Cut in half in Harrods...

[vintagehoover]

Yesterday, I took a trip to London, during which I took the Tube to Knightsbridge to visit Harrods - always an exciting event!

Naturally I stopped in their electrical department for a while, and took a few pics with my phone-camera. It seems the UK's most exclusive and revered department store has decided only to stock Miele and Dyson! The Miele display wasn't anything special, but the Dyson displays were quite interesting, so I thought I'd post the pics here!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrods

 

[vintagehoover]

Some of the canisters...

 

[vintagehoover]

Almost all of the 1st and 2nd gen. handhelds - how cool is the half-a-chair?! They're all charged up, and you can actually test them out. Makes a change from stores like Comet and Currys, where there's nothing to test them on, and the batteries are invariably dead!

 

[vintagehoover]

Cut in half in Harrods...

This is the coolest thing - I SO want one of these!

A DC24 sliced cleanly down the middle, so you can see all the ingenious technology!

 

[vintagehoover]

...

 

[vintagehoover]

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[vintagehoover]

Root cyclones and pre-motor filter...

 

[vintagehoover]

And the motor within the Ball...

 

[bagintheback]

I just saw that on your blog. I try to look at it everyday. I just love your photos and videos. I never knew that the Dyson ball had such a big motor! One day I will get a Dyson, but I've never had the money. Maybe one day I might find one at the goodwill that's just clogged.

Nathaniel

 

[ohio_tuec]

An interesting display indeed! Thank you for posting. I agree with Nathaniel - Dyson definitely needs to lower their prices, and improve their customer service here in the United States. The DC07 I acquired cost about half the price of new one to repair. We got it as a trade-in at Oreck. The ones I do see for sale at the flea market are usually in deplorable condition, and getting parts is difficult and costly. James Dyson really needs to rethink his marketing strategy. Now that they are produced in Malaysia, they probably cost him pennies to make....

 

[vintagehoover]

Dyson need to lower their prices?

I think a case of overpricing could be made for just about any brand, if you compare the price they sell for to what they actually cost to make! Dyson, at least, invest the money into R&D for new technology.

How much does an Oreck XL10 cost to make, before it reaches the consumer with a £429 pricetag? And where does that money go? If they halved their price, perhaps they could sell twice as many, but they don't seem to have any rush to do so...

For anyone interested in Dyson - or the vacuum business in general - I thoroughly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252944807&sr=1-1

 

[vintagehoover]

Here's a link to Amazon.co.uk's listing for the same book, which tells you a little more about it.

To understand why Dyson run the company as they do, you have to understand James Dyson, and the philosophies by which he works. This book really presents all this sort of info well, and also has a lot of interesting data about the public's perception of the brand in its 3 biggest markets.

I can't recommend it enough if you have questions about Dyson.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Brand...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252944983&sr=8-1

 

[vintagehoover]

And here's a podcast featuring the book's author Iain Carruthers, talking about his book, James Dyson, and the Dyson company. It's just over half an hour long, but it's fascinating.

http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2007/06/25/dyson-the-engineers-marketer/

 

[kenmore81]

It is a cool display Jack. I wish the stores around here did that. No stores here have any corless vacs charged, ecept Best Buy but the have a fit when you touch there displays go figure.

 

[ohio_tuec]

How much does an Oreck XL10 cost to make?

Offhand, I do not know, but what I do know is when you purchase an Oreck XL Platinum, Oreck does not up and leave you high and dry. Part of the purchase price (at least here in the U.S. anyway) goes towards a 10-year service agreement where you can bring your Oreck to any nationwide dealership and have it serviced free once a year. I don't know of any other vacuum manufacturer which does that. Dyson may spend alot on R&D, but then again, so does Kirby, and IMHO Kirby is a far better quality machine. From what I understand, Dysons cost considerably less on the other side of the pond, and when I needed parts for my DC15 "The Ball," I thought it was very unfair of Dyson to not sell me the parts directly, I had to go through a third-party distributor which added to the cost factor. I think James Dyson "gouges" American customers because his machine is still a relatively new fad over here. Fantom went out of business so Dyson "could fill the vacuum." Just my two cents.

 

[vintagehoover]

'Dyson may spend alot on R&D, but then again, so does Ki

- I have to question that; what new technology has Kirby developed recently? They only make one model at a time, and as far as I can tell, the Sentria is largely the same as most of the G-series in basic design, aside from a few tweaks here and there. The motor pulls a few cfpm more than the G8 Diamond Edition, lacks the 2-speed switch, has an LED headlamp, a re-skin - have I missed anything major? How much did that cost to achieve? I don't see anything which requires considerable R&D costs. It seems to me that the cost of the Kirby has far more to do with the way it's distributed and sold - dealer mark-up, salesmans' commission, etc - than any R&D-related costs.

- A Kirby may be better quality, yes - and so it damn well should be! The most expensive Dyson here is the DC23 Motorhead, which sells for £343, and has no consumables. A new Sentria costs £1600+, plus the costs of bags and belts.

- A Dyson comes with a 5 year guarantee - so you're sure to get at least 5 years use out of it. In the UK at least, a complete overhaul out of the warranty period (including parts and labour), will cost just £65. But who knows how much technology will have evolved in 5 years. You might wish to dump the older machine and upgrade to the latest model. Certainly, the cleaners Dyson make now are lightyears ahead, in efficiency, quality and durability, to the cleaners they made 5 years ago.

- Why single out Dyson for 'gouging' US customers? What about Sebo or Miele? Lots of European brands are marketed at premium prices in the US, why not mention those?

 

[ohio_tuec]

You're sure right about that - Miele and Sebo are also overpriced here in the states. They might be fabulous machines, just not for me. Kirby is constantly innovating on the design they already have (which is time tested successful), because Kirby knows a bagged system is the most hygienic method of dust disposal available at this time. Mr. Oreck on his infomercial has PROVEN how unsafe & unsanitary a bagless system is. Even if you do empty it outside, dust flies everywhere when the collection bin is opened. Dyson is still improving on their bagless because even now the design still has flaws. Even their newest machines still have filters (albeit washable) because cyclonic separation still cannot filter out all the dust particles. Except for one model, all his cleaners have "gas guzzling" 12-amp motors. Dyson no doubt has made improvements over the last 5 years, but do they offer FREE yearly service on their machines? It still doesn't explain why Dysons cost less in the U.K. and the better models are still only available for the U.K. market. Mr. Dyson made only enemies closing his factory, and moving production to Malaysia. "It was an agonizing decision" Mr. Dyson said. What a crock! For what he charges for his cleaners here in the U.S., he could well have afforded to keep the Malmesbury plant open.

 

[ohio_tuec]

"When it comes to dirt and germs, what you can't se

I'm not saying Oreck is the perfect vacuum, I know many here on the forum despise it, but say what you will, Mr. Oreck does bring about a very interesting point when it comes to bagless vacuums. And quite frankly, if performance does suffer slightly from using a bagged vacuum, if it contains the dust better, so be it. I know you think I'm being hard on Dyson, and if Tom Gasko were here, he'd be cheering right along with you. Miele, Sebo, Lindhaus, Bosch and many other European makes use bags. Dyson is the only high-end manufacturer that does not. Like you said, there have been alot of improvements over the last 5 years, but he still hasn't gotten it 100% right. And I sincerely doubt there will ever be a Dyson that weighs 8 pounds.

 

[vintagehoover]

I'm just laughing at the words 'Mr. Oreck', 'infomercial' and 'proven'!

lol