In the many years I have “moonlighted” as a technology columnist/reviewer, I have had to carefully plan schedules so that I was doing all of it in my personal time, and not when duties of the desk beckoned. Thus, there have been countless times my wife has complained that I was spending the lion’s share of the day with gadgets, during my day off.
But when I started reviewing the Dyson V10 Absolute Pro (₹49,990), my wife was thrilled.
At first glance, the picture of the V10 on the carton reminded me of a light sabre. Out of the box, the cordless motor unit looks like an oversized handgun, which isn’t very heavy, but could need a little time to get used to, especially if you’re graduating from corded handheld models which cost a tenth of the V10.
With the mini motorised tool, I got down to cleaning the sofa. Using it at setting 2 (there are three power settings) I was amazed to find that the dark brown bolsters actually changed colour.
The mini soft dusting brush attachment proved handy in vacuuming my PC keyboard. I also loved the idiot-proof way one could change attachments on the V10. A caveat: Please charge the appliance to full before you begin an extended cleaning session—if you’re using setting 2 extensively and with a motorised attachment, as I had to on the upholstery, the charge wouldn’t last even 30 minutes. At setting one, which was enough to clean floors at my place, it lasted an hour. But if you’ve got to deal with particularly obstinate dirt at full power, you’d be out of charge way before 10 minutes.
The cord-free construction ensures one can move about freely while cleaning—a big help since I remember plugging and unplugging our old vacuum cleaner whenever I cleaned our living room while I was in school.
Next, I dusted the book case using the combination tool; I used the bristles to dust the books, while the suction cup came in handy in cleaning paper debris. Using thus attachment with the up-top adapter (a curved contraption that allows one to clean difficult-to-reach surfaces such as say, the top of a book case), I was able to banish dust from my book case.
This brought me to my favourite vacuum cleaner attachment since 1989—the crevice nozzle. Attached to the flexible extension pipe the V10 comes with, I was able to coax out dust and cobwebs from below the bed, behind the bureau, and between the buffet and the wall. Next, I took it to the windows, where—at setting 3—the powerful motor picked up concrete debris as well.
But before I could clean the floors, the dust compartment was full. And while the mechanism ejects dust admirably when it’s not full, I did get my hands dirty this time around. The trick, I learnt was to empty out the compartment before it’s full, and do so within a garbage bag.
In the past 30 years, I’ve had my share of going through vacuum cleaners—from the humble Euroclean Mitey Vac to the latest floor cleaning robots, but once I got over the sticker shock, I had to admit that the Dyson V10 Absolute Pro is one smart and versatile (and silent) beast. Yes, it would be nice if it had a blower, a swappable battery and a longer run time, but this one is as good as it gets.
