The Dyson Ball: A Hi-Tech Sucker

I’m the daughter of a proud neat freak. (Mom’s screen name is HooverHoney.) And while I may stray from Mrs. Clean every once in a while to make a temporary mess, I’m at the mercy of genetics when immediate cleanup is required.

I’m also into tricks of the trade. So when we here at Bostonista got a new vacuum to try out, I was first up for a test run.

The newest addition to the Transformer-like line of appliances is the Dyson Ball, named after the tangerine sphere at its base around which the vacuum pivots. Although it looks like something you’d find a hamster in, this innovative ball-in-socket joint (your shoulder), is much more versatile than the standard hinge joint (your knee).

Thanks to this clever new joint, the front end of Ball deftly swivels around corners, under couches, from rug to tile and back again with a minimum of user effort. No matter where I needed to go, it stayed flat on the floor, doing its sucking thing. It was rather hypnotic; its moves were just that good, while I barely had to move at all.

For furniture (yes, I’m that compulsive), I snapped on the telescoping brush extension, but Ball didn’t quite muster up as much power as I’d like. While it got the under cushion crumbs, it could only pick up pillow-clinging fuzz and flyaway curly Q’s after multiple strokes.

Still, who can argue with a satisfying reward for a job well done? Dyson’s clear bagless tube proudly displayed several inches of dirt trapped in its plastic lair. I dumped my load, snapped the bin back onto Ball, and retracted the handle, leaving little Ball 2/3 the height of a standard vacuum. At $400 though, it’s a serious investment in cleaning comfort.

Bottom line: If mom swoons for Hoover, I don’t even want to think about what she’d do for Dyson.

–Brittany Lyte