by Dyson Ball vacuums look great. They also suck — and not in a great way.
Don’t be fooled by the ball. Don’t follow the ball. Roll away from the ball now.
We used to really love Dyson vacuums. We bought the “purple pet” vacuum — especially crafted for those who own pets and have to deal with shedding on a daily basis — when it first hit the market and we loved the machine. It sucked in a great way and it never left a single pet hair behind. Everything was inhaled. The house was clean.
Time and tide and lots of hair finally defeated our purple wonder and we immediately decided to “Go Ballin'” for the newer, yellow, Dyson Ball Vac to replace our previous purple people eater.
Big Mistake.
The Dyson Ball is nothing like the regular Dyson vacuum we initially fell in love with — even though The Ball is more expensive and uglier. The Ball is aiming more for art than function; more facade than substance. Its silhouette sure does look pretty standing there in the closet, but call it to action and it miserably fails as a cleaning device.
The Ball has no sucking power. It is difficult to maneuver around objects. “It’s just mean,” is Janna’s favorite critique of the Ball during and after every use.
I also find the Ball a casual, yet cruel, joke. You think technology with an aesthetic will always be greater and grander that what it used to be — but that is not the case in the matter of the Dyson Ball.
I now see there is a purple pet version of the Dyson Ball — yes, the ball is a beautiful purple and not an obnoxious yellow — and while we are tempted by our memories of what used to be, our current neon yellow reality strikes back to remind us we’re never buying Dyson again.
David,
It’s unfortunate that you have had such a negative experience with a Dyson vacuum cleaner. I have had my Dyson for nearly five years and it keeps on chugging away. I suppose I will make sure to steer clear of the ball model! Thanks for the great review.
We should’ve had the original Dyson fixed and skipped the Ball. Who knew Dyson would reverse innovate?
If you ever see the Dyson air hand driers at restaurants, you may change your feelings on Dyson — thoroughly dry your hands and, if they are to believed, in a completely sanitary manner.
Meanwhile, this person has found the Ball to also be lacking
I haven’t used a Dyson Aiblade yet. Having 400 mph wind scrape the water off my hands is intriguing, but where does the water go?
The Dyson Ball is a big joke and I’ve given ours over a year to impress. In that YouTube video you quoted, one of the commenters said something like vacuuming with a Dyson Ball is like pushing a printer around your floor and expecting it to pick up the dirt. Ha! Right!
I could stand in the middle of my living room with our original purple Dyson vacuum and, with the nozzle attachment only, I could turn in a circle with the nozzle pointing away from me in the air and have all the dirt and dust and junque sucked into the machine. It was wonderful.
We bought one two years ago for our vacation condo. We’re only there 3 months per year and this thing doesn’t work worth a crap! It has very low suction, the beater bar sometimes doesn’t work, and it seems to grab the rug and is very hard to move. We’ve called customer support and they just blame the problem on how we’re using the vacuum. Pathetic, We’re shopping this week for a traditional canister and hope we can prevent others from making this expensive mistake. DON’T BUY THIS THIS THING. IT DOESN’T WORK. AND DYSON WILL NOT WORK WITH YOU.
I’m with you, CRB! The Ball is a terrible design. It looks great, but it doesn’t work. It wouldn’t hurt so much if the thing didn’t cost so much money! What a total waste.
HI! I bought the dyson ball at Target yesterday for $400 and this thing is horrible! The $70 Eureka that it is replacing worked wayyyy better. I am so annoyed that now I have to box this thing back up and haul it back to target. What a pain. I totally agree that this thing sucks, and NOT in a good way,lol!
You’re smart to take it back, Mindy. It’s better than living with the awful thing live we’ve been doing!
Dyson sucks, indeed. Bought the hype and the marketing and the high-design and bought a handheld. In fewer than three years the battery is unusable.
My three-times-cheaper, old, low-tech Black & Decker worked for five or six years.
Dyson’s PR machine gave me a perfunctory reply then ignored me.
First and last Dyson we’ll ever buy.
That’s disappointing! So they wouldn’t replace the battery for you? Or did they want to charge you?
I am so glad to find these reviews about the Dyson ball vacuum. We purchased the yellow Dyson, (DC07) five years ago and used it so constantly that finally the handle snapped (which we duct taped so we could keep using the vacuum).
With that much use, it seemed time to get a new one and the ball vacuum was being hyped big time on TV by Sir James himself. No worries about purchasing the ball vacuum with the fabulous experience of the DC07.
Sir James should be ashamed of himself. The ball vacuum contains so many ersatz versions of the original excellent features. The hose is half the size in length and in circular diameter. It does not even stretch from the floor to the top of a kitchen counter (to vacuum crumbs). The diameter of the wand itself is also half the size. The steps it takes to get the brushes turning is so unintuitive that I have to consult the manual each time I use it.
I used to be able to vacuum a full flight of stairs with DC07 at the bottom of the stairs; that’s how long the hose was on the first vacuum.
The suction is still awesome, but it is now housed in a very cheap vacuum.
I absolutely hate this vacuum. It is useless in a big house. I am giving it to my daughter to use in her studio apartment and getting the old one repaired. Hopefully, the ball vacuum is up to the job of cleaning her one room apartment!
Sir James is selling snake-oil with the ball vacuum.
Hi Karen!
You make an excellent point about the hose length. It is awful on the Ball. It doesn’t reach. The hose also tends to want to get sucked back into the holding tube when you turn on the vacuum — so you’re fighting a retracting hose instead of vacuuming up the junk you can’t reach or even aim at any more!
The Ball must’ve looked great on paper — the design is keen — but as a functioning vacuum, it really is awful.
I just had a DC19Y Blow up in a huge smoke cloud. It gets looked after like a baby has very low usage only 3 yrs old. When calling customer service it seems to me they are very well trained to ignore a genuine complaint. Its what motivated me to look up Dyson unhappy with. Never again!!!
What was their response? Are they going to fix the machine for you?