For both carpets and hard floors, the edges were cleaned up easily with the Dyson City. You won’t even have to get out the crevice tool to make sure the edges and corners of your floor are clean. If you have anyone in your house with long hair, or if you have pets that shed their fur often, you might have to perform this maintenance step a few times a year. Just take a scissors and cut away the hair or fur that is wrapped around the brush bar. Value For Money The Dyson DC26 is a small canister vacuum. It rolls around on the floor as you simply hold the hose and wand to clean your floor.

The small 0.15 gallon bin has a bowl shaped bottom. When you take the canister off the machine and then press the red lever to dump out the debris, some of the dust gets caught up in this little bowl. The main unit and hose is already set up. First, you will have to snap the handle onto the hose. Second, attach the long reach wand to the handle. The Dyson City might not be very popular in the United States, but it is a huge hit across the pond in Europe. The nice smooth pivoting head allows you to clean up against the edge of the wall. The powerful suction of the small canister gets the debris no matter if you vacuum head on or you pass by the side of the wall with the edge of the brush. Filtration Our final test for carpeting involved pet hair. We worked some pet hair into the carpet fibers and then ran over them with our Dyson DC26. The pet hair was removed easily.The Dyson DC26 City did surprisingly well in all of our tests. It might be small, but there aren’t many messes that can’t be cleaned effectively with the DC26. Some of the highlights of this machine include how well it did with small particles on short pile carpeting. It also does a fabulous job on hard surfaces no matter what sized particle you have to clean up. For some reason, canister vacuums aren’t that big here in the States. They do take some getting used to, but there are some inherent advantages to this Dyson City’s lightweight canister design. No dust or debris came out of the exhaust. This means the hot air coming from a Dyson DC26 is cleaner than the air you are breathing right now. Attachments / Onboard Tools

On the positive side, the Dyson DC26 articulating tool is a lot wider than the turbine brush. Even for such a small canister vacuum, it can clean a large area of hard flooring in a minimal amount of time. Edge Cleaning We tested the claim that the Dyson City had a HEPA level filtration system with our airborne laser particle scanner. Their claims are valid.

Stairs and the Dyson DC26 City are made for each other. The small compact design allows the unit to rest on a stair with ease. We like that this has powerful suction, but recognize this power can cause it to lift up a rug and make it difficult to clean without some finesse on your part. Performance on Hard Floors The smaller particles were removed easily. After a few passes, we were able to get all the larger particles off the carpeting. Another negative of this Dyson canister vacuum is the fact that the turbine head is an air driven brush bar. That means, when it is up against some serious resistance, it will stop spinning.

Another nice feature on the Dyson DC26 canister vacuum are the two featured cleaning heads that snap on and off. The turbine head is ideal for cleaning short pile carpeting, and the articulating brush does a wonderful job on hard floors. The crevice tool easily snaps into place, and we used it to clean up windowsills and ceiling corners. Once again, we used white flour as a simulation of dust on the hard floor. We spread it out on the hardwood floor and pushed it up against the molding too.With the help of some fine particulates, a pile of white flour, we simulated how the Dyson DC26 does cleaning up dust. Canisters are already much lighter in their operation compared to an upright, but this compact Dyson canister vacuum is a lightweight even in the canister world. Don’t let the small size fool you though. You do have to be comfortable with a canister. It takes some getting used to if you aren’t familiar with this type of design.

With a simple snap, you can pull down the upholstery attachment on the crevice tool. This is nice for dusting, or freshening up curtains.

Some people think that because it’s a bagless machine, all they have to do is empty the dust bin and they are good to go. Wrong! First, it has better clearance than a typical upright. You will be able to get underneath furniture and cabinet overhangs with ease. Finally, adjust the long reach wand to your height so you don’t have to bend over at all while cleaning the floor Maneuverability This also means it won’t do as great of a job on medium to long pile carpets. The brush bar simply doesn’t dig in deep enough with its carbon fiber bristles. Performance on Rugs