Bob

The wiki has a suggestion.

Dyson over here don't use a Dyson motor, it's a Mitsubishi motor under license because of the power thing. I wouldn't bother bring it...you can get a refurb for half price anyway.

Kitchen appliances, sell them and buy new, anything that uses a lot of current will need a meaty transformer and generally won't work nearly as well.

Sewing machines, they're dirt cheap over here, so unless you have a sentimental attachment, you'll be able to buy a much better unit for less over here....the little old dears are mental about their sewing here.

Mick1935

My Wife is 66 YOA, she can make a dress that looks like it is made by a fashion designer!

When she was out of town, so I sneeked out and bought her a new one, more modern. Took at least 20 minutes... To talk her in to it.

Volt61

Ian does like to be abrasive for no reason.

Volt61

Yes I know its the first link, but how did you know it was the right one before the poster told you?
You really need to stop being an A1 Prat for no reason, Ian.

lisa67

Whereas name calling........

tonrob

This subject has been addressed on BE many, many dozens of times in the past. Yet again and again, out of the goodness of their hearts people give up their spare time to help out a newbie who can't be arsed to Google. It's a bit rich when people still get shitty when this is pointed out.

Weeze

I gave away the dyson, hairdryer and straighteners. Brought all the kitchen stuff and use them with a transformer (robots in disguise). Bought a new kettle, toaster, vacuum cleaner over here. Also bought US tv but still use UK one with a transformer for wii etc.

USAalltheway

Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions and for all the spare time spent asking an (obviously) silly girl's questions.

I have called the manufacturers for a number of the electrical items including the the Dyson vaccuum, Brother sewing machine and Dualit kitchen items. They all very helpfully have refused comment on using these items in the US as they wouldn't recommend the appliances be used outside of the country they were purchased in.

So quite a bit of research has been done - 6 months in fact!

dunroving

What he said +1.

Quick use of the Search facility:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=electric

- I think that took me all of 2 minutes to find.

We're not an unfriendly bunch, really, we just get a little snarky when other people get snarky about us getting snarky because sometimes we can't understand why people don't use Google in this day and age.

Jerseygirl

Make sure you check out your homeowners/insurance policy...using electrical appliances from the UK with a transformer may void the policy in case of a fire. Remember houses in the US tend to burn to the ground in a matter of minutes.

MadRad

Our Dyson has been fine - it was a wedding present ten years ago. Had to replace the handle though when I knocked it over and it broke - ten quid off ebay. Never really thought about retractable power cords - do hoovers come with those nowadays? Think if I was replacing the Dyson I'd get a Roomba robot thing.

OP, I recently bought a Brother sewing machine off Amazon - model CS6000i. I love it. Think I paid $170 dollars for it, but I see it's even cheaper now.

Bob

Retractable is convenient, but tends to be less long lasting, more parts. Plus the reason Dyson doesn't have one, nor many others, it's less stress on the power cord so it doesn't break as easily. Plus it's not like it takes more than a few seconds to turn the hook up top to release the whole cable and a few more to wind it back up by hand.

We've had our refurb for 7 years now and it's still going strong. Also at the time, it was much lighter and easier to use than the Hoover the in-laws had and the Electrolux one we were using before the Dyson.

They're probably all much of muchness these days though now that the Dyson patent expired.

rallybug

Although half the posts in this thread wouldn't be here if the first person had replied with the answer

Mick1935

There you go!

tonrob

You seem to forget that BE is not staffed by some bunch of pixels that are hanging around in the netherworld waiting to churn out answers to whatever questions arise, again and again. In general BE attracts volunteers who give up their time to help people, and even better we like helping people who also help themselves.

By the way, I'm sure JG (the first person to reply) is very sorry she didn't know the exact answer to the original question. How very unprofessional.

However your comment makes no sense anyway as the snarkiness arose from post #9 onwards, and nothing to do with the original poster. If my experience if someone comes on here and acts like a prat they'll get treated like one.