Dyson spends a hell of a lot on marketing - but the customer always pays in the end through astronomically high prices. The high prices of a Dyson don't pay for quality, they pay for all the marketing and "technology research".

In contrast, the high price of a Kirby pays for quality and durability, and unfortunately the salesman's commission.

Those Dyson displays are also prominent in Tesco, Currys, Sainsbury's etc - they must spend millions on advertising - millions that gets added to the product's end price!

In other words they will become just another mail order company. You can see they are heading there anyway with the amount of vacs they list that are not in  the catalogue and are not stocked in stores. Notice these items mostly have no customer reviews, suggesting that people want to look at the catalogue, and go and buy the product from a store that has in stock straight away, not have to wait days for the item to be delivered.

I really hope Argos don't do this, as many people still want to go out and buy an item the same day, without the inconvenience of having to wait several days for it to be either delivered to home or for store collection.

Beckham, you must realise that a good many people are not online, and Argos need to cater for them. By ditching the catalogue they will be saying goodbye to a LOT of custom. I cant understand the mentality of these company bosses who think all and sundry have a good internet knowledge. Some people, especially the elderly and the poor most certainly don't.

Benny, I meant Beckham (HiLoSwitch) in my post - now edited

I don't have any apps - they are used by the younger generation. I have to rely on my old fashioned desktop PC. I have a very cheap old fashioned Nokia mobile that doesn't have WAP or even a camera.

this one

Its a Nokia 2310 and it was my mother's originally, but when I put my old one in the washer and ruined it, I had my mother's as I am not mobile phone savvy and wanted a cheap one that had a cheap tariff, so its on Asda smartprice Mobile lol

Today, Dyson products have very poor build quality. Yet the market them so well, but the prices just don't match the build quality.

In my view, they stopped making good machines after the DC26, which was the worlds smallest cylinder and was also properly designed by Industrial designers who have had experiences of design in previous other company's. Hence why the build quality is much better than that newer 'ball' cylinders (which aren't even proper balls!)

The failure in Dyson's newer products is because of the increasing number University grads who have just come out of Uni, and have had NO experience of the 'real world' of industrial design. A good example of their poor designs would be on the DC40 and 41 cleaners. The wand system is not ergonomic as the actual handle doesn't come away like on previous Dyson upright machines such as the DC25. The handle coming away from the machine provides an ergonomic grip to hold onto.

Also, the newer Ball uprights and Ball cylinders aren't even balls, in fact, they don't even have any! They've done away with the ball, and put two half sphere shape wheels on, then a spherical shape 'core' where the motor and other components are held in. Proper Ball machines like the DC15, DC24, and DC25 actually have Balls that roll, and the ball is a full sphere, thus it is a PROPER ball cleaner.

By all means, have designers that have University qualifications, but don't give them a job when they've just graduated. The designers of previous Dyson products had Uni qualifications, but have had experience of previous design company's. Unfortunately, it seems as if we're loosing these designers from Malmesbury.

How on Earth Sir James can let poor design like on the DC41 get past him, I have no idea. No doubt we'll see even worse designs in the future...

^Well said hi-loswitch98!

But Tim - I seem to remember when you first joined VL, you took the mickey out of Vax as cheap and nasty and that the sun shone out of Dyson's backside - perhaps you have now seen the light and learnt the error of your ways

I would not touch a modern Dyson with a 40 foot bargepole - they are utter overpriced far eastern made crap, and that's putting it mildly. I just cant see what people see in them. I am sick and tired of the sheer number of nothing but Dysons on Ebay. The world has gone completely Dyson crazy, and see him as some kind of vacuum God!

Yes indeed, Steve, I have learnt indeed. But I learnt because I saw how crap the newer Dyson products are in real life, specifically when I went to John Lewis in Nottingham once and just felt the DC41, it just doesn't feel quality...

Some Vaxs are great, such as the 121 as well as other Vax carpet washers. I haven't got a problem with them :)

I wouldn't send a Dyson into 'battle' like at a school for example. The design of Dyson's vacuum cleaners are designed for domestic homes only.

Dyson can bang on about there testing, but it isn't good enough. You test products properly an actual 'real life' environment, say in someone's house. That's what I did for my product that I made for my Product Design GCSE. My product, the Dawn Sunset DL01 (a table lamp), was tested inside my house, not tested by me, but by others of the family. Knocked over, bashed, bumped, and slid around.

My product achieved an A, and the rest of the GSCE came to a B grade, so my design was a huge success.

And look at me, I don't have a University Qualification yet I can design something that lasts and is built properly. Just goes to show that great design doesn't always come from Uni grads.