Patricia Vine, Mature Times health editor, reviews the Dyson Digital Slim a new lightweight, cordless vacuum cleaner.
“When I received the cleaner I thought I had better read the instructions. Then took it out of the box and started to assemble it, only to find there was no need to make any reference to them. It’s that simple!
It claims to have twice the suction power of any other lightweight cordless vacuum and certainly lived up to that assertion – scooping up all the pet hair and dust, which I had no idea was in such volumes in my carpet! Someone told me that Jack Russells don’t moult, but I can assure you they do – and it seems to be all year round.
For those of us with mobility problems and I count myself among them, as I am waiting for a hip operation in July, it really is easy to use and manoeuvre around the house on carpets, walls, ceilings and hard floors.
And it catches all those cobwebs that have managed to accumulate quietly all winter, but which are unfortunately now very visible in the lovely bright, sunshine we’ve been having.
To my shame the cylinder was very quickly full, so I set about the task of emptying it thinking it would be difficult, but with one flick of a switch it was all in the bin and not on the kitchen floor, which usually happens to me, as my vacuum cleaner cylinder is too big to hold over the waste bag.
The cleaner has a long-reach wand, which is made of lightweight aluminium and attaches to the machine to convert it from a handheld to slim vacuum cleaner. So you can clean wherever you want in the house and easily do those tricky stairs without trying to move a cumbersome and heavy machine along with you.
It comes with everything you’ll need including a brush bar, wand, docking station and separate charger, a combination tool (for dusting) and crevice tool (for tight gaps and narrow spaces). So no need to buy any extras.
Are there any downsides? Well only in that you have to remember to put it on charge, but this can be done by putting it in the docking station, or you can take out the battery and do it remotely. Once it is fully charged it switches to ‘monitoring mode’ to use less energy. As it is relatively small you can mount it on the wall near a socket and it won’t take up much room.
I did wonder how those with arthritic hands would manage to squeeze the handle to operate the cleaner; however, it is very responsive and doesn’t take much to make it work successfully. The beauty is that it only works when you tell it to, so is very energy efficient.
Would I recommend it – resoundingly yes! The cleaner is very lightweight, easy to use, easy to store and makes all those cleaning jobs around the house so much less of a chore.
Certainly if you have any limitations in your mobility, or have trouble handling a heavier weight vacuum cleaner this is definitely the one for you.
