What is the best vacuum cleaner out there? – Hoover Bagless Canister Vacuum

For years the Kirby vacuum has been king of the vacuums. As far as cleaning power and durability goes they could not be beat. But now their is a new kid in town…the Dyson vacuum. Dysons only been around for a few years but making a big splash and lots of people have been buying them. But are they as good as all the hype? Hi my name is Dustin Chaffin, General Manager of Great-Vacs. We have sold over 10,000 vacuum cleaners online and we know vacuums. I get tons of emails saying "which is better the Kirby or the Dyson". I am excited to write this guide and answer this question once and for all. So lets get right to it. For our tests we used the high end Dyson DC14 Animal that was about 1 year old. For our Kirby Test we used a 2004 Kirby Diamond (3 years old).

This guide was so detailed that it turned out to be very long. It actually turned out to be over 35,000 letters and ebay only allows 20,000 So I will have to take out a lot of information and just sum it up. If you would like the detailed test just email me and I can email it to you. So if you don’t want to go over all the details (there is tons of good information though) scroll to the bottom and read my Conclusion where I sum up all the details.

Test #1 – Best Vacuum not to CLOG
What causes clogs is small suction tubes and corners Below is a picture of a Dyson tube next to a Kirby tube.
As you can see from the pictures the Kirby suction tube is almost twice the size as the dyson one. The Dyson one also has a sharp corner in some of its tubing.

Fact – The very first used Dyson we got traded in was clogged.
Fact – If you read other reviews on the internet they say people have had a problem with the Dyson Clogging with long pet hair.
Fact – There is no vacuum that is impossible to clog. We have sold over 4000 kirbys and from normal vacuuming conditions have never seen a kirby clog.

Test #2 – Most Airflow and Vacuum power

So this is one of the most important tests after all no matter how cool a vacuum looks, we buy a vacuum to pick up the dirt. Kirby Motor Size is 7 amps and Dyson is 12 amps. For this test we are going to use a Airflow Indicator meter tool made by Baird. This tool is desiged to test power and airflow (see pictures below).

This tool is a tube with a ball attached to a spring. I has a rating of 0 to 10. You hook it up to a vacuum and turn on the vacuum to test the vacuum power and airflow. The higher the suction the further up the scale the the meter will read. 0 is really bad and 10 is amazing suction. For our first test we will test the power by hooking it up to the hose. Each hose it tested at the same length away from the vacuum.

After we tested the Dyson the Power Meter read = a 1 out of 10 (see picture)

After we tested the Kirby the Suction Meter read = a 7 out of 10 (see picture)

Now we are going to test the power hooked up to the vacuum itself. You are about to learn a new principle here. It’s a fact that the longer the hose the more suction you loose. Hooked up to the vacuum on the Dyson the Power Meter read = a 2.8 out of 10 (see picture)
On the Kirby it read = a 10 out of 10 (see picture)

Fact – The motor size in amps does not mean a vacuum is more powerful
Fact – The kirby had over 3 times the power and airflow as the dyson when testing it with the airflow meter.

Test #3 – Most Suction Full of Dirt
The other Dysons promise is that it is Guaranteed not to loose airflow as the vacuum fills us so lets check it out.

Dyson – So we grabbed 3 Dysons. One was our tester Dyson that was cleaned and had no dirt in it, one was 1/3 full of dirt and one was ¾ full of dirt.

On the Power Meter they all pulled the same = 2.8

Kirby – We grabbed a full Kirby bag and put it inside our kirby. We tested it with the full bag and the Power Meter read a 10 out of 10 (the meter only goes to 10). So then with the full bag still in it I hooked up the 9 foot hose to the vacuum and tested it and the meter read = a 5.9 So hooked up to the hose it with a empty bag the kirby had a 7.0 and with a full bag it read a 5.9

Fact – James Dyson is correct the Dyson did not loose power as it filled with dirt.
Fact – As a vacuum bag fills up airflow and power does decrease.
Fact – Even with a full bag the Kirby had over DOUBLE the airflow and power as the Dyson as measured by our Air Flow Meter.
Fact – Dyson claims to be the first vacuum not to loose suction as it fills with dirt. This is not true. I can personally think of 5 other vacuum’s that don’t loose suction.

Test #4 – Cleaning and Vacuums up better

This is the most important test. Which vacuum actually vacuums the most dirt. What I did here was I went and got a large piece of brand new carpet (so our results would not be tainted)

I then took a piece of tape and marked off the carpet. On the left side of the tape is where we are going to vacuum with the Dyson and on the right side of the tape we are going to vacuum with the Kirby. Then I took 2 cups and went outside and filled them up with normal dirt and sand. Just like would be tracked into your house. I then measured the 2 cups (see picture) so they had the exact amount of dirt in them – 1 pound and .2 of one ounce in each cup. What I was planning on doing was I weighed the dirt that is now in the carpet and I am going to weigh the dirt that comes out of the carpet. Now the kirby is not bagless so we have to use a tester with filter pads to show the dirt that is picked up. I am afraid this test was a little harder on the kirby because every time I changed the pads (lots of times) dust would escape from the tester. To be fair after I put the kirby tester on the kirby I tested the power again with the hose. With the tester on it read a 6.5 on the airflow meter, it had read a 7 when the bag was on (bag has more surface area for air to push through). Before I started the test I decided that the vacuum that pulled the most dirt I would go and vacuum another 50 strokes in the vacuum’s area that pulled the least dirt.

Dyson Results – We put the dirt down and vacuumed 50 strokes on each side. We put 1 lb of dirt down and was able to pick up 6.5 oz’s of dirt from the Dyson vacuum (see picture) or 40 % of the dirt was picked up.

Kirby Results – We put the dirt down and vacuumed 50 strokes on its side. We put 1 lb of dirt down and (after subtracting the dirt meter filter pads wieght) was able to pick up 12.1 oz’s of dirt from the kirby or 75 % of the dirt was picked up.
(see picture)
Then since the Dysons had the least amount of dirt was picked up and it was the looser we vacuumed in the Dysons area with the Kirby. The picture below is how much dirt and sand that we pulled out. I was able to pull out 44 pads of dirt that the Dyson left behind. In fact I was still pulling out dirt when I ran out of pads. (see picture). I wish you could have seen this in person. I had no idea that the kirby would pick up that much extra dirt behind the Dyson. Picture below is how many dirt pads were vacuumed up by the Kirby that the Dyson left behind.

Fact – Sand ruins carpet. If its not picked up by the vacuum it gets down deep and cuts your carpet fibers and creates “trails” as the carpet fibers get vacuumed up and there is less carpet fibers and the carpet starts laying down.

Test #5 – Durability

The Kirby is made of a light weight metal and is one of the most durable vacuums made. In fact “Kirby home care systems are rated #1 in reliability by a popular consumer products magazine.” We have noticed a average life span of 25 years for the kirby vacuum.

The Dyson vacuum is made from a low grade plastic. Just because a vacuum is made from plastic does not necessarily mean that it is not durable. A perfect example of this is the Aerus Vacuum (used to be Electrolux).

Fact – When packing the Kirby Vacuum we wrap it in ½ of bubble with no breakage.
Fact – When packing the Dyson vacuum to avoid breakage we have to pack it in 2 inches of bubble. Because of this fact we have to use a extra large box to hold the Dyson and all the extra bubble they require and it costs more to ship than a Kirby.

Test #6 – Weight & Ease of Vacuuming.

For the first test on this one I got out our shipping scales and weighed each vacuum. The Kirby weighed 23 lbs and 14 oz. and the Dyson weighed 18 lbs 10 oz.’s. The second test was ease of vacuuming. Both seemed easy to vacuum with but the Kirby seemed better because of its self propelled transmission. With Ease of Vacuuming we also have to consider how easy it is to use your tools. Now the Dyson has on board tools (very nice) and the Kirby does not. So you have to have your kirby tools somewhere else (most likely your closet

So for this test I timed myself. Going from vacuum mode to putting on the duster tool (in this example) how long does it take?

The Dyson took 19 seconds

The Kirby took me 25 seconds to go from vacuuming, shut off the vacuum, casually stroll to my pretend closet grab the hose and duster tool go to the vacuum, take off the power nozzle and put on the hose and duster tool.

Test #7 – Tools and Accessories

Depending on the Dyson Model the Dyson comes with 5 tools (3 of which are on board)and the Zorb Accessory.

The Kirby standard tools include 14 tools, the caddy and the hose.
The Kirby also has several additional accessories that you can use on it.

1. The Kirby carpet shampoo system.
2. Floor Care system
3. Turbo Accessory System.
4. Zipp Brush.

Test #8 – Filtration

The Kirby vacuum can filter as small as .1 of a micron. To be considered a HEPA filter you have to filter at least .3 of one micron.

The Dyson was rated at .1 of 1 micron.

So as far as published Filtration it is a tie between the two vacuums.

4 COMMENTS

htaylor1021 May 22, 2011 At 4:11 pm

For years the Kirby vacuum has been king of the vacuums. As far as cleaning power and durability goes they could not be beat. But now their is a new kid in town…the Dyson vacuum. Dysons only been around for a few years but making a big splash and lots of people have been buying them. But are they as good as all the hype? Hi my name is Dustin Chaffin, General Manager of Great-Vacs. We have sold over 10,000 vacuum cleaners online and we know vacuums. I get tons of emails saying "which is better the Kirby or the Dyson". I am excited to write this guide and answer this question once and for all. So lets get right to it. For our tests we used the high end Dyson DC14 Animal that was about 1 year old. For our Kirby Test we used a 2004 Kirby Diamond (3 years old).

This guide was so detailed that it turned out to be very long. It actually turned out to be over 35,000 letters and ebay only allows 20,000 So I will have to take out a lot of information and just sum it up. If you would like the detailed test just email me and I can email it to you. So if you don’t want to go over all the details (there is tons of good information though) scroll to the bottom and read my Conclusion where I sum up all the details.

Test #1 – Best Vacuum not to CLOG
What causes clogs is small suction tubes and corners Below is a picture of a Dyson tube next to a Kirby tube.
As you can see from the pictures the Kirby suction tube is almost twice the size as the dyson one. The Dyson one also has a sharp corner in some of its tubing.

Fact – The very first used Dyson we got traded in was clogged.
Fact – If you read other reviews on the internet they say people have had a problem with the Dyson Clogging with long pet hair.
Fact – There is no vacuum that is impossible to clog. We have sold over 4000 kirbys and from normal vacuuming conditions have never seen a kirby clog.

Test #2 – Most Airflow and Vacuum power

So this is one of the most important tests after all no matter how cool a vacuum looks, we buy a vacuum to pick up the dirt. Kirby Motor Size is 7 amps and Dyson is 12 amps. For this test we are going to use a Airflow Indicator meter tool made by Baird. This tool is desiged to test power and airflow (see pictures below).

This tool is a tube with a ball attached to a spring. I has a rating of 0 to 10. You hook it up to a vacuum and turn on the vacuum to test the vacuum power and airflow. The higher the suction the further up the scale the the meter will read. 0 is really bad and 10 is amazing suction. For our first test we will test the power by hooking it up to the hose. Each hose it tested at the same length away from the vacuum.

After we tested the Dyson the Power Meter read = a 1 out of 10 (see picture)

After we tested the Kirby the Suction Meter read = a 7 out of 10 (see picture)

Now we are going to test the power hooked up to the vacuum itself. You are about to learn a new principle here. It’s a fact that the longer the hose the more suction you loose. Hooked up to the vacuum on the Dyson the Power Meter read = a 2.8 out of 10 (see picture)
On the Kirby it read = a 10 out of 10 (see picture)

Fact – The motor size in amps does not mean a vacuum is more powerful
Fact – The kirby had over 3 times the power and airflow as the dyson when testing it with the airflow meter.

Test #3 – Most Suction Full of Dirt
The other Dysons promise is that it is Guaranteed not to loose airflow as the vacuum fills us so lets check it out.

Dyson – So we grabbed 3 Dysons. One was our tester Dyson that was cleaned and had no dirt in it, one was 1/3 full of dirt and one was ¾ full of dirt.

On the Power Meter they all pulled the same = 2.8

Kirby – We grabbed a full Kirby bag and put it inside our kirby. We tested it with the full bag and the Power Meter read a 10 out of 10 (the meter only goes to 10). So then with the full bag still in it I hooked up the 9 foot hose to the vacuum and tested it and the meter read = a 5.9 So hooked up to the hose it with a empty bag the kirby had a 7.0 and with a full bag it read a 5.9

Fact – James Dyson is correct the Dyson did not loose power as it filled with dirt.
Fact – As a vacuum bag fills up airflow and power does decrease.
Fact – Even with a full bag the Kirby had over DOUBLE the airflow and power as the Dyson as measured by our Air Flow Meter.
Fact – Dyson claims to be the first vacuum not to loose suction as it fills with dirt. This is not true. I can personally think of 5 other vacuum’s that don’t loose suction.

Test #4 – Cleaning and Vacuums up better

This is the most important test. Which vacuum actually vacuums the most dirt. What I did here was I went and got a large piece of brand new carpet (so our results would not be tainted)

I then took a piece of tape and marked off the carpet. On the left side of the tape is where we are going to vacuum with the Dyson and on the right side of the tape we are going to vacuum with the Kirby. Then I took 2 cups and went outside and filled them up with normal dirt and sand. Just like would be tracked into your house. I then measured the 2 cups (see picture) so they had the exact amount of dirt in them – 1 pound and .2 of one ounce in each cup. What I was planning on doing was I weighed the dirt that is now in the carpet and I am going to weigh the dirt that comes out of the carpet. Now the kirby is not bagless so we have to use a tester with filter pads to show the dirt that is picked up. I am afraid this test was a little harder on the kirby because every time I changed the pads (lots of times) dust would escape from the tester. To be fair after I put the kirby tester on the kirby I tested the power again with the hose. With the tester on it read a 6.5 on the airflow meter, it had read a 7 when the bag was on (bag has more surface area for air to push through). Before I started the test I decided that the vacuum that pulled the most dirt I would go and vacuum another 50 strokes in the vacuum’s area that pulled the least dirt.

Dyson Results – We put the dirt down and vacuumed 50 strokes on each side. We put 1 lb of dirt down and was able to pick up 6.5 oz’s of dirt from the Dyson vacuum (see picture) or 40 % of the dirt was picked up.

Kirby Results – We put the dirt down and vacuumed 50 strokes on its side. We put 1 lb of dirt down and (after subtracting the dirt meter filter pads wieght) was able to pick up 12.1 oz’s of dirt from the kirby or 75 % of the dirt was picked up.
(see picture)
Then since the Dysons had the least amount of dirt was picked up and it was the looser we vacuumed in the Dysons area with the Kirby. The picture below is how much dirt and sand that we pulled out. I was able to pull out 44 pads of dirt that the Dyson left behind. In fact I was still pulling out dirt when I ran out of pads. (see picture). I wish you could have seen this in person. I had no idea that the kirby would pick up that much extra dirt behind the Dyson. Picture below is how many dirt pads were vacuumed up by the Kirby that the Dyson left behind.

Fact – Sand ruins carpet. If its not picked up by the vacuum it gets down deep and cuts your carpet fibers and creates “trails” as the carpet fibers get vacuumed up and there is less carpet fibers and the carpet starts laying down.

Test #5 – Durability

The Kirby is made of a light weight metal and is one of the most durable vacuums made. In fact “Kirby home care systems are rated #1 in reliability by a popular consumer products magazine.” We have noticed a average life span of 25 years for the kirby vacuum.

The Dyson vacuum is made from a low grade plastic. Just because a vacuum is made from plastic does not necessarily mean that it is not durable. A perfect example of this is the Aerus Vacuum (used to be Electrolux).

Fact – When packing the Kirby Vacuum we wrap it in ½ of bubble with no breakage.
Fact – When packing the Dyson vacuum to avoid breakage we have to pack it in 2 inches of bubble. Because of this fact we have to use a extra large box to hold the Dyson and all the extra bubble they require and it costs more to ship than a Kirby.

Test #6 – Weight & Ease of Vacuuming.

For the first test on this one I got out our shipping scales and weighed each vacuum. The Kirby weighed 23 lbs and 14 oz. and the Dyson weighed 18 lbs 10 oz.’s. The second test was ease of vacuuming. Both seemed easy to vacuum with but the Kirby seemed better because of its self propelled transmission. With Ease of Vacuuming we also have to consider how easy it is to use your tools. Now the Dyson has on board tools (very nice) and the Kirby does not. So you have to have your kirby tools somewhere else (most likely your closet

So for this test I timed myself. Going from vacuum mode to putting on the duster tool (in this example) how long does it take?

The Dyson took 19 seconds

The Kirby took me 25 seconds to go from vacuuming, shut off the vacuum, casually stroll to my pretend closet grab the hose and duster tool go to the vacuum, take off the power nozzle and put on the hose and duster tool.

Test #7 – Tools and Accessories

Depending on the Dyson Model the Dyson comes with 5 tools (3 of which are on board)and the Zorb Accessory.

The Kirby standard tools include 14 tools, the caddy and the hose.
The Kirby also has several additional accessories that you can use on it.

1. The Kirby carpet shampoo system.
2. Floor Care system
3. Turbo Accessory System.
4. Zipp Brush.

Test #8 – Filtration

The Kirby vacuum can filter as small as .1 of a micron. To be considered a HEPA filter you have to filter at least .3 of one micron.

The Dyson was rated at .1 of 1 micron.

So as far as published Filtration it is a tie between the two vacuums.

Tracy May 22, 2011 At 4:11 pm

Bagless vacums do not work. I have this thing about dirt myself. I use the Kenmore Pogressive / True Hepa. It is a canister vacum which at first I was not crazy about but after getting used to pulling it around I love it. The suction is great. I vacum my whole house with it once a week. I was surprised to see how much I really get out of my house when I change the bag. My house does not even get as dusty as it would if I swept the floor. I have had bagless before and this vacum for $350.00 is great!!!! Now there are the one’s that cost $1500 to $1800 or more that work but you still need to clean out the parts to keep it working properly. Bagless vacums have filters too that wind up leaking. If you have the room wet-vacs are probably the best vacum on the planet. But everything needs to be cleaned in order to work properly and last. I like my Kenmore because I can throw the bag away and I rinse out the inside filter a few times to make it last and I get wonderful results with it. I bought it a Sears.

Mary G May 22, 2011 At 4:11 pm

I have a Dyson, and have never regretted the purchase. I bought it on Amazon.com after using their comparison feature to pick the model I felt was best for me….. they’re prices were also better than anywhere else….

As for fitting under things, I know that Dyson makes a "low profile" model for just that purpose.

gar_fanatic May 22, 2011 At 4:11 pm

A Dyson is the one you want. After looking at the website, they now make a bagless canister vac for reaching under beds/tables. Otherwise you will need a low reach floor tool accessory with your upright Dyson.

I’ve had an upright Dyson for almost 4 years now with absolutely no problems with it. It’s the best vacuum I’ve ever had. I even still use the original filter.

You can find them used on e-bay. I bought mine at Best Buy. You can also find them in pretty much any store that sells vacuums. Or you can buy one direct from Dyson (website below).

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