Dyson's Super Slim Vacuum: The Lamborghini of Filth
Dyson’s vacuum cleaners have a superpower: They make you want to vacuum. The unparalleled suction, the storm of debris sweeping like a funnel cloud in that transparent chamber—it’s all more exciting than any vacuum should be. You’re happy to scour every nook and crevice in your home, and even happier to dump the resulting block of filth in the garbage. The only drawback, for any Dyson, is a price so steep it’s practically a joke. The DC18 Slim, the company’s newest and lightest upright model, costs $470. But this is no mere Porsche of vacuums. The Dyson Slim is a screeching Lamborghini Gallardo, and a new benchmark for the entire industry. (That would be the vacuum industry, of course.)
And I know, I’m extremely late to the party in reviewing the Slim. But months after its release, this impeccably engineered vacuum is still leading the competition. It uses Dyson’s Root Cyclone technology, which pulls debris and fine particles out of the air into multiple centrifugal chambers. It also uses an innovative hinge design similar to the one introduced in Dyson’s Ball vacuums, but manages to be much lighter than previous models. It’s still 15.8 pounds—turning trips up and down the stairs into surprise workouts—but for Dyson, this is uncharted territory.
According to Dyson, it’s not as powerful as the 20.79-pound DC17 Animal, but there’s no way you’ll tell the difference. And when you’re not lifting it, the Slim feels much lighter than it is, thanks to that swiveling ball-hinge design. It moves with surprising grace (for a vacuum), swerving instead of merely pivoting as you slalom across carpet and hardwood floors. It glides under furniture, and, true to its name, it is slim enough to fit between most chair legs. Every inch of this thing is a feat of industrial design. It even has a handle that pops off while the vacuum is still running, turning into a telescoping wand to clean ceiling fans and tight corners.
The Slim kicks out essentially zero odors or fine particles, though that’s nothing new for Dyson. All of this model’s impressive design features showed up first in the Ball, but the Slim still feels like the dirt- and carpet fuzz-inhaling Lamborghini that it is. And to finish beating the metaphor to death, it’s turned me into one of those idiotic car commercial characters, looking for any excuse to jump back behind the wheel and hit the twisties. Even if the twisties, in my case, are a few rooms in a railroad apartment and a couple of chairs I’m too lazy to clear out of the way.
The Slim is more vacuum than most people need, but it’s the first Dyson I’ve used that looks and feels precisely as expensive as it is. At the risk of sounding completely misogynistic, it’s an excellent gift for a girlfriend, wife, mother, etc. Despite the initial look of confused horror (Wow! You got me... a vacuum...), she will use it, and you will be thanked, and the world around you will become shockingly clean. —Erik Sofge
And I know, I’m extremely late to the party in reviewing the Slim. But months after its release, this impeccably engineered vacuum is still leading the competition. It uses Dyson’s Root Cyclone technology, which pulls debris and fine particles out of the air into multiple centrifugal chambers. It also uses an innovative hinge design similar to the one introduced in Dyson’s Ball vacuums, but manages to be much lighter than previous models. It’s still 15.8 pounds—turning trips up and down the stairs into surprise workouts—but for Dyson, this is uncharted territory.
According to Dyson, it’s not as powerful as the 20.79-pound DC17 Animal, but there’s no way you’ll tell the difference. And when you’re not lifting it, the Slim feels much lighter than it is, thanks to that swiveling ball-hinge design. It moves with surprising grace (for a vacuum), swerving instead of merely pivoting as you slalom across carpet and hardwood floors. It glides under furniture, and, true to its name, it is slim enough to fit between most chair legs. Every inch of this thing is a feat of industrial design. It even has a handle that pops off while the vacuum is still running, turning into a telescoping wand to clean ceiling fans and tight corners.
The Slim kicks out essentially zero odors or fine particles, though that’s nothing new for Dyson. All of this model’s impressive design features showed up first in the Ball, but the Slim still feels like the dirt- and carpet fuzz-inhaling Lamborghini that it is. And to finish beating the metaphor to death, it’s turned me into one of those idiotic car commercial characters, looking for any excuse to jump back behind the wheel and hit the twisties. Even if the twisties, in my case, are a few rooms in a railroad apartment and a couple of chairs I’m too lazy to clear out of the way.
The Slim is more vacuum than most people need, but it’s the first Dyson I’ve used that looks and feels precisely as expensive as it is. At the risk of sounding completely misogynistic, it’s an excellent gift for a girlfriend, wife, mother, etc. Despite the initial look of confused horror (Wow! You got me... a vacuum...), she will use it, and you will be thanked, and the world around you will become shockingly clean. —Erik Sofge
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