Dyson DC05 Motorhead

Love the Dyson, best ever vacuum machine I've ever had. Great quick service even under warranty!

I purchased my Dyson DC05 motorhead vacuum cleaner on 17/05/2003, and it was deemed to be faulty on first use. After carefully putting it together the floor tool with motorised head cracked on first contact with my short pile carpet. I returned it to the shop and it was immediately replaced.

I had approximately 1 and a 1/2 years of trouble free use with my replacement, but eventually started to notice a loss of suction, and after careful inspection saw that cracks were appearing on the dust box in the place where the wand clips into the handle for storage when not in use. It appears the wand is rather too long and weighty for its plastic housing on the front, and I recommend it not being placed on the cleaner before lifting it. Anyhow I rang the Dyson helpline and a whole new dust cylinder was sent under the 2 year guarantee, which was excellent. Sadly, other problems seemed to develop over time. The beater bar just stopped turning, even with only a small amount of hair caught around it, and the red light on the motorhead would come on, even though there were no blockages anywhere. After a while this seemed to resolve itself, and we carried on regardless beyond the guarantee expiry date. Recently I noticed the control switch was behaving badly, like it had a loose connection, and the zorb position stopped operating altogether, which didn't really bother me too much as that was no more than a gimmicky function which I never used more than once.

Eventually my machine died on 6/03/2006 at less than 3 years old. The beater bar seems to be ceased up, and when I turn it on it smells of burning (some electrical fault) - maybe the motor.

Not the best value for money. I wonder where I stand under the sale of goods act and my statutory rights?

I have had a Dyson DC05 Motorhead vacuum cleaner for 3 years now, and it is working the same now as it did the day we had it delivered (£150 brand new - good old Ebay).

It picks up absolutely everything we throw at it, and it is a tough machine that has withstood bangs, drops and falling down the stairs on several occasions.

I don't think it is made anymore, so if you have the chance to pick one up, snatch their hand off!

I think this represents poor value for money.

The cleaner has only average suction with the motorhead attached - more more obvious when using one of the attachments (but then suction orifice is smaller, so suction would appear stronger).

When the wand/head is parked in the v-shaped retension slot, the cleaner feels ungainly and unstable when lifted.

The tools get in the way (when not using the extension tubes/motorhead) and bang against furniture and fittings. Although this doesn't damage anything, it's irritating.

As several others have said, emptying the canister can be quite messy.

The on/off/mode switch often causes the RCD to trip in the Consumer Unit (arcing??). Even the replacement handle does the same! For this reason I tend to keep the motor going when moving the cleaner or changing attachments.

Overall, I don't think this product has any advantages over a quality German cylinder cleaner, such as a Miele.

I was forced to buy a new vacuum cleaner when my VAX AVC died after just one year of service. The front plastic chassis had disintegrated where the motor powered brushbar was located and the insurance company decided that it was beyond economical repair. I have thick piled carpets in some of my house so a motorised brush bar is essential. All upright vacuum cleaners have a motorised brushbar so I was pretty sure that an upright belt driven brushbar vacuum was required.

My wife said that she was tired of lugging the upright vacuum cleaner up the staircase so a cylinder vacuum cleaner was on the cards. The DC05 Motorhead on paper, fit the bill perfectly. I was weary of Dyson's DC05 Motorhead after reading so many bad reviews on the motorhead attachment, but alas it was the only bagless cylinder I could find that had a belt driven head.

I found a DC05 motorhead available on the Internet at a low price of £225+£3 p&p. It arrived a few days later and I opened the box. I assembled the parts and tried to power up. Nothing....the vacuum was DOA. shaking the wand seemed to bring it to life for a few seconds. NOT A GOOD START !!! I was very disappointed at Dyson for letting this slip past their quality control. The DC05 or any Dyson for that matter is an expensive machine! I had two options. I could either reject the new cleaner or arrange for Dyson to send an engineer around. The outlet that sent my DC05 had no available stock to send a replacement and I would have to wait weeks for one so I opted for Dyson to send an engineer in 3 days time.

The nice man from Dyson came and looked at my cleaner and diagnosed a broken fuse inside the wand. He said that it was likely that it broke in transit and he would send a replacement part to me within 2 days. I asked him about the bad reviews I had read here about the motorhead attachment breaking. Apparently Dyson sent out loads of replacement motorheads attachments due to the tool snapping at the join where it met the extension tube. The engineer said the snap was mainly caused by hairline fractures, which were due to customers not pressing the button by the join to release/attach the motorhead tool, but instead pressing on the tube to force it in. The motorhead tool has now been redesigned with a reinforced join. He showed me where the join had been re-enforced and showed me that I had a redesigned attachment. The engineer that called covers the West end of London. He told me that three DC05 Motorheads are used in Buckingham Palace!!! and he has been there to service the machines

From the reviews I have read here, the single most frequently occurring complaint about the DC05 Motorhead is the Motorhead attachment tool breaking. Now that Dyson have redesigned the head this is no longer a problem. Dysons come with a two year parts and labour guarantee. I suggest that all those of you out there who have an original or replacement head contact Dyson customer service and have the reinforced head shipped out to you because YOUR one has broken AGAIN ;-)

I will definitely be taking out the £55 Dyson cover to extend my cover to include accidental damage and 5 years parts and labour.

To summarise:

POSITIVES

My vacuum cleaner arrived dead due to poor courier handling, Dyson rectified this ASAP (excellent customer service)

The vacuum cleaner picks up dirt like no other, beats my previous £250 cyclone Vax AVC

Its small, lightweight and compact

The Motorhead tool is AMAZING!!! what other cylinder cleaner can groom as well if not better than an upright????

Looks Hi-Tech

Long electrical flex and hose/wand for a cylinder vacuum

Hand held control

I am converted to Dysonism after purchasing many cheaper (and some not so cheaper) vacuum cleaners over the years

I would buy Dyson again when my DC05 Motorhead eventually fails after the 5 year guarantee is up and would recommend Dyson to anyone.

NEGATIVES

Although Customer Services are open 6 days a week 8am to 8pm , the engineers only work 9am - 5pm weekdays, so if you have a call out you may have to arrange some time off.

The engineers cant say what time they will call, You can find out a rough time by calling customer services ON THE DAY of your appointment.

Its a bit dusty when emptying the canister

Although the vacuum looks hi-tech, the main body is somewhat plasticy

Price. Its quite expensive though you get what you pay for

ADDITIONAL

Not sure if this is a positive or a negative - The see thru canister fills up very quickly.

The Motorhead snapping issue has been resolved with new design - get yours replaced before the 2 years are up!!!

No. I dont work for Dyson ;-)

The Motorhead has failed thrice within 10 months from new. Dyson repair mechanic can't give time of day when they will call so if both partners work it is impossible to arrange repairs. Dyson are inflexible in this respect. A repair mechanic was not available for some time and Dyson arranged to have it collected after 2 weeks of reporting faults taking a further 2 weeks to repair and return it. There is definitely a design fault in this machine. Do not buy it or your life will be a misery for buying such an expensive faulty machine that has no hope of lasting more than a few months at a time.

I have been delighted with both the dyson vacuums I have used. I have moved back to Australia from uk and am in the market for another Dyson - nothing else will do, despite the hefty price.

We've had our Dyson DC05 Motorhead vacuum cleaner for over a month now and the motorhead attachment broke on its second outing (i.e after 3 days!!!)

i called up dyson and they sent us a replacement out straight away and we received that within a few days, so the customer service from Dyson is excellent!

Other than that, the cleaner is excellent at its job and is the most powerful cleaner we have ever used...most impressive!

We still feel however that a vacuum cleaner of this price and status should be more built more solidly. Thankfully it has the 2 year warrenty to back it up. Which reminds me, i must check if an extended warrenty is available...

Overall, an impressive vacuum cleaner.

I have now had my Dyson DCO5 motorhead vacuum cleaner for 7 months. In that time I have broken three Motorhead Units. The point at which the Motorhead units fits to the wand is flimsy and badly designed. Although Dyson have been very good at replacing the Motorhead units there is clearly a design fault at this point. I would add that I use the machine for normal domestic use and my wife and I do not normally abuse our domestic equipment.

A cylinder cleaner with a motorised head is a great idea. When I saw this Dyson DC05 vacuum cleaner I thought it combined the best of both cylinders and uprights. And it was a Dyson! So I handed over the dosh and went home with my new toy.

However I feel that I was taken in by the the hype. I was impressed by the initial results, but on its second outing the motorhead broke. A common problem so it appears. This was eventually replaced. But I am now very conscious of how fragile and plasticky it is.

I then noticed that there is no way of regulating the suction to allow for the vacuuming of curtains and upholstery. The strong suction pulls the curtains off the rail!

The motorised head does not pick up anything larger than small pieces of grit, anything more than 5 mm in diameter just rattles around in the head before being spat out, because the entrance inlet to the telescopic arm is so small.

After about a month I noticed that suction was diminishing, and realised that the washable filter was getting clogged with dust, i.e. the claim that it doesn't loose suction is blatantly false. I washed the filter and it performed alright for a while. This filter has to be washed more often than claimed and I cannot find a retail outlet that stock a replacement should it get worn out.

The cable no longer retracts automatically, presumably because the spring has worn out.

Emptying the dust cylinder is a rather dusty and dirty process. It gets scratched and stained and soon looses that shiny space age look.

The machine seems to be very susceptible to blockages, whether in the pipe or in the machine itself. Vacuuming on the stairs caused all the fluff in the cylinder to rise to the top and block the outlet.

Trying to vacuum the house became a nightmare as I was having to nurse the cleaner along: emptying the cylinder, shaking the filter, unclogging blockages.

The end finally came less than six months after buying it! The controls have broken. I can switch on the motorised head but not the vacuum. It will not suck. It just sucks!

I am hugely disappointed. It is a very expensive cylinder vaccum cleaner and does not live up to expectations. Nice idea, poor execution. Designers might love it but for serious cleaning it is just not robust enough.

I am attempting to get a refund of my £290.

I am currently looking for a functional and reliable vacuum cleaner that will probably be a lot cheaper and last longer.