Dyson DC05 Motorhead Review

Overall Rating

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

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 ;-)

Members' Comments onGill.'s Review

• babyboy19. on 10th Jun 2003

  The engineer was not telling the truth because the DC05 Motorheads did not snap because the customer hadn't pressed in the right part, it was because the joint was just too weak to take any normal vacuuming action. I had 3, DC05 motorheads which I used properly and still had a problem with the Motorheads breaking at the joint. Dyson had been aware of this problen for some time, it was about time that they had changed the design of it. Say if it was the customers fault because they were not seperating the Motorhead properly from the wand, there would not have been any need for Dyson to change their design, but there was a natural fault with it, which caused it to break because of the weight of the Motorhead against that weak joint. Its a similar problem with the Dyson handles on the uprights which have a common problem of breaking. Dyson realised this and started making the handles out of different type of plastic. I wouldn't take too much notice of what some of these engineers come up with, the Dyson engineer who came out to my house started to chat a load of rubbish, saying that the brushbars never wear and that the belt is OK as long as the brush is rotating, I mean come on, we all know that brushes DO wear and that smooth belts which are on the Dyson do lose their efficiency after a year or so.
  
  The DC05's I had also had a problem with the cord reel, which start to slowly rewind themselves when the machine gets hot.

• Gill. on 23rd Jun 2003

  Thanks for your comments on my review babyboy19.
  I have now lived with my vacuum cleaner for a while and would like to add the some comments as a reply to your remarks.
  
  (1) I agree with the cord rewind. The Cable is longer than most cylinder cleaners and has trouble fitting into the small allocated space when retracting. I have experienced this with almost all my vacuum cleaners and the Dyson is no exception. I've not had a problem with the cord rewinding itself as you've experienced. I sometimes have to 'encourage' the cord to rewind.
  
  
  (2) As routine maintenence, I clear out the hairs in my cleaners brush bar. There are two plastic tabs that rotate to open the brushbar for service. If you have done this, you can remove the second cover which reveals the motorhead drive belt. My belt was toothed, fitted onto a geared cog and not smooth as you have experienced. This could be due to the fact that mine was supplied with a 'revised' motorhead.
  
  I agree with your comment that a design is never revised unless there is a recognised problem. Fortunately (for me at least) I have the revised design, so this isnt an issue. I also agree that Engineers can and sometimes do speak a load of nonsense.
  
  The only real flaw with this little cleaner has to be the emptying process which is dusty. Lets face it, we got this cleaner and paid extra because it has a hepa filter to help us allergy sufferers. Unfortunately this hasnt been considered for those who empty the cannister.
  
  I stick firmly by my 9/10 mark