dyson likes to be seen to be giving good service. I understand that as much as the next person, but to take that to a literal (if not ludicrous) conclusion, one could argue that Dyson could employ a team of cleaners to go into homes and push the vacuum around for anyone who is unable to do so, just because it is "good service". Would it make them money? Well on the surface, very likely not. In the same way I think they help-desk is nothing more than a drain on profits.
 
Dyson just isn't Dyson anymore...

Today, Dyson products have very poor build quality. Yet the market them so well, but the prices just don't match the build quality.


 


In my view, they stopped making good machines after the DC26, which was the worlds smallest cylinder and was also properly designed by Industrial designers who have had experiences of design in previous other company's. Hence why the build quality is much better than that newer 'ball' cylinders (which aren't even proper balls!)


 


The failure in Dyson's newer products is because of the increasing number University grads who have just come out of Uni, and have had NO experience of the 'real world' of industrial design. A good example of their poor designs would be on the DC40 and 41 cleaners. The wand system is not ergonomic as the actual handle doesn't come away like on previous Dyson upright machines such as the DC25. The handle coming away from the machine provides an ergonomic grip to hold onto.


 


Also, the newer Ball uprights and Ball cylinders aren't even balls, in fact, they don't even have any! They've done away with the ball, and put two half sphere shape wheels on, then a spherical shape 'core' where the motor and other components are held in. Proper Ball machines like the DC15, DC24, and DC25 actually have Balls that roll, and the ball is a full sphere, thus it is a PROPER ball cleaner.


 


By all means, have designers that have University qualifications, but don't give them a job when they've just graduated. The designers of previous Dyson products had Uni qualifications, but have had experience of previous design company's. Unfortunately, it seems as if we're loosing these designers from Malmesbury.


 


How on Earth Sir James can let poor design like on the DC41 get past him, I have no idea. No doubt we'll see even worse designs in the future...
 
But Tim - I seem to remember when you first joined VL, you took the mickey out of Vax as cheap and nasty and that the sun shone out of Dyson's backside - perhaps you have now seen the light and learnt the error of your ways


I would not touch a modern Dyson with a 40 foot bargepole - they are utter overpriced far eastern made crap, and that's putting it mildly. I just cant see what people see in them. I am sick and tired of the sheer number of nothing but Dysons on Ebay. The world has gone completely Dyson crazy, and see him as some kind of vacuum God!
 
Yes indeed, Steve, I have learnt indeed. But I learnt because I saw how crap the newer Dyson products are in real life, specifically when I went to John Lewis in Nottingham once and just felt the DC41, it just doesn't feel quality...


 


Some Vaxs are great, such as the 121 as well as other Vax carpet washers. I haven't got a problem with them :)


 


 
 
I had a chance to have a good go with the DC41 Animal as my friend wanted me to restore it. This is what I thought of it;
The vacuum has an awful wand mechanism. There is no handle that gets in the way. Yes that is good, but it is not really comfortable to hold whilst in use.
The DC41 Animal has more flexible plastic, but there seems to be a design flaw where the left side of their so called "ball" has a pin joint which snaps off. This needs to be sorted out.
To clear out a blockage, the only things you can do are remove the cleaner head, take off the hose & wand and also the cyclone just to check the uptake pipe and flip the small clear window up. The hose is inside the casing so I wouldn't recommend vacuuming up things like pine needles or else it would be a pain in the rear just to unclog the vacuum.
The bristles have pretty much the same stiffness as a non clutched Dyson brushroll.
The suction is not very impressive as it has less than a DC04 which is a much better vacuum and retailed nearly a half as the DC41!
The DC25 is a much better vacuum in terms or sturdiness, performance, and noise levels.
Anecdote- I would go for the DC25 over the DC41 as I want a reliable machine which cleans good, one I can rely on and also is a much more better designed machine. If I have a blockage for example, atleast I don't have to use a screw driver and do half of a machine tear down just to access the internal hose! What if it rips?
 
When I was in Costco I had a go with the DC50, & I hated the loud crack made when you put the handle back to release it from it's upright mechanism. They all just feel awful.

Plus, I laugh at the adverts on the side of the page about the New Dyson Handheld (DC??) apparently having 10x the suction of a Gtech Airram. However because my school uses the Airrams to Vacuum up the corridors & I doubt I'll see this new Dyson doing that. Wouldn't last a second with all the stones, leaves etc whereas the Airrams are being used every break, every lunch & inbetween lessons & they have been used like this for the past YEAR.

I know Dysons aren't meant to be used in a commercial environment but neither is the Airram but it still is & it shows how durable the Gtech is.
 
I wouldn't be laughing.

Well I doubt the Air Ram or any DOMESTIC vacuum like the cordless Air Ram or Dyson would survive in a school - maybe in a pre-school nursery where it is required to clean up on very little carpet. The only other way for anything like that to survive in a school is if the owner solely uses it and doesn't pass it around.

Otherwise I'm afraid your Air Ram theory isn't going to stand up to general abuse of other handlers. You only need to look on EBAY to see the faulty Air Rams at reduced costs. They're not that durable for industry cleaning.
 
My uncle owns a Dyson DC27 All floors and he uses it in a very large carpeted hall, it is a few years old and gets used all the time there, it looks like the Dyson was used domestically when it was actually used commercially! I think that the vacuum being used before the Dyson took over was a big blue Numatic of some sort.
 
I wouldn't send a Dyson into 'battle' like at a school for example. The design of Dyson's vacuum cleaners are designed for domestic homes only.


 


Dyson can bang on about there testing, but it isn't good enough. You test products properly an actual 'real life' environment, say in someone's house. That's what I did for my product that I made for my Product Design GCSE. My product, the Dawn Sunset DL01 (a table lamp), was tested inside my house, not tested by me, but by others of the family. Knocked over, bashed, bumped, and slid around.


 


My product achieved an A, and the rest of the GSCE came to a B grade, so my design was a huge success.


 


And look at me, I don't have a University Qualification yet I can design something that lasts and is built properly. Just goes to show that great design doesn't always come from Uni grads.   


 


 

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I realise they're not meant to be used commercially, I just said that it wouldn't last as long as the Airram.
 
A degree qualification

Has become so widely available now that for a good deal of people the meaning of their degree is somewhat dilute in today's world. I heard an interesting article on the BBC recently where an employer was saying they actively seek out applications from people who have not received a University education.
 
It's very similar to that time when someone out of Uni had developed 'the Cardboard Vacuum Cleaner' for Vax. There was a thread about it somewhere.
 

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