Dyson DC20 Stowaway 

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Dyson DC20 Stowaway

£210.99 from Amazon
including delivery
£229 from John Lewis
£239.99 from Comet

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To begin with this is no ordinary pull along cleaner. As you might expect it is not that light at close to ten kilos. Giving measurements is not easy as although it is a basic rectangle I can only give the maximum it is 24cm from side to side 45cm from front to back and 35cm tall. The actual cleaning shoe is very like an upright cleaner with the added advantage that it can get under very low items.

There is a telescopic arm to a nice grip and the shoe is 29cm across but with all the flexibility that this unit gives it can poke itself under items only 5cm above the floor.

There is a small Getting Started card attached to the top of the handle. I must admit I needed to refer to the larger diagrams in the User Guide to work out how the suction tube fits to the side of the unit.

See also: Vacuum cleaners

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Of course there are a few extra bits for those funny places but these come in a carrier bag and for most they will probably stay there.

Dyson units of course have no bags in fact all the dust and grit you collect are always on display as the collection receptacle is clear plastic. It has a mark on the side and once the dust gets up to that point you need to empty it. Again this is described on both the Getting Started card and the User Guide. At least every six months you are instructed to wash the rubber filter buts that's all.

As I live in a bungalow I have no stairs and this is maybe the one weak point, the length of hose is around 200cm add to this the 100cm length of the telescopic arm means only around a three metre reach from the power unit. Unless you have a landing area half way up then the cleaner needs to rest on a stair and I doubt it would.

Around 6metres of power lead all curl up inside the unit and can be retracted by a foot or hand on a push button on one side of the top of the unit, on the other side is the on/off button.

It is extremely powerful and as such could well collect items you do not want to. Certainly my hall has a fitted carpet and as I lifted the shoe the carpet was also raised at that point. This means of course that dirt right into the weave is removed. It moved easily from carpet to a solid floor still collecting all the dust and grit.

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Should you wish to use any of the accessories simply click either side of the end of the hose where it goes into the top of the telescopic arm and the arm and shoe are detached. You now have a bare hose and any of the extra tools can be clipped in.

The secret of the suction power seems to be a double rim around the shoe the outer one has the traditional bristle surround while the inner one has a rubberised material and these two together give the really tight contact.

There are three models I was sent the basic version then for around another £20 there is an allergy version (even finer filters) and for another £40 an animal version.

Doing my Internet searches found the Dyson DC20 Stowaway at a best price of £210.99 including free delivery from the first link below.

Doing a quick search for the other two models found the Allergy for around £230 and the Animal for around £250.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000NNA6C6

http://www.dyson.co.uk/store/productmodel.asp?model=DC20