This morning we ventured down to our local Harvey Norman and investigate what vacuum cleaners were on the market. We were helped by a young bloke named Phil who was very helpful and knowledgeable about all things vacuum cleaner related. I was impressed with their range of vacuums that Harvey Norman had actually, everything from lightweight upright vacuums that might be useful in a showroom, traditional style vacuum cleaners, various quality bagless vacuum cleaners and right the way down to the heavy duty gear.

Our current vacuum was a low to middle of the range one, that we happened to pick up on a bargain a few years ago. It has served us well, however if we had of paid the retail price for it – I’d have been disappointed by its performance and build quality. As such, I wasn’t all that inclined to go with another low/middle of the range vacuum unless someone could convince me it was really worth it. That left us with the middle to top of the range cleaners and they came in bagged and bagless versions. We opted for another bagless vacuum cleaner as Claire and I feel they are a little easier to deal with. Of the plethora of bagless vacuum cleaners they had on offer, we ended up choosing the Dyson Stowaway vacuum cleaner.

The Dyson vacuum cleaner we purchased falls into the barrel category, so you pull it along with you (as opposed to push like an upright) and it looks like a barrel with wheels. The Dyson has quite a few good qualities which we liked:

• surprisingly quiet (at least half the noise of our current one)
• has a HEPA filter, which is great if you have allergies (we don’t but a nice to have)
• weighs about 9Kg, which isn’t light but isn’t going to do your back in either
• telescopic handle to help it store easily
• turbine head to get that extra bit of dirt out of your carpets
• 2 year warranty, which we extended to 6 years

I’m strangely excited to vacuum the house with it this afternoon to see what it can do.