Product: Stowaway Canister Vacuum
Designer: James Dyson & Co.
Price: $500
Rating: Strong Recommend*
The wait is over. After killing their first canister vacuum, Dyson has just released their follow-up act, The Stowaway. We put it through it's paces in our Test Lab and liked what we saw.
The Stowaway is brawny little modern design that utilizes Dyson's root cyclone technology to still give you huge sucking ability (no puns please).
Having gotten used to Dyson's uber hi-tech design style, the Stowaway is a pleasingly cute, musclebound cannister that manages to fit ALL the attachments into postions on its body (and that includes a powerful rotating brush tool).
Working with it we found it exceptionally powerful. It was even able to pull up sewing needles trapped between the floorboards that previous vacuums missed (we tested it in an apt that was coverted from a sweatshop, hence the needles). The hose and every attachment was easy to use and store, and the power brush was remarkably powerful as it is driven by a motor that is wired through the wand.
The Stowaway was light enough to pick up comfortably and utilizes Dysons "you don't have to touch it" canister emptying design, which was nice. The wand retracts within itself, which means that you don't have to store extra wands. It's all one. It moved easily around the floor.
Negatives? Only the hose. While the Stowaway smartly stows it's long hose ontop of itself, our testers thought it was "messy" and "unresolved". We also found it often fell off when moved about. And for the design conscious among us, it seemed to obscure the beauty of the machine beneath. But that is totally nitpicking. We appreciated that they had a plan for the hose in the first place.
For the small NY apartment the Meile is still our favorite cannister, but at $800 for the Meile and $500 for the Dyson we'd have to say the Stowaway would be purchased first.
*Our Ratings:
Strong Recommend
Recommend
Weak Recommend
Don't Recommend
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
My only trouble with the upright Dyson (which I have and really like) is that the wand is a little too short for me--I keep feeling like I'm bending over too much. Is the wand for the Stowaway any longer?
view Joan A.'s profile
Is the wand tall (long?) enough such that a tall person doesn't have to bend over? I'm looking to replace my ancient electrolux, and I do prefer canisters, but I find that most wands seemed to have been designed for those under 5 1/2 feet. I want a clean home AND a healthy back!
view Mid-C Frank's profile
I would have to empty that 8 times vacuum do my condo. Dog hair will fill that up quickly!
view gttim's profile
re: "no puns please"
You are KILLING me. Not to mention:
"muscle bound cannister"... "wired through the wand"... "We appreciated they had a plan for the hose in the first place"...
And now, all this talk of "wand length"...!!!
I'm DYING over here!!!!
But I REALLY want to vacuum now...
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
Thanks for this incredibly timely review! Can anyone tell me which Meile is referred to here? And how does this compare to the Dyson Slim?
http://www.dyson.com/range/feature_frame.asp?model=DC18-ALLFLOORS
I am going to plunk down (what I consider) serious dollars here on a vacuum for my apartment and I want to do it right! Thanks AT'rs!
view ricexmm's profile
What about the $380 Miele? (The yellow Galaxy)
view Anne in Chicago's profile
ricexmm--
Check the archives... this isn't the first vacuum review.
Maxwell is apparently becoming the go-to guy on issues of suction.
(I just couldn't help myself anymore!!!)
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
If it doesn't have a bag, don't buy it. Emptying bagless vacuums is dam* nasty and it gets everywhere.
Why not buy a used vac from a repair shop. The repairman can steer you in the right direction. They know the good from the bad. And for all those concerned about the environment, what better way to go?
view Kurt's profile
There are much cheaper Mieles then the $800 version! I have the Sirius (obnoxious metallic blue ~$350) and love it. I think it looks nicer then the Dyson, personally.
regards,
trillium
view trillium's profile
I would've liked to have seen it tested on carpet. Nice design though.
view shari's profile
PLEASE get a copy-editor. "Dysons" is possessive and should have a apostrophe before that "s". "It's" is a contraction of "it is" and is NOT the possessive "its" that you intended to use. "Design conscious" is a compound adjective and should be hyphenated. I love this site, and one of the reasons I do is the intelligence of its writers and readers. But if you're going to write about design, you should be paying as much attention to the writing as you are to the design.
view JennyinATL's profile
JennyinATL,
With so many posts on AT in a given day, it's natural there will be a few typos and grammatical errors. Including in your own comment, where you wrote "a apostrophe" instead of "an apostrophe." Copy editor isn't traditionally hyphenated, as you typed it. The period you used outside "s" should have been inside the quotes so that it appears "s." for stylistic reasons. You note that they should pay as much attention to the writing as the design, but I think you should pay more attention to the design and quit worrying about the grammar.
Just my thoughts, not meant to be offensive.
Jeanette
view jen6776's profile
jen6776,
Maybe JennyinATL's tone wasn't perfect, but I generally find it hard not to hold the main posters on AT to MUCH higher writing (including typographic) standards than I do the users who comment on the posts. And for some people, despite their best efforts, typos and grammatical errors can be quite annoyingly distracting. So it should be helpful to the AT poster to learn that users are picking up on certain mistakes that detract from the message.
view Sea's profile
If you find 500 bucks a bit too much to spend on a vacuum in this class, you may want to take a look at the Hoover Windtunnel S3755 or S3765040 (they're similar, the 040 model has a cool powered upholstery head).
It's not as cool looking as this Dyson, nor as compact as the Mieles, but it really is "that good" in our small, 5 pet apartment.
Take a look!
Bobby Jones
view Bobby Jones's profile
...and i forgot, street price around $200
view Bobby Jones's profile
P(too) comes through again. I'm relieved.
Also, emptying the canister on the Dyson is completely not messy.
view Joan A.'s profile
I was able to get the hand held version of the Dyson and MAN does that thing suck! In the best kind of way of course! It sucked even more when I got it on Woot for about half the price. Dyson isn't just one of those infomercials trying to see you some crap that doesn't work. This vacuum really works! I wouldn't say that it sucks if it didn't :)
view bether's profile
looked at Dysons. Feel so so cheap. The commercial makes them look awesome, but I was so disappointed when I saw them in person. I'd never buy one. My money is with Miele.
view nordicfreak's profile