Or £300 on a FAN.
And just what the FUCK is a digital motor? http://www.dyson.co.uk/vacuumcleaners/ddm.aspx
Over-priced, over-engineered, completely unnecessary rip-off bullshit.
They are expensive but all have worked flawlessly. One we've owned for more than 8 years and it's in perfect condition. No bag and it sucks up pet hair like you wouldn't believe. Better than any other vacuum I've ever owned.
As for the Henry vacuums, I'm not sure you'd get the same power for 1/4 the price. There appear to be some models that are that price differential but once you get up to the higher power models it's still cheaper but about 3/4 the price.
Dyson is a lot like Apple. They make dependable, designed products that simply work. You can get by with something else but it will most likely be inferior in form and function.
another data point - we have a single dyson we bought over 7 years ago and it's still going strong. Thing's built like a tank and works better than any other vacuum I've ever used (not that many, to be honest)
Think of something like a cross between the mechanics and wiring of a 3 phase motor and the operational action of the worlds fastest stepper motor, all scaled down to a tiny little thing.
Better called an electronic motor than a digital motor in that all you really need is a herd of opamps to synthesize the rather complicated driving waveforms, but most folks do that in a digital microcontroller now so thats where the marketing name comes from. Not a complete misnomer.
I guess you could say an old fashioned universal brush motor that you're probably familiar with is kind of like a single bit single speed simplification of a brushless motor.
Dyson's biggest contribution to the vacuum market was figuring out how to vacuum without a bag. That was a pretty big deal since vacuum bags were the 'ink cartridges' of the home appliance industry as far as I can tell.
That said, the fake geek speak marketing also rubs me the wrong way.
I'm fine with Dysons as vacuums, they look interesting and do good work. I think you're spot on with the Apple comparison though since Dyson products seem to generate a similar amount of smug.
Just a quick correction, I've definitely had bagless vacuums long before the Dyson company was around.
pretty sure you're mistaken. From memory Dyson was unable to get the money together to manufacture vacuums under his own brand, and Hoover et al didn't want him around at all (vacuum cleaner bags are like razor blades), but he was able to licence his design to a Japanese company and also an American one.
There's quite a bit on the internet about the Japanese licenced Dyson - the G-Force - but I can't find anything yet on the American one. It was, I think, sold initially as a carpet shampoo machine, came with a powder you sprinkled on, and then as an industrial upright. I think these were sold in the US for many years before the Dyson brand made it there due to some sort of legal problem
I'll update if I can find the info I'm looking for
[edit: the keyword Google needed was Amway. Read this http://www.amquix.info/amway_dyson.html
In short, Amway entered into negotiations to licence Dyson's design in '84, withdrew after some time then launched their own copy. Lawyers got rich all the way to 1990 when things were resolved and Amway agreed to pay royalties to Dyson. Not mentioned in this article, but I think part of the agreement was Dyson say out of the market for a certain time]
While most of those quite heavy duty and powerful, they almost all suffered from indoor air quality issues, although I believe the newer ones do feature HEPA filters.
According to the internet the Dyson company was founded in 1993 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_(company)
but he came up with the idea in the early 80s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dyson
More importantly, it turns out I was definitely thinking of cleaners that don't use a disposable bag, and weren't a Dyson cyclone design...but it turns out that they just use a permanent filter that simply replaces the bag in the design. Those are what I remember growing up with since my mother hated having to spend all that money on bags. Are they pre-dyson "bagless"? I don't know, I think that's how they were marketed but I honestly can't remember.
And I agree $400 for a fan is ridiculous but what is the alternative? I admit I've got a couple of those fans and I would have liked not to pay that much but it was that or a $15 chinese piece of junk, or a gigantic industrial looking chrome thing.
Show me a company making well designed, innovative high tech domestic electrical equipment and selling them at reasonable prices and I'm sold. Until then, we have Dyson.
EDIT: also, how do the fans even work?
Just another way of saying brushless.
As opposed to a brushed DC motor: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_motor