Bosch Cyclone Jet BUC11700UC Review

Overall Rating

It actually does suck up dirt - lots of it!

My dogs hate it.

We bought the Bosch Cyclone Jet BUC11700UC after a catalogue of disasters with our old Dyson, here's the story: Carolyn asked me to fix the Dyson on Boxing Day. The prospect of changing yet another broken belt on our old Dyson was just too much to bear. It wasn't a happy relationship with the old DC01 but since we had paid an arm and a leg for it a few years ago,(the same price as a semi in the 1930's according to Grandad), we soldiered on with it. I became quite adept at stripping it down to clear blockages, change belts, rollers etc. And must have spent a fortune on this stuff over the years. So many bits broke off the thing that it raised the question of why they were there in the first place.

No way was I buying another Dyson and in-depth research directed me to the Bosch BUC11700GB upright. I read a number of product reviews and I was attracted by the fact that it does NOT have a drive belt and that, because it has a separate motor, the user can switch off the brush roller when vacuuming a hard surface. This means that all the available power from the main motor is used to suck up dirt. It is a physical fact that the more powerful the motor, the heavier the vacuum cleaner, so I was not too concerned about reports of excess weight in some reviews. In fact, the Bosch BUC11700GB cleaner dind't feel as heavy to me as our old Dyson DC01, but I must admit that I didn't actually weigh the things - come off it! A point here, some review sites, excluding this one, state the power of this cleaner as being 1450 watts when, according to Bosch, it's 1700 watts. That extra power makes a great deal of difference.

I quickly found a number of websites selling this model for between £95 and £115 incl vat. Post and packing was about £10 which means that you can get the Bosch BUC11700GB for as little as £105 delivered to your home. I searched all the usual web sites, including Comet, Curry's, Argos and Tesco etc, but none of these companies had this model listed, so I wasn't able to buy one off the shelf locally. I eventually discovered that Powerhouse were selling this cleaner, but at the premium price of £130. Carolyn was not prepared to wait for a lower cost on-line purchase and dragged me protesting around all the above named shops to see if they really did have one cheaper - they didn't. I simply cannot recommend traipsing around all these places during the manic shopping periods between Christmas and New Year so take my advice and buy one on-line. So, Powerhouse it was then, and we left the shop carrying our brand new Bosch vacuum cleaner and even at £130 it was almost half the price of the equivalent Dyson.

It was well packed and very simple to set up from the box. Within a few minutes it was ready to switch on. I operated the red switch on the handle and.......nothing. Spent a few more minutes looking for the obvious but still nothing. After reading the manual and locating the correct switch, which was hidden on the front of the handle, I did a quick test run over the drawing room carpet and it soon became obvious why some people think this machine is heavy. The suction was holding the cleaner to the carpet and a little effort was required to push it around. Turn it off and it pushes easily. The results were astonishing. The carpet, which is less than a year old, was relieved of masses of disgusting looking grey matter, the like of which the Dyson had never seen in its life. We have two Springer Spaniels, not normally allowed into the drawing room, but who's hair obviously wafts around the place. Also, the pile on the carpet looked nicely spruced up and all in all I felt pretty pleased with myself. The old Dyson was immediately placed in the Bosch packaging and dispatched to the local rubbish tip.

This wonderful machine has changed our lives. Food tastes better, sex lives have improved...........oh come on, you don't believe all that stuff do you?

Seriously, I've only just bought this vacuum cleaner, so I'm not really qualified to give any opinion of its longevity, but the build and materials quality are of a high standard and the ergonomics are good. Emptying the waste collection cylinder is a doddle, aided by a dinky little button so that you can empty it at arms length without getting a faceful of house dust. Some reviews have critisised the shortness of the hose for cleaning curtains etc, but I suspect they haven't fully pulled the hose from inside the tube where it is stored because I have found it to be more than adequate. Noise levels seem about average - bigger motor more noise - and the dogs, who hate all vacuum cleaners more than they hate cats, run and hide whenever it appears. Lastly, and to the great joy of Carolyn, the cable, which is 25ft long, winds in automatically at the touch of a foot switch. Some people are easily pleased! Absolutely finally, and I can't really believe I'm saying this about a vacuum cleaner, it looks quite stylish. Thank God this is anonymous.

BUY IT!!!

Members' Comments onoldfart's Review

• mbplee on 8th Jun 2005

  I and my wife read this review and enjoyed the style in which it was written. It was very descriptive, and interestingly written. We were very impressed with the review, so much so that I placed an internet order soon after. Then I tried to relocate this review and could not find it. It took me 2 days to finally find it using Copernic Agent and painstakingly going through every Link that was found. It was just as pleasant reading it the second time. Thanks for a brilliant review, Oldfart!

• oldfart on 12th May 2006

  Nearly 18 months down the road with this model and still no complaints - it continues to do a marvelous job. I'm just about to try and buy another one for my business premises if it's still in production. Who'd of thought that I would get so enthusiastic about a vacuum cleaner. Middle age certainly brings you back down to earth!