Not sure, probably assembled, like most stuff. Mr Dyson certainly isn't as popular back in the UK as he once was, which was the point I was making. I recall 'sellout argh burn the traitorous witch at the stake' kind of rants in the tabloid mind-control-of-the-masses rags.

Dirt Devil got my $'s.

Rich.

Might as well ask why drive an upmarket car?

Dyson came up with a better mousetrap, it works in a more efficient and effective way and is arguably a better / more interesting design. Probably last longer and does the job in a less stressful way. Is it worth the extra money? Personal choice I suppose. Werent available here when I was shopping about.

After realising our cheapo Hoover sucked (or really didnt suck ) we bought a nice $600 Kenmore canister, and I can honestly say the design is crap. The thing drives me nuts. Its nice and quiet and does a nice job cleaning hardwood or carpet, but it snags on every bit of furniture we have and is too heavy and total non steerable. Drives me nuts, and has increased my daughters burgeoning vocabulary!

Exactly my point ! Bisell is another decent one just like you said

I'd like to add that I forked out UKP 160 for a Miele in the UK. It was also a very good vaccum cleaner, and did the job admirably. Cheap UK vaccum cleaners aren't very good in the UK. My make is used by some friends of mine who own a store, so it has to be good at what it does.

I can't believe that there are people out there who care what their vaccum cleaner looks like. Most of the time it sits in a closet....

As far as I am aware - Canada STILL does not sell them. You have to buy from the US and loose your warranty. Does anyone know if you can get them here yet?

We got ours as a refurb, for a bargain price, must cheaper in the long run too without need for new hefa filters which are really expesnsive...

There assembled here...and has a mitsubishi licensed motor instead of a dyson motor too....

dyson ain't a popular guy, but then he's out to make money, he was given the shaft the first time around when he tried the vac over here by Amway and almost went broke...and so what if he gets to the far east to get things made...be cheaper in the long run I say..

Excellent.

The hose is very light and you just plug it in.

I don't find the hose to be light. I find it to be sufficiently a bother that I use a Panasonic upright on the flat bits and a ShopVac in the corners instead.

So it's you who pops in and does our hoovering then?

Thanks alot

There are virtually no vacuum cleaners made in North America now. The main assembly plants for Hoover and Erueka are in Mexico but both also import from China. Dirt Devil import everything again mainly from China.

Dyson has moved a lot of his manufacture to Malaysia and I'm pretty sure does not assemble in USA. Seem to remember Dyson has a problem in Canada because there used to be an old licencee there.

The reality is that China assembles more than 80% of the vacuum cleaners and the same basic models are sold to the Dirt Devils, Eurekas and major stores for their own brand name.

The one thing you need to watch with vacuums that are over aggressive is the damage to the carpet, you're looking for one with lots of vaccum but not too aggressive agitators (brushes at the front).

A lot of charity shops won't take electrical goods. Sign up to Freecycle - much better than throwing things in a skip, and people will come and collect, so you don't even have the bother of transport.

What a great link - thanks! I realised most charity shops won't take electrical goods so this is great - have just posted a few things on there and people are begging to come and take it away! Nice and easy - just what I like. Of course, if I had more time I'd have a better go at selling it, but this is a great option too!