No common household product is safe from a Dyson disruption. This time around the company is taking on the household space heater and just announced an air multiplier fitted with a ceramic heating element. The result is a heater that not only looks freakin’ awesome but also one that draws in surrounding air and recirculates it without the traditional choppy air effect or spinning blades. A handy remote allows for operation from afar and a temperature gauge allows you to precisely dial in the desired temperature.

Heating is optional. The AM04 also possesses all the goods as Dyson’s traditional Air Multipliers, which gives owners a valid excuse to keep this functional conversation piece in their room year round. Just like the other models, the fanless design allows for easy cleaning and safe operation but Dyson included a tip-over sensor that automagically cuts the power if the 5 lbs heater is tipped over.

The new AM04 is available for $399 in either iron/blue or white/silver. The company just announced the models so local retailers might not have them in stock, but you can be sure these heaters will eventually occupy prime retail locations well before the holiday spending season kicks off.

So what’s next for Dyson? The company already reinvented vacuums, hand dryers, household fans and now with this announcement, heaters. I hope toasters are next. I love toasters.

The vacuum is available now in the UK and will sell at Best Buy for $300. And I said CES would be boring!

Product Page via Giz

• Anti-static brushes
• Articulating head
• Cyclone motor/vacuum system
• 12 lbs.
• MSRP: $399.99

Pros:

• Small and light
• As much suction as a Dyson upright
• Long tube

Cons:

• Head sometimes pops off
• Smaller bin
• Pricey

Short Version: It’s easy to be dubious about Dyson – they are surprisingly pricey yet still look kind of cheap – but man do these things suck.

Long Version
Our family bought its first Dyson in about 2003 or so and we use the sucker almost every day. It hasn’t given us a lick of trouble and, true to the the guy who looks like Julian Assange’s word, it never loses suction nor does it require new bags. It is the first and last vacuum we bought this decade, depending earlier on a monstrous Hoover that my dad gave me in college that was made of die-cast metal.

Now we also have the hand-held vac that we use every day and now we can add the DC26 to our little menagerie of vacuums. This 12 lb canister vac looks like the Optimumus Prime’s prostate and holds up to .15 gallons of dirt in a fairly small but easy-to-remove canister. The hose/cleaning head connects to the main body with a pair of small hooks and you cannot actually lift the vacuum by the hose as it pops out. You must carry the vacuum using the built-in handle.

The DC26 couldn’t be easier to use. You pull out the 16 foot cable, plug it in, and start sucking. There is a small suction release switch for pulling junk out of the brushes and there is also an on/off switch at the head that stops the brushes from spinning. This is the single design flaw that I found with the DC26: when you bump up against something, this button can easily pop into the off position, thereby frustrating your attempts to suck up dirt.

It is surprisingly small and light and if you find yourself having trouble carrying the heavier uprights this might be the vacuum for you. It’s ideal for a smaller space.

Why should you get a Dyson over almost any other vacuum brand out there? Well, first it will probably be the first and last vacuum you ever need. These things survive all sorts of abuse and are easy to clean and maintain. For example, we tried and returned a Shark vacuum before the Dyson and found it severely lacking. The same goes for the DC31 hand vac. While you’re obviously paying a bit more, these are not much more expensive than a high-end Miele and, in my arguably limited vacuuming experience, it will outperform almost anything you can name.

Again, these things are expensive but they’re good. This isn’t a Bose/Monster Cable/whatever else situation here where the price tag telegraphs status vs. quality. Dyson makes good stuff all around.

Product Page

Features:

• Never loses suction
• Ball technology makes it easy to maneuver
• Animal model picks up pet hair like nobody’s business

Pros:

• Seriously, it never loses suction
• Attachments actually work
• Dust catcher is really easy to remove

Cons:

• Price
• No where to attach the mini-turbine attachment
• Price

Product Page

Full Review:
So what could make a vacuum so cool that it’s worth $549? Well, I’m here to tell you that the Dyson really sucks. Hard. In fact, the first time you use it, you’ll be seriously surprised at the amount of dust and dirt it’ll pull out of your carpet. A little backstory – I live in Nevada, and we have dust. It’s just part of life, we have dust storms, wind, and all kinds of nasty weather. As a result no matter how clean you keep your house, you still get dust. I’ve had various other brands of vacuums in the past, and they did a reasonable job, but I was quite honestly surprised at how well the DC25 cleans. When I moved into my current home, it had new carpet. So I’m very much aware of the age of the inexpensive carpet that we put down. The Dyson was able to actually restore some of the nap of the carpet, to the point that it actually felt like new.

The model I’m reviewing today is the DC25 Animal. This particular model is specifically designed for people with pets, and we have 3 cats in my household. As a result, we get cat hair everywhere, and it’s a pain to keep the furniture clean. One thing that has always annoyed me about other vacuum cleaners is the attachments. Why on earth do they bother to include that miniature “upholstery brush” that is supposed to spin using the force of the suction, but it never works? Well, I’m here to tell you that the Dyson version works. This means that I don’t have to set the couch cushions on the floor and vacuum them, I can just plug the extension hose into the mini-turbine, and it spins. Not only that, but when I actually touch the mini-turbine to the couch fabric, it keeps spinning. This was literally the feature that made me go, “yeah, this vacuum is worth the money”.

All is not perfect with the DC25 though, there were a couple of things that annoyed me. Specifically, the mini-turbine doesn’t attach to the vacuum anywhere. You have to put it somewhere safe, and hope you don’t forget where you put it. On cheaper vacuum cleaners it snaps onto the body of the cleaner, I’m not really sure why that’s not the case with the Dyson. The other issue is with the main beater. If you (or your significant other) has long hair, sooner or later you’re going to have to clean that beater. And the disassembly process to get at the beater is a pain. Of course, that’s not a problem particular to the Dyson, but I expected it to have some kind of magic blade that would make the hair not wrap around the beater brush. Maybe in the next version.

Conclusion: I really, really like the Dyson. I was prepared to dismiss it as an overpriced gimmick, but I’m actually happy to say that I was wrong. Despite the price, the Dyson DC25 Animal is easy to recommend to people. It’s a truly great product that does exactly what they show it doing on the commercials. My hat is off to you, James Dyson.

• 39-inches tall
• Remote ctonrol
• Quiet, buffet-less air
• MSRP: $449.99
• Product Page

Pros:

• Beautiful design
• Great airflow
• Safe for kids

Cons:

• Expensive

Short Version
It’s been a long, hot summer here on the homestead. John-John gets the whoopus when the dust kicks up and the house, such as it is, is about as hot as an oven most days. Most of August, when one of the neighbors rides into to town to check the bank thermometer and we find out that it’s well into the nineties, we usually just headed out to the old horse trough and poured water on our shirts. But this year we got a fancy, city-slicking Dyson AM02 and I’m here to tell you that whatever man made this fan is a friend to our simple, country family.

The Dyson AM02 is a tower fan that uses Dyson’s wild Air Multiplier technology. A small motor in the base shoots air up and through a set of foils that, in turn, blows air out along the entire edge surface of the fan. There are no blades and the fan blows air steadily and without “buffeting.”

We have a few fans around the house. One is a tower that sits in my office and when I have it running, as it is now, it’s considerably louder than the AM02 at its highest setting. Generally any other fan will sound like a truck backing up in your bathtub compared to the AM02.

Design-wise you’re also talking sexytime. The thing looks like it should be attached to an X-Wing Fighter instead of taking up space in your living room. The remote is simplicity itself – three buttons (power, speed, and oscillation) allow you to control the entire fan from afar.

If you have kids this is also the fan for you, although all the fun of sticking pencils into the rotary fan is destroyed by Dyson’s technology. There are literally no moving parts so if you’re a nervous parent, this may be for you.

How much does such a fan cost? Well, $449.99 on a bad day, which is about $400 more than the average person probably wants to spend on a fan. It’s cold comfort, but you can also get the 10-inch model for $239.99 and you get most of the benefits without the price or size.

Generally, Dyson makes great stuff. We have a Ball vacuum that we love and the little handheld vacuum, the DC31, that is a lifesaver. While the benefits of this new type of fan are clear, the value proposition to the average consumer is dubious at best. I can say that that the fan is impressive and the value to a new parent afraid for their children’s digits and/or folks who just want a sexy-looking fan is quite high.

The question, in the end, is are you buying a fan for a reason. If you’re not, then go get a $29.99 drugstore special. If you’re planning on keeping this thing for a while – the lack of moving parts means its a tank – then do yourself a favor and at least consider the option.

The Dyson Air Multiplier™ fans were launched in 2009 after four years of research and development. A team of specialist Dyson engineers have refined and patented the technology: illegal copies are of significantly inferior quality. Dyson rigorously defends its intellectual property and treats any infringement very seriously. Dyson is taking legal action against anyone who copies its technology.

In other words, the hounds are released and dem be hungry.

So they changed the color, removed that pesky logo, and now you too can have a desk fan that doesn’t use blades. The buttons are in the same place, and the fan will probably work the same way as the Dyson. It’s still expensive though – the real version is $300, the knockoff is still a wallet draining $223. For $75, you can have the real thing. I’m guessing you won’t find this fan in any US retail outlets, though I’m sure you can find it for sale on the internet if you look hard enough.

[via Crave]

The original “air multiplier” was intended to be placed on your desk, and came in two sizes (either 10 inch or 12 inch). The new product line includes a tower style, and a pedestal style. Both of the new fans move 9 gallons of air per minute, come with remotes, and will be retailing for for $449.99.

[via Techland]

The DC31 is a handheld Dyson. That’s probably all I need to say for you to know that it’s awesome.

Features

• Dual power modes
• Lithium-ion battery pack
• Lightweight design
• MSRP of $219.99

Pros

• Powerful
• Very simple design
• One-touch waste compartment emptying

Cons

• Short battery life
• No battery life indicator
• More expensive than most full-size vacuums

What is the only company that could get away with selling a $219 handheld vacuum? Dyson, of course, but only because its vacuums are outstanding — and the DC31 is no exception. The DC31 combines a very powerful motor with a minimalistic design that almost anyone can use.

There are really only five parts to the whole system: suction nozzle, waste bin, filter, motor, and battery pack. That’s it; the simple design is one of the vacuum’s best features. Anyone can put it together and use it. Even my 2-year old son picked it up and immediately started cleaning with Mom right away. He even figured out that the big, red sliding button opens the waste bin and dumps the contents on the carpet, which was only cute the first time.

The simple design is very obvious when you compare the new DC31 next to the older Root 6 model. The new model is lighter and more compact, but still manages to have a larger waste bin — as well as a stronger motor, according to Dyson.

I can find no fault in the DC31′s suction power. It’s as strong as can be expected, especially when the turbo mode is engaged. But all this power must be used conservatively and in short bursts because the battery doesn’t last very long. Worst yet, when the battery is low, the vacuum just stops working instead of gradually losing suction. The first time it happened to me, I thought I broke the damn thing.

I’m sure battery life will probably improve with each upcoming model, but what the vacuum really needs is a simple battery meter. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a button with four little LEDs would be sufficient. I appreciate the high-power mode, but I didn’t use it frequently because I didn’t know much longer the battery would last.

Conclusion

Just like every other Dyson, this vacuum isn’t for everyone because of the high price. But if you need a serious handheld vac, the DC31 deserves your consideration.

Product Page

Update

A Dyson rep dropped me a note stating that there is in fact a battery indicator on the vacuum. I guess I should read the manual.

Real quick though: there IS a battery level LED, though it’s a bit different than the last version. With this model, it’s right on top. It’s a green LED and it flashes when there’s less than a minute of power left.

Great, but I used the vacuum over a dozen times and never noticed that. The battery indicator should be on the battery itself. That way you can easily check how much life is available instead of relying on a “one minute left” warning. Just saying.

Sir James Dyson himself showed off the new device. I can only assume he was knighted for his vacuum cleaner innovations. Who would have thought?

The airstream is fully adjustable, and the device pans and tilts to deliver that soothing feeling wherever you need it. It comes in a 10 in and 12 in option at $299.99 and $329.99 respectively.

The core concept behind the Dyson vacuums are nothing new. In fact workshoppers have been using similar, but a whole lot more simple versions, to take some load off of their expensive dust collection units for years. Either you buy one, or you spend some quality time with some PVC pipes and make your own.

Hack A Day describes them best,

A cyclonic separator is used in workshops to keep larger cruft out of the dust collection system. The airflow inside a separator creates a vortex that flings heavier bits and particles to the periphery of the chamber, where they settle out the bottom, while relatively clean air escapes the vacuum port at the top. This makes for fewer filter changes and a more consistent pull from the vacuum.

Rocker sells an Oneida system that costs $99.99 that includes a bucket or you can opt for just the cyclone system for $59.99. Or, you can spend a lot less and make your own by following this Instructable. I’m actually going to make one of these this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

A large ring channels the air through a very thin slit and over a specially designed surface. The result is a jet of cool air. There are three controls – on/off, speed, and oscillation – and it can bend up and down for more precise targeting.

Here’s what Dyson says about it:

How it works: inducement and entrainment
Air is drawn into the base of the machine. The air is forced up into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the 1.3mm annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil- shaped ramp. While exiting the loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the air stream (entrainment), amplifying it 15 times. The result is a constant uninterrupted flow of cooling air.

Generally this is just a fan, but it’s well-designed and very cool so it’s worth a second look. No price right now but it’s interesting that they decided to launch right now. Presumably people would already have bought their fans if they launched in the Spring? Or do they know something about global warming that we don’t…

Now for the bad news: this fan costs $299 for the 10-inch model and $329 for the 12-inch. It will be available from a number of higher end shops and you can read more about it at Dyson.com. I guess you have to pay a price for blowing air the classy way.

People, stop everything that you are doing and let me introduce to you the sexiest vacuum of all time: the Dyson DC25 Blueprint. This my, friends, is the epitome of unnecessary but totally rad luxury items. First and foremost, it’s a Dyson DC25 ball vacuum, which is a great vacuum as I found out last year, but this one’s done up in a special edition livery dubbed Blueprint. It’s a white vacuum in case you haven’t noticed which means once you’re done vacuuming, you’re going to have to grab a dust rag and clean this guy too. That’s crazy. And doesn’t it look somewhat like R2-D2? Expect a full review in a week.

Today in London, Dyson introduced a brand new handheld vacuum, the DC31. It weighs 2.2lb and is essentially an upgrade from the DC16, but this one packs a switched reluctance motor, which Sir James claims is the “fastest motor in the world, by a long stretch.”

Said motor twirls at 104,000 revolutions per minute. To put that into perspective, the Dyson motor is “ten times as fast as a commercial aircraft, five times as fast as a Formula 1 engine and more than twice as fast as the most powerful industrial milling machines.”

Remember that rumor that was floating around last year about Dyson wanting to get into cars? Well, it looks like it could happen in the future. According to Dyson, the technology is scalable and there’s a team of 50 motor engineers at the Wiltshire HQ and many of them have automotive backgrounds.

The DC31 goes on sale next month in the UK for £129 (the Animal be an extra £20) and will hit Stateside in September. No word on price, but I’d guess that it will retail for around $200. We just received word that the DC31 will be $219.99 and the DC31 Animal will retail for $269.99. Or you could hit up the Wiimbledon eBay auction and grab the DC16 Animal for much cheaper.

via Telegraph

Remember the contest that worth1000 held last year for rejected Transformers robots? Well, it looks like one of those rejected bots will actually be making an appearance in the upcoming Transformers sequel. Sources close to the film have confirmed with CrunchGear that a Dyson vacuum will make an appearance during the film. We realize there have been screenings in Asia, but not in the US and there has been no mention of such quirky bots.

The Dyson Autobot/Decepticon (it’s unclear which side the “never loses suction” vacuum will take) will make a brief appearance during a scene when Sam drops a shard of the Cube in his house resulting in hilarity and chaos. Our source was unable to provide an image or model, but we think it’ll look something like StupidFolk’s rendition from the worth1000 contest.

I honestly have no idea what it is about this Dyson vacuum, but it’s totally giving me a bonerd™. I guess it’s the fact that I’ve seen how much work goes into actually designing and making one of these technologically advanced dirt sucking machines.

Today, Dyson announced the upright DC28 Animal with patented Airmuscle technology. The DC28 is a step-up model from the DC17 with a brand new cleaner head. Airmuscle consists of three new technologies: a high-torque clutch, powered cam and pneumatic actuator.

• Powered cam – raises and lowers the brush bar for different floor types, rather than the entire cleaner head like other vacuums which can create gaps for suction to leak.

• Pneumatic actuator – pulls the cleaner head into the floor, creating just the right amount of seal. Some other vacuums rely on heavy, cumbersome cleaner heads, adding weight with little effect.

• High-torque clutch – delivers more power to the brush bar – dislodging dirt even from deep pile carpets.

This essentially equates to a machine that will clean the bejeebus out of your hardwood floor and/or carpeted home. Also new are the fingertip controls that switch between varying floor types so the brush bar knows where to suck. And don’t forget, Dyson’s never lose suction.

The DC28 Animal will be available next month for $599, but you can pre-order now at Dyson.com.

Dyson today took the wraps off compact versions of some of its vacuum cleaners that are specifically tailored to fit the smaller Japanese homes [JP]. Chairman James Dyson said in Tokyo although the vacuums are Japan-only at this point, they may be eventually made available in other markets as well.

All three versions of the DC26 (DC26 motorhead complete/turbinhead complete/turbinhead entry) have strange names and are around 30% smaller than base models. Sized at just 205×320×266mm, they are comparable in size to a sheet of paper in A4.

The turbinhead entry costs $750, while the turbinhead complete costs $820. Buyers of the high-end model, the DC26 motorhead complete (pictured above), will be set back $900 when the vacuums hit Japanese stores on April 10. Dyson expects to sell 250,000 units a year.

Oh. My. Gawd. I love this Dyson vacuum. It works so damn well and looks great doing it. Some people aren’t going to like this analogy, but it reminds me of the first time I used my PowerMac G4: it simply works and feels like it’s going to last forever. I’m not the one that vacuums in my house so with the hope of not sounding misogynistic, I handed the Dyson over to my wife and later, mother-in-law, for a more in-depth analysis.  

My house has never been this clean. When we first received the Dyson, my son helped me put it together and my wife took it on it’s first test drive; and boy, did she put some miles on it. She quickly discovered that every piece of hard plastic was placed on this Dyson for a reason. The rear wheels are placed farther out for not only non-vacuuming movement, but also stability when the attachment hose is in use. The rollers stop when the vacuum is placed upright. The ball rolls, well, like a ball and the filter is washable. Once again, it simply works well, and does so like no other vacuum we have ever used.  

So then my mother-in-law borrowed the Dyson and pitted it against her heralded Kerby. She found the ball design awkward at first but also enjoyable once she discovered how it rolls. The Dyson passed the classic door-to-door salesman test of picking up what her Kerby left behind. Basically, she only had one gripe about the Dyson DC25: the hose. It was kind of hard for her to use. 

My wife and I found the attachment hose easy, but my mother-in-law couldn’t use it at all due to her bad shoulder. The hose is long, but also features a very strong outer coil that is kind of tough to pull. I understand why it’s so tight as you don’t want your expensive Dyson’s attachment hose to be all loosey-goosy on ya, but my mother-in-law could not use it and is a deal breaker for her.

Speaking of the hose, the two little attachment tools show how well this vacuum is designed. They snap into their own little compartments with – I can’t believe I’m going to say this – style and grace. Seriously! Take your standard Hoover vacuum. At least on the ones I have used, these little tools seems haphazardly designed and placed on the rear panel, but on the Dyson, it’s like the whole vacuum was designed around these parts. In fact, that’s how the entire DC25 feels. 

I can’t vouch for suction longevity but this vacuum knows how to get the job done. I have a little fetish about a clean, well-vacuumed floor, and this Dyson does it for me. This model is designed for all flooring types and a button switches off the front brush so it worked great on my living room’s hardwood floor.

The only other criticism the three of us could come up with is that the ball is located so close to the front brush holder that you cannot vacuum underneath tables and chairs as easily as other vacuums. With that being said, I love this thing. 

Yeah, the Dyson DC25 retails for $499, but until you give it the ‘ol college try, don’t knock the price. It rocks and to my utter surprise, well worth the price.   

Will Davies, Valerie and I sat down in one of the modeling rooms for about three hours and went through the design process from brainstorming to building on one of the CAD machines. I conveyed my thoughts to Will and sketched a few ideas out in the RDD journal (all Dyson engineers are issued a journal that becomes property of Dyson) that was issued to me at the beginning of the day. Upon my departure from Malmesbury the journal was confiscated and filed into the library of journals.

Anyway, as I said before, we had about three hours to design and submit our prototype so that it could be built in the 3D modeling machine overnight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to film the printing machine in action because of what was being built in it at the time. It was really, really cool. Essentially, the designs are uploaded to the machine and it begins to ‘print out’ whatever it was that you uploaded. There are two materials that it lays down and unfortunately I made the mistake of taking all my notes in the RDD journal, so I can’t tell you exactly what they were at the moment. The main compound is a soft plastic and around that is a gel-like material that gives the actual device support while it’s being printed and hardens. The printer basically works like any other printer you’ve seen. It slides across from side-to-side and deposits the material as it goes. My design had to be submitted by 4:30 and by 10AM the next day it was ready to go. After it’s done printing, one of the engineers scraped away the gel-like material and put it through an acid wash and then a quick blow dry to remove any remaining particles.

How did I design it? I thought about the one place that collects the most dust and dirt in my apartment and just looked down at my keyboard. Then I thought about other applications for it. I thought that PC owners would want the ability to vacuum the back of their PC case, so I added a bit of flexibility to it.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I present to you the CrunchGear Dyson Root 6 attachment. We have the only prototype and it will likely remain that way. Heh.

Of course, we had some issues with it, but they weren’t realized until after the fact. There were little nubbins inside the swivel to lock the attachment between it’s 180 degree angle and 45 degree tilt that were placed incorrectly in CAD, so they didn’t exactly come out right, hence the loosey gooseyness of it. But we had less than three hours for the entire process. There also wasn’t enough time to add bristles at the end. Overall, I can say that I’m the proud owner of a one-of-a-kind Dyson prototype. I just hope they don’t make my design better and start selling it. Heh.