Yesterday I wandered the aisles at the San Angelo Sam’s Club, and I couldn’t help but stop in front of the Dyson vacuum cleaner display. I really hate our current vacuum cleaner — a traditional heavy upright with hose that must weigh at least 25 pounds. The least expensive Dyson was around $359, but it was a low to the ground canister model. I prefer uprights, and the one I was particularly interested in was the Dyson Animal Upright. It’s a 7 pounds cordless model that is supposed to have excellent sucking power for cleaning both carpets and floors. I couldn’t help but imagine how nice it would be to vacuum without worrying about dragging the cord around, running over the cord, or where I needed to plug the cord in so that I wouldn’t get hung up on the furniture or caught short.
What stopped me from seriously considering the Dyson’s purchase it was that it only has a run time of 20 minutes. That just seems … I don’t know … stingy, considering that when I am cleaning it can take me much longer than that to give the house a good vacuuming. That’s why the new Gtech AirRAM Vacuum caught my eye when it entered my inbox this evening.
Weighing 7.7 pounds, the AirRAM takes approximately four hours to charge in order to run for 40 minutes; you can also do a one hour “short charge” to gain an additional
10 minutes cleaning time. Rather than use a bag, the AirRAM collects the dirt and detritus, compressing it into easily disposable “tidy bales”. They are almost cute, aren’t they?
The AirRAM is supposed to be super easy to maneuver into low or tight spaces, and it is made to work just as well on carpet or hard floors with no settings change. The AirRAM is also supposed to be excellent at removing pet hair — both on the surface of your floor or carpet, as well as the hairs that are deeply imbedded in your carpet fibers.
There’s even an option to download DataBridge software to your PC that will enable you to “calculate the amount of electricity you save, check the condition of the fuel system and even see how many calories you have burned while cleaning.” Here’s a quick promo video, complete with the British inventor, Nick Grey.
I’ll admit that I am intrigued; twice the run time as the Dyson cordless sounds pretty attractive. Do any of you have any experiences with the new generation of cordless upright vacuum cleaners? Please let me know what you think about them!
You can learn more about the AirRAM by visiting the Gtech site.