Dyson's bagless technology is superior...
Yes, it can be messy to empty, but in a bagless vacuum I find Dyson's core separation technology vastly superior to others I've tried.
As far as I know, the Dyson uses triple cyclone (Root 3) to separate the dust from the air before it is output through the hepa filter. It works very well. I have to wash out the reusable hepa filter every 3 months but, hey, that's really not a big deal at all.
Compare this to my Sanitaire commercial bagless vac that I use to vacuum the hallways of my apartment building. It a good vacuum, works great, but like some other vacuums from Eureka, Hoover, Dirt Devil, and others (where dust is sent to a cyclone, but is filtered out by a pleated filter sitting right inside the cyclone bin), it's a maintenance nightmare. In a design like this, fine, powdery, grey dust cakes the filter and clogs it to a significant degree EVERY time I vacuum with it. Dust, hair, fur, etc. Granted the hallways represent more real estate than most apartments and some houses and I vacuum the hallways only once or twice a week. Still, I actually have to remove the filter and vacuum the caked dust from between the pleats with my Sanitaire mighty mite canister AFTER EVERY TIME I use it for the upright to even be usable next time. No wonder some folks toss out a perfectly good vacuum after a few months - unless they do this rigorous maintenance, their vac is useless in short order.
The Dyson design is so superior that does away with this filter and there's hardly any dust to be seen on the output hepa filter to boot. I'm very pleased with the Dyson in that regard. I'm also pleased with the way it filters. So far the Dyson has made the air very breathable after I vacuum and I've had no problems with leaking seals, etc. How do I know it works? My girlfriend is hyper-allergic, from dust, cat and dog dander, fragrances in soaps and detergents, perfume and colognes, as well as food allergies. She also notices how clean the air feels after using the Dyson and loves the Dyson for it. If there were a bagless vac that had the durability of a commercial Sanitaire and the separation and filtering performance of a Dyson, I think I would like that a lot.
Yes it can be messy to empty a bagless. I bring it to the trash can outside to do it. I've developed strategies to minimize on the mess though. I've learned to rap the cylinder with my palm to get all the dust onto the hinged bottom before I open it. Then I hold onto the hinged bottom with one hand and the cylinder in the other and give it a few firm but controlled shakes to get whatever's left out. I make sure to stand upwind so that any dust blows away from me. When I use a pitcher-type container, like on the Sanitaire, I make sure to stand upwind and SLOWLY pour the contents onto a surface that's right under the lip of the container. Dumping it fast and at any height will insure a mushroom cloud of dust.
I love bagged vacuums, too, for sure. They are also messy, but in a different way. I'm talking about how some dust does leak from the bag and settles into the surfaces and crevices of the bag compartment. After a while there's a lot of accumulation that needs to be wiped or vacuumed out. For me using a bagged vacuum or a Dyson is a wash in terms of maintenance. Either of these are far superior to most bagless vacs, however. Now the caveat is that I'm just talking about my experience with my Dyson DC23 canister (I wipe the dust off the gaskets with a damp rag after each use to ensure a tight seal for every subsequent use). I'm not sure about characteristics of the Dyson uprights, or whether the newer bagless vacs, like Hoover's Mach 3, Mach 6, or T Series improves on dust separation or filter maintenance.
I have no experience with Filter Queens, but based on the way they need to be emptied, I'm pretty sure they're not for me.
