Here's the review on the DC-23 I wrote for one of the VCCC's newsletters:

While I’m primarily a Hoover guy, I do have to admit that all of the talk on VacuumLand about Dysons -- especially the DC-23 canister -- had gotten me somewhat curious.   Then, club member Rob Mitchell from Indianapolis started a thread on the website about the DC-23 he had just purchased. 

In short, Rob gave it an enthusiastic “thumbs up,” which I don’t take lightly.  As I’m sure is valid with any of us: giving a modern machine a thumbs up doesn’t come terribly easily.  We all tend to be extremely critical about most of the ...not so wonderful... cleaners that are currently being sold, compared to what was sold 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago and beyond. 

Given that there was lots of buzz about this on our club website, I naturally tormented myself and played with the cleaner every time I entered a store that sold them (mainly Target and Best Buy).  The main thing that was keeping me from getting one was the price tag... I have other expenses, and the somewhat hefty price tag of $399 was less than affordable.  Fast-forward to Christmas, and Robert got one for me!  I was thrilled!

Now that I’ve been able to use it for a few months, I feel it’s a good time for me to write a review about it!

Out of the box, it’s super easy to assemble.  Un-wrap all of the pieces, snap the hose it, attach the wand and “air-driven brush bar,” and you’re pretty much ready to go.  Un-wind the retractable cord, and turn it on...  I was surprised at how noisy it was.  It’s not an unbearable loud; it’s just louder than my daily-driver Miele Platinum and most of my vintage machines. 

The amount of suction is as expected -- nice and strong.  In my hand, it’s a comfortable cleaner to hold and operate.  The hose and handle setup is brilliantly designed.  The hose rotates in the handle 360 degrees, as it should, so the hose doesn’t get tangled and snarled up when one is using the cleaner.  The hose and handle also articulate like no other cleaner I’ve ever used.  I’ll try to illustrate it with a picture, but it’s really something that you have to experience yourself to understand. 

The wand is telescopic, so it’s pretty easy to find a height that’s comfortable to clean with.  The air-driven power nozzle is quiet, and seems to work well.  It’s not quite as aggressive as I had thought it was going to be, so I’m not sure that it’s going to be great on anything thicker than a medium-plush.  Which was a bit disappointing.  But, I had to remind myself that it is an air-driven nozzle.  At least there’s a lot of airflow and suction behind it.  On my average length plush carpeting, the nozzle seems to push through very well and effectively clean the carpet. 

The power nozzle pivots and turns nicely, and really looks like Dyson designers took design cues from the rug nozzle off of a model 84 or 85 Hoover Constellation.   Again, one of those things you just have to see and try to fully understand.

Somewhat inconveniently, the powerhead can be shut off to go onto a bare floor.  The user must pull a large button on the side of the unit -- it’s essentially a large air-bleed on the side of the nozzle, and stops the brush bar from turning.  It takes some force to pull, then turning it back on is pretty easy, pushing the button back in.  I was admittedly disappointed that the cleaner didn’t come packaged with a dedicated bare floor brush.

While inconvenient, going through the effort and turning the brush bar off and using the powerhead on a bare floor is pretty effective.  It’s just a bit on the bulky-side.  It’s not slim and low profile, so it makes getting under and around things a bit more of a challenge.  But for a quick once-over it’s just fine.

Taking the powerhead apart to clean out the brush bar is extremely easy. No tools are required.  Just turn two little knobs and remove the bottom plate!  The brushroll is actually made of two separate brush bars that split in the center.  Pull firmly outward to unlock and pop out. 

Using the attachments is also very easy.  Included with the DC-23 are a crevice tool, dusting brush, and upholstery nozzle.  They are high-quality tools, and the dusting brush has nice soft bristles.  Most dusting brushes on vacuum cleaners nowadays are worthless.  I really enjoy the dusting brush that Dyson has designed, and I also purchased the optional “library” dusting brush which is fantastic for dusting off books or large, flat surfaces.  Attachments all lock into either the wand or the hose, with a positive latch.  None of this “friction-fit” nonsense, where the tools fall off if you don’t put them on tight enough, or are difficult to remove if you put them on too tightly.

Pulling the cleaner along from room to room is easy; the vacuum is designed with large wheels that make it easy to pull along behind you.  The front wheel is a swivel caster.  A lot of times when I use a canister vacuum, I like to carry it with me in one hand while I’m directing the powerhead with the other.  The DC-23 isn’t too heavy to prevent me from doing that, and it actually has a pretty comfortable handle.  There’s also a safety feature built in to prevent the dirt cup from being detached from the body of the cleaner while you’re carrying it.  Basically, the button that releases the dirt container isn’t pushable when you’re carrying the vacuum off the ground.  The DC-23 also sits on a stair--which makes cleaning stairs extremely easy.  No worrying about whether or not your vacuum is going to fall over and tumble down the stairs.

The hose is a skimpy 6-feet long, which is actually disappointing to me.  Because the hose goes into the machine right about at ground level, it feels like it’s too short for the vacuum.  If Dyson had included a 7 or 8-foot hose with this vacuum, I would find myself reaching for the cleaner more often.  Playing devil’s advocate, though, I would assume Dyson engineers kept the hose at a certain length for a reason.  I seem to recall being told that the longer a hose, the lower airflow a cleaner has -- which would negatively affect the powerhead (it would turn slower).

Emptying the dirt cup and maintaining the filters is a snap.  The dirt cup just un-latches, you take it to a garbage can and pull the trigger.  The dirt falls out.  It’s pretty straightforward.  On occasion, if one feels it necessary, you can take the clear “cup” of the dirt bin off, to wipe out.  When that is removed, the cyclone-pack can be knocked against the side of a garbage can or whatever, and any dirt stuck up inside will be loosened and fall out (or for those of us collectors who are too picky about things like that, you can vacuum everything off with another vacuum).  To get to the pre-motor filter, you twist a latch on the side of the machine, and one of the large wheels hinges outward, revealing the filter.  It is recommended that this filter be washed every 3 months.  There is no post-motor filter, at least not one that’s accessible by the user.  I would think that by adding one, it could muffle the noise just a bit.

I do have a “flat-out” floor tool and air-turbine hand-held power nozzle that came with my other Christmas present (a DC-28 upright!).  I wouldn’t say that either are totally necessary to complete the machine, but if I were recommending the cleaner to someone who had a lot of bare floor surfaces or a pet, I would definitely recommend they purchase both (sending the cleaner well into the $500 price range by the time both are purchased). 

When you’re done using the machine, unplug and rewind the cord.  If the powerhead/wand/hose are kept assembled, the powerhead locks into the back of the cleaner so you can then carry the vacuum with one hand.  

In the end, I really like the Dyson DC-23.  I am quite glad I have one, and really enjoy using it.  I would definitely recommend it to someone who has low to medium pile carpeting and a mix of carpet and bare floors.  Canisters aren’t for everyone, but I think they’re more versatile if one is looking to really deep clean on a somewhat regular basis.  Bagless cleaners aren’t for everyone either… but in a world of bagless cleaners, I think Dyson cleaners are the lesser of all evils.

Everything about this machine is well thought out, and even when I took my new vacuum to Greg Nunn’s house over the New Year’s weekend, other appliance and vacuum enthusiasts who were also in attendance couldn’t stop playing with this cleaner!  Overwhelmingly, we agreed that it’s easy to use and a very effective cleaner.  It’s almost like they reverse engineered this cleaner... they must have taken attributes of other cleaners that are poorly designed and improved on everything from there.  On a scale of 1-10, I would give the DC-23 an overall score of 7.5.  I give it two and a half points short of 10, based on my opinions of noise, hose length, the cleaner not coming with a bare floor tool, and price (but hey, it’s a Dyson…!).

It was a very merry Christmas that year!  LoL

Here was my main reasoning for not getting the DC23 Motorhead:

While I love having an electric powerhead and would love the longer hose, there's something just so un-appealing about trying to use the upholstery tool on the end of the Motorhead's wand while it's collapsed. Such an awkward setup when comparing it to how the tools attach to the Turbinehead.